Patents by Inventor Christopher Engelke
Christopher Engelke has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Publication number: 20230352028Abstract: A method and system for providing captioned telephone service, the method comprising the steps of, initiating a first captioned telephone service call, during the first captioned telephone service call, creating a first set of captions using a call assistant, simultaneous with creating the first set of captions using a call assistant, creating a second set of captions using an automated speech recognition engine, comparing the first set of captions and the second set of captions using a scoring algorithm based on errors between the first and second sets of captions to generate a score for the second set of captions, in response to the score being within a predetermined threshold range, continuing the call using only the automated speech recognition engine to generate text and in response to the score being outside of the predetermined threshold range, continuing the call using a call assistant to generate captions.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 10, 2023Publication date: November 2, 2023Inventors: Robert M. Engelke, Kevin R. Colwell, Christopher Engelke
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Publication number: 20230274744Abstract: A method to transcribe communications includes the steps of obtaining a plurality of hypothesis transcriptions of a voice signal generated by a speech recognition system, determining consistent words that are included in at least first and second of the plurality of hypothesis transcriptions, in response to determining the consistent words, providing the consistent words to a device for presentation of the consistent words to an assisted user, and presenting the consistent words via a display screen on the device, wherein a rate of the presentation of the words on the display screen is variable.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 8, 2023Publication date: August 31, 2023Inventors: Robert M. Engelke, Kevin R. Colwell, Christopher Engelke
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Patent number: 11741963Abstract: A method and system for providing captioned telephone service, the method comprising the steps of, initiating a first captioned telephone service call, during the first captioned telephone service call, creating a first set of captions using a call assistant, simultaneous with creating the first set of captions using a call assistant, creating a second set of captions using an automated speech recognition engine, comparing the first set of captions and the second set of captions using a scoring algorithm based on errors between the first and second sets of captions to generate a score for the second set of captions, in response to the score being within a predetermined threshold range, continuing the call using only the automated speech recognition engine to generate text and in response to the score being outside of the predetermined threshold range, continuing the call using a call assistant to generate captions.Type: GrantFiled: September 28, 2018Date of Patent: August 29, 2023Assignee: Ultratec, Inc.Inventors: Robert M. Engelke, Kevin R. Colwell, Christopher Engelke
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Patent number: 11664029Abstract: A method to transcribe communications includes the steps of obtaining a plurality of hypothesis transcriptions of a voice signal generated by a speech recognition system, determining consistent words that are included in at least first and second of the plurality of hypothesis transcriptions, in response to determining the consistent words, providing the consistent words to a device for presentation of the consistent words to an assisted user, and presenting the consistent words via a display screen on the device, wherein a rate of the presentation of the words on the display screen is variable.Type: GrantFiled: January 13, 2020Date of Patent: May 30, 2023Assignee: Ultratec, Inc.Inventors: Robert M. Engelke, Kevin R. Colwell, Christopher Engelke
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Publication number: 20230066793Abstract: A system and method for facilitating communication between an assisted user (AU) and a hearing user (HU) includes receiving an HU voice signal as the AU and HU participate in a call using AU and HU communication devices, transcribing HU voice signal segments into verbatim caption segments, processing each verbatim caption segment to identify an intended communication (IC) intended by the HU upon uttering an associated one of the HU voice signal segments, for at least a portion of the HU voice signal segments (i) using an associated IC to generate an enhanced caption different than the associated verbatim caption, (ii) for each of a first subset of the HU voice signal segments, presenting the verbatim captions via the AU communication device display for consumption, and (iii) for each of a second subset of the HU voice signal segments, presenting enhanced captions via the AU communication device display for consumption.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 10, 2022Publication date: March 2, 2023Inventors: Christopher Engelke, Kevin R. Colwell, Robert M. Engelke
