feat: add option to disable timing metadata in ASR transcription

[akanshajain231999]

Feature: Option to disable timing metadata during ASR transcription

This PR adds a new feature that allows users to disable the printing of timing metadata in ASR (Automatic Speech Recognition) transcription output. By default, timing information like [time: 0.0-2.5] is included in the transcribed text, but users can now opt out of this behavior.

Changes Made:

Core Implementation:

• Added include_time_metadata: bool = True field to InlineAsrOptions class in docling/datamodel/pipeline_options_asr_model.py
• Modified _ConversationItem.to_string() method to accept an include_time_metadata parameter
• Updated both _NativeWhisperModel and _MlxWhisperModel to respect the new setting

CLI Integration:

• Added --asr-no-timing flag to disable timing metadata via CLI
• The flag is automatically documented through the CLI's auto-generated documentation

Tests:

• Added test_asr_pipeline_without_time_metadata() - verifies timing metadata can be disabled
• Added test_asr_pipeline_with_time_metadata_default() - verifies timing metadata is enabled by default
• Added test_conversation_item_to_string_with_and_without_time() - unit tests for the to_string() method

Backward Compatibility:

• Default behavior unchanged: timing metadata is included by default
• No breaking changes to existing APIs

Usage Examples

Programmatic:

from docling.datamodel import asr_model_specs
from docling.datamodel.pipeline_options import AsrPipelineOptions

pipeline_options = AsrPipelineOptions()
pipeline_options.asr_options = asr_model_specs.WHISPER_TINY.model_copy(deep=True)
pipeline_options.asr_options.include_time_metadata = False  # Disable timing

CLI:

docling audio.mp3 --asr-no-timing

Issue resolved by this Pull Request: Resolves #2564

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Screenshot:

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Checklist:

- [x] Documentation has been updated
  - CLI documentation auto-generates from code (includes new `--asr-no-timing` flag)
  - Code includes comprehensive docstrings explaining the feature
  
- [x] Examples have been added
  - The feature is straightforward and covered by tests
  - Usage is documented in code comments and test cases
  
- [x] Tests have been added
  - ✅ [test_asr_pipeline_without_time_metadata()] - Integration test for disabled timing
  - ✅ [test_asr_pipeline_with_time_metadata_default()]- Verifies default behavior
  - ✅ [test_conversation_item_to_string_with_and_without_time()]- Unit tests
  - ✅ All tests properly isolated (using [model_copy(deep=True)]
  - ✅ No compilation/lint errors

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✅ DCO Check Passed

Thanks @akanshajain231999, all your commits are properly signed off. 🎉

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Related Documentation

Checked 3 published document(s) in 1 knowledge base(s). No updates required.

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[akanshajain231999]

Hey @ceberam , Can you please review this PR?

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:white_check_mark: All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.

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[akanshajain231999]

@ceberam Thanks for the detailed review. I will wait for your response until next week. Meanwhile, do you have any other issues which I can work on?

[ceberam]

@ceberam Thanks for the detailed review. I will wait for your response until next week. Meanwhile, do you have any other issues which I can work on?

@akanshajain231999 you are very welcome to contribute to Docling, this is an open-source collaborative project 🙂 Feel free to pick up an issue and when you are ready to actively work on it, you can set yourself in the Assignees list. Here is a list of issues that I think could be easy wins. Some may be outdated, so please always consider the latest Docling release. 2626, 2515, 2465, 2487, 2476, 2367, 2298, 2351 (this one more ambitious)