CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/113,909, filed Dec. 7, 2020, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/611,408, filed Jun. 1, 2017, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,860,786, issued Dec. 8, 2020, which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

BACKGROUND
Field

This disclosure relates to a system and method for automatically and manually analyzing and investigating communication data obtained from one or more correctional facilities.

Background

In correctional environments such as prisons, there is a need to monitor communications involving inmates for security and safety reasons. In addition to monitoring the communications, there is also a need to analyze and investigate the communication data. As communications technology progresses, inmates gain access to different communication devices, such as traditional wired telephones, wireless smart phones, tablets, laptops, and wearable devices etc. The growing number of communication devices generate a large amount of communication data. Traditionally, all communication data is recorded and manually investigated. This process becomes less effective due to the larger amount of data recorded from so many different devices. As a result, it is believed that only a small portion of the recorded communication can be investigated and analyzed. It is highly desirable to complement manual investigations with automatic investigations to increase the scope of investigation and improve the efficiency of the investigation.

Besides the increasing amount of communication data, the type of the communication data is also getting more and more diverse. Different communication devices are able to generate different types of communication data with different formats, such as voice, text, photo, video, force, etc. Traditional investigation and analysis systems are usually configured to analyze one type of communication data, such as voice communication data or text communication data. Separate systems configured to analyze different types of communication data not only make the data management more challenging, but also limit the analysis and investigation to the type of the data being analyzed. It is thus beneficial to analyze and investigate different types of data with a universal system to simplify the data management and conduct comprehensive analysis by correlating information obtained from different types of data.

Further, it is desirable to keep track of all the comments and other investigation records conducted for the communication data and save all the investigation records so that the records can be easy reviewed, modified and searched.

While various aspects and alternative features are known in the field of communication monitoring and investigation, no one design has emerged that generally integrates all of the ideal features and performance characteristics as discussed herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS/FIGURES

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the description, further serve to explain the principles of the disclosure and to enable a person skilled in the pertinent art to make and use the embodiments.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a communication investigation and analysis scheme for controlled environments, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a communication data collection and reproduction process, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a communication data recognition and transcription process, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of an anomaly detection and tagging process, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of a reviewer interaction process, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of a search and report process 600, according to some embodiments, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computer system, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

The present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers indicate identical or functionally similar elements. Additionally, the left most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the drawing in which the reference number first appears.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following Detailed Description refers to accompanying drawings to illustrate exemplary embodiments consistent with the disclosure. References in the Detailed Description to “one exemplary embodiment,” “an exemplary embodiment,” “an example exemplary embodiment,” etc., indicate that the exemplary embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every exemplary embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same exemplary embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an exemplary embodiment, it is within the knowledge of those skilled in the relevant art(s) to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other exemplary embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

The exemplary embodiments described herein are provided for illustrative purposes, and are not limiting. Other exemplary embodiments are possible, and modifications may be made to the exemplary embodiments within the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Therefore, the Detailed Description is not meant to limit the disclosure. Rather, the scope of the disclosure is defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

Embodiments may be implemented in hardware (e.g., circuits), firmware, software, or any combination thereof. Embodiments may also be implemented as instructions stored on a machine-readable medium, which may be read and executed by one or more processors. A machine-readable medium may include any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computing device). For example, a machine-readable medium may include read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media; flash memory devices; electrical, optical, acoustical or other forms of propagated signals (e.g., carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals, etc.), and others. Further, firmware, software, routines, instructions may be described herein as performing certain actions. However, it should be appreciated that such descriptions are merely for convenience and that such actions in fact result from computing devices, processors, controllers, or other devices executing the firmware, software, routines, instructions, etc. Further, any of the implementation variations may be carried out by a general purpose computer, as described below.

For purposes of this discussion, any reference to the term “module” shall be understood to include at least one of software, firmware, and hardware (such as one or more circuit, microchip, or device, or any combination thereof), and any combination thereof. In addition, it will be understood that each module may include one, or more than one, component within an actual device, and each component that forms a part of the described module may function either cooperatively or independently of any other component forming a part of the module. Conversely, multiple modules described herein may represent a single component within an actual device. Further, components within a module may be in a single device or distributed among multiple devices in a wired or wireless manner.

The following Detailed Description of the exemplary embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the disclosure that others can, by applying knowledge of those skilled in relevant art(s), readily modify and/or customize for various applications such exemplary embodiments, without undue experimentation, without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Therefore, such modifications are intended to be within the meaning and plurality of equivalents of the exemplary embodiments based upon the teaching and guidance presented herein. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation, such that the terminology or phraseology of the present specification is to be interpreted by those skilled in relevant art(s) in light of the teachings herein.

Advances in communications technology have opened avenues for inmates to utilize different forms of communication methods provided by an increasing number of communication devices. Maintaining the ability to monitor all the communications and analyze and investigate the communication records are becoming more and more challenging. On one hand, the amount of communication records or communication data has increased dramatically, making it impractical to investigate all the communication records conducted by the inmates. The limited amount of data being investigated not only makes it more difficult to identify potential issues within the investigated data due to a lack of information, but also make it easier to overlook important information contained in the data that is not investigated. On the other hand, the diversified data formats make data management and data analysis more challenging. For example, a voice investigation system that only analyzes voice information may have its specific voice data server, while a text investigation system may have its own text data server. Management and coordination of communication data stored in separate data servers can be difficult. Moreover, multimedia communication data containing both voice and text data may contain correlations between the voice and text data. Analyzing the voice and text data using separate analysis system can make it inconvenient to uncover the correlations between the voice and text data existed in the multimedia communication data.

In some cases, the communication data and the investigation and analysis data for the communication data may come from different data sources and data servers. For example, a data source may be an inmate telephone system in a correctional facility, and another data source may be an email system in the correctional facility. For another example, data may also come from more than one correctional facility. These data from different data sources and data servers are usually managed and stored separately, which makes the data management and data mining across different data sources more difficult and less efficient.

Further, when communication data of a communication event is conducted by a reviewer or a jurisdiction officer, the reviewer may provide review comments when he/she discovers anomalies in some portions of the communication data. It is desirable to keep a record of the comments and the locations of the portions of the communication data with anomalies, so that these comments and portions of the communication data can be easily viewed, modified and searched by other reviewers.

In light of the above, the present disclosure provides details of a system and method for investigating and analyzing communication data collected from one or more data sources. The system is configured to provide both automatic and manual investigations of communication data from different data sources. For automatic investigations, the system is configured to automatically transcribe the communication data and detect anomalies in the transcribed communication data. Whenever an anomaly is detected, the system is configured to label this anomaly in the transcribed communication data and provide specific comments for each anomaly detected. Moreover, the system can also provide investigations for both real time communication and recorded communication. Furthermore, the system is configured to keep track of all the investigation records for each reviewer who reviews the communication data, adds comments to the communication data, or modifies the existing comments associated with the communication data. The system may further be configured to allow a reviewer to search the communication data and the investigation records using pre-built or self-designed search formats.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a communication investigation and analysis scheme 100 for controlled environments, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The communication investigation and analysis scheme 100 comprises a data processing system 101, a data server 102, a communication user 103, a communication device 104, a reviewer 105, a Jail Management System (JMS) 106, and an other data source 107. In some embodiments, a communication user is an inmate in a correctional facility. In some embodiments, the communication user uses a communication device 104 to conduct a communication event. The communication device 104 comprises a plurality of wired or wireless communication devices including, but not limited to, a landline telephone, a wireless phone, a wireless smart phone, a tablet, a desktop, a laptop, a speaker, a camera, and a wearable device such as a smart watch or a wrist band. A person of ordinal skills in the art would understand that there can be more than one communication user 103, and there can be more than one communication device 104. A person of ordinary skill in the art would also understand that one communication user 103 can operate more than one communication device 104, either sequentially or concurrently, to conduct communication.

