Method, system and apparatus for reliably transmitting packets of an unreliable protocol

• US 7,738,459 B2
• Filed: 08/02/2007
• Issued: 06/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nice Ltd
• Original Assignee: Nice Systems Limited (Nice Ltd)
• Inventors: Sittin, Yuval, Hadari, Dan, Strassburg, Eyal
• Primary Examiner(s): Cho; Hong
• Assistant Examiner(s): Choi; Eunsook
• Application Number:
  US11/832,667
• Publication Number:
  US 20090034520A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,048 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/392
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1628 List acknowledgements, i.e. the acknowledgement message consisting of a list of identifiers, e.g. of sequence numbers H04L1/1614 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1635 Cumulative acknowledgement, i.e. the acknowledgement message applying to all previous messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1867 Arrangements specially adapted for the transmitter end

Abstract

A method for reliably communicating unreliable protocol packets by encapsulating one or more unreliable protocol packets in a packet constructed according to a predefined format. The method further employs an acknowledgement mechanism whereby a receiver of packets acknowledges reception by responding with a packet containing information pertaining to received packets. A sender retransmits packets for which no acknowledgement was received within a predefined period of time.

Claims

1. A method for reliably communicating unreliable-protocol packets, the method comprising:

encapsulating by a forwarding device a plurality of real-time transport protocol (RTP) packets into a reliable recording protocol packet by adding before a first one of the plurality of RTP packets a reliable recording protocol header constructed according to the real-time transport protocol;

adding to the reliable recording protocol header a creation or reception timestamp of the time the first one of the plurality of RTP packets was created or received;

adding to the reliable recording protocol header a transmit timestamp of the time the reliable recording protocol packet is transmitted to enable a recording unit, upon receipt of the reliable recording packet, to synchronize between packets sent by a forwarding device and packets received by the recording unit;

transmitting the reliable recording protocol packet to the recording unit over a network;

communicating by the recording unit an acknowledgement packet upon receipt of the reliable recording protocol packet, wherein the acknowledgement packet includes a header portion constructed according to the real-time transport protocol;

extracting data encapsulated within the reliable recording protocol packet; and

recording the extracted data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the reliable recording protocol packet carries a portion of a telephone communication session between an agent of a contact center and a client.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

retransmitting the reliable recording protocol packet if the acknowledgement packet is not received within a predefined period of time.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

establishing a control session between the forwarding device that transmits the reliable recording protocol packet and the recording unit.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the recording unit initiates the control session.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein establishing the control session comprises establishing the control session according to a session initiation protocol (SIP).

7. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating the acknowledgement packet comprises communicating the acknowledgement packet upon reception of two or more reliable recording protocol packets.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the reliable recording protocol packet is able to pass through a firewall configured to allow traffic of real-time transport protocol (RTP) packets.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

transmitting a silence suppression packet constructed according to the reliable recording protocol to inform of a period of silence, wherein the silence suppression packet includes a header portion constructed according to the real-time transport protocol.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the packet comprises digitized voice data.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the packet comprises digitized video data.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein recording the extracted data comprises recording information corresponding to a capture time of the data.

13. A system for reliably communicating unreliable protocol packets, the system comprising:

a forwarding device to encapsulate a plurality of real-time transport protocol (RTP) packets into a reliable recording protocol by adding before a first one of the plurality of RTP packets a reliable recording protocol header constructed according to the real-time transport protocol, to add to the reliable recording protocol header a creation or reception timestamp of the time a first one of the plurality of RTP packets was created or received, to add to the reliable recording protocol header a transmit timestamp of the time the encapsulated packet is transmitted and to transmit the reliable recording protocol packet over a communication network; and

a recording unit to receive the reliable recording protocol packet, wherein the transmit timestamp enables the recording unit to synchronize between packets sent by the forwarding device and packets received by the recording unit and to send an acknowledgement packet to the forwarding device upon receipt of the reliable recording protocol packet, wherein the acknowledgement packet includes a header portion constructed according to the real-time transport protocol.

14. The system of claim 13 further comprising:

a packet telephony switch to receive communication sessions and to forward the communication sessions to a plurality of forwarding devices; and

a location manager coupled the forwarding devices to select the forwarding device for a particular communication session.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the communication sessions are communication sessions between an agent of a contact center and a client.

16. The system of claim 14 further comprising:

an interaction server coupled to the packet telephony switch and to the location manager to communicate to the recording unit information related to the forwarding devices and the communication sessions.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the forwarding device is an Internet protocol (IP) telephone device used by an agent of contact center when engaged in a telephone communication session with a client.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the forwarding device is to retransmit a previously transmitted packet whose transmission was not acknowledged within a predefined period of time.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein a control session is established between the forwarding device and the recording unit, the control session is used for communicating communication parameters.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the control session is established and maintained according to a session initiation protocol (SIP).

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the recording unit initiates the control session.

22. The system of claim 13, wherein the forwarding device is the source of the plurality of packets.

23. The system of claim 13, wherein the forwarding device receives the plurality of packets.