Techniques for archiving audio information communicated between members of a group

1. A method of archiving audio information communicated between a plurality of communication devices in a point-to-multipoint audio communication system, the method comprising:

recording audio information transmitted by one or more communication devices of the plurality of communication devices;

determining one or more conversation portions in the recorded audio information, the one or more conversation portions including a first conversation portion;

determining a set of one or more communication devices that transmitted audio information included in the first conversation portion;

identifying a first communication device from the plurality of communication devices determined to have missed the first conversation portion when the audio information was transmitted by the set of communication devices; and

communicating the first conversation portion to the first communication device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the one or more conversation portions in the recorded audio information comprises:

identifying a set of one or more utterance portions in the recorded audio information, each utterance portion characterized by a start point and an end point, wherein an amplitude of the recorded audio information is used to determine the start point and end point for each utterance portion; and

determining the one or more conversation portions based upon locations of utterance portions included in the set of utterance portions.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein:

the start point of an utterance portion occurs when the average amplitude of the recorded audio information is greater than a first threshold value for a first time period; and

the end point of an utterance portion occurs after a start point when the average amplitude of the recorded audio information is less than a second threshold value for at least a second time period.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the first time period is approximately ½ second and the second time period is approximately 3 seconds.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein determining the one or more conversation portions based upon the locations of the one or more utterance portions included in the set of utterance portions comprises:

grouping utterance portions in the set of utterance portions into one or more groups based upon time gaps between adjacent utterance portions, each group comprising one or more utterance portions from the set of utterance portions, wherein the time gap between adjacent utterance portions in a group is less than a third time period, each group corresponding to a conversation portion.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the third time period is approximately 3 minutes.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

for each communication device in the set of communication devices, determining a portion of the audio information included in the first conversation portion transmitted by the communication device.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the set of one or more communication devices that transmitted the audio information included in the first conversation portion comprises:

determining one or more device identifiers from the audio information included in the first conversation portion; and

determining a communication device corresponding to each device identifier in the one or more device identifiers.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

determining identity of a user of each communication device in the set of communication devices based upon the one or more device identifiers.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the set of one or more communication devices that transmitted the audio information included in the first conversation portion comprises:

determining information identifying one or more speakers of the audio information included in the first conversation portion; and

identifying the set of one or more communication devices based upon the information identifying the one or more speakers.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

transcribing the audio information included in the first conversation portion to generate a text transcript for the first conversation portion; and

storing the text transcript.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

determining a set of one or more communication devices that transmitted audio information included in the first conversation portion; and

wherein the text transcript for the first conversation portion comprises information identifying one or more users of communication devices in the set of communication devices.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the information identifying the one or more users of communication devices in the set of communication devices comprises images of the one or more users.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein transcribing the audio information included in the first conversation portion comprises manually transcribing the audio information included in the first conversation portion.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a request from a second device requesting the first conversation portion; and

in response to receiving the request, communicating the first conversation portion to the second device.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

storing the first conversation portion in a first format, the first format including a transcript of audio information included in the first conversation portion and information identifying users of the set of communication devices, wherein

communicating the first conversation portion to the first communication device comprises communicating the first conversation portion stored in the first format to the first communication device.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the first format is a web page.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein communicating the first conversation portion to the second device comprises:

determining if a user of the second device is permitted to access the first conversation portion; and

communicating the first conversation portion to the second device only if the user of the second device is permitted to receive the first conversation portion.

19. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving information requesting broadcast of audio information included in the first conversation portion at a first time; and

broadcasting the audio information included in the first conversation portion to the plurality of communication devices at the first time.

20. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving information requesting broadcast of audio information included in the first conversation portion upon occurrence of a first event; and

broadcasting the audio information included in the first conversation portion to the plurality of communication devices when the first event occurs.

21. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving permission information from the one or more communication devices that transmitted the audio information, the permission information received from each communication device from the one or more communication devices indicating access permissions for audio information transmitted by the communication device; and

storing the permission information.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the permission information for a communication device is configured using a user-selectable switch provided by the communication device.

