Methods and apparatus for processing and display of voice data

• US 7,693,268 B2
• Filed: 04/01/2005
• Issued: 04/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rossi, Joseph A., Scouras, Gaetane A.
• Primary Examiner(s): PATEL, HEMANT SHANTILAL
• Application Number:
  US11/097,114
• Publication Number:
  US 20050276394A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,831 Days
• Field of Search: 379/88.22, 379/112.06, 379/133, 379/139, 379/201.12, 379/221.08, 707 3- 4, 707/101, 709201-203, 709/206, 709217-219, 709/232, 715/714, 715/748, 719/315, 719/316, 719/328, 719/330
• US Class Current: 379/112.06
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/22 Arrangements for supervision, monitoring or testing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2263 Network management

Abstract

Apparatus and methods for creating a composite data source having a common data representation from disparate sources of voice data. Data transmission links are established to heterogeneous messaging data sources, requests for voice data is sent using data access protocols, the voice data is received, and a set of voice data transformation rules are selectively applied to the voice data to transform the data into a common data representation. The common data representation can also be used as a source for reporting and graphical displays to monitor the operational aspects of the sources of voice data.

Claims

1. A method for creating a composite data source having a common data representation from disparate sources of voice data, the method comprising:

establishing at least one data transmission link to each of a plurality of heterogeneous messaging data sources, wherein each of the heterogeneous messaging data sources have unique data storage and formatting standards for voice data associated therewith, wherein the voice data associated with at least one heterogeneous messaging data source from the plurality of heterogeneous messaging data sources includes operational data generated by an operating system resident on the at least one heterogeneous messaging data source, and at least one of call or message transaction data generated by one or more messaging applications residing on the at least one heterogeneous messaging data source;

transmitting, to the at least one heterogeneous messaging data source, a first request for the operational data over the at least one established data transmission link using a first data access protocol;

transmitting, to the at least one heterogeneous messaging data source, a second request for the at least one of call or message transaction data over the at least one established data transmission link using a second data access protocol, wherein the second data access protocol is different from the first data access protocol;

receiving voice data including the operational data and the at least one of call or message transaction data from the at least one heterogeneous messaging data source in response to the first transmitted request and the second transmitted request, wherein the operational data and the at least one of call or message transaction data is received in a binary format;

retrieving a set of stored voice data transformation rules;

selectively applying a first subset of the voice data transformation rules to the received operational data to transform the received operational data into a common data representation; and

selectively applying a second subset of the voice data transformation rules to the received at least one of call or message transaction data to transform the received at least one of call or message transaction data into the common data representation, wherein the first subset of voice data transformation rules are distinct from the second subset of voice data transformation rules, and wherein the selective application of the first and second subset of voice data transformation rules is based at least in part on the heterogeneous messaging data source from which the voice data is received and the format of the received voice data,

wherein selectively applying the second subset of voice data transformation rules further comprises;

converting the received at least one of call or message transaction data from the binary format to a logical record format,

analyzing one or more data records in the logical record format based on one or more attributes associated with the received at least one of call or message transaction data, wherein at least one of the one or more attributes comprise a transaction type attribute, and

correlating the one or more data records into one or more sets of data records based on the transaction type attribute.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of heterogeneous messaging data sources comprises one or more of a message application server and a message storage server.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of heterogeneous messaging data sources utilizes a Unix-based operating system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of heterogeneous messaging data sources is an Avaya Modular Messaging voice messaging domain.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more messaging applications generate at least one of call or message transaction data including at least one voice messaging format selected from the group consisting of recorded voice mail, voice-over-IP, paging, facsimile, and OctTelnet.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more attributes further include one or more of:

a call type, a call outcome, call duration, mailbox identifier, message type, or page count.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second data access protocol are selected from the group consisting of open database connectivity, internet protocol, file transfer protocol, telnet, XModem, lightweight directory access protocol, hypertext transmission protocol, Win32 API protocol, and kermit.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the selective application of the second subset of voice data transformation rules further comprises:

analyzing the one or more data records to identify a call event or a message event based on the transaction type attribute; and

in response to the identified event, selecting an algorithm associated with the second subset of voice data transformation rules to be applied to the received at least one of call or message transaction data to transform the received at least one of call or message transaction data into an alternate segment of data to be included in the common data representation.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the selected algorithm comprises at least one process selected from the group consisting of data abstraction processes, data aggregation processes, data concatenation processes, and data formatting processes.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising storing the alternate segment of data in a composite data source.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving queries relating to performance metrics of the messaging data sources.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving queries relating to usage metrics of the messaging data sources.

13. A system for creating a composite data source having a common data representation from disparate sources of voice data comprising:

a voice data aggregation server comprising;

a plurality of data collection objects, each object exposing at least one data retrieval method such that connectivity is established with each of a plurality of heterogeneous messaging data sources and thereby facilitating the receipt of voice data from the heterogeneous messaging data sources at the server in a binary format, wherein each of the heterogeneous messaging data sources have unique data storage and formatting standards for voice data associated therewith, wherein the voice data associated with at least one heterogeneous messaging data source from the plurality of heterogeneous messaging data sources includes operational data generated by an operating system resident on the at least one heterogeneous messaging data source, and at least one of call or message transaction data generated by one or more messaging applications residing on the at least one heterogeneous messaging data source,

a memory structure that stores the received voice data including the operational data and the at least one of call or message transaction data, and a set of voice data transformation rules relating to the received voice data, and

a transformation engine that;

retrieves the stored received voice data and the voice data transformation rules from the memory structure,

