Call control component employment of one or more criteria for internet protocol call selection for eavesdrop component monitoring

• US 7,535,993 B2
• Filed: 04/21/2003
• Issued: 05/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Chen, Xu, Cai, Yigang
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsang; Fan
• Assistant Examiner(s): PATEL, HEMANT SHANTILAL
• Application Number:
  US10/419,521
• Publication Number:
  US 20040208165A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,220 Days
• Field of Search: 370/352, 370/390, 379/32.05, 379/35, 379/45, 379/85, 709/203
• US Class Current: 379/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1083 In-session procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1106 Call signalling protocols; H.323 and related

Abstract

A call control component of an apparatus in one example employs one or more criteria to select one or more internet protocol calls from a plurality of internet protocol calls in an internet protocol network. The call control component sends a copy of one or more portions of the one or more internet protocol calls to one or more eavesdrop components to monitor the one or more portions of the one or more internet protocol calls.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a call control component that employs one or more criteria to select one or more internet protocol calls from a plurality of internet protocol calls in an internet protocol network;

wherein the call control component sends a copy of one or more portions of the one or more internet protocol calls to one or more eavesdrop components to monitor the one or more portions of the one or more internet protocol calls; and

wherein the call control component employs, as one of the one or more criteria, a time slot of the one or more portions of the one or more internet protocol calls; and

wherein the call control component stores a copy of the one or more criteria for a duration of the one or more internet protocol calls.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more portions of the one or more internet protocol calls comprise a data packet stream of an internet protocol call between a first internet protocol endpoint and a second internet protocol endpoint, and wherein the first internet protocol endpoint sends the data packet stream to the call control component;

and

wherein the call control component sends the data packet stream to the second internet protocol endpoint to connect the internet protocol call; and

wherein the call control component sends a copy of the data packet stream to the one or more eavesdrop components to monitor the internet protocol call.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of internet protocol calls comprises an internet protocol call, wherein the one or more criteria comprise a list of one or more of internet protocol addresses, uniform resource locators, and telephone numbers that correspond to one or more internet protocol call endpoints;

and

wherein upon determination by the call control component that the internet protocol call comprises an indication of involvement of one or more of the one or more of the internet protocol addresses, uniform resource locators, and telephone numbers, the call control component sends a copy of one or more portions of the internet protocol call to the one or more eavesdrop components.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 in combination with the one or more eavesdrop components, wherein the one or more eavesdrop components comprise one or more user interface terminals;

and

wherein the call control component sends the copy of the one or more portions of the one or more internet protocol calls to the one or more user interface terminals; and

wherein one or more users employ one or more user interface terminals to play the copy of the one or more portions of the one or more internet protocol calls to monitor the one or more portions of the one or more internet protocol calls.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 in combination with the one or more eavesdrop components, wherein the one or more eavesdrop components comprise one or more storage components and one or more user interface terminals;

and

wherein the call control component sends the copy of the one or more portions of the one or more internet protocol calls to the one or more storage components, and wherein the one or more storage components store the copy of one or more portions of the one or more internet protocol calls; and

wherein the one or more portions of the one or more internet protocol calls comprise a portion of an internet protocol call; and

wherein to monitor the portion of the internet protocol call, one or more of the one or more user interface terminals retrieve the copy of the portion of the internet protocol call from the one or more storage components, and wherein the one or more of the one or more user interface terminals plays the copy of the portion of the internet protocol call for one or more users of the one or more of the one or more user interface terminals.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a host component that controls access to the one or more eavesdrop components, wherein the plurality of internet protocol calls comprises an internet protocol call;

and

wherein upon detection by the call control component that the internet protocol call is in accordance with the one or more criteria, the host component allocates a usage of the one or more eavesdrop components to the call control component for monitoring the internet protocol call.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more criteria to select the one or more internet protocol calls from the plurality of internet protocol calls comprises one or more first criteria;

and

wherein the call control component employs one or more second criteria to determine which portions of the one or more internet protocol calls to copy and send to the one or more eavesdrop components.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the one or more portions of the one or more internet protocol calls comprise a portion of an internet protocol call, and wherein upon receipt of the portion of the internet protocol call, the call control component identifies one or more characteristics of the portion of the internet protocol call;

and

wherein the call control component compares the one or more characteristics with the one or more second criteria; and

wherein if one or more of the one or more characteristics match with one or more of the one or more second criteria, then the call control component generates a copy of the portion of the internet protocol call, wherein the call control component sends the copy to the one or more eavesdrop components.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the one or more second criteria comprise one or more of data type based criteria and time based criteria;

and

wherein upon receipt of a portion of an internet protocol call of the one or more internet protocol calls, the call control component identifies one or more of data type characteristics and time based characteristics of the portion.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of internet protocol calls comprises an internet protocol call, and wherein the one or more criteria comprise a list of one or more internet protocol call endpoints to monitor;

and

wherein the call control component receives a call setup request from a first internet protocol call endpoint to initiate the internet protocol call with a second internet protocol call endpoint; and