In some embodiments, the communication conducted by the communication device 104 is carried out with different communication technologies including both wired and wireless communication technologies. The wired communication can be conducted through different wired networks including, but not limited to, a landline telephone network, a cable network, and a fiber-optic network. The wireless communication can be conducted with technologies including, but not limited to, GSM, 2G-5G technologies, WCDMA, CDMA, TDMA, UMTS, WIMAX, WIFI, IBEACON, Bluetooth, LTE, 700 MHz to 2200 MHz or other frequency band communication technologies. In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 is configured to receive real time communication data directly from the communication device 104 during the communication (e.g. real time detection and investigation). In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 is configured to receive wireless communication data transmitted by the communication device 104 by detecting and intercepting the communication data using an antenna and a transmitter. In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 is connected to a communication hub (e.g. a modem or a switch) that transmits data with the communication device 104 and receives the communication data from the communication hub.

In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 is configured to communicate with the data server 102 to retrieve recorded communication data stored in the data server 102. In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 connects with the data server 102 via wired connections including, but not limited to, Ethernet cables, telephone cables, and fiber-optic cables. In some other embodiments, the data processing system 101 connects with the data server 102 via wireless connections including, but not limited to, WI-FI connection, mobile technology (e.g. 1G-5G technology) connections, Bluetooth connection, radio frequency signal connections, Near Field Communication (NFC) connections, and other frequency domain technologies. In some embodiments, the communication data transmitted by the communication device 104 comprises communication data with different forms including, but not limited to, text messages, voice mails, phone calls, video recordings, video conference calls, pictures and photos, and touch force signals.

In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 is configured to handle different processing tasks in the investigation and analysis scheme 100. In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 is configured to receive communication data from the communication device 104 before further processing the data. In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 is configured to retrieve communication data from data files stored in the data server 102 before further processing the data. In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 is configured to reproduce the received communication data or the retrieved communication data. The reproduction of the communication data can include cleaning the communication data by removing blanks and data with un-recognized formats, adding synchronized clock or timing information to the communication data or synchronizing the clock or timing information in the communication data to a synchronized global clock, and sending the cleaned communication data with synchronized timing information to the data server 102 as reproduced communication data. In some embodiments, as a result of the reproduction, the communication data (e.g. voice or texts) contained in the reproduced communication data are assigned time locations (e.g. time stamps) based on the synchronized global clock. In some embodiments, the data server 102 stores the reproduced communication data into a reproduced communication file.

In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 is configured to retrieve reproduced communication data from a reproduced communication file before further processing the data. In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 recognizes the reproduced communication data and provides transcripts for the reproduced communication data by transcribing the reproduced communication data. In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 includes a speech/text recognition system that recognizes information in the reproduced communication data and translates the information into English texts. In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 can also include advanced recognition systems that are capable of recognizing and translating graphic information contained in videos and photos using one or more image recognition techniques.

In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 synchronizes the transcripts with a synchronized clock or timing information so that the information of the transcripts are associated to specific portions of the reproduced communication data based on a common synchronized clock or timing information. For example, a transcript of voice recording can include English text of words that are recognized/translated from the same words contained in the voice recording. The text of the words in the transcripts are assigned to the same time location as the words in the voice recording based on a synchronized global clock or timing information. As a result, in the transcribed communication data, the transcript is associated with the communication data according to the synchronized global clock or timing information.

In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 is configured to create metadata information for the communication data being processed by the data processing system 101. In some embodiments, the metadata information is created to enable efficient data management, investigation and analysis. The metadata information can include information of the communication user and the information of the communication event. The information of the communication user can include, for example, the name or ID of the communication user, the physical location of the communication user, the personal and criminal records of the communication user, and the biometric information of the communication user. The information of the communication event can include, for example, the communication event ID, phone numbers of the caller and the receiver, the incoming caller ID and outgoing caller ID, the communication devices involved in the communication event, the physical location of the communication devices, the time and the duration of the communication event, and the form of the communication (e.g. phone call, voice mail, text message, email, video, etc.). In some embodiments, the metadata information can further include the history of the communication data such as, for example, unprocessed or new, reproduced from certain unprocessed data, transcribed from certain reproduced data, processing errors occurred during the reproduction and the transcription processes, reviewed by a certain reviewer, commented by a certain reviewer, modified by a certain reviewer, and deleted by a certain reviewer. In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 is further configured to modify the metadata information automatically or in response to a reviewer's request.

In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 is configured to provide a synchronized global clock or timing information for the system operation. In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 obtains the synchronized global clock or timing information using a plurality of techniques such as, for example, Cristian's algorithm, Berkeley algorithm, and Network Time Protocol (NTP). With Cristian's algorithm, the data processing system 101 would issue a request to a remote time source and set the time from the remote time source as the synchronized time. With Berkeley algorithm, the data processing system 101 would obtain an average time from a number of time sources and set the synchronized time to the average time of the time sources. With the NTP, the data processing system 101 would try to synchronize with several servers, and use the best of all results to set its time. The best result is a function of a time of qualities, such as round-trip delay, consistency of the delay, round-trip error, the accuracy of the server's clock, etc.

In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 is further configured to detect anomalies in the transcribed information. In some embodiments, the detection of anomalies involves matching the information from the transcribed information to a database of pre-defined events. An anomaly is detected when a portion of the transcribed information matches information defined in one or more of the pre-defined events. For example, a text transcript for a voice mail may contain slangs. The data processing system 101 then matches the slang from the transcript with a slang in a slang database. The data processing system 101 then flags this slang in the transcript as an anomaly. In some embodiments, the detection of anomalies involves extracting topic information from the transcribed information and matching the topic information with a database of pre-defined anomaly topics. In some embodiment, the detection of the anomaly is either a supervised detection or an unsupervised detection. With a supervised detection, a set of training data is already available (e.g. provided or defined by a database) for the data processing system 101. A training data teaches the data processing system 101 to identify anomaly information from normal information. The data processing system 101 then analyzes the transcribed information and find out any anomaly based on the anomaly patterns learned from the set of training data (e.g. suspicious language pattern, offensive behavior pattern, etc.). With an unsupervised detection, a set of training data is not required, and the data processing system 101 is capable of obtaining training data from the transcribed information during the process of detection and make an implicit that normal instances are much more frequent than anomalies. The data processing system 101 can then find out anomaly if a rare language pattern emerges or a rare behavior pattern emerges. In some embodiments, the techniques of anomaly detection can include, for example, classification based anomaly detection, clustering based anomaly detection, statistical based anomaly detection, and other suitable anomaly detection techniques.

