COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT CONTAINING ELECTRONIC TRANSCRIPT AND EXHIBIT FILES AND METHOD FOR MAKING THE SAME

• US 20050043958A1
• Filed: 08/03/2004
• Published: 02/24/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GmbH (The Woodbridge Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: West Services
• Inventors: Koch, Kevin, Mundell, Grover
• Granted Patent: US 8,327,255 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/277
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/10 Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel

Abstract

The present invention provides a computer program product that includes electronic transcripts, exhibits, and an association therebetween. In one example, the method includes providing one or more electronic transcript files; providing one or more exhibit files associated with the one or more electronic transcript files; and providing an executable viewer file. The transcript and exhibit image files and their association, as well as the executable viewer file, may be stored in a local, remote, or removable media. In this manner, a user can activate the viewer and view the electronic transcripts and associated exhibits without the need for any additional software.

Claims

1. A method of producing a computer program product providing electronic versions of transcripts with associated electronic versions of exhibits, the method performed on a processor comprising the steps of:

importing one or more electronic transcript files and one or more electronic exhibit files to a publisher;

establishing an association between at least one of the electronic transcript files and at least one of the electronic exhibit files;

writing the one or more electronic transcript files and the one or more electronic exhibit files with the established association to at least one memory file; and

providing a means to view the one or more electronic transcript files and the associated one or more electronic exhibit files.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the writing step comprises writing to a portable media device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the portable media device comprises a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a tape, or a removable hard disk.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the writing step comprises writing to a local memory file accessible from a local processor.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the writing step comprises writing to a remote memory file accessible from a local processor.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the remote memory is accessible through a network.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the network comprises at least one of a LAN, WAN, WLAN, Wi Fi network, Ethernet, Internet, World Wide Web, or an optical network.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

establishing a network connection between the at least one memory file and a local processor; and

launching a viewer the provided means to view at the local processor.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of establishing an association comprises establishing a hyper-link from at least one of the one or more electronic transcripts to at least one of the one or more electronic exhibits.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the hyper-link is established at a first reference to the at least one of the one or more electronic exhibits.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the hyper-link is established at all references to the at least one of the one or more electronic exhibits.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the hyper-link is established at one or more user defined link points to the at least one of the one or more electronic exhibits.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing a means to view step provides a means to view the electronic transcript and the associated electronic exhibit substantially simultaneously.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the providing a means to view step further provides independent controls of the viewed electronic transcript and the associated electronic exhibit.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing an interface to allow a user to select one or more electronic transcripts to view.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing a means to view step provides means to view electronic exhibit files selected from a group of files consisting of:

video, audio, video/audio, animation, MPEGS, still images, text files, TIF, PDF, JPG, bitmap, GIF format, and JPEGS.

17. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium including computer readable code embodied therein for processing data to provide an electronic transcript and at least one associated electronic exhibit, the computer usable medium comprising;

an importing module configured to import one or more electronic transcript files and one or more electronic exhibit files;

an association module configured to establish an electronic link between at least one of the one or more electronic transcript files and the one or more electronic exhibit files;

a writing module configured to write the imported electronic transcript files and electronic exhibit files with the electronic link established by the association module to at least one memory file; and

a viewing module configured to allow a user to view the at least one memory file.

A computer program product comprising;

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the writing module is configured to write a file accessible over a network.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the writing module is configured to write the at least one memory file to a medium selected from a group of medium consisting of:

a magnetic disk, and optical disk, a tape, a removable hard disk, a CDROM, or a DVD disk.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the association module is configured to establish hyperlinks from the one or more electronic transcript files to the one or more electronic exhibit files.

21. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the viewing module is configured to view at least one of video, audio, video/audio, animation, MPEGS, still images, text files, TIF, PDF, JPG, bitmap, GIF format, and JPEGS.

22. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the viewing module is configured to access the at least one memory file through a network connection.

23. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the viewing module is configured to download the at least one memory file.

24. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the viewing module is configured to stream the at least one memory file.

25. An apparatus for providing a viewable electronic transcript and an associated electronic exhibit, the apparatus comprising:

at least one memory file; and

at least one processor, wherein the at least one memory file comprises;

one or more electronic transcript files;

one or more electronic exhibit files; and

at least one association file associating at least one of the one or more electronic transcript files and the one or more electronic exhibit files;

the at least one processor comprises;

a reader to read the at least one memory file; and

a viewer to display the at least one memory file displayed, the viewer being configured to allow simultaneous display of the one or more electronic transcript and any associated electronic exhibits.