Patent Publication Number: US-2009234643-A1

Title: Transcription system and method

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates in general to a transcription system and method. It more particularly relates to a transcription system and method for providing real-time transcribing of voice messages over a telephone system. 
     BACKGROUND ART 
     There is no admission that the background art disclosed in this section legally constitutes prior art. 
     There have been a variety of transcription systems and methods. For example, reference may be made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,283,818; 5,572,576; 6,230,199; and 7,072,684, and to United States Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0223502. 
     A conventional transcription service system waits until an audio file is recorded, and then transmits a copy of the audio file to the system, which then connects the audio file to a transcriber. The transcribed text is then sent back to the system, which either stores the transcribed text file and/or notifies the user via short message service (SMS), text message, email, or others. Such a system induces delays in receiving by the user the transcribed text for the audio message. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The features of this invention and the manner of attaining them will become apparent, and the invention itself will be best understood by reference to the following description of certain embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a transcription system according to an embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIGS. 2-6  are flowchart diagrams of the transcription method utilized by the transcription system of  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION 
     It will be readily understood that the components of the embodiments as generally described and illustrated in the drawings herein, could be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations. Thus, the following more detailed description of the embodiments of the system, components and method of the present invention, as represented in the drawings, is not intended to limit the scope of the invention, as claimed, but is merely representative of the embodiments of the invention. 
     A transcription system and method for use in a variety of applications, including business, legal, medical, voicemail, and others, are disclosed. The transcription system may include a telephony server, an audio broadcast server, a computer server, and a plurality of agent transcribers. The system may allow the real-time transcription of an audio message from a caller by streaming the message to an agent transcriber, which may then transcribe the message into text in real-time. The real time streaming enable a rapid transcription to be made available to the caller. 
     One embodiment of the system and method relates to streaming in one portion of the audio message to a first available agent transcriber for transcription purposes, and to providing a pre-streamed recorded portion of the same audio message to a subsequently available second agent transcriber to provide rapid transcription of the audio message. 
     In accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention, there is provided a transcription system for facilitating the transcription of audio messages. The transcription system may include a telephony server for receiving an audio message from a customer, an audio broadcast server coupled to the telephony server for streaming the message from the customer in real-time, at least one agent transcriber for receiving the streamed audio message from the audio broadcast server for facilitating the transcribing of the streamed audio message into a transcription text file, and a computer server for providing the customer access to the transcribed text file. 
     According to a method of a disclosed embodiment of the invention, there is provided a method of transcription including receiving an audio message from a customer via a telephone, transmitting the audio message in real-time to an agent transcriber, facilitating the transcribing of the audio message into a transcription text file as the customer is speaking the audio message, and providing the text file to the customer substantially immediately after the completion of the audio message by the customer. 
     In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a transcription system including means for receiving an audio message from a customer via a telephone, means for transmitting the audio message in real-time to an agent transcriber, means for facilitating the transcribing of the audio message into a transcription text file as the customer is speaking the audio message, and means for providing the text file to the customer substantially immediately after the completion of the audio message by the customer. 
     The transcription system and method may allow subscribers/users to manage multiple sources of audio to be immediately transcribed, such as dictation, voicemails, podcasts, audio notes, etc. The subscriber/user may have the ability to select what type of transcription, translation, or captioning is to be performed. To achieve real-time voice to text transcription, transcription agents/technicians may be notified and provided access to the message to transcribe and/or translate it, while the subscriber/user is speaking. The transcribed text file may then be provided to the subscriber/user immediately after the subscriber/user completes their message. 
     The transcription system and method may further be capable of receiving and storing audio files for the purpose of immediate transcription and/or translation and then sent back to the subscriber/user. These stored audio files may also be transcribed in different speech blocks by different transcribers for security and/or speed. 
     To overcome the delay of the typical transcription systems, an incoming audio message may be transcribed by an agent as the message is being received into the system as a caller&#39;s voicemail to the subscriber/user (customer) or as dictation by the customer. By the time the caller/customer ends the message by terminating the call/connection, the audio message may be already transcribed and may be delivered immediately to the customer. 
     When the customer establishes a connection to transmit dictation or a caller establishes a connection to leave a message for the customer, an available agent may be selected based on the customer&#39;s preferences such as, language for example. The call may be monitored by the transcription agent without the customer/caller being aware of the agent&#39;s presence. As the customer/caller is leaving the dictation/message, the transcription agent may transcribe the real-time audio into text in real-time into a transcribed text file. 
     The transaction may be given a unique identification number, so that the transcribed text file may be tied to the audio message left by the customer/caller. Upon termination of the call by the customer/caller, the transcribed text file may be submitted by the agent into the transcription system and stored in a transaction database with the unique transaction identification number. The transcription system may also save the recorded audio to an audio file that may be logged into the transaction database with the same transaction identification number as the transcribed text file. The customer may then be able to receive their transcribed text file and audio file immediately after the message has been dictated to the agent. 
     If no appropriate transcription agents are available at the time of the call, the message may be recorded and stored in an audio file in the transaction database of the transcription system and be available for the customer to access. The recorded audio file may also be placed in a queue database until an agent is available to download the message, transcribe it, and send the transcribed text file back to the system where it is placed in the transaction database with the audio file. One or more transcription agents may complete this transcription. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 1 , a transcription system, generally referenced as  10 , may include a telephony server  12 , a audio broadcast server  14 , a computer server  16 , and a group of agent transcribers including a group of agent computer transcribers  18 ,  21  and a group of agent software transcribers  47 ,  49 . A plurality of user telephones  23 ,  27 ,  32 ,  34  may access the transcription system  10  via telephony server  12 . Messages from the subscriber/users of these telephones may be provided to the transcription system  10  to be transcribed and returned via the computer server  16  to the appropriate user computer, such as a computer  25  for the user of the telephone  23  and a computer  29  for the user of the telephone  27 . 
     The telephony server  12  may be a device with telephony software that accepts incoming telephone calls from Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) or public switched telephone network (PSTN) lines and allows multiple concurrent connections for the subscriber/users and individuals contacting the subscriber/user. User telephones  23  and  27  may access the telephony server  12  using VoIP over the Internet, and user telephones may access the telephony server  12  over PSTN lines. The telephony server  12  may interact with a customer database  36  for accessing customer information, a transaction database  38  for accessing transactional information, an audio memory  45  for storing audio files, and the audio broadcast server  14  for streaming incoming audio messages. See Table 1 for data that may be stored in the customer database  36 , and Table 2 for data that may be stored in the transaction database  38 . 
     