selectively applies a first subset of the voice data transformation rules to the stored received operational data to transform the stored received operational data into a common data representation, and

selectively applies a second subset of the voice data transformation rules to the stored received at least one of call or message transaction data to transform the stored received at least one of call or message transaction data into the common data representation,

wherein the first subset of voice data transformation rules are distinct from the second subset of voice data transformation rules, and wherein the selective application of the first and second subset of the voice data transformation rules is based at least in part on the heterogeneous messaging data source from which the stored received voice data is received and the format of the stored received voice data,

wherein the transformation engine, that selectively applies the second subset of voice data transformation rules, is further configured to;

convert the stored received at least one of call or message transaction data from the binary format to a logical record format,

analyze one or more data records in the logical record format based on one or more attributes associated with the stored received at least one of call or message transaction data, wherein at least one of the one or more attributes comprise a transaction type attribute, and

correlate the one or more data records into one or more sets of data records based on the transaction type attribute.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of heterogeneous messaging data sources comprises one or more of a message application server and a message storage server.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein at least one of the plurality of heterogeneous messaging data sources utilize a Unix-based operating system.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein at least one of the plurality of heterogeneous messaging data sources is an Avaya Modular Messaging voice messaging domain.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more messaging applications generate at least one of call or message transaction data including at least one voice messaging format selected from the group consisting of recorded voice mail, voice-over-IP, paging, facsimile, and OctTelnet.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more attributes further include one or more of:

a call type, a call outcome, call duration, mailbox identifier, message type, or page count.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the data collection objects utilize at least one protocol selected from the group consisting of open database connectivity protocol, internet protocol, file transfer protocol, telnet, XModem, lightweight directory access protocol, hypertext transmission protocol, Win32 API, and Kermit protocol.

20. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

an expert engine configured to;

analyze the one or more data records to identify a call event or a message event based on the transaction type attribute; and

in response to the identified event, selecting an algorithm associated with the second subset of voice data transformation rules to be applied to the stored received at least one of call or message transaction data to transform the received transaction data into an alternate segment of data to be included in the common data representation.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the selected algorithm comprises at least one process selected from the group consisting of data abstraction processes, data aggregation processes, data concatenation processes, and data formatting processes.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising a data storage module for storing the alternate segment of data in a composite data source.

23. The system of claim 22, further comprising a reporting module.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the reporting module provides reports relating to performance metrics of the messaging data sources.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the reporting module provides reports relating to usage metrics of the messaging data sources.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein the reporting module provides a visual representation of the heterogeneous messaging data sources of voice data.

27. The system of claim 13, further comprising a user-interface module for producing a graphical representation of the composite data source.

28. A voice data infrastructure monitoring apparatus comprising:

a data store that stores voice data retrieved from a plurality of heterogeneous messaging data sources, wherein each of the heterogeneous messaging data sources have unique data storage and formatting standards for voice data associated therewith, wherein the voice data associated with at least one heterogeneous messaging data source from the plurality of heterogeneous messaging data sources includes operational data generated by an operating system resident on the at least one heterogeneous messaging data source, and at least one of call or message transaction data generated by one or more messaging applications residing on the at least one heterogeneous messaging data source, and wherein the voice data is retrieved in a binary format; and

one or more processors configured to;

provide a user-interface in communication with the data store for producing a graphical representation of information relating to the contents of the data store, and

provide an expert engine in communication with the data store and user-interface that selectively applies a first set of voice data transformation rules to the retrieved operational data to transform the retrieved operational data to a common data representation, and selectively applies a second set of the voice data transformation rules to the retrieved at least one of call or message transaction data to transform the retrieved at least one of call or message transaction data into the common data representation, wherein the first set of voice data transformation rules are distinct from the second set of voice data transformation rules, and wherein the selective application of the first and second set of voice data transformation rules is based at least in part on the heterogeneous messaging data source from which the voice data is retrieved and the format of the retrieved voice data,

wherein the expert engine, that selectively applies the second set of voice data transformation rules, is further configured to;

convert the retrieved at least one of call or message transaction data from the binary format to a logical record format,

analyze one or more data records in the logical record format based on one or more attributes associated with the retrieved at least one of call or message transaction data, wherein at least one of the one or more attributes comprise a transaction type attribute, and

correlate the one or more data records into one or more sets of data records based on the transaction type attribute.

29. The voice data infrastructure monitoring apparatus of claim 28, wherein the user-interface displays information relating to operational aspects of messaging data sources, the user-interface comprising:

at least one display window, each display window comprising a listing of active links associated with the plurality of heterogeneous messaging data sources, wherein each active link, when activated, displays information relating to the operational aspects of a corresponding messaging data source, based at least in part on the retrieved operational data and the retrieved at least one of call or message transaction data.

30. The voice data infrastructure monitoring apparatus of claim 28, wherein the messaging data source is selected from the group consisting of a recorded voice mail server, a voice-over-IP server, a paging server, a facsimile server, and an OctTelnet server.

31. The voice data infrastructure monitoring apparatus of claim 28, wherein the messaging data source is an Avaya Modular Messaging voice messaging domain.

32. The voice data infrastructure monitoring apparatus of claim 29, wherein the operational aspects of the messaging data source is selected from the group consisting of user-based usage statistics, time-based usage statistics, port-based usage statistics, geographic-based usage statistics, quality of service statistics, server-based usage statistics, and configuration data.

33. The voice data infrastructure monitoring apparatus of claim 29, wherein the at least one display window is displayed in a ticker display.