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Claims  |
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Wherefore, having thus described my invention, what is claimed is:
1. A court reporting system for providing a simultaneous written and video
record under the sole control of a single court reporter comprising:
(a) a court reporter's stenographic recording input device having a
keyboard for accepting phonetic keystroke combination manual inputs from
the court reporter and for providing a corresponding signal reflecting
keystroke combinations input by the court reporter at an output thereof;
(b) system clock means for providing a current time and date signal at an
output thereof;
(c) stroke record memory means for receiving and storing a sequence of said
signal reflecting keystroke combinations input by the court reporter;
(d) a stroke definition table defining a plurality of keystroke
combinations not employed for phonetic representations as control strokes;
(e) video camera means for viewing a scene and providing a video signal
reflecting said scene at an output thereof;
(f) microphone means for providing an audio signal reflecting verbal
testimony at an output thereof;
(g) recorder means connected to said outputs of said video camera means and
said microphone means for producing a recording of said video and audio
signals reflecting testimony in progress; and,
(h) control means operably connected to said court reporter's stenographic
recording input device, said system clock means, said video camera means,
said microphone means, said stroke definition table, said recorder means,
and said stroke recorder memory means for separating keystroke
combinations input by the court reporter into phonetic keystrokes and
control keystrokes, for controlling the operation of said video camera
means and said recorder means as a function of recognized ones of said
control keystrokes, for recording said phonetic keystrokes in said stroke
record memory means, and for periodically obtaining said current time and
date signal from said system clock means and appending it to said
recording of said video and audio signals and said sequence of said signal
reflecting keystroke combinations stored in said stroke record memory
means.
2. The court reporting system of claim 1 and additionally comprising:
(a) alarm means for indicating an alarm condition;
(b) stroke times table means for maintaining a history of the times of the
most recent strokes input by the court reporter; and,
(c) said control means being operably connected to said stroke times table
and said alarm means and including means for storing times of strokes
input by the court reporter in said stroke times table, for periodically
calculating a short term running average stroke speed of the court
reporter, for comparing said short term running average stroke speed as
calculated to an upper safe limit value, and for causing said alarm means
to indicate an alarm condition when said short term running average stroke
speed exceeds said upper safe limit value.
3. The court reporting system of claim 2 wherein:
said control means includes means for the court reporter to set said upper
safe limit value.
4. The court reporting system of claim 2 wherein:
said alarm means comprises a blinking light.
5. The court reporting system of claim 1 and additionally comprising:
(a) alarm means for indicating an alarm condition; and,
(b) said control means being operably connected to said alarm means and
including means for determining if more than one person is speaking at a
time during testimony and for causing said alarm means to indicate an
alarm condition when more than one person is speaking at a time.
6. The court reporting system of claim 5 wherein:
said means for determining if more than one person is speaking at a time
includes voice recognition means for identifying persons speaking from
patterns associated with their voice as established prior to the taking of
testimony.
7. The court reporting system of claim 5 wherein:
(a) said microphone means comprises a plurality of directional microphones
aimed at voice sources of persons; and,
(b) said means for determining if more than one person is speaking at a
time includes means for identifying persons speaking from the one of said
directional microphones detecting said voice source of the person.
8. The court reporting system of claim 1 and additionally comprising:
(a) message storage means for storing synthesized messages; and,
(b) said control means being operably connected to said message means and
including means for appending said synthesized messages to said recording
of said video and audio signals.
9. The court reporting system of claim 1 and additionally comprising:
(a) message storage means for storing synthesized messages; and,
(b) said control means being operably connected to said message means and
including means for appending a first said synthesized message including
said current time and date signal from said system clock means to said
recording of said video and audio signals in response to a control
keystroke from the court reporter indicating the time and date the
testimony is going "on the record" and for appending a second said
synthesized message including said current time and date signal from said
system clock means to said recording of said video and audio signals in
response to another control keystroke from the court reporter indicating
the time and date the testimony is going "off the record".