       
         
           
               
             
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
             
            
               
                   
               
               
                 Customer Database 
               
            
           
           
               
               
            
               
                 Software Name 
                 Description 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 customeruid 
                 customer&#39;s unique identifier 
               
               
                 customerusername 
                 customer&#39;s user name 
               
               
                 customerpassword 
                 customer&#39;s password 
               
               
                 customerfirstname 
                 customer&#39;s first name 
               
               
                 customerlastname 
                 customer&#39;s last name 
               
               
                 customeraddress 
                 customer&#39;s address 
               
               
                 customercity 
                 customer&#39;s city 
               
               
                 customerstate 
                 customer&#39;s state 
               
               
                 customeremail 
                 customer&#39;s email address 
               
               
                 smsemailaddress 
                 customer&#39;s SMS email address 
               
               
                 disk_usage 
                 customer&#39;s disk usage 
               
               
                 customerpin 
                 customer&#39;s personal identification 
               
               
                   
                 number (PIN) 
               
               
                 emailpin 
                 customer&#39;s email PIN 
               
               
                 pricinglevel 
                 customer&#39;s pricing level 
               
               
                 defaultlanguageid 
                 customer&#39;s default language 
               
               
                   
                 identifier 
               
               
                 timezone 
                 customer&#39;s time zone 
               
               
                 max_audio_time 
                 customer&#39;s maximum audio time 
               
               
                 default_transcription_service_type 
                 customer&#39;s default transcription 
               
               
                   
                 service type 
               
               
                 customerphonenumber 
                 customer&#39;s telephone number 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     
       
         
           
               
             
               
                 TABLE 2 
               
             
            
               
                   
               
               
                 Transaction Database 
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
            
               
                   
                 Software Name 
                 Description 
               
               
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 transactionuid 
                 transaction&#39;s unique identifier 
               
               
                   
                 customeruid 
                 customer&#39;s unique identifier 
               
               
                   
                 transtitle 
                 transaction&#39;s title 
               
               
                   
                 media_location 
                 location of the audio file 
               
               
                   
                 file_size 
                 size of the audio file 
               
               
                   
                 accesscount 
                 number of times this record has been 
               
               
                   
                   
                 accessed 
               
               
                   
                 audio_length 
                 length of audio file 
               
               
                   
                 inserted_time 
                 time audio file was inserted 
               
               
                   
                 transcription_status 
                 status of transcription (transcribed, 
               
               
                   
                   
                 waiting to be transcribed, failed, etc.) 
               
