Systems and methods for capturing communications data

• US 8,437,465 B1
• Filed: 03/30/2007
• Issued: 05/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verint Americas Incorporated (Verint Systems Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Verint Americas Incorporated (Verint Systems Incorporated)
• Inventors: Williams, Jamie Richard, Brodhagen, Kenneth Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Joseph J
• Application Number:
  US11/693,814
• Time in Patent Office: 2,230 Days
• Field of Search: 379/266.1, 379/41, 379/51, 379/85, 379/373.04, 379/112.01, 379/133
• US Class Current: 379/266.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1083 In-session procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42221 Conversation recording systems at the subscriber's set H04M1/656
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42

Abstract

Systems and methods for capturing communications data are provided. An exemplary method comprises the steps of: establishing connection with a customer center, the customer center being associated with a communications infrastructure; obtaining information that is related to the communications infrastructure, the information obtained being related to a communications protocol that is associated with the communications infrastructure; determining the type of communications protocol based on the information obtained; determining whether the type of communications protocol is supported by a recording system; responsive to determining that the type of communications protocol is supported, receiving communications data using the determined communications protocol; determining whether to record the received communications data; and responsive to determining that the received communications data are to be recorded, recording the received communications data.

Claims

1. A method for capturing communications data from a customer center coupled to a recording system, comprising the steps of:

receiving information related to a communications protocol;

determining whether the communications protocol is supported by the recording system;

receiving communications data using the supported communications protocol;

receiving external call contact events associated with the communications data; and

recording the received communications data based on the received external call contact events, wherein determining whether the communications protocol is supported comprises searching through an interface library database having multiple interface libraries and determining whether there is a corresponding interface library with a set of rules for the determined communications protocol, the set of rules being associated with data representation, signaling, authentication and error detection, that are needed to send information over a communications channel; and

wherein the method further comprising determining that the communications protocol is not supported, and downloading a corresponding interface library that has a set of rules for the communications protocol.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the types of communications data associated with the received communications data; and

responsive to identifying the types of communications data, determining multiple interfaces that facilitate recording the communications data.

3. The method as defined in claim 2, further comprising allocating resources to record the communications data.

4. The method as defined in claim 3, wherein the allocated resources are local storage databases.

5. The method as defined in claim 4, further comprising accessing the database of the recorded communications data.

6. The method as defined in claim 5, further comprising analyzing the accessed communications data stored in the database.

7. A system for capturing communications data, comprising:

a communications infrastructure;

a recording system being operative to establish connection with the customer center via the communications infrastructure, the recording system being operative to;

obtain information related to the communications infrastructure, the information obtained being related to a communications protocol that is associated with the communications infrastructure;

determine the type of communications protocol based on the information obtained;

determine the type of communications protocol associated with the communications infrastructure;

determine whether the type of communications protocol is supported by the recording system;

responsive to determining that the type of communications protocol is supported, receive communications data using the determined communications protocol;

receive external call contact events associated with the communications data;

determine whether to record the received communications data based on the external call contact events; and

responsive to determining that the received communications data are to be recorded, record the communications data, wherein the recording system includes an interface library database having multiple interface libraries, the recording system being operative to search through the interface library database and determine a corresponding interface library with a set of rules for data representation, signaling, authentication and error detection, that are needed to send information over a communications channel; and

wherein responsive to the recording system determining that the communications protocol is not supported, a corresponding interface library is uploaded into the recording system, the uploaded interface library having a set of rules for the communications protocol.

8. The system as defined in claim 7, wherein the least one interface library includes a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) interface library and an Internet Protocol (IP) interface library that include sets of rules associated with TOM and IP infrastructures, respectively.

9. The system as defined in claim 8, wherein the IP interface library includes code associated with at least one of the following:

Pseudowire Emulation Edge to Edge (PWE3) protocol, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), and Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP).

10. The system as defined in claim 7, wherein each interface library includes a size buffer parameter and a callback period parameter, the size buffer parameter being operative to control the size of the buffer used to hold communications data for each channel, the callback period parameter being operative to control the frequency of callbacks, the size buffer parameter and callback period parameter being operative to facilitate initializing and shutting down the interface library.

11. The system as defined in claim 10, wherein each interface library is operative to initialize and shutdown at least one time.

12. The system as defined in claim 10, wherein each interface library is operative to initialize multiple times without interrupting the operation of the recording system.

13. The system as defined in claim 7, wherein the recording system includes means for facilitating communications with the customer center.

14. The system as defined in claim 7, wherein the customer center includes a switch and a network card, both of which facilitate communications with the recording system.

15. The system as defined in claim 7, wherein the recording system comprises:

a recorder controller operative to determine whether to record communications data of various types and to transmit control signals that include instructions to record the communications data; and

a capture engine operative to receive the control signals and to receive the communications data,

wherein the capture engine includes multiple interfaces operative to facilitate receiving and recording the communications data,

wherein the capture engine is further operative to;

determine whether to record the received communications data based on the control signals, responsive to determining that the received communications data are to be recorded, determine types of communications data associated with the received communications data,

responsive to determining the types of communications data, determine the multiple interfaces that facilitate recording the communications data, and

record the communications data via the corresponding multiple interfaces.

16. The system as defined in claim 15, further comprising an archive system operative to store the communications data.

17. The system as defined in claim 16, wherein the archive system stores the recorded communications data in a database.

18. The system as defined in claim 17, wherein the multiple interfaces include one of the following:

trunk tap, extension tap, TDM terminated, IP terminated, and VoIP filtering interfaces.

19. A recording system that captures communications data, comprising:

an interface device that is operative to establish a connection with a customer center via a communications infrastructure; and

a capture engine that communicates with the interface device, the capture engine having at least one interface library, the capture engine being operative to;

receive information related to the communications infrastructure, the received information being related to a communications protocol that is associated with the communications infrastructure determine the type of communications protocol based on the information obtained;

receive external call contact events associated with the communications data;

determine whether the at least one interface library has a set of rules for the communications protocol, the set of rules being associated with at least one of the following;

data representation, signaling, authentication and error detection, any of which is needed to send information over a communications channel,

receive communications data using the communications protocol, determine whether to record the received communications data, and

responsive to determining that the received communications data are to be recorded based on the external call contact events, record the communications data; and

wherein responsive to the capture engine determining that the communications protocol is not supported, a corresponding interface library is uploaded into the capture engine, the uploaded interface library having a set of rules for the communications protocol.

20. The recording system as defined in claim 19, wherein the capture engine includes an interface library database having multiple interface libraries, the capture engine being operative to search through the interface library database and determine a corresponding interface library with a set of rules for the communications protocol.

21. The recording system as defined in claim 19, wherein the least one interface library includes a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) interface library and an Internet Protocol (IP) interface library that include code associated with TDM and IP infrastructures, respectively.

22. The recording system as defined in claim 21, wherein the IP interface library includes code associated with at least one of the following:

Pseudowire Emulation Edge to Edge (PWE3) protocol, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), and Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP).

23. The recording system as defined in claim 19, wherein each interface library includes a size buffer parameter and a callback period parameter, the size buffer parameter being operative to control the size of the buffer used to hold communications data for each channel, the callback period parameter being operative to control the frequency of callbacks, the size buffer parameter and callback period parameter being operative to facilitate initializing and shutting down the interface library.

24. The recording system as defined in claim 19, wherein each interface library is operative to initialize and shutdown at least one time.

25. The system as defined in claim 19, wherein each interface library is operative to initialize multiple times without interrupting the operation of the recording system.