10. The court reporting system of claim 1 and additionally comprising:
said control means including means for appending a flag to said phonetic
keystrokes in said stroke record memory means in response to a control
keystroke from the court reporter indicating a word as just recorded
phonetically needs clarification, for searching said stroke record memory
means for flags when requested by the court reporter, for displaying
flagged ones of said phonetic keystrokes in said stroke record memory, for
receiving clarification inputs from the court reporter, and for correcting
said flagged ones of said phonetic keystrokes in said stroke record memory
with said clarification inputs from the court reporter.
11. The court reporting system of claim 10 and additionally comprising:
said control means including means for automatically searching said stroke
record memory means for flags at the end of a recording session and for
advising the court reporter that there are words needing clarification if
any said flags are found.
12. The court reporting system of claim 1 and additionally comprising:
said control means including means for obtaining the closest said current
time and date signal from said system clock means as appending to said
sequence of said signal reflecting keystroke combinations stored in said
stroke record memory means in response to a control keystroke from the
court reporter, for searching said recording of said video and audio
signals to find the closest said current time and date signal from said
system clock means as appending thereto, and for positioning said
recording of said video and audio signals in said recorder mean with the
closest said current time and date signal from said system clock means as
appending thereto positioned for playback whereby the court reporter can
automatically position said recording of said video and audio signals in
said recorder means for coordinated checking of said keystroke
combinations stored in said stroke record memory means with the
corresponding recorded testimony.
13. The court reporting system of claim 1 and additionally comprising:
(a) position control means for changing the said scene being viewed by said
video camera means between a first scene and a second scene; and,
(b) said control means being operably connected to said position control
means and including means for causing said position control means to
change the said scene being viewed by said video camera means between said
first scene and said second scene.
14. The court reporting system of claim 13 wherein:
(a) said video camera means comprises a first video camera and a second
video camera; and,
(b) said position control means comprises switching means for switching
between said first video camera and said second video camera.
15. The court reporting system of claim 13 wherein:
(a) said video camera means includes a zoom lens for zooming in and out
between said first scene and said second scene; and,
(b) said position control means comprises means for zooming said zoom lens
in and out between said first scene and said second scene.
16. A court reporting system for providing a simultaneous written and video
record under the sole control of a single court reporter comprising:
(a) a court reporter's stenographic recording input device having a
keyboard for accepting phonetic keystroke combination manual inputs from
the court reporter and for providing a corresponding signal reflecting
keystroke combinations input by the court reporter at an output thereof;
(b) system clock means for providing a current time and date signal at an
output thereof;
(c) stroke record memory means for receiving and storing a sequence of said
signal reflecting keystroke combinations input by the court reporter;
(d) a stroke definition table defining a plurality of keystroke
combinations not employed for phonetic representations as control strokes;
(e) video camera means for viewing a scene and providing a video signal
reflecting said scene at an output thereof;
(f) microphone means for providing an audio signal reflecting verbal
testimony at an output thereof;
(g) recorder means connected to said outputs of said video camera means and
said microphone means for producing a recording of said video and audio
signals reflecting testimony in progress;
(h) alarm means for indicating an alarm condition;
(i) stroke times table means for maintaining a history of the times of the
most recent strokes input by the court reporter; and,
(j) control means operably connected to said court reporter's stenographic
recording input device, said system clock means, said video camera means,
said microphone means, said stroke definition table, said recorder means,
said stroke record memory means, said stroke times table, and said alarm
means for separating keystroke combinations input by the court reporter
into phonetic keystrokes and control keystrokes, for controlling the
operation of said video camera means and said recorder means as a function
of recognized ones of said control keystrokes, for recording said phonetic
keystrokes in said stroke record memory means, for periodically obtaining
said current time and date signal from said system clock means and
appending it to said recording of said video and audio signals and said
sequence of said signal reflecting keystroke combinations stored in said
stroke record memory means, for storing the times of the strokes input by
the court reporter in said stroke times table, for periodically
calculating a short term running average stroke speed of the court
reporter, for comparing said short term running average stroke speed as
calculated to an upper safe limit value, and for causing said alarm means
to indicate an alarm condition when said short term running average stroke
speed exceeds said upper safe limit value, for determining if more than
one person is speaking at a time during testimony and for causing said
alarm means to indicate an alarm condition when more than one person is
speaking at a time, for appending a flag to said phonetic keystrokes in
said stroke record memory means in response to a control keystroke from
the court reporter indicating a word as just recorded phonetically needs
clarification, for searching said stroke record memory means for flags
when requested by the court reporter, for displaying flagged ones of said
phonetic keystrokes in said stroke record memory, for receiving
clarification inputs from eh court reporter, and for correcting said
flagged ones of said phonetic keystrokes in said stroke record memory with
said clarification inputs from the court reporter, and for obtaining the
closest said current time and date signal from said system clock means as
appending to said sequence of said signal reflecting keystroke from the
court reporter, for searching said recording of said video and audio
signals to find the closest said current time and date signal from said
system clock means as appending thereto, and for positioning said
recording of said video and audio signals in said recorder mean with the
closest said current time and date signal from said system clock means as
appending thereto positioned for playback whereby the court reporter can
automatically position said recording of said video and audio signals in
said recorder means for coordinated checking of said keystroke
combinations stored in said stroke record memory means with the
corresponding testimony.