               
                   
                 cost 
                 cost to perform this transcription 
               
               
                   
                 transcribed_text 
                 transcribed text 
               
               
                   
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     The audio broadcast server  14  may be located in a secure environment and have the group of agent transcribers connected to it using audio broadcast client software. The agent transcribers may be agent computer transcribers  18 ,  21  for use by transcription agents and/or agent software transcribers  47 ,  49  having voice recognition software. The audio broadcast server  14  may also interact with an agent database  41  for accessing information regarding the agents, the transaction database  38  for providing transcribed text files, and a queue database  43  for storing information regarding audio files that could not be transcribed in real-time. The audio broadcast server  14  may further include a job queue server  56  and an agent availability table  73  that may contain the availability status of the agents. See Table 3 for data that may be stored in the agent database  41 , and Table 4 for data that may be stored in the queue database  43 . 
     
       
         
           
               
             
               
                 TABLE 3 
               
             
            
               
                   
               
               
                 Agent Database 
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
            
               
                   
                 Software Name 
                 Description 
               
               
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 agentid 
                 agent&#39;s unique identifier 
               
               
                   
                 agentname 
                 agent&#39;s name 
               
               
                   
                 agentusername 
                 agent&#39;s user name 
               
               
                   
                 agentpassword 
                 agent&#39;s password 
               
               
                   
                 agentlevel 
                 agent&#39;s level 
               
               
                   
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     
       
         
           
               
             
               
                 TABLE 4 
               
             
            
               
                   
               
               
                 Queue Database 
               
            
           
           
               
               
            
               
                 Software Name 
                 Description 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 transactionuid 
                 transaction&#39;s unique identifier 
               
               
                 customeruid 
                 customer&#39;s unique identifier 
               
               
                 working_agent 
                 agentid of agent working on the job 
               
               
                 agentlevel 
                 level of agent this will be assigned to 
               
               
                 jobstatus 
                 status of job = W: working; C: 
               
               
                   
                 completed; F: failed; NULL: default 
               
               
                 processed 
                 has job been processed 
               
               
                 queuepriority 
                 priority of job 
               
               
                 max_audio_transcription_time 
                 maximum audio time from customer 
               
               
                   
