Intercepting voice over IP communications and other data communications

• US 9,143,608 B2
• Filed: 04/15/2013
• Issued: 09/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: VoIP-Pal.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Digifonica (International) Limited (VoIP-Pal.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bjorsell, Johan Emil Viktor, Sobolyev, Maksym
• Primary Examiner(s): Thompson, Jr., Otis L
• Application Number:
  US13/863,306
• Publication Number:
  US 20130229950A1
• Time in Patent Office: 890 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/00 Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communication H04L9/00; network architectures or network communication protocols for wireless network security H04W12/00; security arrangements for protecting computers or computer systems against unauthorised activity G06F21/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/30 for supporting lawful interception, monitoring or retaining of communications or communication related information circuit switched telephony call monitoring H04M3/2281
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/306 intercepting packet switched data communications, e.g. Web, Internet or IMS communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/15 related to dial plan and call routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2022 Path replacement
• 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 3/54 Arrangements for diverting calls for one subscriber to another predetermined subscriber based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; to voice mail H04M3/53308
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0078 Security; Fraud detection; Fraud prevention

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for intercepting communications in an Internet Protocol (IP) network involve maintaining dialing profiles for respective subscribers to the IP network, each dialing profile including a username associated with the corresponding subscriber, and associating intercept information with the dialing profile of a subscriber whose communications are to be monitored. Intercept information will include determination information for determining whether to intercept a communication involving the subscriber, and destination information identifying a device to which intercepted communications involving the subscriber are to be sent. When the determination information meets intercept criteria communications are established with a media relay through which communications involving the subscriber will be conducted or are being conducted to cause the media relay to send a copy of the communications involving the subscriber to a mediation device specified by the destination information.

Claims

1. A method for causing Internet Protocol (IP) communications to be intercepted in an IP network system in which IP communications between a subscriber of the system and another party occur through a media relay to which the subscriber and the another party address their IP communications destined for each other and which relays the IP communications between the subscriber and the another party, the method comprising:

causing a call controller to receive a request from the subscriber seeking to initiate communications between the subscriber and the another party and to produce a request to establish an IP communications channel between the subscriber and the another party; and

causing a call routing controller to;

receive from the call controller said request to establish said IP communications channel;

access a database in response to receiving said request from said call controller, to locate a dialing profile associated with the subscriber, said dialing profile comprising intercept determination information and destination information, said intercept determination information indicating whether an IP communication from the subscriber should be monitored and said destination information indicating where to send monitored communications; and

produce a routing message for receipt by the call controller and separate from any IP communication sent between the subscriber and the another party, for providing routing information for routing the IP communications through the media relay to enable the call controller to establish said IP communications channel through the media relay in response to the routing message; and

when said determination information meets intercept criteria, cause said routing message to include at least some of said intercept determination information and said destination information.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said IP communications include at least one of audio data, pure data, video data, multimedia data, text messaging data and instant messaging data.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising causing said call controller to communicate with the media relay to cause the media relay to:

establish a communication path for relaying IP communications between the subscriber and the another party; and

when said intercept determination information and said destination information are included in said routing message, produce a copy of said IP communications between the subscriber and the another party, while the media relay relays communications between the subscriber and the another party; and

send said copy to a mediation device identified by said destination information in said routing message.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising associating said determination information and said destination information with said dialing profile when communications involving said subscriber are not in progress.

5. The method of claim 2 further comprising associating said determination information and said destination information with said dialing profile when communications involving said subscriber are in progress.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein associating said determination information and said destination information comprises populating intercept information fields in said dialing profile of a subscriber whose communications are to be monitored.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein associating said determination information and said destination information comprises populating intercept information fields in said dialing profile of a subscriber whose communications are to be monitored.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein determining whether said determination information meets said intercept criteria comprises determining whether a current date and time is within a range specified by said determination information.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein producing said routing message comprises identifying a media relay through which communications involving said subscriber will be conducted and including an identification of said media relay in said routing message.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising pre-associating at least one media relay with said dialing profile associated with the subscriber whose communications are to be monitored and wherein identifying said media relay comprises identifying said at least one media relay pre-associated with said subscriber whose communications are to be monitored.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein pre-associating comprises populating media relay fields in said dialing profile with an identification of said at least one media relay.

