US 4,924,387 AGranted

Computerized court reporting system

OwnerJohn C. Jeppeseninventor

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A court reporting system for providing a simultaneous written and video record under the control of a single court reporter. A court reporter's keyboard stenographic accepts inputs from the reporter and provides a signal reflecting keystroke combinations input by the reporter. A system clock provides the current time and date. There is a memory for receiving and storing signal sequences reflecting keystroke combinations and a table for defining keystroke combinations as control strokes. A video camera provides a video signal reflecting a viewed scene and a microphone provides an audio signal reflecting verbal testimony. A recorder is connected to the video camera and the microphone for producing a recording of testimony in progress. Finally, ther is a control system connected to the above elements including logic for separating keystroke combinations into phonetic keystrokes and control keystrokes, for recording the phonetic keystrokes in the memory, for periodically obtaining the current time and date from the clock and appending it to the recording of the video and audio and the signal reflecting keystroke combinations stored in the memory. The system provides an alarm when the stroke rate is over a safe limit for accurate recording or when more than one person speaks. Synthesized messages place the system on and off the rocord. provision is made for flagging, searching and correcting questionable words and for reminding the reporter to do so. The system can place the video and stroke records in synchronization for review and confirmation. The preferred system adjusts camera position and zoom for better video quality.

Claims25

Dependent claims

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.

6 more elements

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.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.