Method for storing on a computer network a portion of a communication session between a packet source and a packet destination

• US 20050033838A1
• Filed: 10/13/2004
• Published: 02/10/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: STS Systems Limited
• Original Assignee: STS Systems Limited
• Inventors: Bar, Eitan, Nisani, Mordechai
• Granted Patent: US 6,871,229 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/026 using flow identification
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1043 Gateway controllers, e.g. media gateway control protocol [MGCP] controllers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1106 Call signalling protocols; H.323 and related
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/65 Network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data

Abstract

Storing at least a portion of a computer network-based session such as a telephone session being performed on a computer network between a packet source and a packet destination, in which the following can occur in an embodiment of the invention. Data packets are received on the computer network. Each data packet is filtered to determine if said data packet is a session packet. If the data packet is a session packet, it is filtered to determine if the data includes session data. If the data includes session data, the session data is analyzed. The session packet is stored such that the stored session packet comprises a portion of the telephone session.

Claims

1. A method for storing at least a portion of a computer network-based telephone session, the telephone session being performed on a computer network between a packet source and a packet destination, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving data packets on the computer network;

(b) analyzing each said data packet to determine if said data packet is a session packet;

(c) if said data packet is said session packet, filtering at least data in said data packet to determine if said data includes session data;

(d) if said data includes session data, analyzing said session data; and

(e) storing said session packet such that said stored session packet comprises a portion of the telephone session.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the session-packet analyzing step includes the step of dumping any data packets that are not recorded in the database.

3. A method for storing at least a portion of a computer network-based communication session being performed on a computer network between a packet source and a packet destination, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving data packets on the computer network;

(b) filtering each of the received data packets to accept the data packets that are associated with a session to be monitored;

(c) analyzing the accepted data packets to determine a communication session to which each accepted data packet belongs; and

(d) storing the accepted data packets in association with a specific communication session.

4. The method of claim 3, including the additional step of analyzing the filtered data packets transmitted over the computer network to determine if the filtered data packets contain audio data, video data, or both audio and video data.

5. The method of claim 3 including the additional step of analyzing the filtered data packets transmitted over the computer network to determine if the filtered data packets contain audio data.

6. The method of claim 3 including the additional step of analyzing the filtered data packets transmitted over the computer network to determine if the filtered data packets contain video data.

7. The method of claim 3 wherein the session to be monitored has a packet address which is one of an IP address of the packet source and the IP address of the packet destination.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein individual data packets are accepted by the filtering step if such data packets have an address which is associated in a database with a session to be monitored.

9. The method of claim 3, wherein the audio data, video data, or audio and video data from the data packets are stored on a storage media that is accessible through the computer network.

10. The method of claim 3, wherein the computer network is a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN).

11. The method of claim 3 wherein the receiving step further comprises receiving data packets from a plurality of communication sessions.

12. The method of claim 3 further comprising the steps of:

retrieving audio data, video data, or both audio data and video data contained in the data packets belonging to a specific communication session;

restoring at least a portion of the communication session from the retrieved data; and

displaying the at least a portion of the communication session.

13. A method for storing at least a portion of a communication session being performed on a computer network between a packet source and a packet destination, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving data packets on the computer network, the data packets containing at least the portion of the communication session containing audio data, video data, or both audio data and video data;

(b) filtering the data packets using filtering information;

(c) accepting the data packets according to the filtering information;

(d) analyzing accepted data packets to determine a type of data contained in the data packets; and

(e) storing the portion of the computer session contained in the data packets according to the type.

14. The method of claim 13, including the additional step of restoring the stored communication session.

15. The method of claim 13, including the additional step of including in a database information extracted from the passed data packet including one or more from the group of a packet address, a time, a date, a channel, a dialed number, and a caller identification.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the stored data packets are stored on a storage media that is accessible through the computer network.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the computer network is a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN).

18. The method of claim 13, including the additional steps of organizing the data packets of a specific communication session.

19. The method of claim 18, including the additional step of using a database in the process of performing the organizing step.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of outputting audio data, video data or audio and video data that is contained in the specific communication session.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the outputting step further comprises the step of displaying any video data included in the organized data packets on a computer monitor, a video monitor or a display screen.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the outputting step further comprises the step of producing any audio data included in the organized data packets as sound through an earphone or a loudspeaker.

23. The method of claim 13, wherein the filtering information includes standards criteria.

24. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of analyzing accepted data packets to determine the type of data contained in the packets includes determining if the accepted data packets contain audio data.

25. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of analyzing accepted data packets to determine the type of data contained in the packets includes determining if the accepted data packets contain video data.