23. The method of claim 21 further comprising:

receiving a request from a second device requesting the first conversation portion;

determining if the second device is permitted to access the first conversation portion based upon the permission information; and

communicating the first conversation portion to the second device only if the user of the second device is permitted to receive the first conversation portion.

24. The method of claim 1 wherein communicating the first conversation portion to the first communication device comprises:

determining that the first communication device is receptive to receipt of the first conversation portion; and

transmitting the first conversation portion to the first communication device.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein determining that the first communication device is receptive to receipt of the first conversation portion comprises receiving a broadcast from the first communication device.

26. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing the first conversation portion.

27. A method of storing audio information communicated between a plurality of communication devices in a point-to-multipoint audio communication system, the method comprising:

recording audio information transmitted by the plurality of communication devices;

determining one or more conversation portions in the recorded audio information, the one or more conversation portions including a first conversation portion;

transcribing audio information included in the first conversation portion to generate a text transcript for the first conversation portion;

storing the text transcript such that a user can subsequently retrieve the text transcript;

determining a set of one or more communication devices that transmitted audio information included in the first conversation portion;

identifying a first communication device from the plurality of communication devices determined to have missed in the first conversation portion when the audio information was transmitted by the set of communication devices; and

communicating the stored text transcript to the first communication device.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein determining the one or more conversation portions in the recorded audio information comprises:

determining a set of one or more communication devices that transmitted audio information included in the first conversation portion.

29. The method of claim 28 further comprising:

for each communication device in the set of communication devices, determining a portion of the audio information included in the first conversation portion transmitted by the communication device.

30. A system for archiving audio information communicated between a plurality of communication devices in a point-to-multipoint audio communication system, the system comprising:

a memory;

a communication module configured to record audio information transmitted by one or more communication devices of the plurality of communication devices; and

a processor module configured to:

determine one or more conversation portions in the recorded audio information, the one or more conversation portions including a first conversation portion;

determine a set of one or more communication devices that transmitted audio information included in the first conversation portion;

identify a first communication device from the plurality of communication devices determined to have missed the first conversation portion when the audio information was transmitted by the set of communication devices; and

cause the communication module to communicate the first conversation portion to the first communication device.

31. The system of claim 30 wherein to determine the one or more conversation portions in the recorded audio information, the processor module is configured to:

identify a set of one or more utterance portions in the recorded audio information, each utterance portion characterized by a start point and an end point, wherein an amplitude of the recorded audio information is used to determine the start point and end point for each utterance portion; and

determine the one or more conversation portions based upon locations of utterance portions included in the set of utterance portions.

32. The system of claim 31 wherein:

the start point of an utterance portion occurs when the average amplitude of the recorded audio information is greater than a first threshold value for a first time period; and

the end point of an utterance portion occurs after a start point when the average amplitude of the recorded audio information is less than a second threshold value for at least a second time period.

33. The system of claim 32 wherein the first time period is approximately ½ second and the second time period is approximately 3 seconds.

34. The system of claim 32 wherein to determine the one or more conversation portions based upon the locations of the one or more utterance portions included in the set of utterance portions, the processor module is configured to:

group utterance portions in the set of utterance portions into one or more groups based upon time gaps between adjacent utterance portions, each group comprising one or more utterance portions from the set of utterance portions, wherein the time gap between adjacent utterance portions in a group is less than a third time period, each group corresponding to a conversation portion.

35. The system of claim 34 wherein the third time period is approximately 3 minutes.

36. The system of claim 30 wherein, for each communication device in the set of communication devices, the processor module is configured to determine a portion of the audio information included in the first conversation portion transmitted by the communication device.

37. The system of claim 30 wherein to determine the set of one or more communication devices that transmitted the audio information included in the first conversation portion, the processor module is configured to:

determine one or more device identifiers from the audio information included in the first conversation portion; and

determine a communication device corresponding to each device identifier in the one or more device identifiers.