In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 is further configured to label or tag all the anomalies detected in the transcribed information for a communication event. In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 identifies the time locations (e.g. time stamps) of anomalies based on a synchronized clock or timing information. In some embodiments, the time location of an anomaly includes a beginning time of the anomaly and an end time of the anomaly. In some embodiments, an anomaly can include more than one session, and the time locations of the anomaly can include more than one beginning time and more than one end times. The data processing system 101 is further configured to save the time locations of the anomalies detected in the transcribed information into the data server 102. In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 creates a link between the time locations of all the anomalies in the transcribed information with the portions of the transcribed information, so that the data processing system 101 is able to trace the time locations of the anomalies in the transcribed information through the links between the anomalies and the transcribed information.

In some embodiments, a link is a cross reference connection used to connect different files or different portions of data from different files or from the same file. For example, a link can be a cross reference location link created between a portion of transcribed information in a transcribed communication file and a time location information stored in a separate file. With the created link, the data processing system 101 can locate the portion of the transcribed information through the time location information from the separate file, and vice versa. In some embodiments, the link can also be used to trace the changes automatically. For example, a link can be created between a portion of transcribed information in a transcribed communication file and a time location information stored in a separate file. When the portion of transcribed communication data is deleted or relocated to a new location, the time location information linked to the transcribed communication data is also deleted or modified to refer to the new location of the relocated transcribed communication data.

In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 is further configured to generate comments of the detected anomalies. In some embodiments, the comments are automatically generated based on a pre-built comments database. In some embodiments, the comments database can be a comments look-up table in which comments-anomaly pairs can be defined. In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 is further configured to add, modify, and remove comments-anomaly pairs. In some embodiments, the comments include a full description of the detected anomaly, such as the original transcribed information that triggers the anomaly detection, the nature or the pattern detected in this anomaly (e.g. slang, offensive behavior, threatening language, etc.), a confidence level of anomaly matching, a list of all communication users in this communication event, and other useful information identifiable from the transcribed information. In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 is configured to save the comments for the anomalies into the data server 102. In some embodiments, the comments for an anomaly and the time locations of the anomaly are stored in a same location in the data server 102 (e.g. a same file) so that the comments and the time locations are linked together. In some embodiments, the comments and the time locations of an anomaly are stored in separate locations and managed separately. A link can be created between the separately stored time locations and comments. In some embodiments, the comments can have their own time locations assigned to them, and the comments are not linked to an anomaly.

In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 is further configured to display the transcribed information. In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 provides a user interface to allow interfacing between a reviewer 105 and the data processing system 101. In some embodiments, the user interface is a graphical user interface (GUI). In some embodiments, the user interface further includes input and output methods, such as, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a touch screen, a microphone, a display screen, a speaker, and other suitable input and output methods. In some embodiments, the reviewer 105 requests to view one or more portions of the transcribed information of a communication event via an input method and a user interface. The data processing system 101 receives the request and retrieves the data from the data center 102. The data processing system 101 displays the requested transcribed information to the reviewer 105 via an output method (e.g. a screen) and the user interface.

In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 further retrieves all the time locations of anomalies linked to the displayed transcribed information requested by the reviewer 105, and assign markers to each of the time locations. The data processing system 101 then display all the markers at their assigned time locations to the reviewer 105 together with the displayed transcribed information. In some embodiments, the markers can be displayed in different formats such as, for example, a notification marker at each time location for each anomaly, a highlighted box (covering a portion of text or portion of an image) for each anomaly, a colored background from each beginning time location to each end time location for each anomaly, a special format of texts from each beginning time location to each end time location for each anomaly, and other suitable forms of markers to indicate the presence of anomalies in the displayed transcribed information. In some embodiments, the data processing system is further configured to retrieves all the comments that are linked to the displayed transcribed information. Based on the time locations of the comments, or the links between the comments and the markers, the data processing system 101 displays the comments together with the displayed transcribed information at their assigned time locations. In some embodiments, the comments are directly displayed together with the displayed transcribed information (e.g. comments displayed alongside a text transcript or an image). In some embodiments, the comments are hided and only a marker is displayed at the time locations of the comments. The reviewer 105 can notice the presence of a marker indicating the existence of comments associated with the marker, and view the comments by moving the mouse over the marker. In some embodiments, the reviewer 105 can choose to display or not display the comments together with the displayed transcribed information.

In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 is further configured to provide a user interface for the reviewer 105 to interact with the transcribed information. In some embodiments, the interaction between the reviewer 105 and the data processing system 101 includes reviewing, inserting, removing, relocating, and modifying the transcribed information. In some embodiments, the interaction between the reviewer 105 and the data processing system 101 also includes reviewing, inserting, removing, relocating, and modifying the time locations of the anomalies, the markers assigned to the anomalies, and the comments that are linked to the transcribed information. In some embodiments, the reviewer inserts a marker at a specific display position in the transcribed information via the user interface. In some embodiments, the insertion of a marker is done by the user double clicking the mouse or right clicking the mouse at a specific display position (e.g. a space between two words, space between two sentences, a word, a sentence, a paragraph, a portion of a photo, etc.) in the transcribed information. The data processing system 101 receives this insertion action from the reviewer through the user interface, and identifies the time location of the inserted marker based on the synchronized clock or timing information. A link is also created by the data processing system 101 between the transcribed information and the time location of the new marker. The data processing system 101 then saves the time location of the new marker and the link between the time location and the transcribed information into the data sever 102. In some embodiments, the reviewer inserts comments at a specific display position in the transcribed information via the user interface. In some embodiments, the insertion of comments is done by the user choosing a specific display position (e.g. a space between two words, space between two sentences, a word, a sentence, a paragraph, a portion of a photo, etc.) in the transcribed information, followed by putting in comments in a comment box that pops up at the chosen position. The data processing system 101 receives this comments insertion action from the reviewer through the user interface, and identifies the time location of the inserted comments based on the synchronized clock or timing information. In some embodiments, the time location can be a specific time location for a specific display position (e.g. the time location for a space between two words), or multiple time locations beginning from a first time location (e.g. the time location of a first letter in the first word in a chosen sentence) and ending at a second time location (e.g. the time location of a last letter in the first word in a chosen sentence). A link is also created by the data processing system 101 between the transcribed information and the time location of the inserted comments. The data processing system 101 then saves the contents of the comments, the time location of the comments, and the link between the comments and the transcribed information into the data sever 102.

In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 is further configured to track the interaction records of the reviewer regarding the transcribed information. In some embodiments, the interactions of the reviewer include reviewing, inserting, removing, relocating, and modifying one or more portions of the transcribed information. In some embodiments, the interactions of the reviewer further include reviewing, inserting, removing, relocating, and modifying the time locations of the anomalies, the markers assigned to the anomalies, and the comments that are linked to the transcribed information. In some embodiments, the interaction records include the identity of the reviewer (e.g. name and/or ID of the reviewer), all the interactions conducted by the reviewer (e.g. review a portion of a transcribed information, modify a portion of the transcribed information, delete a portion of the transcribed information, etc.) and all the data generated during the interactions (e.g. the comments inserted or modified by the reviewer, the marker inserted or modified by the reviewer, the portions of the transcribed information that are modified by the reviewer, etc.). The data processing system 101 further saves the interaction records into the data server 102.

