Call progress analysis on the edge of a VoIP network

• US 8,737,597 B2
• Filed: 01/27/2009
• Issued: 05/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Shah, Maulik, Lin, Da C., Shaikh, Mohammed Taher, Hassan, Farrukh
• Primary Examiner(s): DEANE JR, WILLIAM J
• Application Number:
  US12/360,699
• Publication Number:
  US 20100189249A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,946 Days
• Field of Search: 37926501-26514, 37926601-2661, 379/309, 379/243, 379/244, 370/352
• US Class Current: 379/265.09
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1026 at the edge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2027 Live party detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5158 in combination with automated outdialling systems devices for signalling identity of wanted subscriber H04M1/26
• 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

A contact center is provided. The contact center includes a processor; and a memory in communication with the processor. The memory includes computer code executable with the processor. The computer code is configured to place a phone call through a media gateway to a communication device, receive a tone message from the media gateway, the tone message including a call progress event that defines a type of tone that was detected in the audio stream, determine a call treatment as a function of the communication device status, and perform call treatment for the phone call.

Claims

1. A contact center comprising:

a processor; and

a memory in communication with the processor, the memory including computer code executable with the processor, wherein the computer code is configured to;

generate an initiation message for a phone call placed through a media gateway to a communication device, wherein the initiation message includes a list of a plurality of phone call events;

transmit the initiation message from the contact center to the media gateway,

wherein the media gateway receives an audio stream from the communication device, and the media gateway performs call progress analysis on the audio stream;

receive a tone message at the contact center from the media gateway, the tone message including a call progress event that identifies a type of tone that was detected in the audio stream at the media gateway, wherein the type of tone indicates one of the plurality of phone call events occurred, and wherein the one of the plurality of phone call events indicates that a live human being or an answering machine answered the phone call;

determine a call treatment for the phone call at the contact center as a function of the tone message received from the media gateway and the one of the plurality of phone call events; and

perform the call treatment for the phone call.

2. The contact center of claim 1, where the computer code is also configured to establish a messaging session with the media gateway from the contact center.

3. The contact center of claim 2, where the computer code is also configured to communicate with the media gateway using the messaging session, such that the audio stream from the communication device is not transmitted to the contact center from the media gateway.

4. The contact center of claim 1, where the call treatment includes connecting a contact center resource to the phone call when the type of tone that was detected indicates that a human voice was detected.

5. The contact center of claim 1, where the call treatment includes disconnecting the phone call when the type of tone that was detected indicates that a human voice was not detected.

6. The contact center of claim 1, where the computer code is also configured to update a media address list that includes a phone number of the communication device, and wherein the media address list is updated to include the type of tone that was detected.

7. A media gateway comprising:

a processor; and

a memory in communication with the processor, the memory including computer code executable with the processor, wherein the computer code is configured to;

receive a session initiation protocol (SIP) invite message defining a plurality of call progress events, wherein the SIP invite message is for a phone call;

receive an audio stream from a communication device after the phone call is connected,

detect one or more call progress characteristics in the audio stream,

determine an identified call progress event at the media gateway from the plurality of call progress events based on a tone in the one or more call progress characteristics, wherein the identified call progress event indicates whether a live person answered the phone call; and

transmit a tone message to a contact center from the media gateway, the tone message including the identified call progress event that indicates whether a live person answered the phone call.

8. The media gateway as claimed in claim 7, where the computer code is also configured to establish a messaging session with the contact center.

9. The media gateway as claimed in claim 8, where the messaging session is a SIP messaging session and the tone message is a SIP message.

10. The media gateway as claimed in claim 8, where the computer code is also configured to communicate using the messaging session, such that the audio stream from the communication device is not transmitted to the contact center.

11. The media gateway as claimed in claim 7, where determination of the identified call progress event includes a comparison of the one or more call progress characteristics to a list of predefined tone characteristics and types of tones.

12. The media gateway as claimed in claim 11, where the list of predefined tone characteristics and types of tones is stored in memory.

13. The media gateway as claimed in claim 7, where the tone message is transmitted to the contact center using a Voice over Internet Protocol network and the audio stream is received from the communication device using a public switched telephone network.

14. A method comprising:

establishing a messaging session between a contact center and an edge device for a phone call to a communication device;

receiving a first audio stream at the edge device from the communication device;

preventing transmission of the first audio stream from the edge device to the contact center by setting a connection address to a predetermined value;

receiving a second audio stream at the edge device from the communication device;

detecting one or more call progress characteristics in the second audio stream;

determining a call progress event based on the one or more call progress characteristics, the call progress event defining one or more types of tones included in the second audio stream; and

transmitting a tone message including the call progress event from the edge device to the contact center, the call progress event indicating that an answering machine answered the phone call, wherein the contact center determines a call treatment based on a communication device status, without transmitting the second audio stream from the communication device to the contact center.

15. The method of claim 14, where establishing a messaging session includes establishing a session initiation protocol (SIP) messaging session.

16. The method of claim 15, where transmitting the tone message includes transmitting a SIP message using the SIP messaging session.

17. The method of claim 14, where detecting one or more call progress characteristics includes detecting a frequency, temporal pattern, or volume.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

comparing the one or more call progress characteristics to a database stored in memory.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

updating an address list, such that the address list includes the one or more types of tones received from the communication device.