Recording meeting minutes based upon speech recognition

• US 6,754,631 B1
• Filed: 11/04/1998
• Issued: 06/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Gateway Incorporated (Acer, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Gateway Incorporated (Acer, Inc.)
• Inventors: Din, Salah U.
• Primary Examiner(s): To, Doris H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Opsasnick, Michael N.
• Application Number:
  US09/185,853
• Time in Patent Office: 2,057 Days
• Field of Search: 704/270, 704/275
• US Class Current: 704/270
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/00 Speaker identification or verification techniques

Abstract

A method and system for memorializing a conversation of a plurality of speakers are disclosed. A sample utterance of each of the plurality of speakers is sampled thereby producing a file of sample utterances each having a characteristic corresponding to one of the speakers. A characteristic of the sample utterances is associated with the corresponding speaker, and the conversation is recorded and saved to a storage medium. A speaker is identified by matching the characteristic of the sample utterance with the conversation utterance, and information regarding the identified speaker is associated with the conversation utterances. A transcript of the conversation is generated that includes information regarding the speaker with a corresponding utterance.

Claims

1. A method for memorializing a conversation of a plurality of speakers, comprising:

sampling a sample utterance of each of the plurality of speakers thereby producing a plurality of sample utterances each having a characteristic corresponding to a corresponding one of the speakers;

associating a characteristic of the sample utterances with the corresponding one of the plurality of speakers;

recording the conversation by saving the conversation to a storage medium as the conversation occurs whereby conversation utterances generated by each of the plurality of speakers during the conversation are saved to the storage medium;

identifying the one of the plurality of speakers who generated each one of the conversation utterances by matching the characteristic of the sample utterance associated with the corresponding one of the plurality of speakers with a characteristic of the conversation utterance;

associating information regarding the identified speaker with at least one of the conversation utterances;

generating a transcript of the conversation, the transcript including the information associated with the at least one of the conversation utterances; and

interpreting the transcript of the conversation and generating a summary of the conversation based upon said interpreting the transcript.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of displaying the generated transcript on a display.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of transmitting the generated transcript over a network.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of adjusting a parameter of a recording device in response to said identifying step whereby recording of the conversation utterances generated by the identified one of the plurality of speakers is optimized.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4, said adjusting step including directing a video input device to capture the image of the identified one of the plurality of speakers.

6. A method as claimed in claim 4, said adjusting step including adjusting a gain parameter of a microphone proximal to the identified one of the plurality of speakers.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the conversation occurs during a meeting, further comprising steps for generating minutes of the meeting, action items and an agenda for a subsequent meeting.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the conversation occurs during a meeting, further comprising steps for scheduling a subsequent meeting, providing an agenda for the subsequent meeting, providing a reminder of the meeting to the plurality of speakers, and providing an action item to each one of the plurality of speakers, the action item pertaining specifically to the corresponding one of the plurality of speakers.

9. The method of claim 1, the information including the identified speaker'"'"'s name and at least one of the group consisting of the identified speaker'"'"'s title, organization, and status.

10. A program of instructions storable on a medium readable by an information handling system for causing the information handling system to execute steps for memorializing a conversation of a plurality of speakers, the steps comprising:

sampling a sample utterance of each of the plurality of speakers thereby producing a plurality of sample utterances each having a characteristic corresponding to a corresponding one of the plurality of speakers;

associating a characteristic of the sample utterances with the corresponding one of the plurality of speakers;

recording the conversation by saving the conversation to a storage medium as the conversation occurs whereby conversation utterances generated by each of the plurality of speakers during the conversation are saved to the storage medium;

identifying the one of the plurality of speakers who generated each one of the conversation utterances by matching the characteristic of the sample utterance associated with the corresponding one of the plurality of speakers with a characteristic of the conversation utterance;

associating information regarding the identified speaker with at least one of the conversation utterances;

generating a transcript of the conversation, the transcript including the information associated with the at least one of the conversation utterances; and

interpreting the transcript of the conversation and generating a summary of the conversation based upon said interpreting the transcript.