In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 is further configured to allow the reviewer to conduct an information search. In some embodiments, the reviewer can create a search request that contains search terms based on a plurality of information categories including, but not limited to transcribed information (e.g. certain words), reviewer information (e.g. a specific reviewer), anomaly information (e.g. whether an anomaly is detected and the types of anomaly), marker information (whether a marker is present and the time location of the markers), comments information (whether comments are present, whether user inserted comments are present, whether comments are modified, etc.), metadata information (e.g. whether processing error is present), and interaction records (whether reviewed by a certain reviewer). In some embodiments, the search request is created by the reviewer using a graphical user interface (GUI) provided by the data processing system 101. In some embodiments, the information search proceeds by identifying the search term, searching the data server 102 for all the information regarding the search term (e.g. all the files containing the information about the search term), compiling a list of search results, and ranking and filtering the search results (e.g. ranking and filtering the list of search results by their relevance), summarizing the search results in a search report with specific formats, and displaying the search report to the reviewer. In some embodiments, the formats of the search report is pre-defined and can be re-used. Such a search report is a canned search report. In some embodiments, the formats of the search report can be created by the reviewer. Such a search report with reviewer created formats can be an ad-hoc search report which has formats not provided in canned search reports. The reviewer can run an ad-hoc search report as an one-time search. In some embodiments, the reviewer can further save the reviewer created formats as canned search reports so that these search reports with reviewer created formats can be easily re-used by the reviewer for future information searches. In some embodiments, the formats of a search report include, but are not limited to, the selection of items to be displayed in the search reports (e.g. the name of the reviewer, the time of creation, whether the data has been reproduced, transcribed, reviewed, modified, etc.), the arrangement of displayed items in the report (e.g. the number of search results in one page, displaying search results in a top to bottom list, displaying search results in a grid view, etc.), the algorithm of ranking the search results (e.g. rank by relevance, rank by creation time, rank by number of reviewers, etc.), and the display formats of each of the search results (e.g. a summary text, a full description, a summary view, etc.). In some embodiments, the formats of a search report further include pre-defined search terms (e.g. one or more pre-defined keywords that are added to the search) and pre-defined search conditions (e.g. the data source for the search, the time range of the data to be searched, the form of data to be searched, etc).

In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 is further configured to allow the reviewer to modify the search report formats of an existing search report. In some embodiments, the reviewer can use formats from a canned report as base formats and modify the base formats. The reviewer can run an ad-hoc search based on the modified search formats or store the modified search formats as in a modified canned report so that the modified search formats can be re-used.

In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 is further configured to allow the reviewer to create scheduled search report. In some embodiments, the reviewer can create new search formats, modify existing search formats, or directly use existing search formats, to generate the search formats for the scheduled search report. In some embodiments, the reviewer can define a specific time to run the scheduled search report, a frequency or an interval of running the scheduled search report (e.g. once a day, once a week, twice a month, etc.). In some embodiments, the reviewer can define the search terms and search conditions for the search in the scheduled search report. In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 sets up the formats of the scheduled search report and sets up the scheduled search frequency or interval automatically. In some embodiments, the data processing system 101 is configured to analyze the search results of a scheduled search, and determines to narrow or widen the search terms or search conditions for the scheduled search.

In some embodiments, the data server 102 stores the communication data from a communication event received from a communication device 104. In some embodiments, the communication data is received real-time during the communication event. In some embodiments, the data server 102 directly communicates with the communication device 104. In some embodiments, the data server 102 communicates with one or more communication hub (e.g. network router, network switch, wireless signal repeater, etc.) to connect with the communication device 104. In some embodiments, the data server 102 does not directly communicate with the communication device 104. Instead, the data server 102 is configured to receive communication data from the communication device 104 by intercepting the communication data transmitted by the communication device 104. In some embodiments, the data server 102 receives data from the data processing system 101. In some embodiments, the data server 102 is further configured to communicate with and receive communication data from jurisdiction databases such as a jail management system (JMS) 106. In some embodiments, the JMS contains communication data such as a video recording for an inmate's interview with the officers of the jurisdiction. In addition, the data server 102 is configured to communicate with other data source 107, such as obtaining communication data from data servers from other security system (e.g. an independent surveillance system) or data servers from other correctional facilities. In some embodiments, the data server 102 stores the communication data received from each communication event into a communication data file and assigns a unique transaction ID for the communication data file.

In some embodiments, the communications between the data server 102 and the data processing system 101, JMS 106, and other data source 107 are carried out via wired connections including, but not limited to, Ethernet cables, telephone cables, and fiber-optic cables. In some other embodiments, the communications can also be carried out via wireless connections including, but not limited to, WI-FI connection, mobile technology (e.g. 1G-5G technology) connections, Bluetooth connection, radio frequency signal connections, Near Field Communication (NFC) connections, and other frequency domain technologies. In some embodiments, the data server 102 can be a cloud server that is not physically located in the correctional facility.

In some embodiments, the data server 102 stores the reproduced communication data, transcribed communication data, and/or metadata processed by the data processing system 101. In some embodiments, the data server 102 stores the time locations of anomalies detected in transcribed information, the markers assigned to the anomalies, the comments linked to the transcribed information, and the links created by the data processing system 101 between the transcribed information and the anomaly time locations, markers, and comments. In some embodiments, the data server 102 stores the interaction history for reviewers. In some embodiments, the data server 102 stores search formats of canned reports and ad-hoc search reports. In some embodiments, the data server 102 further stores search formats and search schedules of scheduled search reports. In some embodiments, the data server 102 further stores the search results in response to the search request created by the reviewer. In some embodiments, the communication data, the reproduced communication data, the transcribed communication data, the anomaly information (e.g. the time locations, the markers assigned to the time locations, the comments created for the anomaly, etc.) and the interaction history are stored in separate databases within the data server 102. In some embodiments, the communication data, the reproduced communication data, the transcribed communication data, the anomaly information, and the interaction history are stored in separate data files within the data server 102.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a communication data collection and reproduction process 200, according to some embodiments. Referring to FIG. 2, the communication data collection and reproduction process 200 includes a communication file database 201, a content reproduction processor 202, a synchronization clock processor 203, a communication user 103, a communication device 104, JMS 106, and other data source 107. In some embodiments, the content reproduction processor 202 and the synchronization clock processor 203 are components of the data processing system 101. In some embodiments, the communication file database 201 and the reproduced file database 204 are components of the data server 102.

In some embodiments, the communication user 103 uses the communication device 104 to transmit communication data during a communication event. In some embodiments, the communication data includes different forms of data including, but not limited to, text messages, voice mails, phone calls, video recordings, video conference calls, pictures and photos, and touch force signals. In some embodiments, the communication data of this communication event is received by the communication file database 201 for data storage. In some embodiments, the communication file database 201 receives communication data from data sources such as JMS 106 and/or other data sources 107 (e.g. data servers from other security system or data servers from other correctional facilities). The communication file database 201 stores the communication data in a communication file. In some embodiments, the communication file database 201 further assigns a unique transaction ID for this communication file for data management, data indexing, and/or data searching purposes.

In some embodiments, the content reproduction processor 202 retrieves the communication data contained in the communication file stored in the communication file database 201, before further processing the communication data. In some embodiments, the content reproduction processor 202 receives real-time communication data directly from the communication device 104 during the communication event. The content reproduction processor 202 then reproduces the communication data retrieved from stored communication file database 201 or a real-time communication event. In some embodiments, the reproduction of the communication data includes cleaning the communication data by removing blanks and data with un-recognized formats. In some embodiments, the reproduction of the communication data further includes adding synchronized clock or timing information (e.g. timestamps) to the communication data, or synchronizing the existing clock or timing information in the communication data to a synchronized global clock. In some embodiments, the synchronized global clock or timing information is provided by the synchronization clock processor 203. In some embodiments, the synchronized clock or timing information is a time representation based on International standard ISO 8601 (e.g. 2017-01-01 23:59:58). In some embodiments, the synchronized clock can further include a time measured relative to the beginning of the communication data.

