Voice port utilization monitor

• US 9,288,333 B2
• Filed: 12/01/2008
• Issued: 03/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bishop, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Moise, Emmanuel L
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chang, Julian
• Application Number:
  US12/325,603
• Publication Number:
  US 20100135277A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,661 Days
• Field of Search: 709223-226, 379/88.17
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/008 Reliability or availability analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/30 Monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0856 by backing up or archiving configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/1041 Televoting
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/493 Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0084 Network monitoring; Error detection; Error recovery; Network testing

Abstract

A method for monitoring utilization of a voice over internet protocol platform in a mass calling application includes receiving calls via voice ports established by servers. Utilization information for each of the servers is aggregated in accordance with applications associated with the calls. The aggregated utilization information is separately displayed for each of the applications, each of the applications corresponding to a distinct subset of the calls.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring utilization of a voice over internet protocol platform in a mass calling application, comprising:

receiving telephony calls at load-balanced sites via voice ports established by a plurality of servers of the load-balanced sites that receive each of the calls over the Internet at an application layer port and that provide a plurality of interactive applications that interact with users in the calls to provide communications services, each of the calls being received at a specified server and over a voice over internet protocol port in the voice over internet protocol platform established by the specified server;

processing each of the calls according to requirements for one of the plurality of interactive applications with which each of the calls is associated;

obtaining a metrics file from each of the plurality of servers at predetermined intervals and parsing obtained metrics files;

creating a call log entry regarding a disposition of each of the received telephony calls and storing the call log entry in the metrics file on the specified server associated with each of the received telephony calls;

obtaining real-time updates for each of the plurality of servers;

aggregating, using a processor of a computer, utilization information of each of the plurality of servers for each of the plurality of interactive applications; and

separately displaying the aggregated utilization information for each of the plurality of interactive applications, each of the plurality of interactive applications corresponding to a distinct subset of the calls, for prospective callers to make calling decisions based on the aggregated utilization information,

wherein the utilization information is obtained in response to an alarm being raised by one of the plurality of servers, and

wherein one of the plurality of interactive applications comprises a tele-voting application.

2. The method according to claim 1,

wherein a display of the aggregated utilization information is updated in real-time.

3. The method according to claim 1,

wherein the utilization information for one or more of the plurality of servers is calculated based on a number of voice ports handling calls.

4. The method according to claim 2,

wherein the display is displayed on a mobile device.

5. The method according to claim 1,

wherein a notification is sent to a device via one or more of:

a text message, a webpage, an email and an automated telephone call, when the utilization information reaches a predetermined threshold.

6. The method according to claim 5,

wherein the predetermined threshold is distinct for each of the plurality of interactive applications.

7. The method according to claim 5,

wherein the predetermined threshold is customizable for each of the plurality of interactive applications.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the voice ports comprise logical communication channels.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the utilization information includes a display of a number of voice over internet protocol ports being used at each of a plurality of servers and each of a plurality of load balanced sites.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein a display displays aggregated utilization information based upon user selected criteria from selectable options including servers having more than a specific number of ports, all servers located at a specific site, servers for which utilization is over a specific percentage, servers located at a specified geographic location, and servers for which a specific number of ports are in use.

11. A system for monitoring utilization of a voice over internet protocol platform in a mass calling application, comprising:

a plurality of servers each operable to receive telephony calls at load-balanced sites via voice ports established by each of the plurality of servers of the load-balanced sites that receive each of the calls over the Internet at an application layer port and that provide a plurality of interactive applications that interact with users in the calls to provide communications services, each of the calls being received at a specified server and over a voice over internet protocol port in the voice over internet protocol platform established by the specified server;

a processor to process each of the calls according to requirements for one of the plurality of interactive applications with which each of the calls is associated, obtain a metrics file from each of the plurality of servers at predetermined intervals and parsing obtained metrics files, create a call log entry regarding a disposition of each of the received telephony calls and storing the call log entry in the metrics file on the specified server associated with each of the received telephony calls, and obtain real-time updates for each of the plurality of servers;

an aggregator operable to aggregate utilization information of each of the plurality of servers for each of the plurality of interactive applications; and

an outputter operable to display the aggregated utilization information for each of the plurality of interactive applications, each of the plurality of interactive applications corresponding to a distinct subset of the calls, for prospective callers to make calling decisions based on the aggregated utilization information,

wherein the utilization information is obtained in response to an alarm being raised by one of the plurality of servers, and

wherein the one of the plurality of interactive applications comprises a tele-voting application.

12. The system according to claim 11,

wherein the plurality of servers are located at a plurality of geographically distinct sites.

13. The system according to claim 12,

wherein a display displays aggregated utilization information for each of the plurality of geographically distinct sites.

14. The system according to claim 12,

wherein the plurality of geographically distinct sites are load-balanced based on the aggregated utilization information for each of the plurality of geographically distinct sites.

15. The system according to claim 11,

wherein calls are rerouted based on the aggregated utilization information for one or more of the plurality of servers.

16. A non-transitory tangible computer readable storage medium encoded with an executable computer program for monitoring utilization of a voice over internet protocol platform in a mass calling application and that when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving telephony calls at load-balanced sites via voice ports established by each of a plurality of servers of the load-balanced sites that receive each of the calls over the Internet at an application layer port and that provide a plurality of interactive applications that interact with users in the calls to provide communications services, each of the calls being received at a specified server and over a voice over internet protocol port in the voice over internet protocol platform established by the specified server;

processing each of the calls according to requirements for one of the plurality of interactive applications with which each of the calls is associated;

obtaining a metrics file from each of the plurality of servers at predetermined intervals and parsing obtained metrics files;

creating a call log entry regarding a disposition of each of the received telephony calls and storing the call log entry in the metrics file on the specified server associated with each of the received telephony calls;

obtaining real-time updates for each of the plurality of servers;

aggregating utilization information of each of the plurality of servers for each of the plurality of interactive applications; and

displaying the aggregated utilization information for each of the plurality of interactive applications, each of the plurality of interactive applications corresponding to a distinct subset of the calls, for prospective callers to make calling decisions based on the aggregated utilization information,

wherein the utilization information is obtained in response to an alarm being raised by one of the plurality of servers, and

wherein one of the plurality of interactive applications comprises a tele-voting application.

17. The non-transitory tangible computer readable storage medium according to claim 16,

wherein a display of the aggregated utilization information is searchable using a query tool.

18. The non-transitory tangible computer readable storage medium according to claim 17,

wherein parameters comprising one or more of:

server identification, site identification, group identification are provided to the query tool to obtain utilization information for a subset of the plurality of servers.

19. The non-transitory tangible computer readable storage medium according to claim 18,

wherein a user of the display inputs a plurality of parameters to the query tool to obtain a filtered result.