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Publication number: 20230005484Abstract: A relay for captioning a hearing user's (HU's) voice signal during a phone call between an HU and a hearing assisted user (AU), the HU using an HU device and the AU using an AU device where the HU voice signal is transmitted from the HU device to the AU device, the relay comprising a display screen, a processor linked to the display and programmed to perform the steps of receiving the HU voice signal from the AU device, transmitting the HU voice signal to a remote automatic speech recognition (ASR) server running ASR software that converts the HU voice signal to ASR generated text, the remote ASR server located at a remote location from the relay, receiving the ASR generated text from the ASR server, present the ASR generated text for viewing by a call assistant (CA) via the display and transmitting the ASR generated text to the AU device.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 23, 2022Publication date: January 5, 2023Inventors: Robert M. Engelke, Kevin R. Colwell, Christopher Engelke
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Patent number: 11539900Abstract: A system and method for facilitating communication between an assisted user (AU) and a hearing user (HU) includes receiving an HU voice signal as the AU and HU participate in a call using AU and HU communication devices, transcribing HU voice signal segments into verbatim caption segments, processing each verbatim caption segment to identify an intended communication (IC) intended by the HU upon uttering an associated one of the HU voice signal segments, for at least a portion of the HU voice signal segments (i) using an associated IC to generate an enhanced caption different than the associated verbatim caption, (ii) for each of a first subset of the HU voice signal segments, presenting the verbatim captions via the AU communication device display for consumption, and (iii) for each of a second subset of the HU voice signal segments, presenting enhanced captions via the AU communication device display for consumption.Type: GrantFiled: February 19, 2021Date of Patent: December 27, 2022Assignee: Ultratec, Inc.Inventors: Christopher Engelke, Kevin R. Colwell, Robert M. Engelke
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Patent number: 11368581Abstract: A method to transcribe communications includes obtaining an audio message from a first device during a voice communication session with a second device including a display screen, providing the message to a first speech recognition system to generate a first message transcript, providing the transcript to the second device for presentation on the screen, obtaining an indication that a transcript quality is below a threshold, providing, in response, the message to a second system to generate a second transcript while still providing it to the first system to generate the first transcript and providing the first transcript to the second device for presentation on the display screen, and in response to an event occurring that indicates the second transcript is to be provided to the second device instead of the first transcript, providing the second transcript to the second device for presentation on the screen instead of the first transcript.Type: GrantFiled: September 11, 2020Date of Patent: June 21, 2022Assignee: Ultratec, Inc.Inventors: Robert M. Engelke, Kevin R. Colwell, Christopher Engelke
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Publication number: 20220150353Abstract: A captioning relay for captioning hearing user (HU) voice signals comprising a plurality of separate captioning resources and a captioning administrator module that receives HU voice signal segments corresponding to a plurality of separate ongoing calls between HUs and AUs and provides the voice signal segments in a first in, first out order to the captioning resources, the administrator module providing each voice signal segment from each call to any one of the captioning resources to be captioned without regard to which captioning resource captioned prior voice signal segments generated during the call and, the administrator module further receiving caption segments back from the captioning resources and providing those captioning segments to AU devices associated with the calls that generated corresponding HU voice signal segments, and wherein the number of captioning resources is less than the number of ongoing calls.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 26, 2022Publication date: May 12, 2022Inventors: Robert M. Engelke, Kevin R. Colwell, Christopher Engelke
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Publication number: 20220103683Abstract: A captioning relay for captioning hearing user (HU) voice signals comprising a plurality of separate captioning resources and a captioning administrator module that receives HU voice signal segments corresponding to a plurality of separate ongoing calls between HUs and AUs and provides the voice signal segments in a first in, first out order to the captioning resources, the administrator module providing each voice signal segment from each call to any one of the captioning resources to be captioned without regard to which captioning resource captioned prior voice signal segments generated during the call and, the administrator module further receiving caption segments back from the captioning resources and providing those captioning segments to AU devices associated with the calls that generated corresponding HU voice signal segments, and wherein the number of captioning resources is less than the number of ongoing calls.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 14, 2021Publication date: March 31, 2022Inventors: Robert M. Engelke, Kevin R. Colwell, Christopher Engelke