12. The method of claim 5 wherein associating said determination information and said destination information comprises associating said determination information and said destination information with said dialing profile of the subscriber whose communications are to be monitored, in response to receipt of an intercept request message, wherein said intercept request message comprises said determination information and said destination information.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising invoking an intercept request message handler to:

a) find a dialing profile associated with the subscriber whose communications are to be monitored;

b) associate said determination information and said destination information with said dialing profile; and

c) identify a media relay through which said communications are being conducted.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein said dialing profile includes a username identifier and further comprising maintaining active call records for communications in progress, said active call records comprising a username identifier and a media relay identifier identifying the media relay through which said communications are being conducted and wherein identifying a media relay through which said communications are being conducted comprises locating an active call record associated with a channel used by the subscriber whose communications are to be monitored to identify the media relay associated with said channel.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising maintaining direct-inward-dial (DID) records associating Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) telephone numbers with usernames of users subscribing to said IP network, and wherein finding a dialing profile associated with the subscriber whose communications are to be monitored comprises finding a username in a DID record bearing a PSTN number associated with the subscriber whose communications are to be monitored and using said username to locate a dialing profile associated with said username.

16. The method of claim 3 further comprising causing the call controller to receive communications from the mediation device to cause the call controller to interact with the call routing controller to access a dialing profile of a subscriber whose communications are to be monitored and to enter said intercept determination information and destination information into said dialing profile.

17. A system for causing Internet Protocol (IP) communications to be intercepted in an IP network in which IP communications between a subscriber of said system and another party occur through a media relay to which the subscriber and the another party address their IP communications destined for each other and which relays said IP communications between the subscriber and the another party, the system comprising:

a call controller and a call routing controller in communication with the call controller;

said call controller being operably configured to receive a request from the subscriber seeking to initiate communications between the subscriber and the another party and to produce a request to establish an IP communications channel between the subscriber and the another party and for establishing said IP communications channel through the media relay in response to a routing message produced by said call routing controller;

said call routing controller operably configured to;

receive from the call controller said request to establish said IP communications channel between the subscriber and the another party, access a database in response to receiving said request from said call controller to locate a dialing profile associated with the subscriber, said dialing profile comprising intercept determination information and destination information, said intercept determination information indicating whether an IP communication from the subscriber should be monitored and said destination information indicating where to send monitored communications; and

produce a routing message for receipt by the call controller and separate from any IP communication sent between the subscriber and the another party, for providing routing information for routing the IP communications through the media relay; and

when said determination information meets intercept criteria, cause said routing message to include at least some of said intercept determination information and said destination information.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein said IP communications include at least one of audio data, pure data, video data, multimedia data, text messaging data and instant messaging data.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein said call routing controller is operably configured to respond to said routing message by communicating with the media relay to cause the media relay to:

establish a communication path to relay said IP communications between the subscriber and the another party; and

when said intercept determination information and said destination information are included in said routing message, produce a copy of said IP communications between the subscriber and the another party, while said media relay relays communications between the subscriber and the another party; and

send said copy to a mediation device identified by said destination information in said routing message.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein at least one of said call controller and said call routing controller is operably configured to associate said intercept information with said dialing profile when communications involving said subscriber are not in progress.

21. The system of claim 19 wherein at least one of said call controller and said call routing controller is operably configured to associate said intercept determination information with said dialing profile when communications involving said subscriber are in progress.

22. The system of claim 20 wherein at least one of said call controller and said call routing controller is operably configured to populate intercept information fields in said dialing profile of the subscriber whose communications are to be monitored.

23. The system of claim 21 wherein at least one of said call controller and said call routing controller is operably configured to populate intercept information fields in said dialing profile of the subscriber whose communications are to be monitored.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein at least one of said call controller and said call routing controller is operably configured to determine whether a current date and time is within a range specified by said determination information.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein at least one of said call controller and said call routing controller is operably configured to identify a media relay through which communications involving said subscriber will be conducted and to include an identification of said media relay in said routing message.

26. The system of claim 25 wherein at least one of said call controller and said call routing controller is operably configured to pre-associate at least one media relay with said dialing profile of the subscriber whose communications are to be monitored and wherein at least one of said call controller and said call routing controller is operably configured to identify from said dialing profile said at least one media relay pre-associated with said subscriber whose communications are to be monitored.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein at least one of said call controller and said call routing controller is operably configured to populate media relay fields in said dialing profile with an identification of at said least one media relay.

28. The system of claim 21 wherein at least one of said call controller and said call routing controller is operably configured to associate said intercept information associated with said dialing profile of the subscriber whose communications are to be monitored, in response to receipt of an intercept request message, wherein said intercept request message comprises said intercept information.

29. The system of claim 28 wherein at least one of said call controller and said call routing controller is operably configured to:

a) find a dialing profile associated with the subscriber whose communications are to be monitored,

b) cause said intercept information to be associated with said dialing profile; and

c) identify a media relay through which said communications are being conducted.

30. The system of claim 29 wherein said dialing profile includes a username identifier and wherein at least one of said call controller and said call routing controller is operably configured to maintain active call records for communications in progress, said active call records comprising a username identifier and a media relay identifier identifying a media relay through which said communications are being conducted and wherein said means for identifying a media relay is operably configured to locate an active call record associated with a channel used by the subscriber whose communications are to be monitored to identify the media relay associated with said channel.