13. A program of instructions as claimed in claim 10, the steps further comprising the step of adjusting a parameter of a recording device in response to said identifying step whereby recording of the conversation utterances generated by the identified one of the plurality of speakers is optimized.

14. A program of instructions as claimed in claim 13, said adjusting step including directing a video input device to capture the image of the identified one of the plurality of speakers.

15. A program of instructions as claimed in claim 13, said adjusting step including adjusting a gain parameter of a microphone proximal to the identified one of the plurality of speakers.

16. A program of instructions as claimed in claim 10, wherein the conversation occurs during a meeting, the steps further comprising steps for generating minutes of the meeting, action items and an agenda for a subsequent meeting.

17. A program of instructions as claimed in claim 10, wherein the conversation occurs during a meeting, the steps further comprising steps for scheduling a subsequent meeting, providing an agenda for the subsequent meeting, providing a reminder of the meeting to the plurality of speakers, and providing an action item to each one of the plurality of speakers, the action item pertaining specifically to the corresponding one of the plurality of speakers.

18. The program of claim 10, the information including the identified speaker'"'"'s name and at least one of the group consisting of the identified speaker'"'"'s title, organization, and status.

11. A program of instructions as claimed in claim 11, the steps further comprising the step of displaying the generated transcript on a display.

12. A program of instructions as claimed in claim 11, the steps further comprising the step of transmitting the generated transcript over a network.

19. An information handling system for memorializing a conversation of a plurality of speakers, comprising:

a processor for executing a program of instructions on the information handling system;

a memory, coupled to said processor, for storing the program of instructions executed by said processor; and

a transducer, coupled to the information handling system and controlled by said processor, for converting utterances of the plurality of speakers into a signal interpretable by the information handling system wherein the information handling system generates a transcript of the conversation, the transcript including information associated with each of the utterances, the information regarding the corresponding speaker of each utterance, the information handling system interpreting the transcript of the conversation and generating a summary of the conversation based upon said interpreting the transcript.

20. An information handling system as claimed in claim 19, further comprising a display coupled to the information handling system for displaying the transcript.

21. An information handling system as claimed in claim 19, said transducer including a microphone.

22. An information handling system as claimed in claim 19, said transducer being a camera.

23. An information handling system as claimed in claim 19, further comprising a printer coupled to the information handling system for printing the transcript.

24. An information handling system as claimed in claim 19, further comprising a network for coupling the information handing system to an additional information handling system, the additional information handling system being capable of receiving the transcript over said network.

25. The information handling system of claim 19, information including the corresponding speaker'"'"'s name and at least one of the group consisting of the corresponding speaker'"'"'s title, organization, and status.

26. An information handling system for memorializing a conversation of a plurality of speakers, comprising:

means for executing a program of instructions on the information handling system;

means, coupled to said executing means, for storing the program of instructions executed by said executing means; and

means, coupled to the information handling system and controlled by said executing means, for converting utterances of the plurality of speakers into a signal interpretable by the information handling system wherein the information handling system generates a transcript of the conversation, the transcript including information associated with each of the utterances, the information regarding the corresponding speaker of each utterance, the information handling system interpreting the transcript of the conversation and generating a summary of the conversation based upon said interpreting the transcript.

27. An information handling system as claimed in claim 26, further comprising means, coupled to the information handling system, for displaying the transcript.

28. An information handling system as claimed in claim 26, said converting means including a microphone.

29. An information handling system as claimed in claim 26, said converting means being a camera.

30. An information handling system as claimed in claim 26, further comprising means, coupled to the information handling system, for printing the transcript.

31. An information handling system as claimed in claim 26, further comprising means for coupling the information handing system to an additional information handling system, the additional information handling system being capable of receiving the transcript over said coupling means.

32. The information handling system of claim 26, the information including the corresponding speaker'"'"'s name and at least one of the group consisting of the corresponding speaker'"'"'s title organization, and status.