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Publication number: 20220028394Abstract: A captioning relay for captioning hearing user (HU) voice signals comprising a plurality of separate captioning resources and a captioning administrator module that receives HU voice signal segments corresponding to a plurality of separate ongoing calls between HUs and AUs and provides the voice signal segments in a first in, first out order to the captioning resources, the administrator module providing each voice signal segment from each call to any one of the captioning resources to be captioned without regard to which captioning resource captioned prior voice signal segments generated during the call and, the administrator module further receiving caption segments back from the captioning resources and providing those captioning segments to AU devices associated with the calls that generated corresponding HU voice signal segments, and wherein the number of captioning resources is less than the number of ongoing calls.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 11, 2021Publication date: January 27, 2022Inventors: Robert M. Engelke, Kevin R. Colwell, Christopher Engelke
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Publication number: 20220014622Abstract: A captioning relay for captioning hearing user (HU) voice signals comprising a plurality of separate captioning resources and a captioning administrator module that receives HU voice signal segments corresponding to a plurality of separate ongoing calls between HUs and AUs and provides the voice signal segments in a first in, first out order to the captioning resources, the administrator module providing each voice signal segment from each call to any one of the captioning resources to be captioned without regard to which captioning resource captioned prior voice signal segments generated during the call and, the administrator module further receiving caption segments back from the captioning resources and providing those captioning segments to AU devices associated with the calls that generated corresponding HU voice signal segments, and wherein the number of captioning resources is less than the number of ongoing calls.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 27, 2021Publication date: January 13, 2022Inventors: Robert M. Engelke, Kevin R. Colwell, Christopher Engelke
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Publication number: 20220014623Abstract: A captioning relay for captioning hearing user (HU) voice signals comprising a plurality of separate captioning resources and a captioning administrator module that receives HU voice signal segments corresponding to a plurality of separate ongoing calls between HUs and AUs and provides the voice signal segments in a first in, first out order to the captioning resources, the administrator module providing each voice signal segment from each call to any one of the captioning resources to be captioned without regard to which captioning resource captioned prior voice signal segments generated during the call and, the administrator module further receiving caption segments back from the captioning resources and providing those captioning segments to AU devices associated with the calls that generated corresponding HU voice signal segments, and wherein the number of captioning resources is less than the number of ongoing calls.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 27, 2021Publication date: January 13, 2022Inventors: Robert M. Engelke, Kevin R. Colwell, Christopher Engelke
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Publication number: 20210274039Abstract: A captioning relay for captioning hearing user (HU) voice signals comprising a plurality of separate captioning resources and a captioning administrator module that receives HU voice signal segments corresponding to a plurality of separate ongoing calls between HUs and AUs and provides the voice signal segments in a first in, first out order to the captioning resources, the administrator module providing each voice signal segment from each call to any one of the captioning resources to be captioned without regard to which captioning resource captioned prior voice signal segments generated during the call and, the administrator module further receiving caption segments back from the captioning resources and providing those captioning segments to AU devices associated with the calls that generated corresponding HU voice signal segments, and wherein the number of captioning resources is less than the number of ongoing calls.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 14, 2021Publication date: September 2, 2021Inventors: Robert M. Engelke, Kevin R. Colwell, Christopher Engelke
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Publication number: 20210266473Abstract: A system and method for facilitating communication between an assisted user (AU) and a hearing user (HU) includes receiving an HU voice signal as the AU and HU participate in a call using AU and HU communication devices, transcribing HU voice signal segments into verbatim caption segments, processing each verbatim caption segment to identify an intended communication (IC) intended by the HU upon uttering an associated one of the HU voice signal segments, for at least a portion of the HU voice signal segments (i) using an associated IC to generate an enhanced caption different than the associated verbatim caption, (ii) for each of a first subset of the HU voice signal segments, presenting the verbatim captions via the AU communication device display for consumption, and (iii) for each of a second subset of the HU voice signal segments, presenting enhanced captions via the AU communication device display for consumption.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 19, 2021Publication date: August 26, 2021Inventors: Christopher Engelke, Kevin R. Colwell, Robert M. Engelke