31. The system of claim 30 wherein at least one of said call controller and said call routing controller is operably configured to access direct-inward-dial (DID) records associating Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) telephone numbers with usernames of users subscribing to said IP network, and wherein at least one of said call controller and said call routing controller is operably configured to find a username in a DID record bearing a PSTN number associated with the subscriber whose communications are to be monitored and use said username to locate a dialing profile associated with said username.

32. The system of claim 19 wherein the call controller is operably configured to receive communications from the mediation device to cause the call controller to interact with the call routing controller to access a dialing profile of a subscriber whose communications are to be monitored and to enter said intercept determination information and destination information into said dialing profile.

33. A method for causing Internet Protocol (IP) communications to be intercepted in an IP network system in which IP communications between a subscriber of said system and another party occur through a media relay to which the subscriber and the another party address their IP communications destined for each other and which relays said IP communications between the subscriber and the another party, the method comprising:

in response to a request to establish an IP communications channel between the subscriber and the another party;

locating a dialing profile associated with the subscriber, said dialing profile comprising intercept determination information and destination information, said intercept determination information indicating whether an IP communication from the subscriber should be monitored and said destination information indicating where to send monitored communications;

producing a routing message for receipt by a call controller and separate from any IP communication sent between the subscriber and the another party, for routing the IP communications through the media relay and when said determination information meets intercept criteria, causing said routing message to include at least some of said intercept determination information and said destination information.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein said IP communications include at least one of audio data, pure data, video data, multimedia data, text messaging data and instant messaging data.

35. The method of claim 34 further comprising responding to said routing message by communicating with the media relay to cause the media relay to:

establish a communication path for relaying IP communications between the subscriber and the another party; and

when said intercept determination information and said destination information are included in said routing message, produce a copy of said IP communications between the subscriber and the another party, while the media relay relays communications between the subscriber and the another party; and

send said copy to a mediation device identified by said destination information in said routing message.

36. The method of claim 34 further comprising associating said determination information and said destination information with said dialing profile when communications involving said subscriber are not in progress.

37. The method of claim 34 further comprising associating said determination information and said destination information with said subscriber dialing profile when communications involving said subscriber are in progress.

38. The method of claim 36 wherein associating said determination information and said destination information comprises populating intercept information fields in said dialing profile of a subscriber whose communications are to be monitored.

39. The method of claim 37 wherein associating said determination information and said destination information comprises populating intercept information fields in said dialing profile of a subscriber whose communications are to be monitored.

40. The method of claim 39 wherein determining whether said determination information meets said intercept criteria comprises determining whether a current date and time is within a range specified by said determination information.

41. The method of claim 40 wherein producing said routing message comprises identifying a media relay through which communications involving said subscriber will be conducted and including an identification of said media relay in said routing message.

42. The method of claim 41 further comprising pre-associating at least one media relay with said dialing profile associated with the subscriber whose communications are to be monitored and wherein identifying said media relay comprises identifying said at least one media relay pre-associated with said subscriber whose communications are to be monitored.

43. The method of claim 42 wherein pre-associating comprises populating media relay fields in said dialing profile with an identification of said at least one media relay.

44. The method of claim 37 wherein associating said determination information and said destination information comprises associating said determination information and said destination information with said dialing profile of the subscriber whose communications are to be monitored, in response to receipt of an intercept request message, wherein said intercept request message comprises said determination information and said destination information.

45. The method of claim 44 further comprising invoking an intercept request message handler to:

a) find a dialing profile associated with the subscriber whose communications are to be monitored;

b) associate said determination information and said destination information with said dialing profile; and

c) identify a media relay through which said communications are being conducted.

46. The method of claim 45 wherein said dialing profile includes a username identifier and further comprising maintaining active call records for communications in progress, said active call records comprising a username identifier and a media relay identifier identifying the media relay through which said communications are being conducted and wherein identifying a media relay through which said communications are being conducted comprises locating an active call record associated with a channel used by the subscriber whose communications are to be monitored to identify the media relay associated with said channel.

47. The method of claim 46 further comprising maintaining direct-inward-dial (DID) records associating Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) telephone numbers with usernames of users subscribing to said IP network, and wherein finding a dialing profile associated with the subscriber whose communications are to be monitored comprises finding a username in a DID record bearing a PSTN number associated with the subscriber whose communications are to be monitored and using said username to locate a dialing profile associated with said username.

48. The method of claim 35 further comprising causing the call controller to receive communications from the mediation device to cause the dialing profile of a subscriber whose communications are to be monitored and to receive said intercept determination information and destination information.