38. The system of claim 37 wherein the processor module is further configured to determine identity of a user of each communication device in the set of communication devices based upon the one or more device identifiers.

39. The system of claim 30 wherein to determine the set of one or more communication devices that transmitted the audio information included in the first conversation portion, the processor module is configured to:

determine information identifying one or more speakers of the audio information included in the first conversation portion; and

identify the set of one or more communication devices based upon the information identifying the one or more speakers.

40. The system of claim 30 wherein the processor module is further configured to:

transcribe the audio information included in the first conversation portion to generate a text transcript for the first conversation portion; and

store the text transcript in the memory.

41. The system of claim 40 wherein the processor module is configured to:

determine a set of one or more communication devices that transmitted audio information included in the first conversation portion; and

wherein the text transcript for the first conversation portion comprises information identifying one or more users of communication devices in the set of communication devices.

42. The system of claim 41 wherein the information identifying the one or more users of communication devices in the set of communication devices comprises images of the one or more users.

43. The system of claim 40 wherein the processor module is configured to automatically transcribe the audio information included in the first conversation portion.

44. The system of claim 30 wherein the processor module is configured to:

receive a request from a second device requesting the first conversation portion; and

in response to receiving the request, cause the communication module to communicate the first conversation portion to the second device.

45. The system of claim 44 wherein the processor module is configured to:

determine if a user of the second device is permitted to access the first conversation portion; and

cause the communication module to communicate the first conversation portion to the second device only if the user of the second device is permitted to receive the first conversation portion.

46. The system of claim 30 wherein:

the processor module stores the first conversation portion in a first format, the first format including a transcript of audio information included in the first conversation portion and information identifying users of the set of communication devices; and

the communication module communicates the first conversation portion stored in the first format to the first communication device.

47. The system of claim 46 wherein the first format is a web page.

48. The system of claim 30 wherein the processor module is configured to:

receive information requesting broadcast of audio information included in the first conversation portion at a first time; and

cause the communication module to broadcast the audio information included in the first conversation portion to the plurality of communication devices at the first time.

49. The system of claim 30 wherein the processor module is configured to:

receive information requesting broadcast of audio information included in the first conversation portion upon occurrence of a first event; and

cause the communication module to broadcast the audio information included in the first conversation portion to the plurality of communication devices when the first event occurs.

50. The system of claim 30 wherein the processor module is configured to:

receive permission information from the one or more communication devices that transmitted the audio information, the permission information indicating access permissions for audio information transmitted by the communication device; and

store the permission information.

51. The system of claim 50 wherein the permission information for a communication device is configured using a user-selectable switch provided by the communication device.

52. The system of claim 50 wherein the processor module is configured to:

receive a request from a second device requesting the first conversation portion;

determine if the second device is permitted to access the first conversation portion based upon the permission information; and

cause the communication module to communicate the first conversation portion to the second device only if the user of the second device is permitted to receive the first conversation portion.

53. The system of claim 30 wherein causing the communication module to communicate the first conversation portion to the first communication device comprises:

determining that the first communication device is receptive to receipt of the first conversation portion; and

transmitting the first conversation portion to the first communication device.

54. The system of claim 53 wherein determining that the first communication device is receptive to receipt of the first conversation portion comprises receiving a broadcast from the first communication device.

55. The system of claim 30 wherein the processor module is further configured to store the first conversation portion.

56. A computer program product stored on a computer readable storage medium for archiving audio information communicated between a plurality of communication devices in a point-to-multipoint audio communication system, the computer program product comprising:

code for recording audio information transmitted by one or more communication devices of the plurality of communication devices;

code for determining one or more conversation portions in the recorded audio information, the one or more conversation portions including a first conversation portion;

code for determining a set of one or more communication devices that transmitted audio information included in the first conversation portion;

code for identifying a first communication device from the plurality of communication devices determined to have missed the first conversation portion when the audio information was transmitted by the set of communication devices; and

code for communicating the first conversation portion to the first communication device.

