Patent ID: 7603273
Filing Date: 2009-10-13
Classification: G10L

Abstract:
1. A system for creating and enhancing a transcript of a conversation between two separate persons, the conversation consisting of a series of audio statements each of which is spoken by one of the persons, comprising: (a) a first input device adapted to receive a series of audio statements from the first person and convert them into a first analog audio signal, (b) a second input device adapted to receive a series of audio statements from the second person and convert them into a second analog audio signal, (c) an analog-to-digital converter adapted to convert the first analog audio signal to a first digital audio signal, and the second analog audio signal to a second digital audio signal, (d) a splitter that duplicates the first digital audio signal into two identical digital audio signals, a third digital audio signal and a fourth digital audio signal, respectively, and that duplicates the second digital audio signal into two identical digital audio signals, a fifth digital audio signal and a sixth digital audio signal, respectively, (e) a first divider for dividing the third digital audio signal into audio segments to form a third segmented digital audio signal wherein each audio segment is time indexed, and the audio segments of the third segmented digital audio signal are bounded by two ascertainable events, said events being selected from the group of events comprising when one of the persons initiates use of the input device by starting with the conversation, when a second person answers start of the conversation, when a person starts or stops speaking during the conversation, when a second person speaks while the first person is speaking (considered as three separate events) during the conversation, when audio volume of one of the audio signals increases (either mechanically or by a person raising the loudness of their voice), when audio volume of one of the audio signals decreases, when a button on an input device is pressed, when an input device line is muted or unmuted, when a collect conversation is accepted, when a specific word or phrase is spoken, when a playback of an automatic recorded message occurs, when a input device number is verified, and when actions are taken based on a recorded message, (f) a second divider for dividing the fifth digital audio signal into audio segments to form a fifth segmented digital audio signal, wherein each audio segment is time indexed, and the audio segments of the fifth segmented digital audio signal are bounded by two ascertainable events, said events being selected from the group of events comprising when one of the persons initiates use of the input device by starting with the conversation, when a second person answers start of the conversation, when a person starts or stops speaking during the conversation, when a second person speaks while the first person is speaking (considered as three separate events) during the conversation, when audio volume of one of the audio signals increases (either mechanically or by a person raising the loudness of their voice), when audio volume of one of the audio signals decreases, when a button on an input device is pressed, when an input device line is muted or unmuted, when a collect conversation is accepted, when a specific word or phrase is spoken, when a playback of an automatic recorded message occurs, when a input device number is verified, and when actions are taken based on a recorded message, (g) a first audio storage device adapted to store the third segmented digital audio signal, (h) a second audio storage device adapted to store the fifth segmented digital audio signal, (i) a first audio-to-text converter adapted to transcribe the fourth digital audio signal to a first raw transcript of the conversation, the first raw transcript including a plurality of text words, each text word in the fourth digital audio signal being indexed to the audio segment in the third segmented audio signal to which it relates, (j) a first text storage device adapted to store the first raw transcript produced by the first audio-to-text converter, (k) a first text-to-audio associator adapted to associate each text word in the first raw transcript directly with the audio segment from which the text word was transcribed, (l) a viewer adapted to display the text located in the first text storage device, in the form of the first raw transcript of the conversation, (m) a highlighter associated with the viewer and adapted to specify a first specific text word in the first raw transcript displayed in the viewer, (n) an audio player associated with the viewer and adapted to employ the text-to-audio associator to audibility play back the audio segment associated with the first specific text word, (o) a manual editor associated with the viewer and adapted to correct the first specific text word, based on the use of the audio player, to enhance the first raw transcript to a first enhanced transcript, and (p) a second text storage device adapted to store the first enhanced transcript produced by the manual editor.