wherein the call control component searches the list for an indication of one or more of the first internet protocol call endpoint and the second internet protocol call endpoint.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the call control component selects the internet protocol call from the plurality of internet protocol calls based on a presence in the list of the indication of the one or more of the first internet protocol call endpoint and the second internet protocol call endpoint;

and

wherein the call control component sends a copy of one or more portions of the internet protocol call to the one or more eavesdrop components to monitor the one or more portions of the internet protocol call.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 in combination with the one or more eavesdrop components, the apparatus further comprising a host component that controls access to the one or more eavesdrop components;

wherein upon determination that the indication of the one or more of the first internet protocol call endpoint and the second internet protocol call endpoint are on the list, the call control component executes an alert to the host component that the internet protocol call is in accordance with the one or more criteria; and

wherein the host component responds to the alert with an allocation of a usage of the one or more eavesdrop components to the call control component; and

wherein the call control component sends a copy of one or more portions of the internet protocol call to the one or more eavesdrop components to monitor the one or more portions of the internet protocol call.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the call control component comprises a softswitch.

22. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the call control component stores the copy of the one or more criteria in a database that comprises a common object request broker architecture (CORBA) interface.

23. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the call control component stores the copy of the one or more criteria in a database that comprises a Java based database engine.

14. A method, comprising the steps of:

identifying one or more characteristics of a portion of an internet protocol call;

comparing the one or more characteristics with one or more selection criteria to make a determination of a match between one or more of the one or more characteristics and one or more of the one or more selection criteria;

employing, as one of the one or more selection criteria, a time slot of the one or more characteristics of the portion of the internet protocol call;

providing, upon the determination of the match, a copy of the portion of the internet protocol call for monitoring of the portion of the internet protocol call; and

storing a copy of the one or more selection criteria for a duration of the internet protocol call.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of identifying the one or more characteristics of the portion of the internet protocol call further comprises the step of:

determining a first internet protocol call endpoint and a second internet protocol call endpoint that are involved in the internet protocol call.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the one or more selection criteria comprise a list of one or more internet protocol call endpoints to monitor, wherein the step of comparing the one or more characteristics with the one or more selection criteria to make the determination of the match between the one or more of the one or more characteristics and the one or more of the one or more selection criteria further comprises the step of:

determining that an indication of one or more of the first internet protocol call endpoint and the second internet protocol call endpoint is on the list of the one or more internet protocol call endpoints to monitor.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the internet protocol call comprises a data packet stream initiated at the first internet protocol endpoint, and wherein the step of providing, upon the determination of the match, the copy of the portion of the internet protocol call for monitoring of the portion of the internet protocol call further comprises the steps of:

sending the data packet stream initiated at the first internet protocol endpoint to the second internet protocol endpoint to connect the internet protocol call; and

sending a copy of the data packet stream to one or more eavesdrop components to monitor the internet protocol call.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more selection criteria comprise an indication of one or more data types to monitor, and wherein the step of identifying the one or more characteristics of the portion of the internet protocol call further comprises the step of:

determining a data type of the portion of the internet protocol call;

wherein the step of comparing the one or more characteristics with the one or more selection criteria to make the determination of the match between the one or more of the one or more characteristics and the one or more of the one or more selection criteria further comprises the step of;

determining that the one or more data types to monitor comprises the data type of the portion of the internet protocol call.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of:

allocating one or more eavesdrop components for monitoring of the portion of the internet protocol call, wherein one or more users employ one or more of the one or more eavesdrop components to play the portion of the internet protocol call to monitor the portion of the internet protocol call.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more selection criteria comprise one or more first selection criteria and one or more second selection criteria, wherein the one or more first selection criteria are employed to determine one or more internet protocol calls to monitor, and wherein the one or more second selection criteria are employed to determine one or more portions of the one or more internet protocol calls to monitor;

and

wherein the step of identifying the one or more characteristics of the portion of the internet protocol call further comprises the steps of;

identifying one or more first characteristics of the internet protocol call; and

identifying one or more second characteristics of the portion of the internet protocol call;

wherein the step of comparing the one or more characteristics with the one or more selection criteria to make the determination of the match between the one or more of the one or more characteristics and the one or more of the one or more selection criteria further comprises the steps of;

determining a match between one or more of the one or more first characteristics and one or more of the one or more first selection criteria; and

determining a match between one or more of the one or more second characteristics and one or more of the one or more second selection criteria.

21. A computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions for performing steps, comprising:

means in the one or more media for identifying one or more characteristics of a portion of an internet protocol call;

means in the one or more media for comparing the one or more characteristics with one or more selection criteria to make a determination of a match between one or more of the one or more characteristics and one or more of the one or more selection criteria;

means in the one or more media for employing, as one of the one or more selection criteria, a time slot of the one or more characteristics of the portion of the internet protocol call;

means in the one or more media for providing, upon the determination of the match, a copy of the portion of the internet protocol call for monitoring of the portion of the internet protocol call; and

means in the one or more media for storing a copy of the one or more selection criteria for a duration of the internet protocol call.