IP Voice Call Surveillance Through Use Of Non-Dedicated IP Phone With Signal Alert Provided To Indicate Content Of Incoming Call Prior To An Answer As Being A Monitored Call

• US 20080285726A1
• Filed: 07/01/2008
• Published: 11/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Russell, Jesse Eugene, Wang, Spencer C., Sankalia, Anish, Kung, Fen-Chung
• Granted Patent: US 8,018,919 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/32.01
• 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 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

Surveillance of IP telephony may be performed through the use of conventional telephone equipment, according to principles of the invention while preventing giving indication to the monitored phone by alerting the user of the monitoring phone to such surveillance use prior to pick up by an agent for engagement of the monitoring phone in response to the alert. Such alerts may assume many forms such as ringing, visual indicators, data readouts, activating ancillary equipment, various flags, etc. This alert prior to surveillance is distinct from alerts used for normal non-surveillance calls, which the monitoring phone is capable of receiving.

Claims

1. :

A method of monitoring an Internet Protocol (IP) call in a network comprising;

determining if the IP call between a first communication device and a second communication device is to be monitored;

locating an IP address of a third communication device and an identifier associated with one of the first communication device or the second communication device; and

sending at least one data packet including an alert signal to an IP gateway serving the third communication device based on said locating step, said at least one data packet being associated with the IP call,

wherein the third communication device is configured to be inactive until the first communication device and the second communication device of the IP call are connected and active.

2. :

The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier associated with one of the first communication device or the second communication device is compared with a plurality of identifiers.

3. :

The method of claim 2, wherein the identifier is associated with the second communication device and the plurality of identifiers comprise identifiers associated with communication devices to be monitored.

4. :

The method of claim 2, wherein the identifier is associated with the first communication device and the plurality of identifiers comprise identifiers associated with communication devices to be monitored.

5. :

The method of claim 2, wherein the step of sending comprises sending at least one data packet to the third communication device if said identifier matches at least one identifier in the plurality of identifiers.

6. :

The method of claim 1, wherein said identifier associated with one of the first communication device or the second communication device is one of a phone number or an address.

7. :

The method of claim 1, wherein an IP gateway annunciation alerts the third communication device with at least one of a distinct audible or visible announcement.

8. :

A method of monitoring an Internet Protocol (IP) call in a network comprising;

storing a list of communication devices, said list comprising communication devices under surveillance;

detecting when an IP call is initiated by a call-initiating communication device to a target communication device in the network;

determining if the target communication device is on a list of communication devices under surveillance;

locating an IP address of a monitoring communication device; and

sending an alert signal to an IP gateway serving the monitoring communication device;

wherein the alert signal indicates an existence of the IP call and a monitoring purpose to be performed,

wherein the monitoring communication device is configured to be inactive until parties of the IP call are connected and active.

9. :

The method of claim 8, wherein said monitoring communication device generates a distinctive indicator in response to receiving said alert signal.

10. :

The method of claim 9, wherein said distinctive indicator comprises at least one of a distinctive ring or an audio announcement.

11. :

The method of claim 8, wherein said list is provided by an IP address Mapping Check Point (IP-AMCP).

12. :

The method of claim 11, wherein the IP-AMCP is associated with a WatchDog program for detecting when a call is being initiated.

13. :

An apparatus for monitoring an Internet Protocol (IP) call in a network comprising;

a storage device configured to store a list of identifiers associated with communication devices to be monitored; and

a processor configured to detect when an IP call is initiated by a call-initiating communication device to a target communication device in the network, to determine if the IP call is to be monitored, and to send an alert signal to an IP gateway, based on an IP address location of a monitoring communication device, the IP gateway being associated with the monitoring communications device,

wherein the alert signal indicates an existence of the IP call and a monitoring purpose to be performed.

14. :

The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the target communication device is associated with a target communication device identifier and the processor compares said target communication device identifier with the list of identifiers associated with communication devices to be monitored.

15. :

The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the call-initiating communication device is associated with a call-initiating communication device identifier and the processor compares said call-initiating communication device identifier with the list of identifiers associated with communication devices to be monitored.

16. :

The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the processor further is configured to locate the IP address for the monitoring communication device and the identifier of the communication device to be monitored.