Abstract:
A system and method are provided for producing a real-time transcript of a live presentation. A stenographer produces a stream of phonemes which are translated into human language text and further formatted for presentation on a display device, such as in a web browser. A computer readable file is stored on a server an contains the human language text which has been formatted for presentation on a display device. The computer readable file is periodically concatenated to include the most recent text. The computer readable file is periodically transmitted over a network to client computers to be displayed in a client application, such as a web browser, and can be transmitted at set intervals, or at the request of the client.

Description:
[0001]    that allows any language that can be represented phonetically to be written in real-time on a stenotype machine by a trained and licensed stenographer. This capability has existed since 1987. The phonetic language is translated into English language text in real-time along with the appropriate punctuation and paragraph formatting.  
           [0002]    When the spoken word is captured by phonetic strokes on a stenographic device, the phonemes are captured and interpreted by Computer Assisted Translation (CAT) software running on a computer. The CAT software has the ability to translate the phonemes into English text in real-time and output this text via a communications port, such as, for instance, an RS-232 serial port.  
           [0003]    Digital technology and the Internet allow a wide variety of media types to be transmitted quickly to any computer connected to the Internet. Examples of the types of media which can be transmitted are audio and video files, image files, text files, and the like. Streaming media have become a popular means of transmitting live presentations to a wide audience over the Internet. Streaming presentations often include video and audio information. Unfortunately, not all computers connected to the Internet are capable of receiving streaming audio and video. Furthermore, it is not always desirable to receive a streaming presentation in video or audio format even if the computer is capable of doing so.  
           [0004]    Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide access to a real-time text transcript of a presentation. The text transcript would have the advantages of being accessible to a wider range of computers, and also would provide an alternative format for users desiring to avoid a streaming audio and/or video presentation. Furthermore, real-time text transcripts could be used in conjunction with streaming audio/video presentations to enhance the presentations, and provide a more complete record of a presentation.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0005]    The present invention relates to the output and subsequent data processing of text that is generated by the processes of the phonetic writing device and/or the CAT devices and/or programs.  
           [0006]    The present invention relates to a system for providing a transcript of a live presentation comprising a transcription device adapted to produce human readable text in real time from a spoken presentation, a formatter adapted to produce formatted text from the human readable text for display on a display device, and a server connected to a network for storing the formatted text in a file.  
           [0007]    The present invention is further related to a method of providing a transcript of a presentation comprising the steps of converting a spoken presentation into human readable text, formatting the human readable text for display on a display device, and storing the formatted text in a file on a server connected to a network.  
           [0008]    The present invention is further related to a computer readable medium of instructions for controlling a system to provide a transcript of a presentation. The medium of instructions includes a first set of instructions adapted to control the system to convert phonemes from a stenography machine into human readable text, a second set of instructions adapted to control the system to format said human readable text for display on a display device, and a third set of instructions adapted to control the system to store said formatted text in a file on a server connected to a network.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]    The various objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will be more readily understood from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the appended drawings, in which:  
         [0010]    FIG. l is a block diagram of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the transcript production system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention as shown in FIG. 1;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the client transcript system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention as shown in FIG. 1;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 4 is an example of a computer display screen shot generated by the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 5 is an example of a computer display screen shot generated by the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1; and  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 6 is an example of a computer display screen shot generated by the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1.  
         [0016]    Throughout the drawings, like reference numerals will be understood to refer to like parts and components. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0017]    A Real-Time Internet Transcript Presentation System in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in FIG. 1. The overall system  100  May be broken down into two main parts. The first part is the Transcript Production System  102 , and the second part is the Client Transcript System  104 . The Transcript Production System  102  converts a series of phonemes generated by the stenographer and converts them into HTML coded English text and transports them to a central server storage location. The Transcript Production System  102  will be described in further detail below. The Client Transcript System  104  presents the HTML coded English text within a client side application on a device such as a personal computer which is connected to a network such as the Internet.  
         [0018]    The Transcript Production System  102  will be further understood with reference to the following description in conjunction with FIG. 2. The Transcript Production System  102  comprises a stenographic writing device  106 , such as for instance the Stentura  4000 . The Stenographic writing device  106  is used by an stenographer to manually capture the spoken word of the presentation by typing phoems by pressing one or more steno keys simultaneously. A brief example of stenographic keystrokes in their respective translations into English is depicted in the following Table:  
                                           Steno written by           Stroke   Stenographer   Translated English                   1   WEL   Stroke 1 &amp; 2 combined for welcome       2   KOPZ   Welcome       3   TO   To       4   OUR   Our       5   SAOEUT   Site                  
 
         [0019]    The Transcript Production System  102  further comprises computer-rated translation (CAT) software running on a computer  108 . The computer  108  preferably has a communications port such RS-232 port and is connected to the stenographic writing device  106  through the RS-232 port. Of course, those of skill in the art will recognize that the invention is not limited to RS-232 port but rather that port is provided merely as an exemplary form of communication between the two devices. The computer  108  running the computer-assisted translation program converts phonetic symbols received from the stenographic writing device  106  into English text. Shown in the Table above are five exemplary steno strokes. The first two strokes form a concatenated steno string of WELKOPZ which is in turn translated into the work “welcome.” The “WELKOPZ” is the phonetic representation of the word “welcome.” The third stroke of “TO” translates to English “to.” Forth stroke of “OUR” translates to English “our”, and the fifth stroke of “SAOEUT” phonetically represents the word “site.” The translated English text from the TAT software is transmitted view computer  108  second communications port to a host computer  110  running a text transmission program. Of course, those of skill in the art will recognize the computer  108  and computer  110  could be the same computer running both the CAT software as well as the text transmission program. The text transmission program within computer  110  stores text received from the CAT program running on computer  108  until an incoming paragraph marker is recognized. Once a paragraph marker is recognized, the entire stored paragraph of text is prepared for transmission over a network connection to a text-receiving program located on computer  112 .  
