METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR RAPID TRANSCRIPTION

• US 20080319744A1
• Filed: 05/27/2008
• Published: 12/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TIGERFISH
• Original Assignee: TIGERFISH
• Inventors: Goldberg, Adam Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,306,816 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/235
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/01 Assessment or evaluation of speech recognition systems
• 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

A method and system for producing and working with transcripts according to the invention eliminates the foregoing time inefficiencies. By dispersing a source recording to a transcription team in small segments, so that team members transcribe segments in parallel, a rapid transcription process delivers a fully edited transcript within minutes. Clients can view accurate, grammatically correct, proofread and fact-checked documents that shadow live proceedings by mere minutes. The rapid transcript includes time coding, speaker identification and summary. A viewer application allows a client to view a video recording side-by-side with a transcript. Clicking on a word in the transcript locates the corresponding recorded content; advancing a recording to a particular point locates and displays the corresponding spot in the transcript. The recording is viewed using common video features, and may be downloaded. The client can edit the transcript and insert comments. Any number of colleagues can view and edit simultaneously.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for rapidly producing and working with written transcripts of spoken source material comprising the steps of:

receiving source material at a provider server;

automatically dispersing segments of said source material from a provider server to any of a plurality of transcribing stations;

receiving at the provider server an edited, proof-read transcript of each segment dispersed;

in real time, posting said transcripts to a client-accessible viewer as they are received at said provider server;

producing from said transcripts a single transcript of said source material, synchronized to said source material; and

accessing said single transcript synchronized to said source material through said viewer, said viewer including elements by which said client interacts with and modifies said transcript.

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

receiving a segment at a transcribing station;

at said transcribing station receiving said segment, preparing a transcript for the received segment;

uploading said transcript to said provider server; and

requesting dispersal of a further segment.

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

requesting automatic dispersal by an editing station from said provider server of transcripts of segments at predetermined time intervals;

downloading a transcript of a segment to an editing station;

editing said transcript downloaded to said editing station; and

uploading said edited transcript to said provider server;

proof-reading said transcript received at said editing station and uploading said proof-read transcript to said provider server; and

fact-checking said transcript received at said editing station and uploading said fact-checked transcript to said provider server.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said source material comprises human speech and wherein the step of receiving source material at said provider server comprises any of the steps of:

receiving, in real time, a transmission of a speech signal from a live event at a remote location;

receiving a streamed transmission of said source material via the Internet;

receiving a recording of said source material in a media file format on a computer-readable medium;

receiving transmission of a recording of said source material in a media file format via wireless telephone or land line.

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

encoding said received source material into a compressed media format;

dividing said encoded received source material into segments of a predetermined length;

saving said segments as discrete files, each discrete file bearing a filename that includes a unique alpha-numeric code that identifies client, project, date and time of the segment.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of dispersing said segments comprises any of the steps of:

providing at least one FTP (file transfer protocol) folder on said provider server for each transcribing station and at least one editing station;

copying a media file containing a segment of said received source material to the FTP folder for a transcribing station, wherein said transcribing station has requested said segment in advance;

copying a file containing a transcript of a segment to the FTP folder for an editing station; and

automatically downloading said copied files by any of a transcribing station or an editing station.

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

providing a plurality of password-protected pages for each project, said plurality of password-protected pages including;

at least one page for use by transcribing stations;

at least one page for use by editing stations; and

at least one client page upon which the transcript is posted.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said at least one page for use by transcribing stations comprises at least one main page for each project, said main page including a listing of incremental time stamps for said project and at least one ‘

append’

button for each time stamp;

wherein said at least one page for use by transcribing stations further comprises at least one ‘

append’

page for each time stamp, each of said at least one ‘

append’

page including a text submit field and a submit button; and

wherein a transcription station uses said at least one ‘

append’

page to claim a corresponding time stamp and to submit an initial transcript for said time stamp.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of:

time-coding a transcription by a transcription station.

10. The method of claim 3, wherein downloading said transcript comprises the steps of:

copying at least one transcript from a main page for a project;

and pasting said copied transcript into a document on said editing station.

11. The method of claim 3, wherein uploading said edited transcript to said provider server comprises the steps of:

copying said edited transcript into a text submit field in an ‘

append’

page at said provider server.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein a transcribing station comprises a computational device communicatively coupled to said provider server, said computational device programmed to enable creation of said transcriptions, said transcribing station further comprising a transcriber operating said computational device.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein an editing station comprises a computational device communicatively coupled to said provider server, said computational device programmed to enable editing of said transcriptions, said editing station further comprising an editor operating said computational device.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of producing from said transcripts a single transcript of said source material, synchronized to said source material comprises the steps of:

combining said transcripts into a single, edited, fact-checked transcript; and

associating time stamps in said source material to time codes in said transcript, said time codes inserted by a transcribing station.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of accessing said single transcript comprises one or more of the steps of:

displaying a client project list in a viewer window;

selecting a project to view;

displaying a source material player and synchronized transcript for a selected project in a single viewer window;

navigating to a portion of said transcript by selecting a corresponding portion of said source material;

navigating to a portion of said source material by selecting a corresponding portion of said transcript;

said client creating comments regarding any of a portion of source material and a portion of said transcript;

saving said comments to a tagg table;

displaying said tagg table in said viewer window;

navigating one or both of said source material and said transcript by selecting a portion of said tagg table;

navigating said tagg table by selecting either a portion of said transcript or a portion of said source material.