17. The court reporting system of claim 16 wherein:
said control means includes means for the court reporter to set said upper
safe limit value.
18. The court reporting system of claim 16 wherein:
said alarm means comprises a blinking light.
19. The court reporting system of claim 16 wherein:
(a) said microphone means comprises a plurality of directional microphones
aimed at voice sources of persons; and,
(b) said means for determining if more than one person is speaking at a
time includes means for identifying persons speaking from the one of said
directional microphones detecting said voice source of the person.
20. The court reporting system of claim 16 and additionally comprising:
(a) message storage means for storing synthesized messages; and,
(b) said control means being operably connected to said message means and
including means for appending said synthesized messages to said recording
of said video and audio signals.
21. The court reporting system of claim 16 and additionally comprising:
(a) message storage means for storing synthesized messages; and,
(b) said control means being operably connected to said message means and
including means for appending a first said synthesized message including
said current time and date signal from said system clock means to said
recording of said video and audio signals in response to a control
keystroke from the court reporter indicating the time and date the
testimony is going "on the record" and for appending a second said
synthesized message including said current time and date signal from said
system clock means to said recording of said video and audio signals in
response to another control keystroke from the court reporter indicating
the time and date the testimony is going "off the record".
22. The court reporting system of claim 21 and additionally comprising:
said control means including means for automatically searching said stroke
record memory means for flags at the end of a recording session and for
advising the court reporter that there are words needing clarification if
any said flags are found.
23. The court reporting system of claim 16 and additionally comprising:
(a) position control means for changing the said scene being viewed by said
video camera means between a first scene and a second scene; and,
(b) said control means being operably connected to said position control
means and including means for causing said position control means to
change the said scene being viewed by said video camera means between said
first scene and said second scene.
24. The court reporting system of claim 23 wherein:
(a) said video camera means comprises a first video camera and a second
video camera; and,
(b) said position control means comprises switching means for switching
between said first video camera and said second video camera.
25. The court reporting system of claim 23 wherein:
(a) said video camera means includes a zoom lens for zooming in and out
between said first scene and said second scene; and,
(b) said position control means comprises means for zooming said zoom lens
in and out between said first scene and said second scene. |
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Description |
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:
This invention relates to court reporting systems whereby the testimony of
individuals is recorded and, more particularly, to a court reporting
system for providing a simultaneous written and video record under the
control of a single court reporter comprising, a court reporter's
stenographic recording input device having a keyboard for accepting
phonetic keystroke combination manual inputs from the court reporter and
for providing a corresponding signal reflecting keystroke combinations
input by the court reporter at an output thereof; system clock means for
providing a current time and date signal at an output thereof; stroke
record memory means for receiving and storing a sequence of the signal
reflecting keystroke combinations input by the court reporter; stroke
table means for defining a plurality of keystroke combinations not
employed for phonetic representations as control strokes; video camera
means for viewing a scene and providing a video signal reflecting the
scene at an output thereof; microphone means for providing an audio signal
reflecting verbal testimony at an output thereof; recorder means connected
to the outputs of the video camera means and the microphone means for
producing a recording of the video and audio signals reflecting testimony
in progress; and, control means operably connected to the outputs of the
court reporter's stenographic recording input device, the system clock
means, the video camera means, and the microphone means and the stroke
table means and the recorder means and the stroke record memory means for
separating keystroke combinations input by the court reporter into
phonetic keystrokes and control keystrokes, for recording the phonetic
keystrokes in the stroke record memory means, for periodically obtaining
the current time and date signal from the system clock means and appending
it to the recording of the video and audio signals and the sequence of the
signal reflecting keystroke combinations stored in the stroke record
memory means.
