System, method, and computer-readable medium for diagnosing a conference call

• US 8,675,853 B1
• Filed: 06/20/2007
• Issued: 03/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: West Corporation
• Original Assignee: West Corporation
• Inventors: Guilfoyle, Jeffrey J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Asanbayev, Oleg
• Application Number:
  US11/765,503
• Time in Patent Office: 2,463 Days
• Field of Search: 379/202.1, 379/202.01, 370260-262, 455/416
• US Class Current: 379/202.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2227 Quality of service monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2281 Call monitoring, e.g. for law enforcement purposes; Call tracing; Detection or prevention of malicious calls
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/56 Arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities video conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/561 by multiplexing

Abstract

A system, method, and computer readable medium that facilitate diagnosing a conference call are provided. A tap is deployed at the ingress side and the egress side of one or more processing systems that handle each leg of a conference. When a conference is disrupted by noise, loss, or the like, an operator may initiate a command to systemically record each leg of the conference for a predetermined period of time. Each leg may then be analyzed to determine if it is the source of the disruption.

Claims

1. A method for diagnosing a conference call, comprising:

deploying taps at an ingress port and an egress port of a telecommunications node configured to aggregate conference call legs;

wherein deploying the taps at the ingress port and the egress port of the telecommunications node comprises deploying a tap at each port of the telecommunications node inline with a link terminated by the telecommunications node and a telecommunication switch;

wherein deploying the taps at the ingress port and the egress port of the telecommunications node comprises deploying a tap at a media server configured to provide a conference bridge service;

interfacing with the taps a recording system configured to systematically record real time transport of audio or video at the ingress port and the egress port when the conference call is disrupted;

wherein interfacing the recording system comprises communicatively coupling a recording server with taps coupled inline with links of the telecommunications node;

capturing for a predetermined amount of time until a timer is expired, by the recording server, in response to receipt of a recording command, the real time transport at each leg of the conference call identified in the recording command, further comprising receiving a respective source Internet protocol address and port and a destination Internet protocol address and port associated with each of the conference call legs;

wherein the recording command is issued by a conference service provider operator in response to a disruption by noise or loss of the real time transport;

transforming the captured real time transport for each leg of the conference call into audio files; and

providing the audio files comprising the captured real time transport for each leg of the conference call to a conference system provider;

analyzing, by the conference system provider, each leg of the conference call to determine a source of the disruption by comparing audible signals of the audio files captured at the ingress port to audible signals of the audio files captured at the egress port of each leg of the conference call thereby identifying a disruptive one or more legs of the conference call;

transferring the audio files to engineers of the conference system provider for analysis if the conference system provider fails to isolate the source of the disruption by the comparing of the audible signals of the audio files captured at the ingress port to the audible signals of the audio files captured at the egress port of each leg of the conference call.

2. A computer program embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the computer program configured to cause a processor to:

tap an ingress port and an egress port of a telecommunications node configured to aggregate conference call legs;

wherein the tap at the ingress port and the egress port of the telecommunications node comprises deploying the tap at each port of the telecommunications node inline with a link terminated by the telecommunications node and a telecommunication switch;

wherein deploying the taps at the ingress port and the egress port of the telecommunications node comprises deploying a tap at a media server configured to provide a conference bridge service;

communicatively interface a recording system configured to systematically record real time transport of audio or video captured at the ingress port and the egress port when the conference call is disrupted;

wherein interfacing the recording system comprises communicatively coupling a recording server with the tap coupled inline with links of the telecommunications node;

capture for a predetermined amount of time until a timer is expired, by the recording server, in response to receipt of a recording command, the real time transport for each leg of the conference call identified in the recording command, further comprising receive a respective source Internet protocol address and port and a destination Internet protocol address and port associated with each of the conference call legs;

wherein the recording command is issued by a conference service provider operator in response to a disruption by noise or loss of the real time transport;

transform the captured real time transport for each leg of the conference call into audio files; and

provide the audio files comprising the captured real time transport for each leg of the conference call to a conference system provider;

analyze, by the conference system provider, each leg of the conference call to determine a source of the disruption by comparing audible signals of the audio files captured at the ingress port to audible signals of the audio files captured at the egress port of each leg of the conference call thereby identifying a disruptive one or more legs of the conference call;

transfer the audio files to engineers of the conference system provider for analysis if the conference system provider fails to isolate the source of the disruption by the comparing of the audible signals of the audio files captured at the ingress port to the audible signals of the audio files captured at the egress port of each leg of the conference call.

3. A conference system configured to diagnose a conference call, comprising:

a plurality of voice over internet protocol terminal devices configured to participate in a conference call;

a node configured to terminate a conference call leg with each of the plurality of voice over internet protocol terminal devices at a respective port of the node;

wherein the node comprises a media server and the media server is configured to provide a conference bridge service to each of the plurality of voice over internet protocol terminal devices;

taps deployed at an ingress port and an egress port of the media server configured to aggregate conference call legs;

a respective tap deployed at each port of the media server inline with a link terminated by the media server and a telecommunication switch; and

a recording device communicatively coupled to the taps deployed at the ingress port and the egress port of the media server configured to systematically record real time transport of audio or video from each respective tap of the ingress port and the egress port identified in a recording command when the conference call is disrupted by noise or loss of the real time transport,

wherein interfacing the recording device comprises communicatively coupling a recording server with taps coupled inline with links of the media server;

wherein the recording device is configured to

capture for a predetermined amount of time until a timer is expired, real time transport for each leg identified in the recording command of the conference call when the recording command is received from a conference service provider operator when the conference call is disrupted by noise or loss of the real time transport, further comprising receive a respective source Internet protocol address and port and a destination Internet protocol address and port associated with each of the conference call legs;

transform the captured real time transport for each leg of the conference call into audio files;

provide the audio files comprising the captured real time transport for each leg of the conference call to a conference system provider;

analyze, by the conference system provider, each leg of the conference call identified in the recording command to determine a source of the disruption by comparing audible signals of the audio files captured at the ingress port to audible signals of the audio files captured at the egress port of each leg of the conference call thereby identifying a disruptive one or more legs of the conference call; and

transfer, by the conference system provider, the audio files to engineers of the conference system for analysis if the conference system fails to isolate the source of the disruption by the comparing of the audible signals of the audio files captured at the ingress port to the audible signals of the audio files captured at the egress port of each leg of the conference call.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the recording device provides a hyperlink referencing each respective audio file to a conference service provider personnel.