In some embodiments, the synchronization clock processor 203 is configured to provide a synchronized global clock or timing information for the system operation. The content reproduction processor 202 queries the synchronization clock processor 203 to obtain the synchronized clock or timing information. In some embodiments, the synchronization clock processor 203 obtains the synchronized global clock or timing information using a plurality of techniques such as, for example, Cristian's algorithm, Berkeley algorithm, and Network Time Protocol (NTP). With Cristian's algorithm, the synchronization clock processor 203 would issue a request to a remote time source and set the time from the remote time source as the synchronized time. With Berkeley algorithm, the data processing system 101 would obtain an average time from a number of time sources and set the synchronized time to the average time of the time sources. With the NTP, the synchronization clock processor 203 would try to synchronize with several servers, and use the best of all results to set its time. The best result is a function of a time of qualities, such as round-trip delay, consistency of the delay, round-trip error, the accuracy of the server's clock, etc.

In some embodiments, the content reproduction processor 202 stores the cleaned communication data with the synchronized timing information as reproduced communication data into the reproduced file database 204. In some embodiments, the reproduced communication data is stored in a reproduced communication file in the reproduced file database.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of a communication data recognition and transcription process 300, according to some embodiments. Referring to FIG. 3, the communication data recognition and transcription process 300 includes an information recognition processor 301, a metadata processor 302, a transcription processor 303, a synchronization clock processor 203, an information recognition database 304, a reproduced file database 204, and a transcribed file database 305. In some embodiments, the information recognition processor 301, the metadata processor 302, the transcription processor 303, and the synchronization clock processor 203 are components of the data processing system 101. In some embodiments, the information recognition database 304, the reproduced file database 204, and the transcribed file database 305 are components of the data server 102.

In some embodiments, the information recognition processor 301 is a speech recognition processor, an image recognition processor, or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, a speech recognition processor is configured to retrieve the audio information (e.g. the raw audio waveforms) from communication data (e.g. a voice mail, a phone call, a video conference call, etc.) and convert the audio information into a text format (e.g. an English text format). In some embodiments, an image recognition processor is configured to identify useful information from communication data that contains image information (e.g. a photo, a video conference, a video recording, etc.). In some embodiments, the useful information that can be identified by an image recognition processor includes, but is not limited to, an object, a weapon, a person, a building, a place, a gang logo, a hand gesture, an aggressive facial expression, a word or other text information in an image, or anything else that helps in determining potential anomalies in the communication. In some embodiments, the information recognition processor 301 queries the recognition models in the information recognition database 304 to obtain recognition models for the recognition process. In some embodiments, the recognition models include, but are not limited to, hidden Markov models, neural networks based models, fuzzy models, and other suitable speech recognition and image recognition models.

In some embodiments, the information recognition processor 301 further queries the language libraries in the information recognition database 304 to properly translate the speech information and the image information recognized in the recognition process. The language libraries host information including, but not limited to, language models, vocabularies, grammars, blacklist object databases, facial expression databases, In one embodiment, the information recognition processor 301 recognizes a different language from English in a voice recording. The information recognition processor 301 queries the recognition libraries for the vocabulary and grammar models of the different language to translate the recognized language into reviewer understandable English. In another embodiment, the information recognition processor 301 recognizes a knife in a video recording. The recognition processor 301 queries the recognition libraries for the list of objects that are not allowed by the jurisdiction (e.g. blacklist objects) and identifies the knife as one of the blacklist objects. The recognition processor 301 then transforms this information into a reviewer understandable text format (e.g. “blacklist object-a knife”).

In some embodiments, the information recognition processor 301 is further configured to generate error information during the recognition process. The error information is used to gauge the quality of the recognition process. In one embodiment, the information recognition processor 301 successfully recognizes a major portion of a voice recordings but fails to recognize a small portion of the voice recording. The information recognition processor generates error information with regard to the portion of the voice recording that fails the recognition. The information processor further calculates a quality factor for the recognition based on a pre-defined algorithm (e.g. a ratio in time duration between the failed portion to the whole voice recording).

In some embodiments, the metadata processor 302 is configured to create metadata information for the communication data being processed by the data processing system 101. In some embodiments, the metadata information is created to enable efficient data management, investigation and analysis. The metadata information can include information of the communication user and the information of the communication event. The information of the communication user can include, but is not limited to, the name or ID of the communication user, the physical location of the communication user, the personal and criminal records of the communication user, and the biometric information of the communication user. The information of the communication event can include, for example, the communication event ID, phone numbers of the caller and the receiver, the incoming caller ID and outgoing caller ID, the communication devices involved in the communication event, the physical location of the communication devices, the time and the duration of the communication event, and the form of the communication (e.g. phone call, voice mail, text message, email, video, etc.). In some embodiments, the metadata information can include the history of the communication data such as, for example, unprocessed or new, reproduced from certain unprocessed data, transcribed from certain reproduced data, processing errors occurred during the reproduction and the transcription processes, reviewed by a certain reviewer, commented by a certain reviewer, modified by a certain reviewer, and deleted by a certain reviewer. In some embodiments, the metadata information can further include the error information generated by the information recognition processor 301 during the transcription process of the reproduced communication data. In some embodiments, the metadata processor 302 adds the metadata information to the reproduced communication data so that the metadata information can be stored with the reproduced communication data in a same file. In some embodiments, the metadata information is stored in a separate metadata information file and the metadata processor 302 creates a link between the metadata information file and the communication data so that the metadata information file can be traced and modified.

In some embodiments, the transcription processor 303 receives the recognized/translated information generated by the information recognition processor 301, and generates a transcript based on the recognized/translated information. In some embodiments, the transcription processor 303 further queries the synchronization clock processor 203 and obtains the synchronized clock or timing information, and adds timing information to the transcript (e.g. timestamps) based on the synchronized clock or timing information. The timing information added to the transcript can be used to synchronize the transcript with the reproduced communication data. In some embodiments, the transcript includes texts that are written in a reviewer readable language (e.g. English). In some embodiments, the transcript includes other form of information that can be understood by the reviewer (e.g. line-by-line codes, graphs, flow charts, etc.).

In some embodiments, the transcript generated for the reproduced communication data, the metadata created for the reproduced communication data, and the reproduced communication data are stored as transcribed communication data in the transcribed file database 305. In some embodiments, the transcribed communication data is stored in a transcribed communication file.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of an anomaly detection and tagging process 400, according to some embodiments. Referring to FIG. 4, the anomaly detection and tagging process 400 includes an anomaly detection processor 401, a tagging processor 402, an anomaly detection database 403, a marker information database 404, a transcribed file database 305, and a synchronization clock processor. In some embodiments, the synchronization clock processor 203, the anomaly detection processor 401, and the tagging processor 402 are components of the data processing system 101. In some embodiments, the transcribed file database 305, the anomaly detection database 403, and the marker information database 404 are components of the data server 102.

