SYSTEM, A SERVER FOR A SYSTEM AND A MACHINE FOR USE IN A SYSTEM

A system has a first machine (9 to 11,12,13,15) couplable to a network (N) and capable of carrying out at least one function, a speech data receiver (26,27) for receiving speech data representing instructions spoken by a user and specifying a function to be carried out by the first machine and a speech data transmitter (27,28) for transmitting the speech data to a speech server (2) couplable to the network (N). The speech server (2) has a speech manager (6) for accessing a speech recognition engine (5) for performing speech recognition on speech data received over the network to produce recognised speech data, an interpreter (7) for processing recognised speech data to derive from the speech data commands for causing the first machine to carry out the function specified in the spoken instructions and a command transmitter (6) for transmitting said commands over the network to the first machine, the first machine having a control command receiver (27,28) for receiving control commands over the network (N) from the speech server (2) and a controller (20,27) responsive to the control commands for causing the function specified by the spoken instructions to be carried out.