Abstract: A speed search (playback) technique whereby the audio portion of a recording of a TV or radio broadcast or other recorded audio or video with audio that contains primarily speech can be played at several times the rate at which it was recorded without changing the pitch. By also playing only those portions of the speech that are the loudest or otherwise selected and skipping over the other sections, the listener can listen for key words that will identify the subject matter while listening to the audio at many times the normal rate. This technique can be used to provide a random access video recorder with a speed search feature in which the viewer will be able to listen to the audio as he/she speed-searches the video. It can also be used in a BVR (Buffered Video Recorder) to listen to the audio from the buffer at a faster rate so as to catch up to a live broadcast. It can also be used in this last mode to watch two broadcasts in the time it would take to watch just one by conventional means.

Abstract: A video recorder and playback device allowing simultaneous recording and playback of program material, including means for controllably varying a time delay between the recording and playback of recorded material. This allows, for example, playback of previously recorded material to be temporarily stopped and then resumed without interrupting the recording of new material. A user can arrange to start recording a broadcast program (while the user is not at home, for example) in the conventional way via stored instructions, and then begin watching the recording several minutes or hours later, before the program is over, without stopping the recording. The user can also interrupt the playback of a program that is being recorded as it is being watched (to take a telephone call, for example), and then resume playback of the program (after the phone call is over) without stopping the recording. The user can then watch the rest of the program delayed by a time period equal to the length of time of the interruption.

Abstract: A teaching method is disclosed for computer systems that permit longer sequences of user actions such as keypresses or selection via pointing to be replaced by shorter sequences of user actions (abbreviations), which method shows the user the abbreviation by either highlighting the characters or sounding beeps or pronouncing the characters of the abbreviation whenever the user neglects to use the abbreviation. The method thus teaches the user the abbreviations while he/she is doing normal work.

Abstract: A storage method and control system for creating linguistic expressions such as natural language text by both sequential and simultaneous keypresses. The system controls a programmable digital processor to receive keypresses from the operator and to translate groups of keypresses to linguistic expressions or not to translate, according to (1) the timing of the keypresses, (2) the presence or absence of a delimiter character at the beginning or end of a group of keypresses, (3) the presence or absence of the group of keypresses in a dictionary of stored groups of keypresses, and/or (4) the sequence of keypresses that preceded or followed the group.

Abstract: A method of creating text using a computer having a display screen and a pointing mechanism for identifying locations on the display screen. The method involves displaying a list of commonly used words on the screen so that the user may select the words to be used in the text by successively pointing to them. The computer responds to the pointing mechanism and displays on the screen a line of text comprising the identified words in their successive order of selection.

Abstract: A quasi-steno keyboard permits text entry into a computer either by standard letter-by-letter typing or by stenotyping. The keys of the keyboard are arranged in three parallel rows with the tops of the keys in the first and second rows being substantially coplanar and the tops of at least four keys in the third row being coplanar and lower than those in the first and second rows. The four keys in the third row are laterally centered in the keyboard and are positioned, with respect to the keys of the first and second rows, such that a thumb can rest comfortably on each of these keys when an index or other finger of the same hand rests on a crack between adjacent keys in the first and second rows.