                 database 
               
               
                 joberrorcode 
                 error or success code returned by agent 
               
               
                 timestamp_queue_in 
                 time the job was placed in the queue 
               
               
                 timestamp_queue_grab 
                 time the job was assigned to an agent 
               
               
                 timestamp_queue_completed 
                 time the job was completed 
               
               
                 working_time 
                 amount of time the agent worked on job 
               
               
                 languageid 
                 language identifier 
               
               
                 transtype 
                 transcription service type 
               
               
                 transtext 
                 transcribed text 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     The computer server  16  may provide the transcribed text files and associated audio files or notification of the availability of these file to the appropriate user via user computer  25 ,  29  by email, SMS, or a text message. The computer server  16  may alternatively or additionally provide the user access to the transcribed text files and associated audio flies using their user computer  25 ,  29  via a secure website. 
     The agent computer transcribers  18 ,  21  may receive streamed incoming audio messages from the audio broadcast server  14  in real-time. One of agent computer transcribers  18 ,  21  may provide the audio message to a transcription agent using a headset  52 ,  54  or some other suitable device. After completing the transcription of the audio message, the agent using the agent computer transcriber  18 ,  21  may provide the transcribed text file to the transaction database  38  via the audio broadcast server  14 . 
     Alternatively, agent software transcribers  47 ,  49  may receive streamed incoming audio messages from the audio broadcast server  14  in real-time. The agent software transcribers  47 ,  49  may include voice recognition software that transcribes the audio message and provides the transcribed text file to the transaction database  38  via the audio broadcast server  14 . 
     In use, assume a call is initiated by user A from user telephone  23  to the transcription system  10  to have an audio message transcribed. The call may proceed through the Internet and be connected via line  60  to the telephony server  12 . The telephony server  12  may record the telephone number of the user telephone  23 , and check that number against the customer telephone numbers in the customer database  36 . If the telephone number matches one of the customer telephone numbers, the customer&#39;s unique identifier, greeting, transcription preferences, and other information may be passed to the telephony server  12  by the customer database  36 . The telephony server  12  may also request and receive a unique transaction identifier from the transaction database.  38 . The telephony server  12  may then play the greeting back to the user telephone across line  60  and open an audio broadcast session with the audio broadcast server  14  via line  62 . 
     The audio broadcast server  14  may receive the transaction identifier, the customer identifier, and the customer&#39;s transcription preferences from the telephony server  12 . With the customer&#39;s transcription preferences, the audio broadcast server  14  may determine the level of the agent required to perform the transcription, and then search the agent database  41  to obtain a list of agents having this level. The audio broadcast server  14  may then check the agent availability table  73  to see if any of the agents on this list of agents is available. Assuming that the agent using the agent computer transcriber  21  was on the list of agents having the appropriate level from the agent database  41  and was listed as available in the agent availability table  73 , the audio broadcast server may assign the transaction to the agent at the agent computer transcriber  21  and open a session on the agent computer transcriber  21  using the agent client module  77  via line  64 . The audio broadcast server  14  may provide the transaction identifier, the customer identifier, and transcription instructions to the agent client module  77 , which opens a window on the agent computer transcriber  21  that may include this information and a text box for the agent to enter the transcribed text. All of these actions may be completed during the time the telephony server  12  is playing the greeting to the user A. 
     Once the greeting is completed, the user A may begin entering his audio message. The audio message may travel from the user telephone  23  through the Internet and to the telephony server  12  via line  60 . The telephony server  12  may then simultaneously digitally stream the real-time audio message to the audio broadcast server  14  and digitally record the audio message in the audio memory  45 . The streamed real-time audio message may then be passed by the audio broadcast server  14  via line  64  to the agent computer transcriber  21 , which may transmit the real-time audio message to the agent using the headset  54  or other suitable device. The agent may then in real-time begin entering the transcribed text into the text box provided by the agent client module  77 . 
     When the user A completes his audio message and terminates the call, the telephony server  12  may terminate the streamed audio message and store the recorded audio message in an audio file in the audio memory  45  using the transaction identifier. When the streamed real-time audio messages ends, the agent may complete the transcription and submit the transcribed text file and the transaction identifier to the audio broadcast server  14  via line  66  using a “Submit” feature of the agent client module  77 . The audio broadcast server  14  may then transmit the transcribed text file and the transaction identifier to the transaction database  38  via line  68 , where the transcribed text file may be stored in a transcription file  79  using the transaction identifier. The transaction database  38  may also set a flag indicating that the transaction identified by this transaction identifier is complete. 
