Method for managing the quality of encrypted voice over IP to teleagents
First Claim
1. A method for managing a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network comprising the steps of:
- identifying users deployed in a network having a VoIP telephone. determining selected parameters of said network;
correlating said selected parameters of said network with a subjective determination of voice quality, said subjective determination provided by at least one of said users; and
identify a problem source affecting the voice quality for said at least one user.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) system and more particularly, an improved VoIP system serving a distributed group of teleagents. Network parameters that affect voice quality over broadband connections are rapidly detected by generating both detected and subjective alerts when problems with the quality of a IP telephone connection are detected and correcting the detected problems. Network parameters are monitored during an actual VoIP telephone call or by using synthetic traffic. If the voice quality degrades for a particular teleagent, the teleagent is removed from the pool of available agents until voice quality improves. Alternatively, the voice quality of each teleagent may be ranked according to the service provided.
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Citations
51 Claims
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1. A method for managing a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network comprising the steps of:
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identifying users deployed in a network having a VoIP telephone. determining selected parameters of said network;
correlating said selected parameters of said network with a subjective determination of voice quality, said subjective determination provided by at least one of said users; and
identify a problem source affecting the voice quality for said at least one user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. In a voice over Internet Protocol deployment, a method for monitoring quality of voice service to a plurality of deployed users, said method comprising:
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snooping on voice traffic at a first router to determine network parameters;
correlating said network parameters with an objective indication of poor quality of voice service;
identifying a likely cause of said poor quality of voice service and initiating a corrective action; and
monitoring said network parameters using synthetic voice traffic to verify said corrective action. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A voice over IP (VoIP) network system comprising:
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an outside caller;
means for connecting said caller to one of a plurality of teleagents working out of a home office;
said home office having at VoIP telephone and at least a router for coupling said VoIP telephone to a call center over said VoIP network system;
means for monitoring network parameters when voice traffic is present; and
means for monitoring network parameters using synthetic voice traffic when voice traffic is not present;
means for identifying teleagents having low voice quality relative to others of said plurality of teleagents; and
means for blocking said identified teleagent from using said VoIP telephone until said voice quality is improved. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A system comprising:
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a network to connect a caller to one of a plurality of teleagents working out of a home office;
said home office having at VoIP telephone and at least a router for coupling said VoIP telephone to a call center over said VoIP network system;
a call manager for routing said caller to a selected one of said plurality of teleagents and for generating a call record containing information relating to said call;
a software tool for determining jitter at said router when voice traffic is present and by generating synthetic traffic when no voice traffic is present;
said software tool adapted to associate the jitter determined at said router with said call record;
an alert manager for responding to an indication of poor voice quality and for restricting voice traffic to said router; and
means for isolating the source of said poor voice quality and for determining jitter at said router by generating synthetic traffic until said voice quality is improved to a selected threshold. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33)
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34. In a call center system having a plurality of teleagnets available for receiving telephone calls from customers, a system for monitoring voice quality for each of said plurality of teleagents comprising:
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software for selectively monitoring voice quality for each of said teleagents;
a server, coupled to said call center system for correlating a determination of voice quality derived from said monitoring with a subjective indication of voice quality;
a database containing information for ranking voice quality for each of said teleagents; and
said server adapted to selectively remove one or more teleagents from said plurality of available teleagents if voice quality is below a level of suitability.
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35. A method of monitoring the quality of a network over which telecommunication calls travel as call packets over at least a portion of each network, the method comprising:
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characterizing the network based on whether or not a recent volume of call packets for each link is sufficient to monitor the quality;
monitoring a quality parameter of a call packet for which the recent volume exceeds a selected threshold;
generating a synthetic call packet if the recent volume is not sufficient and conveying the synthetic call packet over that network; and
monitoring the quality parameter of the synthetic call packet - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. A telecommunication system for monitoring the quality of calls transmitted as packets over at least a portion of the call, the telecommunication system comprising:
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telecommunication network, each configured to convey a leg of at least some calls;
a quality monitor configured to characterize the network based on whether or not a recent volume of call packets is sufficient to monitor the quality of the network, and configured to monitor a quality parameter of a call packet for which the recent volume is sufficient; and
a network node configured to generate a synthetic call packet and transmit that packet over said network if the recent volume is not sufficient;
where the quality monitor is further configured to monitor the quality parameter of the synthetic call packet. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
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50. A telecommunication system for monitoring the quality of calls transmitted as packets over at least a portion of each call, the telecommunication system comprising:
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means for characterizing whether or not a recent volume of call packets is sufficient to monitor the quality of the call;
means for monitoring a quality parameter of a call packet for which the recent volume is sufficient; and
means for generating a synthetic call packet for which the recent volume is not sufficient and for conveying the synthetic call packets in place of call packets;
where the means for monitoring is further adapted to monitor the quality parameter of the synthetic call packets. - View Dependent Claims (51)
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Specification