Abstract:
Recording and automated transcription methods and apparatus suitable for use in a communication system such as a telephone system are described. In one embodiment, a telephone system has a conference bridge, a transcription system, and multiple telephone sets connected to a central office (CO) switch via communication channels. Each telephone set lets its user transmit speech on first and second channels simultaneously. The CO switch selectively connects the first channel from each telephone being used in a conference call to the conference bridge. The bridge interconnects the first channels to establish a telephone conference. The CO switch selectively connects the second channels to the transcription system, which records the teleconference participants in separate recordings. The separate recordings are each time stamped and identified with a user&#39;s or communication unit ID. An automated speech-to-text (speech recognition) system transforms the recorded speech into textual data. A collator collates text segments generated from the speech obtained from different channels using the time stamps and the ID&#39;s to form a master transcript of textual data. The present invention can be used by single or multiple users. A single user may use the system of the present invention as a dictation system. The system can be used for automatically generating a transcript of a multi-party telephone conference or meeting.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/065,952, titled “TELEPHONE COMMUNICATION METHODS AND APPARATUS” which was filed on Oct. 28, 1997, and which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference. 

   FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention relates to the field of electronic communications and, more particularly, to apparatus and methods for providing recording and/or transcription services. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Current communication systems provide a spectrum of services to subscribers. Many modern communication systems, e.g., telephone communication systems and telephone networks, readily allow human-to-human, computer-to-computer and human-to-computer interactions via the transmission of audio and data over communication channels. Connection system subscribers can now access such diverse communication services as call messaging, call screening, message retrieval, call waiting, call forwarding and teleconferencing from phones and computers. The Internet is an example of a communication system that is currently being used to transmit both voice and data signals and to interface computer systems and networks with existing telephone networks. 
   As competition between communication service providers, e.g., regional telephone companies, Internet service providers, long distance telephone service providers, etc., increases, service providers continue to look for new ways to distinguish themselves from their competitors and to increase revenues. New services often provide a way for communication services to distinguish themselves from their competitors while, at the same time, creating new sources of revenue. 
   In an attempt to provide new services and increase revenues, telephone and communication service companies have offered in recent years a host of new services. Such services often take advantage of existing technology such as speech recognition, the ability to make, store and transmit voice recordings and/or the ability to transmit scheduling information over the Internet. 
   Voice dialing telephone service is an example of modern telephone service which involve the use of speech recognition. Voice mail is an example of a service which takes advantage of the ability to make, store and transmit voice recordings. Telephone network initiated conference calling, where a conference bridge coupled to the Internet is used to initiate a multi-party conference call, is an example of a modern service which takes advantage of the ability to transmit scheduling information over the Internet. 
     FIG. 1  illustrates a known telephone system  2  which includes a plurality of telephones T 1 -TN coupled to a telephone network conference bridge  3 , via a central office telephone switch  4 . A computer  5 , located in the proximity of any one of the telephones T 1 -TN, can be used to transmit telephone conference scheduling information to the conference bridge  3  via the Internet  6  to schedule a telephone conference. The transmitted information may include, e.g., the time of the telephone conference and the telephone numbers assigned to the telephones which are to be used in the telephone conference. In the known system, the conference bridge initiates a telephone conference at the appointed time by calling each of the telephone numbers associated with a scheduled telephone conference and bridging the calls so that the audio received from any one phone is transmitted to all of the telephones involved in the scheduled conference call. 
   While the services discussed above, have proved useful to many subscribers and a worthy source of revenue to many communication service providers, there remains a need for new communication services which can be used to distinguish a communication service provider from its competitors and serve as a source of revenue. New communication services which augment or supplement existing services are particularly desirable because they can be used to maintain an existing subscriber base while helping to attract subscribers from competitor&#39;s services. Entirely new services which may be provided independent from existing services are also desirable as a new revenue source. 
   Telephone network hardware is maintained, updated and serviced by the communication service provider. Accordingly, services which can be implemented by adding or modifying a limited amount of network hardware, e.g., a peripheral server device, tend to be easier to implement on a large scale than services which require substantial new amounts of customer premise equipment. For this reason, new services which can be implemented by adding or modifying network hardware without requiring substantial changes to existing customer premise equipment tend to be more desirable than services which require new customer premise equipment or substantial modifications to customer premise equipment. 