57. The computer program product of claim 56 wherein the code for determining the one or more conversation portions in the recorded audio information comprises:

code for identifying a set of one or more utterance portions in the recorded audio information, each utterance portion characterized by a start point and an end point, wherein an amplitude of the recorded audio information is used to determine the start point and end point for each utterance portion; and

code for determining the one or more conversation portions based upon locations of utterance portions included in the set of utterance portions.

58. The computer program product of claim 57 wherein:

the start point of an ufterance portion occurs when the average amplitude of the recorded audio information is greater than a first threshold value for a first time period;

the end point of an utterance portion occurs after a start point when the average amplitude of the recorded audio information is less than a second threshold value for at least a second time period; and

the code for determining the one or more conversation portions based upon the locations of the one or more utterance portions included in the set of utterance portions comprises code for grouping utterance portions in the set of utterance portions into one or more groups based upon time gaps between adjacent utterance portions, each group comprising one or more utterance portions from the set of utterance portions, wherein the time gap between adjacent utterance portions in a group is less than a third time period, each group corresponding to a conversation portion.

59. The computer program product of claim 56 further comprising:

code for determining, for each communication device in the set of communication devices, a portion of the audio information included in the first conversation portion transmitted by the communication device.

60. The computer program product of claim 56 wherein the code for determining the set of one or more communication devices that transmitted the audio information included in the first conversation portion comprises:

code for determining one or more device identifiers from the audio information included in the first conversation portion;

code for determining a communication device corresponding to each device identifier in the one or more device identifiers; and

code for determining identity of a user of each communication device in the set of communication devices based upon the one or more device identifiers.

61. The computer program product of claim 56 wherein the code for determining the set of one or more communication devices that transmitted the audio information included in the first conversation portion comprises:

code for determining information identifying one or more speakers of the audio information included in the first conversation portion; and

code for identifying the set of one or more communication devices based upon the information identifying the one or more speakers.

62. The computer program product of claim 56 further comprising:

code for transcribing the audio information included in the first conversation portion to generate a text transcript for the first conversation portion; and

code for storing the text transcript.

63. The computer program product of claim 62

wherein the text transcript for the first conversation portion comprises information identifying one or more users of communication devices in the set of communication devices.

64. The computer program product of claim 63 wherein the information identifying the one or more users of communication devices in the set of communication devices comprises images of the one or more users.

65. The computer program product of claim 56 further comprising:

code for receiving a request from a second device requesting the first conversation portion; and

code for communicating the first conversation portion to the second device in response to receiving the request.

66. The computer program product of claim 65 wherein the code for communicating the first conversation portion to the second device comprises:

code for determining if a user of the second device is permitted to access the first conversation portion; and

code for communicating the first conversation portion to the second device only if the user of the second device is permitted to receive the first conversation portion.

67. The computer program product of claim 56 further comprising:

code for storing the first conversation portion in a first format, the first format including a transcript of audio information included in the first conversation portion and information identifying users of the set of communication devices, wherein

the code for communicating the first conversation portion to the first communication device comprises code for communicating the first conversation portion stored in the first format to the first communication device.

68. The computer program product of claim 67 wherein the first format is a web page.

69. The computer program product of claim 56 further comprising:

code for receiving information requesting broadcast of audio information included in the first conversation portion at a first time; and

code for broadcasting the audio information included in the first conversation portion to the plurality of communication devices at the first time.

70. The computer program product of claim 56 further comprising:

code for receiving information requesting broadcast of audio information included in the first conversation portion upon occurrence of a first event; and

code for broadcasting the audio information included in the first conversation portion to the plurality of communication devices when the first event occurs.

71. The computer program product of claim 56 further comprising:

code for receiving permission information from the one or more communication devices that transmitted the audio information, the permission information received from each communication device from the one or more communication devices indicating access permissions for audio information transmitted by the communication device; and code for storing the permission information.