The providing of an accurate record of testimony of witnesses in
depositions, court proceedings, and the like, is a long felt problem. At
first, and for a long time, court reporters who were proficient in the
taking and transcribing of shorthand notes attempted to record the
proceedings to the best of their ability. As anyone who has had the
opportunity to be involved with the process knows, manual recording and
transcription of a multi-party proceedings is stressful and difficult for
the court reporter. The reporter is required to record, by means of a
series of drawn symbols or "strokes", the phonetic representation of what
is heard and the source thereof. Mumbling, nodding or shaking of the head
in lieu of speech, talking at high rates of speed, and talking by more
than one individual at a time makes the job more difficult and, in many
instances, impossible. Where the written record is inaccurate, there is no
way to correct it. If a key point of law or fact occurs at that point in
the proceedings, major consequences may follow from the ability to prove
what, in fact, happened at the time from the certified transcript provided
by the court reporter.
A major step forward in assistance to court reporters came some time back
with the invention and introduction of the stenographic machine 10 of FIG.
1. The machine 10 has a series of buttons 12 which, when pushed in
combination, produce mechanically generated strokes 16 on a paper tape 14.
Like their written counterpart, the strokes 16 are used to indicate a
phonetic representation of what is heard and the source thereof. Working
with a stenographic machine 10, a court reporter could produce a more
consistent stroke record of the testimony. This made it easier to avoid
mistakes since a wiggle or bend in the written record could change the
phonetic representation. Likewise, when and if necessary, others could
transcribe the record from a stenographic machine 10 whereas the written
record of each court reporter tended to be individualized to the point
that in some cases where the original reporter had died without
transcribing the notes, it was impossible for another reporter to do the
job. Other than that, the stenographic machine 10 did nothing to change
the problems of court reporting. Mumbling, nodding or shaking of the head
in lieu of speech, talking at high rates of speed, and talking by more
than one individual at a time still made the job more difficult and, in
many instances, impossible.
More recently, with the general availability of computers for personal use,
computer power has been added to the field of court reporting. At first,
as shown in FIG. 2, the stenographic machine 10 was connected to a tape
recorder 18 whereby the strokes 16 were simultaneously printed on the
paper tape 14 and recorded on a magnetic tape 20. The magnetic tape 20 was
then taken to a tape reader 22 connected to a computer 24 where the stroke
record on the tape 20 was read into the computer 24. Since the strokes,
i.e. the combinations of buttons 12 depressed simultaneously and in
sequence, are virtually standardized, the computer 24 is able to generate
a rough draft 26 of the transcription in word processing format for later
editing by the court reporter. At present, in many cases such as in
courthouse environments, the recorder 18 and reader 22 are replaced by a
direct connection between the stenographic machine 10 and the computer 24
such that the rough draft 26 is produced on a real-time basis. This is a
real boon in those instances where the court reporter is required to
produce "dailys", i.e. a written record of the day's testimony at the end
of each day. Note, however, that the problems of mumbling, nodding or
shaking of the head in lieu of speech, talking at high rates of speed, and
talking by more than one individual at a time still exist in this "high
tech" system.
Attempts at solving these latter problems have been attempted in the prior
art. Thus, as depicted in FIG. 4, many court reporters have employed a
voice tape recorder 28 simultaneously with their stenographic machine 10.