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Publication number: 20210234959Abstract: A system includes a first user device configured to perform captioning session operations, a call-assistant (CA) device remote from the first user device, and a remote relay server separate from the CA device. The relay server initiates a captioning process, receives, from the first user device, a request to initiate a captioning session, establishes the session, assigns the session to the CA, receives first audio data from the first user device derived from a second user device, directs the first audio data to the CA device, receives, from the CA device, second audio data related to the first audio data and derived from CA speech, accesses an ASR engine trained to the CA voice, generates captioned text including a transcription of the second audio data, generates screen information including the transcription, directs the screen information to the CA device, and directs the captioned text to the first user device.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 16, 2021Publication date: July 29, 2021Inventors: Robert M. Engelke, Kevin R. Colwell, Christopher Engelke
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Publication number: 20210058510Abstract: A method to transcribe communications during a voice communication session between first and second devices includes obtaining an audio message originating at the first device. Upon initiating a captioning session, the message is provided to an automated speech recognition system to generate a first caption set for at least some of the message without any captioning assistance from a call assistant. The first caption set is made available to the second device for presentation on a display screen. In response to obtaining a first indication via the second device to change the captioning process, the audio message is provided to a second speech recognition system to generate a second caption set based on at least some of the message, where a call assistant performs error corrections to generate the second caption set. The second caption set then is made available to the second device for presentation on the display screen.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 9, 2020Publication date: February 25, 2021Inventors: Robert M. Engelke, Kevin R. Colwell, Christopher Engelke
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Patent number: 10917519Abstract: A method and system to transcribe communications the method comprising the steps of obtaining an audio message originating at a first device during a voice communication session between the first device and a second device, providing the audio message to a first speech recognition system to generate a first transcript of the audio message, directing the first transcript to the second device, in response to obtaining an indication that indicates a quality of the first transcript is below a quality threshold, using a second speech recognition system to generate a second transcript based on the audio message while continuing to provide the audio data to the first speech recognition system to generate the first transcript and, in response to occurrence of an event that indicates the second transcript is to be directed to the second device, directing the second transcript to the second device instead of directing the first transcript.Type: GrantFiled: August 9, 2019Date of Patent: February 9, 2021Assignee: Ultratec, Inc.Inventors: Robert M. Engelke, Kevin R. Colwell, Christopher Engelke, Robert P Leistiko
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Publication number: 20200412869Abstract: A method to transcribe communications includes obtaining an audio message from a first device during a voice communication session with a second device including a display screen, providing the message to a first speech recognition system to generate a first message transcript, providing the transcript to the second device for presentation on the screen, obtaining an indication that a transcript quality is below a threshold, providing, in response, the message to a second system to generate a second transcript while still providing it to the first system to generate the first transcript and providing the first transcript to the second device for presentation on the display screen, and in response to an event occurring that indicates the second transcript is to be provided to the second device instead of the first transcript, providing the second transcript to the second device for presentation on the screen instead of the first transcript.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 11, 2020Publication date: December 31, 2020Inventors: Robert M. Engelke, Kevin R. Colwell, Christopher Engelke
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Patent number: 10878721Abstract: A hearing user's device for communicating with a hearing impaired assisted user using an assisted user's device that includes a speaker and a display screen for broadcasting a hearing user's voice signal and presenting captioned text associated with the hearing user's voice signal to the assisted user, respectively, the hearing user's device comprising a microphone for receiving the hearing user's voice signal as spoken by the hearing user, a display screen and a processor linked to the microphone and the display screen, the processor transmitting the hearing user's voice signal to the assisted users device, the processor presenting a quality indication of the captioned text presented to the assisted user via the assisted users device for consideration by the hearing user.Type: GrantFiled: November 30, 2015Date of Patent: December 29, 2020Assignee: ULTRATEC, INC.Inventors: Robert M Engelke, Kevin R Colwell, Christopher Engelke