Abstract: Recording and automated transcription methods and apparatus suitable for use in a communication system such as a telephone system are described. In one embodiment, a telephone system has a conference bridge, a transcription system, and multiple telephone sets connected to a central office (CO) switch via communication channels. Each telephone set lets its user transmit speech on first and second channels simultaneously. The CO switch selectively connects the first channel from each telephone being used in a conference call to the conference bridge. The bridge interconnects the first channels to establish a telephone conference. The CO switch selectively connects the second channels to the transcription system, which records the teleconference participants in separate recordings. The separate recordings are each time stamped and identified with a user's or communication unit ID. An automated speech-to-text (speech recognition) system transforms the recorded speech into textual data.

Abstract: Hands free voice dialing telephony devices that can perform relatively simple speech recognition, e.g., to recognize one or a few words corresponding to a command to initiate voice dialing, are described. Speech recognition models stored in the telephony devices can be relatively small and may be either of a speaker dependent or speaker independent type. In response to detecting a command to perform a voice dialing operation the telephony device establishes a connection with a voice dialing intelligent peripheral (IP). The IP includes far greater speech recognition capabilities than the individual telephone devices and is responsible for supporting voice dialing operations associated with a plurality of voice dialing service subscribers. The IP performs speech recognition on speech provided by individual telephony devices and outputs telephone numbers corresponding to recognized spoken names.

Abstract: A graphic control system under the control of a host processor to display, on a display monitor, high resolution color graphic images. The graphic control system employs a plurality of graphic display controllers each accessing, in parallel, a separate bit map storage area or a plane. When a gray-scale or color display is required, respective planes are read out in parallel and converted for serial transmission with respective outputs being supplied in parallel as a code to a look-up table of color or gray-scale codes that in turn are supplied to a digital-to-analog converter that drives the display monitor. In addition, a compare circuit is provided to receive outputs sent from the respective bit plane stores for comparison with preset outputs from the host computer to determine when the display monitor has reached a boundary of a figure being filled with a particular color or pattern.