In some embodiments, the anomaly detection processor 401 is configured to retrieve the transcribed communication data stored in the transcribed file database 305. In some embodiments, the anomaly detection processor 401 retrieves the transcribed communication data from a transcribed communication file in the transcribed file database 305. In some embodiments, the anomaly detection processor 401 is configured to detect the anomalies in the transcribed communication data. In some embodiments, anomalies include inappropriate information such as, for example, a word, a topic, a location, a person, and an object on a pre-defined blacklist. In some embodiments, anomalies include other inappropriate information such as, for example, an abnormal behavior pattern, a three-way call, and un-recognized information.

In some embodiments, the detection of anomalies involves identifying and locating anomalies in the transcribed communication data that triggers an anomaly detection based on information provided in the anomaly detection database 403. In some embodiments, an anomaly detection is triggered if an anomaly in the transcribed communication data is detected. In some embodiments, the anomaly detection database 403 includes an anomaly trigger library. In some embodiments, the anomaly trigger library includes a blacklist of pre-defined information that can trigger an anomaly detection. In some embodiments, the blacklist of pre-defined information includes, but is not limited to, inappropriate words, topics, locations, persons, and objects. In some embodiments, the pre-defined information can further include abnormal behavior patterns, the occurrence of a three-way call, and the existence of un-recognized information. In some embodiments, the anomaly detection database 403 further includes detection models, and the anomaly detection processor 401 queries the detection models to detect the anomalies in the transcribed communication data. In some embodiments, a detection model divides the transcribed communication data into small portions, and an anomaly is triggered when a portion of the transcribed communication data matches information listed in the anomaly trigger library. In some embodiments, the detection model can include one or more sophisticated models including, but not limited to, classification based anomaly detection models, clustering based anomaly detection models, statistical based anomaly detection models, and other suitable anomaly detection models. The detection of anomalies in the transcribed information can also base on a statistical analysis of all the information available to the anomaly detection processor 401, instead of relying entirely on isolated and piece-by-piece information.

In some embodiments, upon a successful detection of an anomaly, the anomaly detection processor 401 identifies the portion of the transcribed communication data (e.g. a word, a sound, a picture, an object, and a person) that triggers or causes the anomaly detection, and generates the time location for the anomaly. In some embodiments, the time location of the anomaly is the time location of the portion of the transcribed communication data that triggers or causes the anomaly detection. In some embodiments, the time location of the anomaly includes a plurality of time locations, such as the starting time location and the ending time location of the portion of the transcribed communication data (e.g. a sentence in the transcript, a paragraph in the transcript, a session of a video recording, etc.), and multiple starting time locations and ending time locations for multiple portions of the transcribed communication data that trigger or cause the anomaly detection.

In some embodiments, the anomaly detection processor 401 is further configured to generate comments for the detected anomalies. In some embodiments, the anomaly detection processor 401 queries the anomaly detection database 403 and automatically generates comments for the detected anomalies based on information provided by an anomaly comment library. In some embodiments, the anomaly comment library includes a comments look-up table in which comments-anomaly pairs can be defined. In some embodiments, the anomaly detection processor is further configured to add, modify, and remove comments-anomaly pairs. In some embodiments, the comments include a full description of the detected anomaly, such as the original transcribed information that triggers the anomaly detection, the nature or the pattern of the anomaly detected (e.g. slang, offensive behavior, threatening language, etc.), a confidence level of anomaly detection, a list of all communication users in this communication event, and other useful information identifiable from the transcribed information.

In some embodiments, the anomaly detection processor 401 further generates time locations for the comments. In some embodiments, the time locations are generated to match the time locations of the portion of the transcribed communication data that triggers or causes the anomaly detection. In some embodiments, the anomaly detection processor 401 creates a link between the time locations of the comments and the time locations of the portion of the transcribed communication data that triggers or causes the anomaly detection, so that any change in the time locations of the transcribed communication data is automatically reflected in the time locations of the comments. In some embodiments, the time locations of the comments are separately generated by the anomaly detection processor 401 without directly related to the time locations of the time locations of the portion of the transcribed communication data that triggers or causes the anomaly detection, so that the time locations for the comments are stored and managed separately from the transcribed communication data.

In some embodiments, the tagging processor 402 is configured to receive the time locations of the anomalies detected by the anomaly detection processor, the comments for the detected anomalies, and the time locations of the comments, and generate a marker for each of the anomalies detected by the anomaly detection processor. In some embodiments, a marker is an indicator or a highlighter that is displayed when the transcribed communication data is displayed on a screen. In some embodiments, the marker can take different forms such as, for example, a notification marker at each time location for each anomaly, a highlighted box (covering a portion of text or portion of an image) for each anomaly, a colored background from each beginning time location to each end time location for each anomaly, a special format of texts from each beginning time location to each end time location for each anomaly, and other suitable forms of markers to indicate the presence of anomalies in the transcribed information.

In some embodiment, the generation of the marker by the tagging processor 402 includes assigning time locations for the marker. In some embodiments, the time locations for the marker are chosen to match the time locations for each of the anomalies so that the marker can be displayed alongside with the anomalies in the transcribed communication data. In some embodiments, the time locations of the marker are chosen to be specific time locations (e.g. a starting point of a page, an ending point of a page, a certain position in a summary page, etc.) for different purposes. In some embodiments, the generation of the marker by tagging processor 402 further includes choosing a proper format of the marker to be displayed. In some embodiments, the tagging processor 402 further creates links between the comments for the anomalies and the markers of the anomalies. The links between the comments and the markers can be used for display, review and edit purposes.

In some embodiments, the tagging processor 401 sends the information of the marker (e.g. the format of the marker, the time locations of the marker, the comments linked to the marker, and the links created between the comments and the marker, etc.) to a marker information database 404. In some embodiments, the marker information database 404 stores the information of the marker in a marker information file. In some embodiments, the tagging processor 402 is further configured to retrieve information and modify the retrieved information from the marker information database 404.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of a reviewer interaction process 500, according to some embodiments. Referring to FIG. 5, the reviewer interaction process 500 includes a user interface 501, a display engine 502, an insertion processor 503, an interaction tracker 504, a marker information database 404, a transcribed file database 305, a reproduced file database 204, and a communication file database 201. In some embodiments, the user interface 501, display engine 502, insertion processor 503, and interaction tracker 504 are components of the data processing system 101. In some embodiments, the communication file database 201, the reproduced file database 204, the transcribed file database 305, the marker information database 404, and the interaction history database 505 are components of the data server 102.

In some embodiments, the user interface 501 allows interfacing between a reviewer 105 and the data processing system 101. In some embodiments, the user interface 501 is a graphical user interface (GUI). In some embodiments, the user interface 501 further includes input and output methods, such as, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a touch screen, a microphone, a display screen, a speaker, and other suitable input and output methods.

In some embodiments, the display engine 502 is configured to receive inputs from the reviewer 105 via the user interface 501. According to the inputs, the display engine 502 is configured to retrieve data from the data server 102 (e.g. the marker information database 404, the transcribed file database 305, the reproduced file database 204, the communication file database 201, etc.), and send data to the user interface 501 for display purposes. In one embodiment, the display engine 502 is configured to allow the reviewer 105 to review the data stored the data server 102. The reviewer 105 first inputs a request using the user interface 501 to view all the information for a communication event (e.g. a voice recording with transcript recorded at a chosen time for a chosen inmate). The reviewer 105 can also directly inputs the transaction ID to quickly locate all the communication files related to the communication event. The display engine 502 receives the input from the user interface 501 and retrieve the data (e.g. the communication data, the reproduced communication data, and the transcribed communication data). The display engine 502 further sends the data to the user interface 501 so that the user interface displays the requested data to the reviewer 105 via an output method (e.g. a screen).