   As will be discussed below, while some embodiments require new or modified customer premise equipment, e.g., telephones, many of the methods, apparatus, and services of the present invention can be implemented without the need for new customer premise equipment or substantial modifications to existing customer premise equipment. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   As discussed above, the present invention relates to methods and apparatus for providing recording and/or transcription services, e.g., as part of a communication system. 
   The present invention provides a remotely located recording and/or transcription device coupled to one or more audio sources, e.g., telephones. One or more networking devices, e.g., telephone switches, may be used to couple the telephones to the recording and transcription device of the present invention. 
   In a single user embodiment, the recording device records the audio signal received from the audio source, e.g., a single telephone. It then transmits the recorded audio, e.g., speech, to a transcription device which performs a speech recognition operation on the received audio. A transcript, e.g., a set of text, generated by performing the speech recognition operation is produced and transmitted to the user of the service. Transcript delivery may be by way of an E-mail message, posting of the transcript on an Internet site to which the user has access, and/or by faxing the generated transcript to the user using a fax number provided by the user. 
   While the transcript device can be used to generate a transcript in real time, the system of the present invention need not be implemented as a real time transcription device. 
   In one embodiment, the system of the present invention delivers transcripts minutes or hours after the audio input is received and recorded. This approach provides several advantages. First, because the transcription process is not performed in real time, the speech recognition task can be performed in a time period that is considerably longer than the duration of the speech upon which the recognition operation is performed. This allows for multiple speech recognition passes to be made using various speech recognition techniques, as is known in the speech recognition art, to improve recognition accuracy. It also allows for the speech recognizer to operate at a slower speed than would be required for real time speech recognition. Thus lower cost (slower) processors can be used to perform the speech recognition operation if desired. In addition, non-real time recognition facilitates the efficient use of a speech recognizer as a shared network resource since sequential processing of simultaneously received and recorded audio signals is made possible. 
   Implementing the speech recognizer used in the transcription system as a shared resource also allows for the use of a far more expensive, and potentially far more accurate, speech recognizer than individual users of the system could afford to purchase independently. The potential for providing transcripts with a greater degree of accuracy than most customer premise equipment would be able to provide, and the advantage of eliminating the need for customers to invest in transcription equipment is a feature which should appeal to many potential customers of the speech transcription services of the present invention. 
   While one embodiment of the present invention is directed to generating an audio recording and transcript from audio signals corresponding to a single user, other embodiment are directed to making transcripts from audio signals received from multiple sources, e.g., users. The multiple audio sources may be, e.g., different telephones operating in speaker phone mode placed in front of different individuals located in the same conference room or telephones responding to different individuals participating in a telephone conference. 
   In accordance with various embodiments of the present invention, a different communication channel is used to provide the audio originating from each separate audio source. The audio from each channel is recorded and a source identifier, e.g., telephone number is associated with the recording. Time and date stamps are included in the audio recording for subsequent use by the transcription device of the present invention. A conference ID may also be added to identify different recordings corresponding to the same conference. 
   Thus, in accordance with the present invention the speech from each member of a meeting or telephone conference for which a transcript is to be automatically generated is independently recorded. The recorded time stamps facilitate the subsequent correlation of the audio recorded from the separate channels and allows for a combined time correlated transcript to be generated using automated speech recognition techniques. 
   Automated speech recognition operations can be performed on the recorded audio to automatically generate text transcripts therefrom. Alternatively, all or portions of the recorded audio may be provided to human beings for transcription or to be used for other purposes. 
   In accordance with various embodiments of the present invention, each recorded audio channel is separately transcribed using automated speech recognition techniques. The generated transcripts corresponding to each separate audio source of a meeting or telephone conference is then combined into a composite transcript. 
   In one embodiment, the composite transcript includes an audio source identifier, e.g., telephone number or party name before each portion of text included in the transcript. Text segments corresponding to different audio sources are interleaved in the composite transcript in the order the speech segments occurred. 
   In the above described manner the methods and apparatus of the present invention provide communication service providers, e.g., telephone companies, the opportunity to provide a new service, e.g., a transcription service. In addition, it offers communication service providers which currently provide telephone conference service an enhanced form of the service, i.e., a telephone conference service with an automatic transcript generation feature. 
