Stand-Alone System
CourtSmart's fully scalable Stand-Alone product allows each courtroom to operate independently. In addition, each system can be networked with other systems and workstations. This approach is considered cost effective where there are one or two courtrooms, no associated network infrastructure present, difficulty in providing a centralized monitoring area, or some other circumstance conducive to this approach. The Stand-Alone approach provides the same high quality recordings but where three or more courtrooms are located within the same courthouse, the scales of economy and efficiency swing heavily in favor of centralized servers.
The CourtSmart stand-alone system contains the same technology that has been successfully implemented in US courts for over eight years. The system can be implemented with laptops for portability or small servers for reliability and flexibility. All 4-channel or 2-channel proceedings recorded on CourtSmart are digitized, stored on mirrored RAID 1 or RAID 5 hard drives (mini-server configurations), and automatically archived for long-term storage on DVD or CD-R. The recorded proceedings are fully compatible with all of CourtSmart's server based products and can be downloaded or transferred to a centralized system quickly and easily. CourtSmart allows for the recording and annotating of all proceedings eliminating the need to keep notes with events on paper for later reference. These notes or tags are automatically time stamped with the audio and can be searched by word, abbreviation, or the actual time that it was automatically stored on the data base. These recorded tags are then available to transcribers on CD along with the audio and the included transcription software. CourtSmart includes the ability to enter bar codes from either a case file or calendar for rapid case identification in arraignments, calendar calls, or other "rocket dockets." CourtSmart is fully ODBC compliant and can interface with case management systems such as CourtView from Maximus.
Simultaneous playback of current or past proceedings is easily accomplished from within the courtroom by the system operator, judge, commissioner, or anyone else with a CourtSmart workstation. Duplication of proceedings to CD-R or DVD can be done from any workstation outside the courtroom equipped with CourtSmart software and attached to the network; thus, recording need never be interrupted for these tasks. Multiple tag or note files can be kept by anyone inside or outside the courtroom. These annotations may be labeled "private" thus restricting access to anyone except the person writing the notes. This is particularly useful for a judge or law clerk following the proceeding. Certain proceedings can be coded as "SEALED" limiting access to anyone without a special "key" and authorization. A session may be sealed before, during, or after a proceeding. Because note files are database driven, changes, additions, modifications can be made at any time without losing the proper time sequence.
CourtSmart also provides a transcription module that allows sessions to be directly transcribed from the LAN. This can be done while recording is in process without any interruption. Multiple users and transcribers can have concurrent access to the courtroom server without stopping the recording process.
The system comes as either a complete system or components can be ordered separately and integrated with your existing system. The complete system includes a server class computer for reliability and performance, microphones, mixers or interfaces to existing sound systems, 4-channel digital encoders, mute controls, amplified speakers, and feedback eliminators to ensure that only the best 4-channel audio quality is recorded. Installation and on-site training are also included. CourtSmart uses special 4-channel digital encoders with industry standard compression to assure exact true 4-channel audio capture of the human voice range while minimizing noise sources such as paper shuffling, air handling systems, and traffic. The CourtSmart encoding and sampling can be selected by the user to maximize audio clarity and quality while minimizing the amount of required storage. CourtSmart server software runs under Microsoft NT/2000/XP operating systems and ODBC compliant databases such as SQL. Client workstations can interface with the CourtSmart server using Windows NT/98/2000/XP operating systems. We recommend Windows 2000 Professional as the operating system of choice for reliability and performance. CourtSmart uses Microsoft's networking protocols and can co-reside with other networks such as Novell.
This standalone system is not a just a tape recorder replacement. This is a fully functional database system that offers all the power, flexibility, and reliability of our multi-site centralized systems yet is easy to use and maintain. CourtSmart is the digital recording system for today and tomorrow. HEAR THE DIFFERENCE.
CourtSmart stand alone systems can also be implemented in a fully compliant Section 508 version that does not require a third party database. CourtSmart builds and automates its own indexing system for recordings and rebuilds this index automatically when changes occur. For those situations where a third party database is not desired the full power of CourtSmart can still be implemented. Recordings and indexes can be quickly converted to the largest server based, ODBC systems at any time should your requirements change.