If in doubt when transcribing the record on the paper tape 14, the
reporter can play the recorded voice record from the recorder 28 in an
attempt to clarify the phonetic record. This can prove difficult and time
consuming since there is no correlation between the paper tape 14 and the
voice recording, and testimony can go on for hours. Moreover, the court
reporter can have problems trying to operate the voice tape recorder 28
simultaneously with the stenographic machine 10. Typical cassettes as
employed in the recorders 28 only have a thirty minute average capacity.
Thus, the court reporter may be forced to deal with an end-of-tape
situation right in the middle of critical testimony.
A very recent introduction into the field of court reporting is the
videotaping of the testimony in the manner depicted in FIG. 5. This, of
course, not only provides a supplemental voice record of the testimony but
a visual record as well whereby nodding or shaking of the head, hand
gestures, etc. in lieu of speech, as well as the demeanor of the witness,
can be ascertained at a later time. As presently implemented, two
individuals are involved -- the court reporter operating the stenographic
machine 10 and a video operator operating the video camera 30 and video
cassette recorder (VCR) 32. This arrangement is unfortunate to say the
least. Of necessity in such situations, there can be only a minimum of,
cooperation or interaction between the court reporter and the video
operator. While the court reporter is responsible for producing the
certified written record, the video operator is the more visible and,
therefore, often controls the process by default. Since the two
individuals typically work for different entities, the voice/video record
made at the time is not available for the court reporter for verification
purposes in producing the written transcription. More likely, like the
"instant replay" in sports, it is employed to discredit a best effort
under the circumstances. Moreover, since two individuals are required and
video operators demand high pay for their efforts, the use of video
recording is often rejected on a cost-to-client basis and, where used, can
cause hard feelings on the part of the lower-paid, harder-working court
reporter who is in a high stress position and responsible for the outcome.
To date and in general, nothing has been done about the problems of
testimony at high rates of speed and talking by more than one individual
at a time. Unless one of the attorneys involved and interested in
preserving the record notes the problem and halts the testimony for the
benefit of the court reporter, the court reporter generally tries to keep
up as best possible until it is beyond the individual's capacity. By the
time the court reporter indicates a problem, however, valuable testimony
may have been lost or mis-recorded.
Wherefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a combined
mechanical and video court reporting system under the complete control of
a single court reporter.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a combined
mechanical and video court reporting system wherein the mechanical and
video records are correlated for ease of verification during editing.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a combined
mechanical and video court reporting system wherein the mechanical and
video records are totally controlled from the court reporter's
stenographic machine.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a combined
mechanical and video court reporting system wherein the system monitors
for conditions that affect the court reporter's ability to make an
accurate record of the proceedings and impartially alerts the participants
when conditions exceed that ability.
Other objects and benefits of the present invention will become apparent
from the description which follows hereinafter when taken in combination
with the drawing figures which accompany it.
SUMMARY:
The foregoing objects have been achieved the court reporting system for
providing a simultaneous written and video record under the control of a
single court reporter of the present invention comprising, a court
reporter's stenographic recording input device having a keyboard for
accepting phonetic keystroke combination manual inputs from the court
reporter and for providing a corresponding signal reflecting keystroke
combinations input by the court reporter at an output thereof; system
clock means for providing a current time and date signal at an output
thereof; stroke record memory means for receiving and storing a sequence
of the signal reflecting keystroke combinations input by the court
reporter; stroke table means for defining a plurality of keystroke
combinations not employed for phonetic representations as control strokes;
video camera means for viewing a scene and providing a video signal
reflecting the scene at an output thereof; microphone means for providing
an audio signal reflecting verbal testimony at an output thereof; recorder
means connected to the outputs of the video camera means and the
microphone means for producing a recording of the video and audio signals
reflecting testimony in progress; and, control means operably connected to
the outputs of the court reporter' s stenographic recording input device,
the system clock means, the video camera means, and the microphone means
and the stroke table means and the recorder means and the stroke record
memory means for separating keystroke combinations input by the court
reporter into phonetic keystrokes and control keystrokes, for recording
the phonetic keystrokes in the stroke record memory means, for
periodically obtaining the current time and date signal from the system
clock means and appending it to the recording of the video and audio
signals and the sequence of the signal reflecting keystroke combinations
stored in the stroke record memory means.
