METHOD, SYSTEM AND APPARATUS FOR RELIABLY TRANSMITTING PACKETS OF AN UNRELIABLE PROTOCOL

• US 20090034520A1
• Filed: 08/02/2007
• Published: 02/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nice Ltd
• Original Assignee: Nice Systems Limited (Nice Ltd)
• Inventors: Sittin, Yuval, Hadari, Dan, Strassburg, Eyal
• Granted Patent: US 7,738,459 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1628 List acknowledgements, i.e. the acknowledgement message consisting of a list of identifiers, e.g. of sequence numbers H04L1/1614 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1635 Cumulative acknowledgement, i.e. the acknowledgement message applying to all previous messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1867 Arrangements specially adapted for the transmitter end

Abstract

A method for reliably communicating unreliable protocol packets by encapsulating one or more unreliable protocol packets in a packet constructed according to a predefined format. The method further employs an acknowledgement mechanism whereby a receiver of packets acknowledges reception by responding with a packet containing information pertaining to received packets. A sender retransmits packets for which no acknowledgement was received within a predefined period of time.

Claims

1. A method for reliably communicating unreliable-protocol packets, the method comprising:

encapsulating a plurality of packets constructed according to an unreliable protocol into a packet constructed according to a reliable protocol;

transmitting the packet over a network;

communicating an acknowledgement upon receipt of the packet;

extracting data encapsulated within the packet; and

recording the extracted data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the packet carries to a recording unit a portion of a telephone communication session between an agent of a contact center and a client.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

retransmitting the packet that is constructed according to the reliable protocol if the acknowledgement is not received within a predefined period of time.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

establishing a control session between a sender of the packet and a receiver of the packet.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the sender is a forwarding device and the receiver is a recording unit.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein establishing the control session comprises establishing the control session according to a session initiation protocol (SIP).

7. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating the acknowledgement comprises communicating the acknowledgement upon reception of two or more packets constructed according to the reliable protocol.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the unreliable protocol is a real-time transport protocol (RTP).

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

transmitting a silence suppression packet constructed according to the reliable protocol to inform of a period of silence.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the packet comprises digitized voice data.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the packet comprises digitized video data.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein recording the extracted data comprises recording information corresponding to a capture time of the data.

13. A system for reliably communicating unreliable protocol packets, the system comprising:

a forwarding device to encapsulate a plurality of packets constructed according to an unreliable protocol into a packet constructed according to a reliable protocol and to transmit the packet over a communication network; and

a recording unit to receive the packet and to send an acknowledgement to the forwarding device upon receipt of the packet.

14. The system of claim 13 further comprising:

a packet telephony switch to receive communication sessions and to forward the communication sessions to a plurality of forwarding devices; and

a location manager coupled the forwarding devices to select the forwarding device for a particular communication session.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the communication sessions are communication sessions between an agent of a contact center and a client.

16. The system of claim 14 further comprising:

an interaction server coupled to the packet telephony switch and to the location manager to communicate to the recording unit information related to the forwarding devices and the communication sessions.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the forwarding device is an Internet protocol (IP) telephone device used by an agent of contact center when engaged in a telephone communication session with a client.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the forwarding device is to retransmit a previously transmitted packet whose transmission was not acknowledged within a predefined period of time.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein a control session is established between the forwarding device and the recording unit, the control session is used for communicating communication parameters.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the control session is established and maintained according to a session initiation protocol (SIP).

21. The system of claim 13, wherein said unreliable protocol is a real-time transport protocol (RTP).

22. The system of claim 13, wherein the forwarding device is the source of the plurality of packets.

23. The system of claim 13, wherein the forwarding device receives the plurality of packets.