   Additional features, embodiments and advantages of the methods and apparatus of the present invention are discussed below in the detailed description which follows. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a known system for providing a telephone conferencing service. 
       FIG. 2  is a generalized schematic diagram of an exemplary communication system having transcription services in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. 
       FIG. 3  is a more detailed diagram of the system of the present invention illustrated in FIG.  2 . 
       FIG. 4 , which comprises the combination of  FIGS. 4A and 4B , is a flow diagram, illustrating the operation of the communication system of  FIGS. 2 and 3 . 
       FIG. 5  is a diagram of a telephone conferencing system with automated speech transcription capabilities that may be implemented in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     FIG. 2  shows a voice communication system  10  of the present invention. The communication system  10  includes a switching network  11  coupled to (n) communication units U 1 , U 2  and Un, e.g., telephones, via respective communication channels C 1 , C 2  and Cn. 
   Switching network  11 , which may be, e.g., a public telephone switching network, operates to selectively couple one or more of the communication units to a transcript server  12  via one or more of (p) communication channels L 1 , L 2  and Lp. The communication units U 1 , U 2  and Un are remotely located from the switching network  11  and transcript server  12 . For example, the communication units and transcript server may be located in separate buildings, towns, or even different countries in the case of international telephone calls. Transcript server  12  communicates with transcription system  13 . The transcript server  12  includes a multi-channel recording device  16  suitable for simultaneously recording audio signals received from multiple different communication units. The transcript server normally records audio signals from each communication channel separately. In various embodiments it also associates time/date stamps, communication unit ID information and/or conference Id information with each separate recording. The transcript server has the capability of providing the recording to the transcription system  13  which is coupled thereto. The transcription system performs a speech recognition operation on recordings received from the transcript server  12 . The transcription system  13  has the capability of combining recognized speech from multiple channels into a composite transcript. 
     FIG. 3  illustrates the communication system  10  of  FIG. 2  in greater detail. As illustrated in  FIG. 3 , the transcript server  12  comprises an input/output (I/O) interface  28  which is responsible for interfacing between internal components of the server  12  and the various devices and communications channels coupled thereto including, e.g., the transcription system  13 , the Internet  17  and communications channels L 1  . . . LP. 
   In addition to the I/O interface  28 , the transcript server  12  comprises a memory  30 , a CPU  38 , the multi-channel recording device  16  and a digital data storage device  40 . The storage device may be, e.g., a hard disk drive. These transcript server components  30 ,  38 ,  16  and  40  are coupled to each other and the I/O interface  28  by a common bus  35 . The memory includes a plurality of routines which, upon execution by the CPU  38  control transcript server operation. The routines stored in memory  30  include interface routines  32  for controlling I/O operations, recording/time stamping routines  34  used for controlling the multi-channel recording device  16  and various other application routines  36 , e.g., speech recognition, DTMF recognition, and call connection routines. The speech and DTMF recognition routines may be used by the CPU  38  to recognize transcript related identification information and delivery instructions provided by a user of the system. 
   The recording device  16  is capable of simultaneously generating a separate audio recording corresponding to each of the supported input channels L 1  to LP. Recordings generated by the recording device  16  are stored in the data storage device  40  prior to transmission to the transcription system  13 . The data storage device  40  may also be used for storing transcripts, in the form of electronic sets of text, provided by the transcription system  13  to the transcript server  12 , e.g., for storage and delivery. 
   The transcription system  13  comprises an I/O interface  50 , a speech recognizer  52 , data storage device  54 , a CPU  56  and memory  58  for storing various routines. The memory  58  includes transcript generation routines  60 , text correlation routines  62  and I/O routines  64 . It may also include speech templates and/or models used by the speech recognizer  52  to perform speech recognition. The transcript generation routines are responsible for controlling the CPU  56  to process the results of the speech recognition operations performed by the speech recognizer  52 . A transcript is generated for each recording provided by the transcript server. The non-voice data, e.g., user ID, conference ID, time and date stamps included in the recording to which a transcript corresponds, are also included in the generated transcript. 
   The correlation routines  62  control the CPU  56  to generate a composite transcript from multiple transcripts which include the same conference ID. This may be done, as discussed above, by interleaving text from multiple transcripts as a function of the time stamps included therein. User or device ID information is normally inserted preceding each interleaved text segment to aid in identifying the source of the speech. Transcripts generated by the transcript generation routines and composite transcripts generated by the correlation routines are stored in the data storage device  54 . 