In the preferred embodiment the invention additionally comprises, alarm
means for indicating an alarm condition; stroke times table means for
maintaining a history of the times of the most recent strokes input by the
court reporter; and, the control means being operably connected to the
stroke times table and the alarm means and including means for storing the
times of the strokes input by the court reporter in the stroke times
table, for periodically calculating a short term running average stroke
speed of the court reporter, for comparing the short term running average
stroke speed as calculated to an upper safe limit value, and for causing
the alarm means to indicate an alarm condition when the short term running
average stroke speed exceeds the upper safe limit value. The control means
also includes means for the court reporter to set the upper safe limit
value and the preferred alarm means comprises a blinking light. Also in
the preferred embodiment, the control means includes means for determining
if more than one person is speaking at a time during testimony and for
causing the alarm means to indicate an alarm condition when more than one
person is speaking at a time.
Also in the preferred embodiment, there are message storage means for
storing synthesized messages and the control means is operably connected
to the message means and includes means for appending the synthesized
messages to the recording of the video and audio signals and means for
appending a first synthesized message including the current time and date
signal from the system clock means to the recording of the video and audio
signals in response to a control keystroke from the court reporter
indicating the time and date the testimony is going "on the record" and
for appending a second synthesized message including the current time and
date signal from the system clock means to the recording of the video and
audio signals in response to another control keystroke from the court
reporter indicating the time and date the testimony is going "off the
record".
The preferred control means also includes means for appending a flag to the
phonetic keystrokes in the stroke record memory means in response to a
control keystroke from the court reporter indicating a word as just
recorded phonetically needs clarification, for searching the stroke record
memory means for flags when requested by the court reporter, for
displaying flagged ones of the phonetic keystrokes in the stroke record
memory, for receiving clarification inputs from the court reporter, and
for correcting the flagged ones of the phonetic keystrokes in the stroke
record memory with the clarification inputs from the court reporter as
well as means for automatically searching the stroke record memory means
for flags at the end of a recording session and for advising the court
reporter that there are words needing clarification if any the flags are
found.
For editing and verification purposes, the preferred control means includes
means for obtaining the closest the current time and date signal from the
system clock means as appending to the sequence of the signal reflecting
keystroke combinations stored in the stroke record memory means in
response to a control keystroke from the court reporter, for searching the
recording of the video and audio signals to find the closest the current
time and date signal from the system clock means as appending thereto, and
for positioning the recording of the video and audio signals in the
recorder mean with the closest the current time and date signal from the
system clock means as appending thereto positioned for playback whereby
the court reporter can automatically position the recording of the video
and audio signals in the recorder means for coordinated checking of the
keystroke combinations stored in the stroke record memory means with the
corresponding recorded testimony.
For increased interest of the produced video record, there is additionally
position control means for changing the scene being viewed by the video
camera means between a first scene and a second scene and the control
means includes means for causing the position control means to change the
scene being viewed by the video camera means between the first scene and
the second scene.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:
FIG. 1 is a drawing depicting a prior art court reporter's stenographic
machine.
FIG. 2 is a drawing depicting a prior art court reporting system wherein
the strokes input on the court reporter's stenographic machine of FIG. 1
are recorded on magnetic tape for later off-line input to a computer for
generation by the computer of a rough draft document for editing by the
court reporter.
FIG. 3 is a drawing depicting a prior art court reporting system wherein
the strokes input on the court reporter's stenographic machine of FIG. 1
are simultaneously input to a computer for instant generation by the
computer of a rough draft document for editing by the court reporter.
FIG. 4 is a drawing depicting a prior art court reporting system wherein a
voice recording of the testimony is made simultaneously with the use of
the court reporter's stenographic machine so that, in case of doubt, the
testimony can be replayed to verify the stenographic record and
transcription thereof.