         [0020]    In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the text sending program on computer  110  sends paragraphs of English text via a TCP/IP protocol on TCP port  7000  across the Internet where is received on the computer  112  TCP port  7000 . Thus, it would be understood that computer  110  and computer  112  can be any two computers with an Internet connection. The TCP is a standard protocol used to communicate across the Internet to a specific IP (Internet protocol) address a typically unique to each computer attached to the Internet. Port  7000  is typically an unused TCP port, but of course those of skill in the art will recognize it that any suitable TCP port could be used. Furthermore, any suitable means of communication between two computers is contemplated to be within the scope of the invention. The TCP/IP protocols are shown for illustrative purposes, as well as their widespread usage. Computer  112  running text receiving program listens on exemplary port  7000  for incoming TCP packets. The incoming TCP packets contain packaged text from the text-sending program on the computer  110 . As the text-receiving program running on computer  112  received packets of text, the text receiver program processes the text into an HTML document. This HTML is then appended or concatenated, to any prior HTML document to form a new HTML file. The new file is then placed on a storage server  114  where it can be accessed by a client.  
         [0021]    The client transcript system  104  will be better understood with reference to the following text in conjunction with FIG. 3. The client transcript system comprises a client side application  116  residing on a client computer  118 . The client side application  116  is a series of ASP (Active Server Pages) that are retrieve from an Internet Information Server  120 . The client is able to retrieve these pages by going to default URL (Universal Resource Locator), such as www.presentation.ibeam.com. The Active Server Pages can be viewed from within a standard web browser, as is understood in the art. It should be understood that ASP is described herein as one type of technology which allows for processing on a Microsoft web server using Internet Information Server software. ASP is not meant to be limiting, but rather it should be understood that any technology which provides for dynamic viewing of content within a web browser is considered to be within the scope of the invention. Within the default URL will be a link to a set of pages that will allow the client to authenticate himself or herself, if required, and to select the particular presentation URL for the on-line presentation they whish to view. The client is able to select the URL for their particular presentation within their browser and this request is sent from their computer  118  via TCP port  80  which as is known in the art is the standard TCP port address for HTTP communications.  
         [0022]    This request is delivered to the Internet Information Server  120  which is responsible for receiving and fulfilling URL requests. The Internet Information Server receives a requests via its corresponding TCP port  80 . The Internet Information Server (IIS)  120  response to a request by running specific scripts located in the ASP document corresponding to the selected URL. The requested URL in turn points to a specific ASP page which continues scripts, and code segments, to retrieve and return the presentation text that has been formatted into HTML documents. Thus, the Internet Information Server  120  retrieves the HTML document associated with the relevant presentation from the server  114  and transmits the HTML documents back to the client computer  118  via TCP port  80 . Upon a request, the ASP page causes the Internet Information Server to retrieve the most recent version of the HTML document stored on server  114 . The text in the HTML document is then packaged and sent back to the client via the TCP port  80 . The HTML text is then received at TCP port  80  on the client computer  118  and is displayed within the Internet browser running on the client&#39;s computer  118 .  
         [0023]    It should be understood that the presentation transcript is being delivered “live.” However, the text is being transmitted to the host upon connection and there is no guarantee that the client will connect before the presentation begins, that each client will connect at the same time, or that each client reads at the same rate of speed. A system according to an embodiment of the present invention is capable of dealing with all three of those conditions. Regardless of when the client connects to the presentation URL, the most current text on the initial connection will be presented to the client within his browser. The following examples of how presentation transcript is transmitted to the client will be better understood with reference to FIGS. 4, 5 and  6 .  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 4 illustrates a screen shot of a transcript presentation in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The screen shot represents what a user of a client PC would view within a standard browser window  400  once connected to a live presentation transcript. A presentation title  402  is presented. A presentation status button is presented at  404 , and the presentation text presently available is displayed at  406 . For the convenience of the user, and introductory text may be inserted before any transcription, as shown at  408 . In this view, and initial portion of transcribed text is displayed, as shown at  410 . As shown in FIG. 4, the status button  404  displays the message “Additional Text Not Available”. In this manner the user is made aware that their browser is displaying all of the text presently available for the presentation.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 5 illustrates a screen shot as in FIG. 4, after a period of time has elapsed, and more text has been made available for the presentation. In this view, status button  404  displays the message “Click Here for More Text.” The user has the option of clicking on this button to cause the browser to retrieve and display additional text transcribed from the live presentation since the last time the browser was updated.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 6 illustrates a screen shot as in FIG. 5, showing an example of what the user would see after clicking on the status button  404  displaying the message “Click Here for More Text.” The browser  400  has connected to the server  114 , and retrieved the most recent formatted text which has been generated from the live presentation. The additional text is added to the previously displayed text, and is shown in FIG. 6 at  410 .  
         [0027]    In the manner illustrated in FIGS.  4 - 6 , a system according to the present invention is capable of delivering a text transcript of a live presentation, in real-time, over the Internet to users at computers connected to the Internet.  
         [0028]    As will be understood, the forgoing example is described for illustrative purposes only, and the invention could take on a wide variety of implementations, and remain within the scope of the invention. The forgoing description is not intended to be limiting in any way, but rather the scope of the invention is set forth in the following claims.