   The I/O routines  64  are responsible for controlling communications between the transcript server  12  and the transcription system  13 . Thus, the I/O routines  64  control the transmission of the completed transcript or transcripts to the transcript server. 
   Operation of the system  10 , in one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, will now be discussed in detail with reference to FIG.  4 .  FIG. 4  is a flow chart illustrating the steps involved with generating a transcript using the system  10  of the present invention. 
   During operation, switching network  11  receives requests for connection to a transcription service provider from one or more subscribers via communication units U 1 , U 2  and Un. This event is represented in  FIG. 4  as step  402 . The request may be in the form of a telephone number corresponding to the transcript server  12 . In response, in step  404  switching network  11  establishes a communication path between the requester&#39;s communication unit, say communication unit U 2 , to transcript server  12 . The established communication path includes the corresponding communication channel C 2  which couples the communication unit to the switching network, and an available communication channels L 1 -Lp, say channel L 1 , which couples the switching network to the transcript server  12 . Dashed line  15  represents the switched connection established by switching network  11  linking communication channels C 2  and L 1 . 
   In response to establishment of the communication path to the communication device U 2 , the transcript server, in step  406 , prompts the user, i.e., the requester, to provide transcription related information. This may include a request for a speaker identifier, e.g., name, to be used in the transcript, and information on how the transcript is to be delivered, e.g., by fax, E-mail, etc. A request for speaker identifier information may be avoided by using automatic number identification (ANI) information provided by the switching network and an enhanced caller ID service which provides caller name and device ID (e.g., telephone number) information. The request may also include information requesting a conference ID used to identify which audio input should be combined into a composite conference transcript. 
   The user of the system can respond to the transcript server prompt either orally or via the use of DTMF signals (touch tones). Step  408  represents receipt of the requested information from the user. Upon receiving the requested information from the caller, the transcript server enters a recording mode in step  410 . The transcript server  412  indicates that it is ready to begin recording by transmitting a signal to the user. The signal may be, e.g., an audio tone of the type commonly used by telephone answering machines to indicate readiness to begin recording. 
   In response to the transcription server ready signal, the requester begins providing speech input which is transmitted from communication unit U 2  to server line L 1  over communication channel C 2 . The transcript server  12  generates and stores, for each communication channel in use, a separate recording of any received speech, e.g., a digital audio recording. Time stamp, date, user ID, device ID, conference Id (if any) and the received transcript delivery information are also generated and recorded with the received audio. Recording of such information, at least in some embodiments, is optional. For example, where a composite transcript will not be generated, time stamp and conference ID information may be omitted from the recorded data. In addition, only one of the user and device Ids may be recorded and used subsequently as a speech source identifer. 
   Audio recordings produced by transcript server  12  are provided, in step  418 , to transcription system  13 . The transcription system  13  is responsible for performing, in step  420 , an automated speech recognition operation on the recorded speech. The transcription system  13  generates, in step  422 , a transcript, e.g., a set of text corresponding to recognized speech in the recording, for each recording received from the transcript server  12 . 
   After a transcript is generated, in step  424  a determination is made by the transcription system  13  as to whether a composite transcript is to be produced. This check can be done by determining if the recording used to generate the transcript includes a conference ID indicating that the generated transcript corresponds to a portion of a conference. 
   In the case where transcripts of speech from multiple users are to be combined into a composite transcript, e.g., a transcript of a conference where a different one of the communication devices U 1  . . . Un is used by each conference participant, a composite, e.g., time correlated, transcript is generated in step  426 . This can, and in one embodiment is, done by time correlating and interleaving the text from the various transcripts corresponding to individual meeting participants of the same conference into a single composite transcript. 
   Transcript delivery is effected in step  428 , in the  FIG. 2  embodiment, via the transcript server  12 . The transcript server  12  receives transcripts generated by the transcript system  13  and transmits them according to the received delivery instructions. Generated and/or composite transcripts may be delivered in step  428 . Transcript delivery may be in electronic form, e.g., by transmitting an electronic version of the generated transcript as part of an E-mail, e.g., as a file attachment, to a computer  18  via, the Internet  17 , a LAN connection, or another connection. The transcript may, alternatively, be posted on a server, e.g., the computer  18  that is coupled to the Internet. In such an embodiment the transcript can be accessed by multiple parties, e.g., the meeting participants. Alternatively, it can be faxed by the transcript server  12  via the switching network  11  to one or more fax machines  14  coupled thereto. The audio recordings from which the transcript was made can be delivered with the transcript if desired, except of course, in the case of fax delivery. 