16. A computer medium encoded with instructions, which when executed by a computational device performs a method for rapidly producing and working with written transcripts of speech, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving source material at a provider server;

automatically dispersing segments of said source material from a provider server to any of a plurality of transcribing stations;

receiving at the provider server an edited, proof-read transcript of each segment dispersed;

in real time, posting said transcripts to a client-accessible viewer as they are received at said provider server;

producing from said transcripts a single transcript of said source material, synchronized to said source material; and

accessing said single transcript synchronized to said source material through said viewer, said viewer including elements by which said client interacts with and modifies said transcription.

17. A system for rapidly producing and working with written transcripts of spoken source material comprising:

means for receiving source material at a provider server;

means for automatically dispersing segments of said source material from a provider server to any of a plurality of transcribing stations;

means for receiving at the provider server an edited, proof-read transcript of each segment dispersed;

means for, in real time, posting said transcripts to a client-accessible viewer as they are received at said provider server;

means for producing from said transcripts a single transcript of said source material, synchronized to said source material; and

means for accessing said single transcript synchronized to said source material through said viewer, said viewer including elements by which said client interacts with and modifies said transcription.

18. A system for rapidly producing and working with written transcripts of spoken source material comprising:

at least one provider server;

at least one transcriber station and at least one editing station communicatively coupled to said at least one provider server;

at least one computational device controlled by a client of said provider communicatively coupled to said provider server;

said provider server including at least one module for receiving source material, at least one module for dividing said source material into recorded segments, at least one module for dispersing said segments;

said at least one transcribing station including at least one module for downloading said segments, at least one module for transcribing said segments and at least one module for uploading transcriptions to said provider server;

said at least one editing station including at least one module for downloading transcriptions from said provider server and at least one module for uploading edited transcriptions to said provider server; and

an interactive user interface viewable by said client via said computational device by which said client views and works with at least said transcript and said spoken source material, wherein said transcript is synchronized to said source material.

18-1. (canceled)

23. A computer-implemented method of working with a transcript of spoken source material comprising the steps of:

displaying a client project list in a viewer window;

selecting a project to view;

displaying a source material player and synchronized transcript for a selected project in a single viewer window;

using said transcript to navigate through said source material;

using said source material to navigate through said transcript; and

creating and appending comments regarding either said source material or said transcript.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein synchronizing said source material and said transcript comprises the steps of:

assigning incremental time stamps to said source material;

time-coding said transcripts to correspond to said source material; and

associating said time codes to said time stamps by means of a table.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising the step of:

displaying said project list along side said source material and said transcript in said viewer window.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein said step of using said transcript to navigate through said source material comprises navigating to a portion of said source material by selecting a corresponding portion of said transcript.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein said step of using said source material to navigate through said transcript comprises navigating to a portion of said transcript by selecting a corresponding portion of said source material.

28. The method of claim 23, wherein said step of creating and appending comments regarding either said source material or said transcript comprises the steps of:

creating comments regarding any of a portion of source material and a portion of said transcript;

saving said comments to a tagg table;

displaying said tagg table in said viewer window;

navigating one or both of said source material and said transcript by selecting a portion of said tagg table;

naming a relevant portion of said source material by means of a ‘

name’

attribute in a tagg;

navigating said tagg table by selecting either a portion of said transcript or a portion of said source material.

29. The method of claim 23, further comprising the step of exporting at least a portion of said tagg table to a software application in a standardized markup language.

30. A computer-implemented method of synchronizing spoken source material and a transcript of said material comprising the steps of:

automatically assigning incremental time stamps to said source material;

assigning time codes to portions of said transcript wherein said time codes correspond to at least some of said time stamps; and

associating said time codes to said time stamps by means of data structure.

31. A computer-implemented method of rapidly producing a transcript of spoken source material comprising the steps of:

receiving source material at a provider server;

automatically dispersing segments of said source material from a provider server to any of a plurality of transcribing stations;

receiving at the provider server an edited, proof-read transcript of each segment dispersed;

in real time, posting said transcripts to a client-accessible viewer as they are received at said provider server; and

producing from said transcripts a single transcript of said source material, synchronized to said source material.

19. The method of claim 31, further comprising any of the steps of:

receiving a segment at a transcribing station;

at said transcribing station receiving said segment, preparing a transcript for the received segment;

uploading said transcript to said provider server; and

requesting dispersal of a further segment.

20. The method of claim 31, further comprising the steps of:

encoding said received source material into a compressed media format;

dividing said encoded received source material into segments of a predetermined length;

saving said segments as discrete files, each discrete file bearing a filename that includes a unique alpha-numeric code that identifies client, project, date and time of the segment.

21. The method of claim 31, further comprising the steps of:

providing a plurality of password-protected pages for each project, said plurality of password-protected pages including;

at least one page for use by transcribing stations;

at least one page for use by editing stations; and

at least one client page upon which the transcript is posted.

22. The method of claim 31, further comprising the step of:

accessing said single transcript synchronized to said source material through said viewer, said viewer including elements by which said client interacts with and modifies said transcript.