FIG. 5 is a drawing depicting a prior art court reporting system wherein a
video recording of the testimony is made by a second individual
simultaneously with the use of the court reporter's stenographic machine
by a first individual.
FIG. 6 is a drawing depicting a court reporting system according to the
present invention in its preferred embodiment wherein the strokes input on
the court reporter's stenographic machine are simultaneously input to a
control system controlling a computer, video recording apparatus, and
alarm apparatus whereby a coordinated document and video recording of the
testimony is made under the complete control of the court reporter.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart depicting the basic logic implemented by the control
system of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart depicting the basic steps in parameterizing a voice
recognition system as optionally employed in the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart depicting the steps in alarming when more than one
person is talking at a time as employed in the present invention.
FIG. 10 is a flowchart depicting the basic control functions in the present
invention.
FIG. 11 is a flowchart of the periodic time and date stamping function
which takes place in the system of the present invention to keep the
written and video records in synchronization.
FIG. 12 is a flowchart depicting the steps of correcting words flagged for
uncertainty during the recording process in the present invention.
FIG. 13 is flowchart depicting the steps of placing the video recording in
position with a point in the written record for verification playback in
the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT:
The court reporting system of the present invention in its preferred
embodiment is shown in FIG. 6 wherein it is generally indicated as 34.
There is a standard court reporter's stenographic machine 10 of type
providing the strokes as input on an output line 36. The heart of the
system 34 is the control system 38 which is shown connected to a computer
24. In the drawing, the control system 38 is indicated as a separate
entity, and may in fact be implemented as such. As those skilled in the
art will readily appreciate, the control system 38 may be incorporated
into the computer 24 and it is anticipated by the inventor herein that in
commercial embodiments such will be the case with so-called "portable"
computers becoming smaller and faster. The VCR 32 and camera position
controller 33 are connected by cable 40 to the control system 38 to be
controlled thereby. As those skilled in the art will recognize, if
desired, the cable 40 could be replaced by an infrared or radio frequency
link for wireless operation. Such techniques, while they would eliminate
wires in the area, would, unfortunately, also add to the cost of the
system. As will be seen from the description hereinafter, the VCR 32 also
receives audio and/or video inputs from and provides a feedback signal to
the control system 38. As those skilled in the art will appreciate, the
VCR 32, video camera 30, and microphones 31 could, of course, be replaced
by a so-called "cam-corder" combining both functions into one piece of
equipment. As those skilled in the art will appreciate from the
description herein, such an equipment substitution would limit some of the
preferred functions, however. Finally, in the preferred embodiment, the
control system 38 is operably connected to a light alarm 42 whereby the
participants can be alerted in a subdued manner to adverse conditions in
the testimony as detected by the control system 38. A soft bell, or the
like, could, of course, be used in lieu of or in combination with the
light alarm 42.
Turning now to the logic flowchart of FIG. 7 in combination with the
functional block diagram of FIG. 6 the general logic of the control system
38 will now be discussed in detail. As each stroke combination is read in
by the control system 38 on line 36, the logic accesses a pre-defined
stroke table 44. As is convenient to the purposes and objects of the
present invention, all possible combinations of the buttons 12 are not
employed in the phonetic recording and transcription process. Thus, there
are combinations that are available for control purposes. Selected ones of
these available combinations are pre-defined in the stroke table 44 for
control purposes. Thus, the logic first checks each stroke against the
contents of the stroke table 44 to determine if the stroke just input is a
control stroke or not. If it is, the associated control function is
executed The possible control functions as contemplated for the present
invention in its preferred embodiment will be discussed in detail shortly.
For the present, it is sufficient to note that the first thing the logic
of the control does is to separate the control strokes from the
non-control strokes.
