System and method for recording and storing telephone call information

• US 6,728,345 B2
• Filed: 06/08/2001
• Issued: 04/27/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Nice Systems Incorporated (Nice Ltd)
• Original Assignee: Dictaphone Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Richter, John E., Glowny, David A., Ni, Phil Min
• Primary Examiner(s): WEAVER, SCOTT LOUIS
• Application Number:
  US09/876,979
• Publication Number:
  US 20010040942A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,054 Days
• Field of Search: 379/67.1, 379/68, 379/88.09, 379/88.11, 379/88.22, 379/88.25, 379/93.12, 379/93.17, 379/93.23, 379/111, 379/112.01, 379/112.06, 379/116, 379/202.01, 379/265.03, 379/265.07, 379/266.1, 379/267, 379/309, 360/5, 360/6, 360/55
• US Class Current: 379/88.22
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 31/00 Arrangements for the associated working of recording or reproducing apparatus with related apparatus with cameras or projectors G03B31/00 ; recording/reproducing of music for electrophonic musical instruments G10H1/0033; automatic arrangements for answering calls or for recording messages for absent subscribers H04M1/64; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with dictation recording and playback systems H04M11/10; connection of TV recorder with other related apparatus, e.g. TV camera or receiver, in which the TV signal is significantly involved H04N, e.g. H04N23/00, H04N5/765; combination of radio or TV with other apparatus, e.g. with vehicles H05K11/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/301 Management of recordings
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2218 Call detail recording
• 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 3/36 Statistical metering, e.g. recording occasions when traffic exceeds capacity of trunks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42221 Conversation recording systems at the subscriber's set H04M1/656
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42314 in private branch exchanges
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42323 PBX's with CTI arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5175 Call or contact centers supervision arrangements

Abstract

A system and method for monitoring a telephone switching environment. In a preferred embodiment the system and method identify telephone call segments that relate to one telephone call and construct a data representation of a lifetime of the telephone call, using data regarding telephony events associated with the telephone call segments of the telephone call. The system and method are also capable of using the data representation to display a graphical representation of a lifetime of a telephone call.

Claims

1. A system for recording information regarding telephone calls with three or more participants and comprising one or more telephone call segments, comprising:

(a) a first memory having one or more locations storing audio data of telephone call segments

(b) a second memory having one or more locations storing data regarding telephony events associated with the telephone call segments; and

(c) a processor programmed to;

(i) identify telephone call segments that relate to the same telephone call and

(ii) construct a data representation of lifetimes of the telephone calls that have three or more participants, wherein said data representations are constructed using data regarding telephony events associated with the telephone call segments.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the data representation of each telephone call comprises

(i) a list of participants in the telephone call;

(ii) a list of telephony events regarding the call;

(iii) a list containing the time each telephony event occurred; and

(iv) the start and end time of the call.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the data representation of each telephone call comprises, for each segment of the call, the location of the stored audio data of that segment.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the first memory and the second memory are the same.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor is comprised of a plurality of physically separated components.

6. The system of claim 3 wherein the location of the stored audio data of each segment comprises a location of a .WAV file containing the audio data.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the data representation of a telephone call further comprises an offset within the .WAV file to the start of the stored audio data.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the data regarding telephony events is received from a plurality of sources connected to a telephone switching environment.

9. The system of claim 1 further comprising display software that uses said data representation to display a graphical representation of said telephone call.

10. The system of claim 2 further comprising display software that uses a data representation of a telephone call to display a graphical representation of said telephone call.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the graphical representation comprises a representation of each segment of the call.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the graphical representation comprises a representation of the length of time of each segment of the call.

13. The system of claim 9 wherein the display software further displays a table comprising data from the data representation.

14. A method for recording information regarding telephone calls with three or more participants and comprising one or more participants and comprising one or more telephone call segments, comprising:

(a) receiving audio data regarding one or more telephone call segments;

(b) receiving data regarding telephony events associated with said telephone call segments;

(c) storing the received audio data regarding telephone call segments;

(d) storing the received data regarding telephone events associated with said telephone call segments;

(e) identifying telephone call segments that relate to the same telephone call; and

(f) constructing data representations of lifetimes of telephone calls, wherein said data representations are constructed using data regarding telephony events associated with telephone call segments.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein each data representation of a telphone call comprises:

(i) a list of participants in the telephone call;

(ii) a list of telephony events regarding the call;

(iii) a list containing the time each telephony event occurred; and

(iv) the start and end time of the call.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein each data representation of a telephone call comprises, for each segment of the call, a location of stored audio data if that segment.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein the received audio data and the data regarding telephony events are stored in the same memory.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein each data representation is constructed by a plurality of physically separated processors.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein the location of the stored audio data of each segment comprises a location of a .WAV file containng the audio data.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein a data representation further comprises an offset within the .WAV file to start of the stored audio data.

