Speech transcription tool for efficient speech transcription

Abstract

A transcription tool [115] includes a graphical user interface [209] that displays the waveform of an input audio signal to a user. The user may define speaker turn segments using the displayed waveform. The graphical user interface further displays a transcription section [302] that includes a textual representation of speech that was transcribed by the user and a graphical representation of annotation information [314] relating to the transcribed text. The user may enter the annotation information on-the-fly while transcribing the text using predefined keyboard shortcut commands or other mechanisms. The graphical user interface may further display a structured representation section [303] that may present the transcribed text as a hierarchical tree structure.

Description

[0001] This application is related to the concurrently-filed U.S. application (Docket No. 02-4040), Ser. No. ______, titled "Fast Transcription of Speech," which is incorporated herein by reference.[0002] This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. .sctn. 119 based on U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 419,214 filed Oct. 17, 2002, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.[0004] A. Field of the Invention[0005] The present invention relates generally to speech processing and, more particularly, to the transcription of speech.[0006] B. Description of Related Art[0007] Speech has not traditionally been valued as an archival information source. As effective as the spoken word is for communicating, archiving spoken segments in a useful and easily retrievable manner has long been a difficult proposition. Although the act of recording audio is not difficult, automatically transcribing and indexing speech in an intelligent and useful manner can be difficult.[0008] Au...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention is about a speech transcription tool that allows users to efficiently transcribe and annotate speech. The tool is designed to cost-effectively transcribe speech and can be used in situations where a lot of training data is required or in which different languages are to be modeled. The tool includes a control logic, an input device, and a graphical user interface. The control logic plays back portions of an audio stream and the input device receives text from the user defining a transcription and annotation information. The graphical user interface displays the text and the representation of the annotation information with the text. The invention provides a solution for cost-effectively transcribing speech and making it easier for users to generate structured and annotated transcriptions."

Problems solved by technology

As effective as the spoken word is for communicating, archiving spoken segments in a useful and easily retrievable manner has long been a difficult proposition.

Although the act of recording audio is not difficult, automatically transcribing and indexing speech in an intelligent and useful manner can be difficult.

Manually transcribing speech can be a time consuming and, thus, expensive task.

Accordingly, in situations in which a lot of training data is required, or in which a number of different languages are to be modeled, the cost of obtaining the training data can be prohibitive.

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