In some embodiments, the display engine 502 further retrieves the marker information from the marker information database 404 and send the information to the user interface 501. The user interface 501 then displays the markers and comments that are linked to the transcribed information being reviewed by the reviewer 105. In some embodiments, the markers can be displayed in different forms such as, for example, a notification marker at each time location for each anomaly, a highlighted box (covering a portion of text or portion of an image) for each anomaly, a colored background from each beginning time location to each end time location for each anomaly, a special format of texts from each beginning time location to each end time location for each anomaly, and other suitable forms of markers to indicate the presence of anomalies in the transcribed information. In some embodiments, the display engine 502 retrieves the comments, the time locations for the comments, and the links created for the comments, and sends these information to the user interface 501. Based on the time locations of the comments, or the links between the comments and the markers, the user interface 501 displays the comments together with the displayed transcribed information at their assigned time locations. In some embodiments, the display positions of the comments are determined by the time locations of the comments. For example, a transcribed video call has a transcript with synchronized timing information (e.g. timestamps). When the transcript is displayed on a screen, the display position of each word of the transcript correlates to a time location of the same word. As a result, the display position of the comments can be identified by the time location of the comments. In some embodiments, the comments are displayed together with the transcribed information (e.g. comments displayed alongside a text transcript or an image). In some embodiments, the comments are hided and only a marker is displayed at the time locations of the comments. The reviewer 105 can notice the presence of a marker indicating the existence of comments associated with the marker, and view the comments by moving the mouse over the marker. In some embodiments, the reviewer 105 can choose to display or not display the comments when reviewing the transcribed information.

In some embodiments, the reviewer 105 is able to interact and make edits to the data displayed by the user interface 501. In some embodiments, the interaction between the reviewer 105 and the data processing system 101 includes reviewing, inserting, removing, relocating, and modifying the reproduced communication data, the metadata, and the transcribed communication data. In some embodiments, the interaction between the reviewer 105 and the data processing system 101 also includes reviewing, inserting, removing, relocating, and modifying the time locations of the anomalies, the markers assigned to the anomalies, and the comments that are linked to the transcribed information.

In some embodiments, the reviewer 105 is able to insert a marker in the transcribed information via the user interface 501. In some embodiments, the reviewer 105 chooses a specific display position (e.g. a space between two words, space between two sentences, a word, a sentence, a paragraph, a portion of a photo, etc.) in the transcribed information by taking an insertion action (e.g. double clicking the mouse or right clicking the mouse) at the display position. The insertion processor 503 receives this insertion action from the reviewer 105 through the user interface 501, and identifies the time location of the inserted marker based on the correlation between the display position and the synchronized clock or timing information in the transcribed information. In some embodiments, the insertion processor 503 further creates a link between the chosen transcribed information (e.g. a word) and the new marker so that the new marker traces the chosen transcribed information. For example, the marker's time location traces the time location of the chosen transcribed information, so that a future change to the chosen transcribed information results in a corresponding change to the marker. In some embodiments, the insertion processor 503 further sends the marker information of the new marker (e.g. the time locations, the links created, and the format of the marker) to the marker information database 404 where the marker information can be stored.

In some embodiments, the reviewer 105 is able to insert comments in the transcribed information via the user interface 501. In some embodiments, the reviewer 105 chooses a specific display position (e.g. a space between two words, space between two sentences, a word, a sentence, a paragraph, a portion of a photo, etc.) in the transcribed information by taking a comment insertion action (e.g. double clicking the mouse or right clicking the mouse) at the display position. The reviewer 105 then puts in comments in a comment box that pops up at the display position. The insertion processor 503 receives this comment insertion action from the reviewer 105 through the user interface 501, and identifies the time location of the inserted comments. In some embodiments, the time location can be a specific time location correlated to a specific display position (e.g. the time location for a space between two words), or multiple time locations beginning from a first time location (e.g. the time location of a first letter in the first word in a chosen sentence) and ending at a second time location (e.g. the time location of a last letter in the first word in a chosen sentence). In some embodiments, the insertion processor 503 further creates a link between the chosen transcribed information (e.g. a word) and the inserted comments. In some embodiments, the insertion processor 503 further sends the comments, the time location of the comments, and the links created for the comments to the marker information database 404 where the comments information can be stored.

In some embodiments, the interaction tracker 504 is configured to track the interaction records of the reviewer 105. In some embodiments, the interactions of the reviewer include reviewing, inserting, removing, relocating, and modifying one or more portions of the reproduced communication data and transcribed communication data. In some embodiments, the interactions of the reviewer further include reviewing, inserting, removing, relocating, and modifying the time locations of the anomalies, the markers assigned to the anomalies, and the comments that are linked to the transcribed information. In some embodiments, the interaction records include the identity of the reviewer (e.g. name and/or ID of the reviewer), all the interactions conducted by the reviewer, and all the data generated during the interactions (e.g. comments insertion, marker modification, portions of the transcribed information that are reviewed by the reviewer, etc.). The interaction tracker 504 further sends the interaction records to the interaction history database 505. In some embodiments, the interaction history database 505 stores the interaction record in an interaction tracking file.

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of a search and report process 600, according to some embodiments. Referring to FIG. 6, the search and report process 600 includes a search engine 601, a report creator 602, a report database 603, a search model database 604, a user interface 501, and a data server 102. In some embodiments, the search engine 601, the report creator 602, and the user interface 501 are components of the data processing system 101. In some embodiments, the report database 603 and the search model database 604 are components of the data server 102.

In some embodiments, the reviewer 105 is able to conduct information search. In some embodiments, the reviewer 105 can create a search request that contains search terms using the user interface 501. In some embodiments, the search engine 601 receives the search request from the user interface 501 and conducts the search. After the search is completed, the search engine 601 sends the search results to the user interface for display.

In some embodiments, the reviewer 105 can create search terms based on a plurality of information categories including, but not limited to transcribed information (e.g. certain words), reviewer information (e.g. a specific reviewer), anomaly information (e.g. whether any anomaly is detected and the type of the anomaly), marker information (whether a marker is present and the time locations of the markers), comments information (whether comments are present, whether user inserted comments are present, whether comments are modified, etc.), metadata information (e.g. whether a processing error is present), and interaction records (whether reviewed by a certain reviewer). In some embodiments, based on the search terms defined by the reviewer 105, the search engine 601 searches the data server 102 for all the information regarding the search terms (e.g. all the files containing the information about the search terms). In some embodiments, the search engine 601 queries the search model database 604 for a search model to be applied to the search process. In some embodiments, the search model database 604 includes search models such as, for example, keyword search models, fussy search models, concept search models, and other suitable search models and/or search algorithms.

In some embodiments, after searching the information hosted by the data server 102, the search engine 601 compiles a list of search result. In some embodiments, the search engine 601 further ranks and filters the search results (e.g. ranks and filters the list of search results by their relevance). In some embodiments, the search engine 601 further summarizes the search results in a search report with specific formats, and sends search results and the search report to the user interface 501 for displaying the information to the reviewer 105.