     Once the computer server  16  notices that the transaction is complete, the computer server  16  may access the transaction database  38  to retrieve the customer identifier, a copy of the transcribed text file, and the location of the audio file for this transaction identifier. The computer sever  16  may then access the audio memory  45  to retrieve a copy of the audio file and the customer database  36  to retrieve information about the customer including their email address. The computer server  16  may then create an email attaching a copy of the transcribed text file and a copy of the audio file, and send the email through the Internet via line  71  to the user computer  27  of user A. Since the transcription may be completed in real-time by the agent, this email may arrive at the user computer  27  very shortly after user A completes his audio message and terminates the call. 
     In operation, the transcription system and method may operate with reference to  FIGS. 2-6  as follows for transcribing an audio message, such as a voicemail to a customer, dictation from the customer, or other audio messages to be transcribed. At box  102  a call from a customer may be received by the transcription system. This call may be made directly from the customer&#39;s telephone or be call forwarded from the customer&#39;s telephone. The telephone number of the customer may be recorded in box  104 . For a call directly from the customer regarding dictation or other audio messages to be transcribed, when the customer calls the transcription system, the telephony server may pick up the line and record the telephone number of the customer using caller identification (callerID). For a voicemail, assume a call is placed to the customer&#39;s telephone number and is not answered. The unanswered call may then be call forwarded to the telephony server, which may pick up the line and record the telephone number of the person calling the customer and the telephone number of the customer forwarding the call using callerID. 
     The telephony server in box  106  may then check the customer database for the customer&#39;s telephone number. If the customer&#39;s telephone number does not exist in the customer database, the telephony server may terminate the call as shown in box  108 . If the telephone number of the customer belongs to a customer listed in the customer database, the telephony server in box  11  may then contact the transaction database and receiver an assignment of a unique transaction identifier (transactionID) for this transaction, while the customer database in box  113  may return the unique customer identifier (customerID) and transcription settings (language, type of transcription, account balance, etc.). 
     In box  115 , the telephony server may then play a greeting message to the user&#39;s telephone, such as “You have reached 619-819-xxxx, please leave a message”, or other customer call-type specific configured greeting. While the greeting is playing, the telephony server may also open an audio broadcast session to the audio broadcast server. The audio broadcast session may transmit the unique transactionID, the customerID, and other customer preferences, such as language, type of transcription, or other. The audio broadcast server in box  117  may then determine the level of the agent required for this customer and check the agent database for a list of agents matching the customer&#39;s preferences. Once the list of qualified agents is obtained, the audio broadcast server may access the agent availability table to see if any of the agents on the list of qualified agents is available as shown in box  119 . 
     If at least one qualified agent is available, the audio broadcast server in box  122  may assign the transaction to the available qualified agent and open a window on the agent&#39;s computer transcriber utilizing the agent client module that may include transaction specific information and a text box for entering the transcribed text. In box  124  the audio broadcast server may pass the transactionID, customerID, and other customer information, such as requested service type and other customer information, to the agent&#39;s computer transcriber so that it may be displayed in the window created by the agent client module. All of these actions may be completed prior to the end of the greeting message. 
     Once the greeting message is complete and the audio message from the user telephone begins, the audio message as shown in box  126  may be received by telephony server and digitally streamed in real-time through the audio broadcast server to the agent&#39;s computer transcriber. Simultaneously, the telephony server may be digitally recording the audio message in the audio memory. In box  128 , the agent may then begin transcribing in real-time the streamed real-time audio message while listening to it through a headset or other suitable device. The person leaving the audio message may not be aware the agent is listening to his call. 
     In box  131 , the customer may complete the audio message and terminate the call by hanging up the telephone. When the call has been terminated, the telephony server may terminate the streamed audio message and store the recorded audio message in an audio file using the transactionID as shown in box  133 . Upon termination of the streamed real-time audio message, the agent in box  135  may complete the transcription and submit a transcribed text file containing the transcription along with the transactionID to the audio broadcast server using a “Submit” button provided by the agent client module running on the agent&#39;s computer transcriber. 
     In box  137 , the audio broadcast server may store the transcribed text file using the transactionID in the transaction database and set a complete flag for this transactionID. When the computer server notices the set complete flag for this transactionID, the computer may access the transaction database, the customer database, and the audio memory to retrieve information regarding this transactionID, such as customerID, customer&#39;s email address, a copy of the transcribed text file, a copy of the audio file, and other information. With this information, the computer server may provide the customer access to the copy of the transcribed text file and the copy of the audio file as shown in box  139 . The computer server may create an email attaching the copy of the transcribed text file and the copy of the audio file, and send it to the customer&#39;s computer. Alternatively, the computer server may notify the customer via an email, SMS, text message, or other method, that the transcription may be complete and that the customer may access a copy of the transcribed text file and a copy of the audio file on the transcription system&#39;s secure website using their username and password. Since the transcription may be completed in real-time by the agent, this email may arrive at the user&#39;s computer very shortly after the customer completes his audio message and terminates the call. 
