Voice call coordinator

• US 7,519,074 B2
• Filed: 02/22/2005
• Issued: 04/14/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Missner, Timothy Roy, Ward, John Thomas, Traylor, Thomas S., Lundgren, Andrew B., Terpstra, Richard D.
• Primary Examiner(s): SMITH, CREIGHTON H
• Application Number:
  US11/064,391
• Publication Number:
  US 20060187850A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,512 Days
• Field of Search: 370/410, 370/467
• US Class Current: 370/410
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/12 Arrangements providing for calling or supervisory signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/50 Testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/103 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/104 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS

Abstract

According to various embodiments of the present invention, systems and methods for collecting, analyzing, and/or displaying signaling information for a call through a network, including: receiving a request for signaling information, wherein the request identifies a particular call handled by at least one network element within a voice over internet protocol network, querying the at least one network element for signaling information related to the particular call, and displaying the signaling information for the particular call. According to some embodiments of the present invention, systems and methods may further include storing signaling information on a network element, generating a call detail record based on the signaling information, wherein the call detail record identifies the network element and the particular call, sending the call detail record to a database, and searching the database based on the one or more criteria to identify the at least one network element.

Claims

1. A method for collecting signaling information of a call through a voice over internet protocol network, the method comprising:

receiving a request for signaling information, wherein the request identifies a particular call handled by at least one network element within a voice over internet protocol network;

querying the at least one network element for signaling information related to the particular call; and

displaying the signaling information for the particular call.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request includes one or more criteria, the method further comprising:

storing the signaling information on the at least one network element;

generating a call detail record based on the signaling information, wherein the call detail record identifies the at least one network element and the particular call;

sending the call detail record to a database; and

searching the database based on the one or more criteria to identify the at least one network element.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein storing the signaling information on the at least one network element comprises associating a time stamp with the signaling information.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the signaling information is selected from a group consisting of:

signaling system 7 information, internet protocol device control information, and session initiation protocol information.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein storing the signaling information on the at least one network element comprises storing raw ethernet packets representing the signaling information on the at least one network element.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the signaling information includes information from at least two of:

signaling system 7 information, internet protocol device control information, and session initiation protocol information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the signaling information includes signaling latency information.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises:

calculating post-dialing delay.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the signaling information comprises:

providing a graphical output device;

creating a sequence diagram showing the signaling information; and

displaying the sequence diagram on the graphical output device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the sequence diagram visually shows the signaling information for all network elements that handled the particular call.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the request identifies the particular call by providing a call identification value associated with the particular call, and wherein querying the at least one network element for signaling information related to the particular call comprises requesting all data stored by the at least one network element associated with the call identification value.

12. A system for verifying voice over internet protocol network provisioning, the system comprising:

a computer, wherein the computer is communicably coupled to a computer readable medium and a network, and wherein the computer readable medium includes instructions executable by the computer to;

receive a request for signaling information, wherein the request identifies a particular call handled by at least one network element within a network;

query the at least one network element for signaling information related to the particular call; and

display the signaling information for the particular call.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the signaling information includes information from at least two of:

signaling system 7 information, internet protocol device control information, and session initiation protocol information.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the signaling information is selected from a group consisting of:

signaling system 7 information, internet protocol device control information, and session initiation protocol information.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the signaling information includes signaling latency information.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the instructions are further executable to calculate post-dialing delay.

17. The method of claim 12, the system further comprising a graphical output device, wherein the instructions are further executable to create a sequence diagram showing the signaling information and to display the sequence diagram on the graphical output device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the sequence diagram visually shows the signaling information for all network elements that handled the particular call.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the signaling information comprises a call detail record.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the request identifies the particular call by providing a call identification value associated with the particular call, and wherein querying the at least one network element for signaling information related to the particular call comprises requesting all data stored by the at least one network element associated with the call identification value.

21. A voice call evaluation device, the device comprising:

an instruction execution unit, wherein the instruction execution unit is operable to send and receive information via a network;

a computer readable medium, wherein the computer readable medium is accessible to the instruction execution unit, and wherein the computer readable medium includes instructions executable by the instruction execution unit to;

receive signaling information from at least two sources selected from a group consisting of;

signaling system 7 information, internet protocol device control information, and session initiation protocol information; and

report the signaling information.

22. The voice call evaluation device of claim 21, wherein reporting the signaling information includes graphically displaying the signaling information.