Efficient conversion of voice messages into text
First Claim
1. A method for transcribing verbal messages into text, comprising the steps of:
- receiving verbal messages over a network and queuing the verbal messages in a queue for processing into text;
automatically processing at least portions of successive verbal messages from the queue with online processors using an automated speech recognition (ASR) program to produce corresponding text;
assigning whole verbal messages or segments of the verbal messages that have been automatically processed to selected workbench stations for further editing and transcription by operators at the workbench stations;
enabling the operators at the workbench stations to which the whole or the segments of the verbal messages have been assigned to listen to the verbal messages, correct errors in the text that was produced by the automatic processing, and transcribe portions of the verbal messages that have not been automatically processed by the ASR program, producing final text messages or segments of final text messages corresponding to the verbal messages that were in the queue;
assembling the segments of the final text messages produced by the operators at the workbench stations from the segments of the verbal messages that were processed as text messages corresponding to the verbal messages that were processed, producing final output text messages; and
applying post processing to the text corresponding to the verbal messages that were automatically processed, wherein;
if editing the automatically produced text for one of the automatically processed whole verbal messages by at least one operator on the workbench station will exceed a required turn-around-time, further comprising the step of immediately post processing the automatically produced text without using any edits provided by the operator at the workbench station; and
if editing the segments of one of the automatically processed verbal messages will exceed the required turn-around-time, further comprising the step of post processing any text of the verbal message that was automatically recognized and has a confidence rating that is greater than a predefined minimum, any text of the automatically processed verbal message that have already been edited or transcribed by one of the operators on the workbench station, and any text of the verbal message that was automatically recognized and was moved into a workbench station queue but has not yet been edited by an operator at a workbench station.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for efficiently transcribing verbal messages transmitted over the Internet (or other network) into text. The verbal messages are initially checked to ensure that they are in a valid format and include a return network address, and if so, are processed either as whole verbal messages or split into segments. These whole verbal messages and segments are processed by an automated speech recognition (ASR) program, which produces automatically recognized text. The automatically recognized text messages or segments are assigned to selected workbenches for manual editing and transcription, producing edited text. The segments of edited text are reassembled to produce whole edited text messages, undergo post processing to correct minor errors and output as an email, an SMS message, a file, or an input to a program. The automatically recognized text and manual edits thereof are returned as feedback to the ASR program to improve its accuracy.
123 Citations
31 Claims
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1. A method for transcribing verbal messages into text, comprising the steps of:
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receiving verbal messages over a network and queuing the verbal messages in a queue for processing into text; automatically processing at least portions of successive verbal messages from the queue with online processors using an automated speech recognition (ASR) program to produce corresponding text; assigning whole verbal messages or segments of the verbal messages that have been automatically processed to selected workbench stations for further editing and transcription by operators at the workbench stations; enabling the operators at the workbench stations to which the whole or the segments of the verbal messages have been assigned to listen to the verbal messages, correct errors in the text that was produced by the automatic processing, and transcribe portions of the verbal messages that have not been automatically processed by the ASR program, producing final text messages or segments of final text messages corresponding to the verbal messages that were in the queue; assembling the segments of the final text messages produced by the operators at the workbench stations from the segments of the verbal messages that were processed as text messages corresponding to the verbal messages that were processed, producing final output text messages; and applying post processing to the text corresponding to the verbal messages that were automatically processed, wherein; if editing the automatically produced text for one of the automatically processed whole verbal messages by at least one operator on the workbench station will exceed a required turn-around-time, further comprising the step of immediately post processing the automatically produced text without using any edits provided by the operator at the workbench station; and if editing the segments of one of the automatically processed verbal messages will exceed the required turn-around-time, further comprising the step of post processing any text of the verbal message that was automatically recognized and has a confidence rating that is greater than a predefined minimum, any text of the automatically processed verbal message that have already been edited or transcribed by one of the operators on the workbench station, and any text of the verbal message that was automatically recognized and was moved into a workbench station queue but has not yet been edited by an operator at a workbench station. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A system for efficiently transcribing verbal messages that are provided to the system over a network, to produce corresponding text, comprising:
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a plurality of processors coupled to the network, for receiving and processing verbal messages to be transcribed to text; one or more of the plurality of processors processing the verbal messages using an automatic speech recognition (ASR) program to produce automatically recognized text; one or more of the plurality of processors on corresponding one or more workbench stations each providing a graphical interface on a display to enable operators using the one or more workbench stations to review and edit the automatically recognized text, and to further transcribe the verbal messages to produce the edited text; and one or more of the plurality of processors reassembling the edited text, producing final output text messages that can be conveyed to an end user, wherein the one or more of the plurality of processors apply post processing to the automatically recognized text before producing the final output text messages corresponding to the verbal messages that were processed using the ASR program; if editing the automatically recognized text for a whole verbal message by one of the operators on the workbench station will exceed a required turn-around-time, the automatically recognized text is submitted for post processing without using any edits provided by the operator at the workbench station; and if editing segments of at least one of the processed verbal messages will exceed the required turn-around-time, then immediately submitting for post processing; any of the segments of the processed verbal message that were automatically recognized and that have a confidence rating that is greater than a predefined minimum; any of the segments of the processed verbal message that have already been edited or transcribed by one of the operators on the workbench station; and any of the segments of the processed verbal message that were moved into a workbench station queue but have not yet been edited by one of the operators at the workbench station. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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Specification