TRANSCRIPTION, ARCHIVING AND THREADING OF VOICE COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20100268534A1
• Filed: 04/17/2009
• Published: 10/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: BERND SEIDE, FRANK TORSTEN, WALLACE, ROY GEOFFREY, KISHAN THAMBIRATNAM, ALBERT JOSEPH, YU, PENG
• Application Number:
  US12/425,841
• Publication Number:
  US 20100268534A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/235
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/07 to the speaker
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/30 Distributed recognition, e.g. in client-server systems, for mobile phones or network applications

Abstract

Described is a technology that provides highly accurate speech-recognized text transcripts of conversations, particularly telephone or meeting conversations. Speech is received for recognition when it is at a high quality and separate for each user, that is, independent of any transmission. Moreover, because the speech is received separately, a personalized recognition model adapted to each user'"'"'s voice and vocabulary may be used. The separately recognized text is then merged into a transcript of the communication. The transcript may be labeled with the identity of each user that spoke the corresponding speech. The output of the transcript may be dynamic as the conversation takes place, or may occur later, such as contingent upon each user agreeing to release his or her text. The transcript may be incorporated into the text or data of another program, such as to insert it as a thread in a larger email conversation or the like.

Claims

1. In a computing environment, a method comprising:

receiving speech of a first user who is speaking with a second user;

recognizing the speech of the first user as text of the first user, independent of any transmission of that speech to the second user;

receiving text corresponding to speech of the second user, which was received and recognized as text of the second user separate from the receiving and recognizing of the speech of the first user; and

merging the text of text of the first user and the text of the second user into a transcript.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein recognizing the speech of the first user comprises using a recognition model for the first user that is based upon an identity of the first user.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the speech of the first user and recognizing the speech comprises using a microphone coupled to a personal computing device associated with that user.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising, outputting the transcript, including providing labeling information that distinguishes the text of the first user from the text of the second user.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein merging the text of the first user and the text of the second user into the transcript occurs while a conversation is taking place.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein merging the text of the first user and the text of the second user into the transcript occurs after each user consents to the merging.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising, outputting the transcript as a thread among a plurality of threads corresponding to a larger conversation.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising, maintaining a recording of the speech of each user, and associating data with the transcript by which corresponding speech is retrievable from the recording of the speech.

9. In a computing environment, a system comprising:

a microphone set comprising at least one microphone that is configured to pick up speech of a single user;

a device coupled to the microphone set, the device configured to recognize the speech of the single user as recognized text independent of any transmission of the speech; and

a merging mechanism that merges the recognized text with other text received from at least one other user into a transcript.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the microphone set is further coupled to a VoIP device configured for communication with each other user, and wherein the speech is transmitted via the VoIP device on a communication channel that is independent of a recognition channel that provides the speech to the recognizer.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein the microphone set comprises a highly-directional microphone array.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein the device is configured with a recognition model that is customized for the speech of the single user.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the recognition model is maintained at a cloud service.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the recognition model is accessible via the cloud service by at least one other device for use thereby in speech recognition.

15. The system of claim 9 wherein the merge mechanism comprises a transcription application running on the device or running on a central server.

16. The system of claim 9 wherein the device includes a user interface, wherein the merging mechanism dynamically merges the recognized text with the other text for outputting as the transcript via the user interface, and further comprising means for sending the recognized text of the single user to each other user.

17. The system of claim 9 wherein the device includes a user interface, and wherein the merging mechanism inserts a placeholder that represents where the other text is to be merged with the recognized text.

18. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions, which when executed perform steps, comprising:

receiving speech of a first user;

recognizing the speech of the first user as first text via a first recognition channel;

transmitting the speech to a second user via a transmission channel that is independent of the recognition channel;

receiving second text corresponding to recognized speech of the second user that was recognized via a second recognition channel that is separate from the first recognition channel; and

merging the first text and the second text into a transcript.

19. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 18 wherein merging the first text and the second text occurs while receiving further speech to dynamically provide the transcript.

20. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 18 having further computer-executable instructions comprising generating an email that includes the transcript, wherein the email comprises a thread among a plurality of threads corresponding to a larger conversation.