72. The computer program product of claim 71 wherein the permission information for a communication device is configured using a user-selectable switch provided by the communication device.

73. The computer program product of claim 71 further comprising:

code for receiving a request from a second device requesting the first conversation portion;

code for determining if the second device is permitted to access the first conversation portion based upon the permission information; and

code for communicating the first conversation portion to the second device only if the user of the second device is permitted to receive the first conversation portion.

74. The computer program product of claim 56 further comprising code for storing the first conversation portion.

75. A system for archiving audio information communicated between a plurality of communication devices in a point-to-multipoint audio communication system, the system comprising:

means for recording audio information transmitted by one or more communication devices of the plurality of communication devices;

means for determining one or more conversation portions in the recorded audio information, the one or more conversation portions including a first conversation portion;

means for determining a set of one or more communication devices that transmitted audio information included in the first conversation portion;

means for identifying a first communication device from the plurality of communication devices determined to have missed the first conversation portion when the audio information was transmitted by the set of communication devices; and

means for communicating the first conversation portion to the first communication device.

76. The system of claim 75 wherein the means for determining the one or more conversation portions in the recorded audio information comprises:

means for identifying a set of one or more utterance portions in the recorded audio information, each utterance portion characterized by a start point and an end point, wherein an amplitude of the recorded audio information is used to determine the start point and end point for each utterance portion; and

means for determining the one or more conversation portions based upon locations of utterance portions included in the set of utterance portions.

77. The system of claim 76 wherein:

the start point of an utterance portion occurs when the average amplitude of the recorded audio information is greater than a first threshold value for a first time period;

the end point of an utterance portion occurs after a start point when the average amplitude of the recorded audio information is less than a second threshold value for at least a second time period; and

the means for determining the one or more conversation portions based upon the locations of the one or more utterance portions included in the set of utterance portions comprises means for grouping utterance portions in the set of utterance portions into one or more groups based upon time gaps between adjacent utterance portions, each group comprising one or more utterance portions from the set of utterance portions, wherein the time gap between adjacent utterance portions in a group is less than a third time period, each group corresponding to a conversation portion.

78. The system of claim 75 further comprising:

means for determining, for each communication device in the set of communication devices, a portion of the audio information included in the first conversation portion transmitted by the communication device.

79. The system of claim 75 further comprising:

means for transcribing the audio information included in the first conversation portion to generate a text transcript for the first conversation portion; and

means for storing the text transcript.

80. The system of claim 75 further comprising:

means for receiving a request from a second device requesting the first conversation portion; and

means for communicating the first conversation portion to the second device in response to receiving the request.

81. The system of claim 80 wherein the means for communicating the first conversation portion to the second device comprises:

means for determining if a user of the second device is permitted to access the first conversation portion; and

means for communicating the first conversation portion to the second device only if the user of the second device is permitted to receive the first conversation portion.

82. The system of claim 75 further comprising:

means for receiving information requesting broadcast of audio information included in the first conversation portion at a first time; and

means for broadcasting the audio information included in the first conversation portion to the plurality of communication devices at the first time.

83. The system of claim 75 further comprising:

means for receiving information requesting broadcast of audio information included in the first conversation portion upon occurrence of a first event; and

means for broadcasting the audio information included in the first conversation portion to the plurality of communication devices when the first event occurs.

84. The system of claim 75 further comprising:

means for receiving permission information from the one or more communication devices that transmitted the audio information, the permission information received from each communication device from the one or more communication devices indicating access permissions for audio information transmitted by the communication device, wherein the permission information for a communication device is configured using a user-selectable switch provided by the communication device;

means for receiving a request from a second device requesting the first conversation portion;

means for determining if the second device is permitted to access the first conversation portion based upon the permission information; and

means for communicating the first conversation portion to the second device only if the user of the second device is permitted to receive the first conversation portion.