   In an alternative embodiment, transcript delivery is performed by the transcription system  13 , via an Internet or telephone connection via one of the above described transmission techniques. Such an embodiment has the advantage of not requiring further involvement by the transcript server in the transcript preparation and delivery process after the audio/data recordings are forwarded to the transcription system  13 . 
   With delivery of the transcript in step  428 , transcript generation and delivery is complete pending the next transcript generation request. 
   The above description of communication system  10  broadly outlines an exemplary recording and transcription embodiment of the present invention. It is contemplated that many variations, modifications and specific implementations are possible. The network formed by communication units U 1 -Un, communication channels C 1 -Cn, and switching network  11  may be implemented with a wide spectrum of conventional communications networks, such as an ordinary telephone system, an advanced digital data network, a packet switched network, or a cell switched (e.g., ATM) network. Communication units U 1 -Un may include analog and/or digital, e.g., ISDN, land-based telephone sets, mobile radio transceivers, or the like, while communication channels C 1 -Cn may include wire pairs, ISDN lines, microwave radio channels, optical fibers, coaxial cables, satellites, etc. 
   Transcript server  12  may be implemented as a computer-based system capable of providing management, storage and control functions for itself and transcription system  13 . Electronic voice recognition devices having speech-to-text capabilities are well known. Such systems may be used, in accordance with the methods of the present invention, to implement transcription system  13 . 
   Numerous modifications and variations of communication system  10 , are contemplated and will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the present description. For example, any number of transcript servers  12  and/or transcription systems  13  may be used in the network and there need not be a one to one match between the number of transcript servers  12  and transcription systems  13 . In addition, the transcription system  13  may be located at a site that is physically remote from the transcript server  12  with a single remotely located transcription system  13  servicing one or more transcript servers  12 . 
     FIG. 5  is a diagram of a telephone conferencing system  500  with automated speech transcription capabilities implemented in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. Elements of the  FIG. 5  embodiment which are the same as, or similar to, those of the earlier described embodiments are identified using the same reference numbers used in preceding figures. 
   As illustrated, the telephone conferencing system  500  includes a plurality of telephone devices T 1 , T 2 , Tn, a switching network  11 , a computer  18 , a fax machine  14 , transcript server  512 , transcription system  13  and a conference bridge  503 . Each of the telephones T 1 , T 2 , . . . Tn are multi-line phones which are coupled to the switching network  11  via at least two communication channels. Telephone T 1  is coupled to the switching network via communication channels C 1  and C 1 ′. In a similar manner, telephones T 2  and Tn are coupled to the switching network  11  via communication channel pairs C 2 , C 2 ′ and C 3 , C 3 ′, respectively. 
   The switching network  11  may be part of a public telephone switching network. For example, the switching network  11  may be implemented using a central office telephone switch. In the  FIG. 5  embodiment, the switching network is coupled to the transcript server  512  via (p) communication channels L 1 , L 2 , LP while the conference bridge is coupled to the switching network  11  via (p) communication channels L 1 ′, L 2 ′, LP′. 
   The transcript server  512  and conference bridge  503  each include I/O interfaces for interfacing with the communication channels coupled thereto and to one another. In the  FIG. 5  embodiment, the transcript server  512  is similar in design to the  FIG. 3  transcript server. However, the I/O interface of the transcript server  512  is used to couple the server  512  to the conference bridge  503  in addition to the other devices mentioned in the  FIG. 3  embodiment. 
   The conference call automated transcription process of the present invention involves coupling a first communication channel associated with each one of the phones T 1 , T 2 , Tn which are to participate in a telephone conference, to the transcript server  512  while coupling the second communication channel associated with each one of the phones T 1 , T 2 , Tn, which are to participate in a telephone conference, to the conference bridge  503 . 