21. The method of claim 14 wherein data regarding telephony events is received from a plurality of sources connected to a telephone switching environment.

22. The method of claim 14 further comprising the step of using a data representation of a telephone call to display a graphical representation of the telephone call.

23. The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of using said data representationn of a telephone call to display a graphical representation of the telephone call.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the graphical representation comprises a representation of each segment of the call.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein the graphical representation comprises a representation of the length of time of each segment of the call.

26. The method of claim 22 further comprising the step of displaying a table comprising data from the data representation.

27. A system for recording information regarding telephone calls comprising one or more telephone call segments, wherein said calls comprise calls wherein at least one participant participates in a plurality of segments, comprising:

(a) a first memory having one or more locations storing audio data regarding telephone call segments;

(b) a second memory having one or more locations storing data regarding telephony events associated with telephone call segments; and

(c) a processor programmed to;

(i) identify telephone call segments that relate to the same telephone call;

(ii) identify multiple call segments that have the same participant; and

(iii) construct data representations of lifetimes of telephone calls using data regarding telephony events associated with telephone call segments.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein a data representation of a telephone call comprises:

(i) a list of participants in the telephone call;

(ii) a list of telephony events regarding the call;

(iii) a list containing the time each telephony event occurred; and

(iv) the start and end time of the call.

29. The system of claim 27 wherein each data representation of a telephone call comprises, for each segment of the call, a location of the stored audio data of that segment.

30. The system of claim 27 wherein the first memory and the second memory are the same.

31. The system of claim 27 wherein the processor is comprised of a plurality of physically separated components.

32. The system of claim 29 wherein the location of the stored audio data of each segment comprises a location of a .WAV file containing the audio data.

33. The system of claim 32 wherein a data representation of a telephone call further comprises an offset within the .WAV file to the start of the stored audio data.

34. The system of claim 27 wherein data regarding telephony events is received from a plurality of sources connected to a telephone switching environment.

35. The system of claim 27 further comprising display software that uses a data representation of a telephone call to display a graphical representation of said telephone call.

36. The system of claim 28 further comprising display software that uses a data representation of a telephone call to display a graphical representation of said telephone call.

37. The system of claim 36 wherein the graphical representation comprises a representation of each segment of the call.

38. The system of claim 36 wherein the graphical representation comprises a representation of the length of time of each segment of the call.

39. The system of claim 35 wherein the display software further displays a table comprising data from the data representation.

40. A method for recording information regarding telephone calls comprising one or more telephone call segments, wherein said calls comprise calls wherein at least one participant paprticipates in a plurality of segments, comprising:

(a) receiving audio data regarding one or more telephone call segments and data regarding telephone events associated with said telephone call segments;

(b) storing the received audio data regarding telephone call segments;

(c) storing the received data regarding telephony events associated with said telephone call segments;

(d) identifying telephone call segments that relate to one telephone call;

(e) identifying multiple call segments that have the same participant; and

(f) constructing data representations of lifetimes of telephone calls, wherein each data representation of a telephone call is constructed using data regarding telephony events associated with the telephone call segments of the telephone call.

41. The method of claim 40 wherein a data representation of a telephone call comprises:

(i) a list of participants in the telephone call;

(ii) a list of telephony events regarding the call;

(iii) a list containing the time each telephony event occurred; and

(iv) the start and end time of the call.

42. The method of claim 40 wherein a data representation of a telephone call comprises, for each segment of the call, the location of the stored audio data of that segment.

43. The method of claim 40 wherein the received audio data and the data regarding telephony events is stored in the same memory.

44. The method of claim 40 wherein a data representation of a telephone call is constructed by a plurality of physically separated processors.

45. The method of claim 42 wherein a location of stored audio data of each segment comprises the location of a .WAV file containing the audio data.

46. The method of claim 45 wherein a data representation of a telephone call further comprises an offset within the .WAV file to the start of the stored audio data.

47. The method of claim 40 wherein data regarding telephony events is received from a plurality of sources connected to a telephone switching environment.

48. The method of claim 40 further comprising the step of using a data representation of a telephone call to display a graphical representation of said telephone call.

49. The method of claim 41 further comprising the step of using a data representation of a telephone call to display a graphical representation of said telephone call.

50. The method of claim 49 wherein the graphical representation comprises a representation of each segment of the call.

51. The method of claim 49 wherein the graphical representation comprises a representation of the length of time of each segment of the call.

52. The method of claim 48 further comprising the step of displaying a table comprising data from the data representation.