All non-control strokes are added to the of the time annotated stroke
record 46 maintained in computer memory for access by the computer 24. The
logic then checks to see if it is time to time-stamp the stroke record 46;
that is, an elapsed time (or counter position as fed back from the VCR 32)
or the present time from a system clock 47 is periodically entered as part
of the stroke record 46. The time stamp is overlooked by the computer 24
when using the stroke record 46 to prepare a draft of the transcribed
record in word processing format for editing; but, is employed when
automated searching of the video record coordinated to the stroke record
46 is undertaken. The logic then calculates the time since the last stroke
input. This can be accomplished by accessing the real-time clock counter
generally available in most computers 24. The logic then enters the time
between the last stokes into a rotary stroke times table 48 which
maintains the times between the last "n" strokes for a short term interval
of, for example, 2-5 seconds. This prevents making decisions on
instantaneous common stroke grouping, which can take place very rapidly
without potential of errors. The logic then checks to see if the short
term running average is over a pre-established limit as input for the
particular court reporter operating the stenographic machine 10. The limit
for each court reporter is chosen to be at a level where sustained
operation at the level indicates that the court reporter's capacity for
continued accurate recording is being exceeded such that the parties need
to slow down in order to preserve an accurate record. When the limit is
exceeded, the logic activates the light alarm 42 which blinks on and off
several times a second to tactfully and impartially alert the parties to
the situation.
Turning now to FIGS. 8 and 9, the logic is shown therein for a feature may,
optionally, be included in a future possible embodiment of the present
invention -- voice recognition. This is well within the developing state
of the art and the speed of modern personal computers and, therefore, may
be employed for two purposes. First, to allow the automatic indication, on
the record, of the person speaking at any time thus removing this chore
from the duties of the court reporter. Second, to check for multiple
speakers and provide an alarm condition to the parties as in the case of
too rapid speaking. As shown in FIG. 8, the logic includes initialization
logic whereby the participants to the recording session are "introduced"
to the system 34 of the present invention. This takes place prior to
testimony beginning or whenever a new person enters the proceedings. The
court reporter first enters a unique stoke identifying the person and the
person recites a given phrase as provided by the court reporter
beforehand. The logic inputs a sample of the recitation from the VCR 32 as
detected by the video camera 30 and uses that sample to perform a voice
analysis according to techniques well known in the art so as to develop
easily recognized patterns to the person's voice. Those patterns are then
stored in a voice table 50 indexed by the person's identifier.
During testimony, the logic loop shown in FIG. 9 runs continuously (but not
exclusively) inputting voice samples from the VCR. It performs the same
voice analysis on the samples to derive their characteristics and then
compares the characteristics as sampled to the characteristics for the
identified speakers. If it finds two (or more) persons speaking
simultaneously, it activates the light alarm and returns to the beginning
of the loop. If only one person is speaking, it checks to see if it is the
same person as before and returns to the beginning of the loop without
doing more if it is. If not, it changes the person talking indicator on
the stroke record 46 before returning to the beginning of the loop.
The preferred approach to the above-described two functions is the use of
multiple directional microphones 31 as shown in FIG. 6 where the
microphones 31 are associated with individual persons or individual voice
group sources. The logic employed with this approach is substantially
identical to that of FIG. 9 as described above except that voice
recognition techniques do not have to be applied to determine the source
of one or more "voices". Such a determination is automatic as a function
of which microphone 31 is detecting the sound. For that reason and in the
interest of simplicity and the avoidance of redundancy, the logic of using
multiple directional microphones 31 will not be described in detail
further.
Another control aspect of the present invention in its preferred embodiment
is the positional control and control of the zoom aspects of the camera
30. To provide a non-boring record of a deposition, or the like, it is
recommended that the scene being viewed and the zoom aspects of the scene
be changed periodically. For this purpose, the camera 30 is mounted on
positional control apparatus 33 which allows the control system 38 to
change the scene being viewed by moving the camera horizontally and up and
down. Since the court reporter must be able to perform the primary
function of making a written record of the testimony, the is no time or
ability to pay more than minimum attention to the position of the camera
30. Accordingly, in the preferred embodiment, the control system 38 is
pre-programmed by the court reporter prior to the beginning of the
testimony to pre-define camera positions of interest. For example, one
position could be with the camera 30 aimed at the person taking the
testimony while another could be with the camera 30 aimed at the person
giving the testimony. Having pre-defined | | |