   The conference bridge  503  operates to establish a bridge between the participating telephones using the second set of communication channels thereby establishing a telephone conference call. At the same time, the transcript server  512  initiates a recording operation which involves the recording of audio received via the first communication channels associated with each of the participating telephones. A separate recording is made from the audio received via each of the utilized first communication channels. In one such embodiment, telephone (device) ID information and a telephone conference Id is associated with each recording. In addition, the recordings are time and date stamped. Generation of a composite transcript and delivery of the composite transcript occurs in the same manner as described above in regard to the  FIGS. 2 and 3  embodiments. 
   In accordance with the present invention the conference call may be scheduled and initiated in a variety of ways. For example, a conference call may be scheduled by the computer  18  contacting the transcript server  512  via the Internet and providing scheduling information thereto. Scheduling information may include the time the conference is to occur. The scheduling information can also identify the participants, e.g., by both primary and secondary communication channel telephone numbers. The transcript server  512  can assign a conference ID to the scheduled conference. At or near the time of the scheduled call, the telephone devices participating in the conference call dial, e.g., using pre-programmed telephone number information, both the transcript server  512  and the conference bridge  503 . The participating telephones are programmed to provide microphone (audio transducer) signals directly to the first communication channel and to utilize the second communication channel in a conventional manner. In this manner, each of the first communication channels provides the contribution of a single conference participant to the transcript server  512  for recording and transcript generation purposes. At the time the transcript server  512  and conference bridge  503  are contacted, they each identify a calling device using caller ID and associate the assigned conference ID with the conference participants. 
   In response to the calls, the conference bridge  503  bridges the second communication channels of the conference participants while the transcript server generates independent recordings of the audio received via each of the first communication channels. The assigned conference Id and the detected caller (device) Id information is included with the generated audio recordings. 
   Consider for example a conference call involving telephones T 1  and T 2 . Once the conference call is established, a first communication paths, represented in  FIG. 5  using long dashed lines, will be established between telephones T 1 , T 2  and the transcript server. One of these communication channels will carry the speech input from the user of telephone T 1  while the other will carry the speech input from the user of telephone T 2 . Each channel will be recorded separately, with time and date stamps, by the transcript server  512  resulting in a recording of T 1 &#39;s contribution to the telephone conference and another recording of T 2 &#39;s contribution to the telephone conference. 
   The second communication channels associated with telephones T 1  and T 2  are coupled, as illustrated in  FIG. 5  by the small dashed lines, to the conference bridge  503 . The conference bridge bridges the second communication channels to establish the conference call. Accordingly, the second communications channels carry the speech contributions obtained from both T 1  and T 2 . 
   While the conference call automated transcript generation processes of the present invention has been described in a scheduled conference call dial in embodiment, it is apparent that other techniques for initiating the conference call may be employed. For example, transcript server  512  can be programmed to dial the first telephone lines associated with each conference call participant while the conference bridge dials the secondary telephone numbers of each of the conference call participants. Other ways of establishing conference calls utilizing a first set of communication channels coupled to a transcript server  512  and a second set of communication channels coupled to a conference bridge  503  will be apparent to those skilled in the art, in view of the preceding discussion. 
   While the telephone conference transcription process of the present invention can be implemented using analog multi-line phones, ISDN phones are particularly well suited for use as the telephones T 1 , T 2 , Tn. ISDN lines support two data channels which can be used as independent communication paths. Thus, one ISDN channel can be used for coupling a telephone to the transcript server  512  while the second ISDN channel can be used to couple the same telephone to the conference bridge  503 . As discussed above, the second channel would be used to carry the input of all telephone conference participants while the first channel would be used to carry only the contribution of the participant using the individual telephone. Alternative conference transcription embodiments including voice over data networks where data and/or other communication networks are used as opposed to telephone networks are contemplated. In such embodiments communication devices, e.g., H.323 international standard compliant devices with microphones may be used. 
   In view of the above discussion, it is apparent that the automated methods and apparatus of the present invention can be used to create transcripts corresponding to individuals, to groups of people attending a conference occurring at a single physical location, e.g., room, or to remotely located individuals participating in a telephone conference. 
   While the above discussion has focussed largely on the automated transcription methods and apparatus of the present invention, the audio recording methods and apparatus of the present invention may be useful independent of the transcript generation process. For example, it may be desirable to create and preserve separate audio recordings of the contributions of individual telephone conference participants. 
   The methods and apparatus of the present invention may also be used, e.g., to generate court transcripts and/or transcripts of other legal proceedings.