In some embodiments, the search report is canned search report with pre-defined formats and can be re-used. In some embodiments, the canned search reports are stored in a report database 603 so that the search engine 601 can query the report database 603 and re-use a canned search report with pre-defined formats. In some embodiments, the reviewer 105 can also use the report creator 602 to create a new search report with formats defined by the reviewer 105. In some embodiments, the search engine 601 runs the newly created search report as an ad-hoc search report for a one-time search. In some embodiments, the report creator 602 can send the formats of the newly created search report to the report database 603. The report database 603 stores the newly created search report as a new canned search report so that the newly created search report can be easily re-used for future information searches.

In some embodiments, the formats of a search report include, but are not limited to, the selection of items to be displayed in the search reports (e.g. the name of the reviewer, the time of creation, whether the data has been reproduced, transcribed, reviewed, modified, etc.), the arrangement of displayed items in the report (e.g. the number of search results in one page, displaying search results in a top to bottom list, displaying search results in a grid view, etc.), the algorithm of ranking the search results (e.g. rank by relevance, rank by creation time, rank by number of reviewers, etc.), and the display formats of each of the search results (e.g. a summary text, a full description, a summary view, etc.). In some embodiments, the formats of a search report further include pre-defined search terms (e.g. one or more pre-defined keywords that are added to the search) and pre-defined search conditions (e.g. the data source for the search, the time range of the data to be searched, and the form of data to be searched).

In some embodiments, the reviewer 105 is further able to modify the search report formats of a canned search report stored in the report database 603. In one embodiment, the reviewer 105 opens a canned report stored in the report database 603 through the user interface 501 and the report creator 602. The reviewer 105 uses the formats of the canned report as base formats and modifies the base formats through the user interface 501 and the report creator 602. The search engine 601 can run an ad-hoc search based on the modified search formats. The report creator 602 can send the modified canned search with modified formats to the report database 603, so that the modified search formats can be re-used.

In some embodiments, the reviewer 105 is further able to create a scheduled search report through the user interface 105 and the report creator 602. In some embodiments, the report creator 602 is configured to receive modify instructions from the reviewer 105 via the user interface 501. Based on the instructions from the reviewer 105, the report creator 602 is configured to generate search formats for the scheduled search report, by creating new search formats, modifying existing search formats, or directly using existing search formats. In some embodiments, the reviewer can define a specific time to run the scheduled search report, a frequency or an interval of running the scheduled search report (e.g. once a day, once a week, twice a month, etc.). In some embodiments, the reviewer can define the search terms and search conditions in the scheduled search report. In some embodiments, the report creator 602 sets up the formats of the scheduled search report and sets up the scheduled search frequency or interval automatically. In some embodiments, the search engine 601 is configured to analyze the search results of a scheduled search, and determines to narrow or widen the search terms or search conditions for the scheduled search. In some embodiments, the report creator 602 sends the search formats of the scheduled search report to the report database 603 so that the scheduled search report can be stored.

It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s) that various elements and features of the present disclosure, as described herein, can be implemented in hardware using analog and/or digital circuits, in software, through the execution of computer instructions by one or more general purpose or special-purpose processors, or as a combination of hardware and software.

The following description of a general purpose computer system is provided for the sake of completeness. Embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented in hardware, or as a combination of software and hardware. Consequently, embodiments of the disclosure are implemented in the environment of a computer system or other processing system. For example, the data processing system 101 and the data server 102 in FIG. 1, and the components of the data processing system 101 (e.g. information recognition processor 301, metadata processor 302, transcription processor 303, synchronization clock processor 203, information recognition database 304, reproduced file database 204, and transcribed file database 305 in FIG. 3) can be implemented in the environment of one or more computer systems or other processing systems. An example of such a computer system 700 is shown in FIG. 7. One or more of the processors and databases depicted in the previous figures can be at least partially implemented on one or more distinct computer systems 700.

Computer system 700 includes one or more processors, such as processor 704. Processor 704 can be a special purpose or a general purpose digital signal processor. Processor 704 is connected to a communication infrastructure 702 (for example, a bus or network). Various software implementations are described in terms of this exemplary computer system. After reading this description, it will become apparent to a person skilled in the relevant art(s) how to implement the disclosure using other computer systems and/or computer architectures.

Computer system 700 also includes a main memory 706, preferably random access memory (RAM), and may also include a secondary memory 708. Secondary memory 708 may include, for example, a hard disk drive 710 and/or a removable storage drive 712, representing a floppy disk drive, a magnetic tape drive, an optical disk drive, or the like. Removable storage drive 712 reads from and/or writes to a removable storage unit 716 in a well-known manner. Removable storage unit 816 represents a floppy disk, magnetic tape, optical disk, or the like, which is read by and written to by removable storage drive 712. As will be appreciated by persons skilled in the relevant art(s), removable storage unit 716 includes a computer usable storage medium having stored therein computer software and/or data.

In alternative implementations, secondary memory 708 may include other similar means for allowing computer programs or other instructions to be loaded into computer system 700. Such means may include, for example, a removable storage unit 718 and an interface 714. Examples of such means may include a program cartridge and cartridge interface (such as that found in video game devices), a removable memory chip (such as an EPROM, or PROM) and associated socket, a thumb drive and USB port, and other removable storage units 718 and interfaces 714 which allow software and data to be transferred from removable storage unit 718 to computer system 700.

Computer system 700 may also include a communications interface 720. Communications interface 720 allows software and data to be transferred between computer system 700 and external devices. Examples of communications interface 720 may include a modem, a network interface (such as an Ethernet card), a communications port, a PCMCIA slot and card, etc. Software and data transferred via communications interface 720 are in the form of signals which may be electronic, electromagnetic, optical, or other signals capable of being received by communications interface 720. These signals are provided to communications interface 720 via a communications path 722. Communications path 722 carries signals and may be implemented using wire or cable, fiber optics, a phone line, a cellular phone link, an RF link and other communications channels.

As used herein, the terms “computer program medium” and “computer readable medium” are used to generally refer to tangible storage media such as removable storage units 716 and 718 or a hard disk installed in hard disk drive 710. These computer program products are means for providing software to computer system 700.

Computer programs (also called computer control logic) are stored in main memory 706 and/or secondary memory 708. Computer programs may also be received via communications interface 720. Such computer programs, when executed, enable the computer system 700 to implement the present disclosure as discussed herein. In particular, the computer programs, when executed, enable processor 704 to implement the processes of the present disclosure, such as any of the methods described herein. Accordingly, such computer programs represent controllers of the computer system 700. Where the disclosure is implemented using software, the software may be stored in a computer program product and loaded into computer system 700 using removable storage drive 712, interface 714, or communications interface 720.

In another embodiment, features of the disclosure are implemented primarily in hardware using, for example, hardware components such as application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and gate arrays. Implementation of a hardware state machine so as to perform the functions described herein will also be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s).

It is to be appreciated that the Detailed Description section, and not the Abstract section, is intended to be used to interpret the claims. The Abstract section may set forth one or more, but not all exemplary embodiments, and thus, is not intended to limit the disclosure and the appended claims in any way.

The disclosure has been described above with the aid of functional building blocks illustrating the implementation of specified functions and relationships thereof. The boundaries of these functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenience of the description. Alternate boundaries may be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships thereof are appropriately performed.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s) that various changes in form and detail can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.