Method and system for monitoring and recording voice from circuit-switched via a packet-switched network

• US 7,333,445 B2
• Filed: 12/12/2001
• Issued: 02/19/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nice Ltd
• Original Assignee: Nice Systems Limited (Nice Ltd)
• Inventors: Ilan, Tomer, Halbraich, Eran, Yosef, Ilan
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Quynh H.
• Application Number:
  US10/450,265
• Publication Number:
  US 20040019700A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,260 Days
• Field of Search: 370/280, 370/294, 370/336, 370/337, 370/347, 370/442
• US Class Current: 370/280
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/103 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/104 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1095 Inter-network session transfer or sharing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/762 at the source reformatting of additional data in video distribution servers H04N21/2355
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5175 Call or contact centers supervision arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1205 where the types of switching equipement comprises PSTN/ISDN equipment and switching equipment of networks other than PSTN/ISDN, e.g. Internet Protocol networks

Abstract

Some embodiments of the present invention are directed to a method and system for monitoring and recording voice from circuit-switched switches via a packet-switched network. A circuit-switched or VoIP recording system may record and/or live-monitor telephone calls by trunk and/or extension tapping over a packet-switched network Alternatively, a circuit-switched or VoIP recording system may record and/or live-monitor telephone calls over a packet-switched network by activating the service observation feature of the circuit-switched switch either by feature code dialing or a computer telephony integration (CTI) link command.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring telephone calls of agents handled by a circuit-switching switch, the method comprising:

sending instructions from a recording system over a packet-switch network to the circuit-switching switch to tap an extension line or trunk coupled to the circuit-switching switch and to convert audio of at least a portion of telephone calls being transferred over said extension line or said trunk into packets of audio; and

receiving over said packet-switch network at least a portion of said packets of audio.

2. The method of claim 1 and further comprising:

retrieving and recording said audio from said received packets.

3. The method of claim 1 and further comprising:

recording said received packets.

4. The method of claim 1 and further comprising:

retrieving and performing live-monitoring of said audio from said received packets.

21. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

sending instructions from the recording system to the circuit-switching switch to deliver the packets of audio to a first voice over internet protocol (VoIP) telephony gateway coupled to the switch; and

sending instructions from the recording system to the first VoIP telephony over the packet-switch network and to a second VoIP telephony gateway coupled to the recording system to enable transmission of the packets of audio.

5. A method for monitoring telephone calls of agents handled by a circuit-switching switch, the method comprising:

sending instructions from a recording system over a packet-switch network to the circuit-switching switch to observe an extension line coupled to the circuit-switching switch and to convert audio of at least a portion of telephone calls being transferred over said extension line into packets of audio; and

receiving over said packet-switch network at least a potion of said packets of audio.

6. The method of claim 5 and further comprising:

retrieving and recording said audio from said received packets.

7. The method of claim 5 and further comprising:

recording said received packets.

8. The method of claim 5 and further comprising:

retrieving and performing live-monitoring of said audio from said received packets.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein sending said instructions over said packet-switch network comprises dialing via said packet-switch network a code to perform a service observation of said extension line.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein sending said instructions over said packet-switch network comprises instructing said circuit-switching switch via a CTI link to perform a service observation of said extension line.

11. A method for monitoring telephone calls handled by a circuit-switching switch coupled to a packet-switch network via a dedicated trunk, the method comprising:

receiving for recording or live-monitoring by a recording system coupled to the packet-switch network, packets of audio of at least a portion of said telephone calls being handled by the circuit-switching switch over the packet-switch network via the dedicated trunk to enable automatic transmission of the packets of audio from said switch to the recording system.

12. A method for monitoring telephone calls handled of agent by a circuit-switching switch, the method comprising:

receiving by a recording system via a packet-switch network a CTI datum or a real-time CDR datum associated with a telephone call being handled by the circuit-switching switch coupled to said packet-switch network;

determining by said recording system whether said telephone call is to be recorded by determining whether said CTI datum or said real-time CDR datum meets at least one preformed monitoring condition; and

if said telephone call is to be recorded or live-monitored, sending instructions from the recording system to the circuit-switching switch to capture audio associated with the telephone call; and

receiving the audio of at least a portion of said telephone call via said packet-switch network for recording.

13. A recording system for monitoring and recording over a packet-switch network, telephone calls of agents handled by a circuit-switching switch, the system comprising:

a recording unit coupled to the packet-switch network and able to send instructions to said circuit-switching switch, via said packet-switch network to capture audio of at least a portion of one or more telephone calls handled by said circuit-switching; and

a management unit coupled to said recording unit and to said packet-switch network to send over said network to said circuit-switching switch commands enabling said audio to be sent to said recording unit via said packet-switch network.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein said instructions comprises instructions to activate a service observation module of said switch.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein said instructions comprises instructions to capture said audio by tapping an extension line or a trunk coupled to said switch.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein said recording unit comprises live-monitoring capabilities.

17. A recording system for monitoring and recording over a packet-switch network, telephone calls of agents handled by a circuit-switching switch coupled to the packet-switch network, the system comprising:

a recording unit coupled to the packet-switch network and able to determine whether to record at least a portion of a telephone call handled by said circuit-switching switch based on a computer telephony integration (CTI) datum received via said packet-switch network and associated with the telephone call; and

a management unit coupled to said recording unit and to said packet-switch network to send over said network to said circuit-switching switch commands enabling said audio to be sent to said recording unit via said packet-switch network.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein said recording unit is able to activate a service observation module of said switch.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein said recording unit is able to capture audio by tapping an extension line or a trunk coupled to said switch.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein said recording unit comprises live-monitoring capabilities.