System and method for recording, documenting and visualizing group conversations

• US 10,553,129 B2
• Filed: 07/25/2017
• Issued: 02/04/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: David Nelson
• Original Assignee: David Nelson
• Inventors: Nelson, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Ell, Matthew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shalu, Zelalem W
• Application Number:
  US15/658,511
• Publication Number:
  US 20180033332A1
• Time in Patent Office: 924 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/00 Teaching not covered by other main groups of this subclass teaching or practice apparatus for gun-aiming or gun-laying F41G3/26
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/06 with both visual and audible presentation of the material to be studied
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/065 Combinations of audio and video presentations, e.g. videotapes, videodiscs, television systems
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/0272 Voice signal separating
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/87 Detection of discrete points within a voice signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1831 Tracking arrangements for later retrieval, e.g. recording contents, participants activities or behavior, network status
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/42 Graphical user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42221 Conversation recording systems at the subscriber's set H04M1/656
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/56 Arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities video conference systems H04N7/15

Abstract

The present disclosure provides systems and methods for recording, documenting, and visualizing group conversations. More specifically, the present invention relates to systems and methods that allows users to record conversations, document each speaker, visualize the conversation in real time, play back the conversation with visualization for how the conversation progressed from person to person, and compile result statistics on participation levels.

Claims

1. A system for visually representing an audio discussion session having a plurality of participants, the system comprising:

a controller;

a memory coupled to the controller, wherein the memory is configured to store program instructions executable by the controller;

wherein in response to executing the program instructions, the controller is configured to;

record an audio discussion among a plurality of participants, wherein each participant is visually represented by a participant icon;

while recording, upon a first participant speaking, receive a first participant icon speaker selection, wherein the first participant icon speaker is selected from the plurality of participants, wherein the first participant icon speaker is associated with a first participant icon;

upon completion of the first participant speaking, receive a subsequent second participant icon speaker selection upon the commencement of the second participant speaking, wherein the second participant icon speaker is associated with a second participant icon; and

wherein upon playback, display a visual presentation of the audio discussion, wherein the visual presentation includes displaying each participant icon, wherein the visual presentation includes displaying a line connecting the first participant icon to the second participant icon after completion of the first participant speaking and commencement of the second participant speaking.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the visual presentation includes a timeline representing the time duration of the audio discussion, wherein the timeline includes a plurality of visual time reference points, wherein during playback, the visual presentation highlights the time reference point matching the replay time.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the visual time reference point includes a recorded time reference and an identification of the participant speaking at that recorded time reference.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein, during recording, the controller is further configured to receive text corresponding to at least one time reference point, wherein upon playback, the controller is configured to display the text corresponding to the time reference point at the time during playback corresponding to the time reference point.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to

receive a seating configuration selection, and

receive a position for the participant icon in the seating configuration for each of the plurality of participants.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the seating configuration is selected from a classroom configuration, a boardroom meeting configuration, and a roundtable configuration.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to receive an evaluation characteristic from the user for at least one participant, wherein the results summary includes a graphic visually representing the evaluation characteristics of the at least one participant.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the visual presentation includes a plurality of lines connecting the participant icons, wherein upon playback, the line connecting the first participant icon to the second participant icon is highlighted at the time corresponding to the ending of the first participant icon speaker speaking and the beginning of the second participant icon speaker speaking.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to, upon completion of the discussion, determine the length of time and number of times each participant spoke during the discussion;

and

display a results summary including a graphic visually representing the participation of each of the plurality of participants in the recorded discussion, wherein the graphic includes a pie graph, a bar graph, a line graph, and combinations thereof.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the controller is further configured to receive demographic information related to each of the plurality of participants, wherein the results summary includes a graphic visually representing the participation of a group of participants within a demographic.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein, during recording, the controller is further configured to receive text corresponding to at least one time reference point, wherein the results summary includes a timeline representing the entire time duration of the audio discussion, wherein the timeline includes a plurality of visual time reference points, wherein upon selection of a time reference point, visually display any text corresponding to the time reference point.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to receive a participant selection from the visual presentation, wherein upon receipt of the participant selection, visually indicate a relative portion of a results summary graphic, wherein the relative portion represents at least one of the total length of time the selected participant spoke in the audio discussion, the number of times the selected participant spoke in the audio discussion, the number of evaluation characteristics, or combinations thereof, compared to the unselected participants.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to produce a score for each of the plurality of participants based on at least one of the total length of time the selected participant spoke in the discussion, the number of times the selected participant spoke in the discussion, a number of evaluation characteristics, or combinations thereof.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to, upon receipt of a selected participant, provide a menu of isolated audio clips corresponding to each time the selected participant spoke during the recorded discussion.