Codec sequence detection

• US 9,456,075 B2
• Filed: 10/13/2014
• Issued: 09/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arlington Technologies, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Ponting, Keith, Skiba, David, Matula, Valentine C.
• Primary Examiner(s): TIEU, BINH KIEN
• Application Number:
  US14/512,622
• Publication Number:
  US 20160105543A1
• Time in Patent Office: 715 Days
• Field of Search: 379/1.01, 379/9, 379/15.01, 379/15.05, 379/16, 379/17, 379/22, 379/201.02, 379/201.12, 379/202.01, 379/207.02, 379/220.01, 379/221.01, 379/221.05, 370/231, 370/235, 370/236, 370/248, 370/252, 704/221, 704/223, 704/226, 704/233, 704/237, 704/247, 704/275
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/404 Collaboration among agents
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/406 Rerouting calls between call centers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2209 for lines also used for data transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2227 Quality of service monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/36 Statistical metering, e.g. recording occasions when traffic exceeds capacity of trunks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5175 Call or contact centers supervision arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0072 Speech codec negotiation H04L65/1069 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1205 where the types of switching equipement comprises PSTN/ISDN equipment and switching equipment of networks other than PSTN/ISDN, e.g. Internet Protocol networks

Abstract

In order to detect a specific codec sequence being used, a signal that is based on a codec sequence is analyzed. The signal is analyzed to determine if there is a pattern in the signal. A pattern of a codec sequence can be a unique pattern of frames, frequencies and/or frequency ranges that are generated based on a specific codec sequence. The pattern is compared to one or more previously stored patterns of codec sequences to see if there is a match. If there is a match, an event is generated. For example, if a known codec sequence that has a poor signal quality is determined to be in use for a voice call, the parties may be notified that the call is likely to be a low quality voice call.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a processor, an audio signal that is based on a codec sequence;

identifying, by the processor, a pattern in the audio signal;

determining, by the processor, that there is a match between the identified pattern in the audio signal and an expected pattern of a codec sequence, and wherein the expected pattern of the codec sequence is determined based on a common pattern of background noise for silence periods in the audio signal; and

in response to determining that there is a match between the identified pattern in the audio signal and the expected pattern of the codec sequence, generating, by the processor, an event.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the audio signal is a digital voice signal or an analog voice signal.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the event is one of:

alerting a call center agent of a difficult codec sequence;

notifying the call center agent to switch from speakerphone to a handset;

adjusting a rating of the call center agent;

routing the audio signal to a different call center agent;

switching a call for the audio signal to a different medium;

notifying a customer that the audio signal may not be a high quality audio signal;

re-routing the call for the audio signal;

switching to a different codec in the codec sequence for the audio signal;

switching a leg of a conference call to a different mixer of the conference call;

sending a message to a communication system to switch to a different codec for the call for the audio signal;

notifying a service provider of a poor audio signal in the call for the audio signal;

or

notifying a service provider of a variance to a Quality of Service (QoS) contract.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the audio signal comprises a plurality of combined voice calls, wherein the plurality of voice calls use a plurality of different codec sequences, wherein the event is to save statistics based on the plurality of different codec sequences, and further comprising:

comparing, by the processor, the statistics based the plurality of different codec sequences to statistics for customer ratings of the plurality of voice calls to identify trends in the plurality of voice calls.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the pattern of the codec sequence comprises a plurality of patterns of codec sequences.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein at least one of the plurality of codec sequences comprises a codec sequence that comprises at least two or more different codecs.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the pattern of the codec sequence is based on a frequency range of a codec.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the pattern of the codec sequence is based on a pattern of a codebook of a codec.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the pattern of the codec sequence is based on a language spoken in the audio signal.

10. A system comprising:

a microprocessor; and

a computer readable medium, coupled with the microprocessor and comprising microprocessor readable and executable instructions that program the microprocessor to execute;

a signal analyzer that receives an audio signal that is based on a codec sequence and identifies a pattern in the audio signal; and

an event generator that determines that there is a match between the pattern identified in the audio signal and an expected pattern of a codec sequence, wherein the expected pattern of the codec sequence is determined based a common pattern of background noise for silence periods in the audio signal and in response to determining that there is a match between the pattern identified in the audio signal and the expected pattern of the codec sequence, generates an event.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the event is one of:

alerting a call center agent of a difficult codec sequence;

notifying the call center agent to switch from speakerphone to a handset;

adjusting a rating of the call center agent;

routing the audio signal to a different call center agent;

switching a call for the audio signal to a different medium;

notifying a customer that the audio signal may not be a high quality audio signal;

re-routing the call for the audio signal;

switching to a different codec in the codec sequence for the audio signal;

switching a leg of a conference call to a different mixer of the conference call;

sending a message to a communication system to switch to a different codec for the call for the audio signal;

notifying a service provider of a poor audio signal in the call for the audio signal;

or

notifying a service provider of a variance to a Quality of Service (QoS) contract.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the audio signal comprises a plurality of voice calls, wherein the plurality of voice calls use a plurality of different codec sequences, wherein the event is to save statistics based on the plurality of different codec sequences, and further comprising a statistics analyzer that compares the statistics based the plurality of different codec sequences to statistics for customer ratings of the plurality of voice calls to identify trends in the plurality of voice calls.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the pattern of the codec sequence comprises a plurality of patterns of codec sequences and wherein at least one of the plurality of codec sequences comprises a codec sequence that comprises at least two or more different codecs.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the pattern of the codec sequence is based on a frequency range of a codec.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the pattern of the codec sequence is based on a pattern of a codebook of a codec.

16. A system comprising:

a microprocessor; and

a computer readable medium, coupled with the microprocessor and comprising microprocessor readable and executable instructions that program the microprocessor to execute;

a signal analyzer that receives a digital video signal that is based on a codec sequence and identifies a pattern in the digital video signal; and

an event generator that determines that there is a match between the pattern identified in the digital video signal and an expected pattern of a codec sequence, wherein the expected pattern of the codec sequence is based on a pixel pattern in the digital video signal and in response to determining that there is a match between the pattern identified in the digital video signal and the expected pattern of the codec sequence, generates an event.

17. The method of system 16, wherein the event is one of:

alerting a call center agent of a difficult codec sequence;

adjusting a rating of the call center agent;

switching a call for the digital video signal to a different medium;

notifying a customer that the digital video signal may not be a high quality video signal;

re-routing the call for the digital video signal;

switching to a different codec in the codec sequence for the digital video signal;

switching a leg of a conference call to a different mixer of the conference call;

sending a message to a communication system to switch to a different codec for the call for the digital video signal;

or

notifying a service provider of a variance to a Quality of Service (QoS) contract.

18. The method of system 16, wherein the pattern of the codec sequence is based on a pattern of a codebook of a codec.

19. The method of system 16, wherein the pattern of the codec sequence comprises a plurality of patterns of codec sequences.

20. The method of system 19, wherein at least one of the plurality of codec sequences comprises a codec sequence that comprises at least two or more different codecs.