     However, if at box  119  the audio broadcast server does not find any agents on the list of qualified agents available in the agent availability table, the audio broadcast server in box  142  may assign the transaction to the queue in the queue database. A transaction record may be created in the queue database including the transactionID, the customerID, the required level of agent required by the customer, and other information as shown in box  144 . When the audio message commences after completion of the greeting message, the telephony server may begin to record the audio message in the audio memory under the transactionID. 
     In box  148 , the queue database server may be continually checking the agent availability table for an available agent from the list of qualified agents. If no agent from this list is available, the queue database server may continue to check the agent availability table for an available qualified agent. If a qualified agent is available, the queue database server may then determine if the call has been terminated in box  151 . 
     If the queue database server determines the call has been terminated, the queue database server in box  153  may assign the transaction to the available qualified agent and open a window on the agent&#39;s computer transcriber utilizing the agent client module that may include transaction specific information and a text box for entering the transcribed text. In box  155  the queue database server may pass the recorded audio file, transactionID, customerID, and other customer information, such as requested service type and other customer information, to the agent&#39;s computer transcriber so that it may be displayed in the window created by the agent client module. 
     In box  157 , the agent may listen to the audio file using the agent computer transcriber through a headset or other suitable device, and then may transcribe the audio message in the audio file into the text box in the window of the agent computer transcriber. Upon completion of the transcription in box  159 , the agent may submit a transcribed text file containing the transcription along with the transactionID to the audio broadcast server using a “Submit” button provided by the agent client module running on the agent&#39;s computer transcriber. 
     In box  162 , the audio broadcast server may store the transcribed text file using the transactionID in the transaction database and set a complete flag for this transactionID. When the computer server notices the set complete flag for this transactionID, the computer may access the transaction database, the customer database, and the audio memory to retrieve information regarding this transactionID, such as customerID, customer&#39;s email address, a copy of the transcribed text file, a copy of the audio file, and other information. With this information, the computer server may provide the customer access to the copy of the transcribed text file and the copy of the audio file as shown in box  164 . The computer server may create an email attaching the copy of the transcribed text file and the copy of the audio file, and send it to the customer&#39;s computer. Alternatively, the computer server may notify the customer via an email, SMS, text message, or other method, that the transcription may be complete and the customer may access a copy of the transcribed text file and a copy of the audio file on the transcription system&#39;s secure website using their username and password. 
     However, if the queue database server in box  151  determines that the call has not been terminated, the queue database server in box  166  may assign the streamed portion of the transaction to the first available qualified agent and open a window on the first agent&#39;s computer transcriber utilizing the agent client module that may include transaction specific information and a text box for entering the transcribed text. In box  168  the queue database server may pass the a streamed portion identifier, transactionID, customerID, and other customer information, such as requested service type and other customer information, to the agent&#39;s computer transcriber so that it may be displayed in the window created by the agent client module. 
     The telephony server in box  171  may then begin streaming the real-time portion of the audio message through the audio broadcast server to the first agent&#39;s computer transcriber. In box  173 , the first agent may then begin transcribing in real-time the streamed real-time audio message while listening to it through a headset or other suitable device. 
     In box  175 , the customer may complete the audio message and terminate the call by hanging up the telephone. When the call has been terminated, the telephony server may terminate the streamed audio message and store the recorded audio message in an audio file using the transactionID as shown in box  177 . Upon termination of the streamed real-time audio message, the agent in box  179  may complete the streamed portion of the transcription and submit the streamed portion of a transcribed text file containing the streamed portion of the transcription along with the transactionID and the streamed portion identifier to the audio broadcast server using a “Submit” button provided by the agent client module running on the agent&#39;s computer transcriber. 
     Simultaneously with the actions in boxes  166  through  179 , the queue database server in box  182  may continually checking the agent availability table for a another agent from the list of qualified agents. When a second qualified agent is available, the queue database server in box  184  may assign the pre-streamed recorded portion of the transaction to the second available qualified agent and open a window on the second agent&#39;s computer transcriber utilizing the agent client module that may include transaction specific information and a text box for entering the transcribed text. In box  186  the queue database server may pass a pre-streamed portion identifier, the pre-streamed recorded portion of the audio file, transactionID, customerID, and other customer information, such as requested service type and other customer information, to the second agent&#39;s computer transcriber so that it may be displayed in the window created by the agent client module. 
