System and method of analyzing communications between a calling party and a called party

• US 20060053010A1
• Filed: 06/22/2005
• Published: 03/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nextel Communications (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Nextel Communications (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Chapman, David, Levitan, Ben
• Granted Patent: US 7,155,207 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/235
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/306 intercepting packet switched data communications, e.g. Web, Internet or IMS communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2281 Call monitoring, e.g. for law enforcement purposes; Call tracing; Detection or prevention of malicious calls
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42221 Conversation recording systems at the subscriber's set H04M1/656

Abstract

A system and method of analyzing communications between a calling party and a called party is disclosed. In an embodiment of a method of the present invention, the method includes receiving a communication at a service provider network, recording the communication, analyzing a voice content portion of the recorded communication to determine if the voice content portion contains a keyword stored in a database, and forwarding the recorded communication to a law enforcement agency if the keyword is detected in the voice content portion. In an embodiment of a system of the present invention, the system includes a buffer memory for receiving a recorded communication from a service provider network and a content analysis system coupled to the buffer memory. The content analysis system analyzes a voice content portion of the recorded communication to determine if the voice content portion contains a keyword stored in a database and the system forwards the recorded communication to a law enforcement agency if the keyword is detected in the voice content portion.

Claims

1. A method of delivering a communication to a law enforcement agency under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), comprising the acts of:

receiving a communication at a service provider network;

recording the communication;

analyzing a voice content portion of the recorded communication to determine if the voice content portion contains a keyword stored in a database; and

forwarding the recorded communication to a law enforcement agency if the keyword is detected in the voice content portion.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the communication is a circuit-switched telephone call.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the communication is a dispatch call.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the recorded communication is forwarded to the law enforcement agency only if the keyword is detected before a minimization time expires.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein if the keyword is not detected before the minimization time expires the recorded communication is stored in a storage medium.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the stored recorded communication is stored under seal.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the stored and sealed communication is forwarded to the law enforcement agency after a court order authorizing delivery of the communication is received by the service provider.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising the acts of:

adding a new keyword to the database after the recorded communication is stored and sealed;

analyzing the stored and sealed communication to determine if the voice content portion contains the new keyword; and

forwarding the stored and sealed communication to the law enforcement agency after a court order authorizing delivery of the communication is received by the service provider.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising the act of analyzing the recorded communication to determine if the communication is a dispatch call involving a surveillance target of the law enforcement agency and one other party.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising the act of analyzing the recorded communication to determine if the communication is a dispatch group call that is authorized for surveillance.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising the act of analyzing the dispatch group call to determine if a surveillance target of the law enforcement agency is present in the dispatch group call.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising the acts of:

receiving a second communication at the service provider network;

recording the second communication;

analyzing a voice content portion of the second recorded communication to determine if the voice content portion contains a second keyword stored in the database; and

forwarding the second recorded communication to the law enforcement agency if the second keyword is detected in the voice content portion.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the first communication involves a person that is subject to a first wiretap order from a first law enforcement agency and the second communication involves the person and is relevant to a second wiretap order from a second law enforcement agency.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising the act of notifying a centralized authority that the person is subject to the first wiretap order from the first law enforcement agency and that the person is subject to the second wiretap order from the second law enforcement agency.

15. The method of claim 12 further comprising the acts of:

associating information related to the first communication to information related to the second communication by a relational database; and

providing the associated information to at least one of the first law enforcement agency, the second law enforcement agency, or a centralized authority.

16. A system for delivering a communication to a law enforcement agency under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), comprising:

a buffer memory for receiving a recorded communication from a service provider network; and

a content analysis system coupled to the buffer memory wherein the content analysis system analyzes a voice content portion of the recorded communication to determine if the voice content portion contains a keyword stored in a database;

wherein the recorded communication is forwarded to a law enforcement agency if the keyword is detected in the voice content portion.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the communication is a circuit-switched telephone call.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein the communication is a dispatch call.

19. The system of claim 16 wherein the recorded communication is forwarded to the law enforcement agency only if the keyword is detected before a minimization time expires.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein if the keyword is not detected before the minimization time expires the recorded communication is stored in the buffer memory.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the stored recorded communication is stored under seal.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the stored and sealed communication is forwarded to the law enforcement agency after a court order authorizing delivery of the communication is received by the service provider.

23. The system of claim 16 further comprising a first filter coupled to the buffer memory wherein the first filter analyzes the recorded communication to determine if the communication is a dispatch call involving a surveillance target of the law enforcement agency and one other party.

24. The system of claim 16 further comprising a first filter coupled to the buffer memory wherein the first filter analyzes the recorded communication to determine if the communication is a dispatch group call that is authorized for surveillance.

25. The system of claim 24 further comprising a second filter coupled to the buffer and the first filter and wherein the second filter analyzes the dispatch group call to determine if a surveillance target of the law enforcement agency is present in the dispatch group call.

26. The system of claim 16 wherein the content analysis system includes a vocoder wherein the vocoder translates the voice content portion from a first format to a second format.

27. The system of claim 16 wherein the content analysis system includes a keyword filter and wherein the keyword filter includes a minimization timer.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the keyword filter performs a keyword search to detect a word in the recorded communication that matches a keyword defined by the law enforcement agency.

29. The system of claim 28 wherein the keyword search is conducted until an expiration of a time set in the minimization timer.

30. A method of recording dispatch calls, comprising the acts of:

receiving, by a dispatch server, a dispatch call;

recording a voice content portion of the dispatch call; and

storing the recorded voice content portion of the dispatch call in a file format in a file storage unit.

31. The method of claim 30 further comprising the act of forwarding the stored recorded voice content portion of the dispatch call to a CALEA processing system.

32. The method of claim 31 further comprising the acts of analyzing the recorded voice content portion of the dispatch call by the CALEA processing system to determine if the voice content portion contains a keyword stored in a database and forwarding the dispatch call to a law enforcement agency if the keyword is detected in the voice content portion.

33. The method of claim 31 further comprising the act of analyzing the recorded voice content portion of the dispatch call by a content analysis system to determine if the voice content portion contains a keyword.

34. The method of claim 30 wherein the file format is a WAV file.

35. A dispatch call recording system, comprising:

a dispatch server;

a file generator coupled to the dispatch server, wherein the file generator receives a dispatch call from the dispatch server and creates a record file of the dispatch call; and

a file storage unit coupled to the file generator wherein the file storage unit stores the record file of the dispatch call.

36. The system of claim 35 further comprising:

a CALEA processing system coupled to the file storage unit wherein the CALEA processing system analyzes a voice content portion of the record file of the dispatch call to determine if the voice content portion contains a keyword stored in a database and wherein the CALEA processing system forwards the dispatch call to a law enforcement agency if the keyword is detected in the voice content portion.

37. The system of claim 36 wherein the dispatch call is forwarded to the law enforcement agency in a format as received by the dispatch server.

38. The system of claim 35 further comprising a content analysis system coupled to the file storage unit and wherein the content analysis system analyzes a voice content portion of the record file of the dispatch call to determine if the voice content portion contains a keyword.