     In box  188 , the second agent may listen to the audio file using the agent computer transcriber through a headset or other suitable device, and then may transcribe the pre-streamed recorded portion of the audio message in the audio file into the text box in the window of the second agent&#39;s computer transcriber. Upon completion of the pre-streamed recorded portion of the transcription in box  191 , the second agent may submit the pre-streamed recorded portion of the transcribed text file containing the pre-streamed recorded portion of the transcription along with the pre-streamed portion identifier and transactionID to the audio broadcast server using a “Submit” button provided by the agent client module running on the second agent&#39;s computer transcriber. 
     In box  193 , the audio broadcast server may store the both the streamed and pre-streamed recorded portions using the transactionID in the transaction database and may combine the two portions to create a consolidated transcribed text file. The audio broadcast server may also store the consolidated transcribed text file in the transaction database using the transactionID and set a complete flag for this transactionID. When the computer server notices the set complete flag for this transactionID, the computer may access the transaction database, the customer database, and the audio memory to retrieve information regarding this transactionID, such as customerID, customer&#39;s email address, a copy of the consolidated transcribed text file, a copy of the audio file, and other information. With this information, the computer server may provide the customer access to the copy of the transcribed text file and the copy of the audio file as shown in box  195 . The computer server may create an email attaching the copy of the consolidated transcribed text file and the copy of the audio file, and send it to the customer&#39;s computer. Alternatively, the computer server may notify the customer via an email, SMS, text message, or other method, that the transcription may be complete and the customer may access a copy of the consolidated transcribed text file and a copy of the audio file on the transcription system&#39;s secure website using their username and password. Since the streamed portion of the transcription may be completed in real-time by the first agent, this email may arrive at the user&#39;s computer very shortly after the customer completes his audio message and terminates the call, if the second agent becomes available and completes the transcription of the pre-streamed recorded portion before or shortly after the termination of the call. 
     After the completion of the greeting message, the telephony server may begin recording the audio message from the caller to an audio file (wav, mp3, etc.) and simultaneously stream the real-time audio of the message. When the caller disconnects, the telephony server may stop transmitting the real-time audio message and save the recorded audio file. The telephony server may then again contact the transaction database and send it the transactionID, the caller information, and the audio file. During this call, if the transaction database has no agent assigned to the transaction, meaning an agent was not available in real-time, the audio file may also be placed in the queue database. 
     The audio broadcast server may be located in a secure environment and may have agents connected to it using audio broadcast client software. The audio broadcast client software may be continuously polling the audio broadcast server awaiting new incoming audio broadcasts. When the audio broadcast server detects a new incoming audio stream, it may read the customer information from the stream and the unique transactionID. The audio broadcast server may then search the agent database for agents that meet the customer&#39;s preferences and assign the incoming audio stream to the next available agent that meets those preferences. The audio broadcast client software running on the agent&#39;s computer transcriber may then begin streaming the audio stream, so that the agent can begin transcribing in real-time. 
     The queue database may organize both live audio streams to be transcribed and recorded audio to be transcribed. The job queue server may manage pending jobs and assigns them to available agents. The client software may be either permanently connected to the job queue server or connects every few seconds to check for the availability of new jobs. 
     The client software may display instructions on the agent&#39;s screen and provide the agent with a text box to enter the transcribed text. The client software may alter the transaction database of the transaction that an agent is currently working on. When the session has ended, the agent may then click a “Submit” button, which connects the client software to the transaction database and transmits the transcribed text to the appropriate transaction record based on the unique transactionID and flagged as complete. 
     For the audio files that could not be transcribed in real-time, the queue database may be polled by the client software, and the audio file at the top of the queue may be assigned to the next available appropriate agent. The entire audio file may then be sent to the agent to be transcribed. When the agent has finished the transcription, the transcribed text file may be transmitted to the transaction database and flagged as complete. 
     Once the transaction is flagged as complete, the computer server may notify the customer with an email, SMS, text message, or other that the transcribed text file may be complete and available to access along with the associated audio file on the secure website. Alternatively, the computer server may provide the transcribed text file and the associated audio file in an email to the customer. 
     In addition to transcription, the transcription system and method may also allow audio messages to be translated to other languages or have closed captioning convert the transcription of a text file into an audio file. 
     While particular embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed, it is to be understood that various different modifications are passing and one contemplated within the true spirit and scope of the appended claims. There is no intention, therefore, of limitations to the exact abstract or disclosure herein presented.