The present disclosure relates to techniques for recording and/or monitoring multimedia associated with a call center session.
When recording multimedia associated with certain activities, such as call center sessions between a call center agent and a caller, sensitive information may be revealed by the caller to the call center agent. For example, the call center agent may enter that information into a digital form that is then used to retrieve other information to assist the caller. One example is when a caller calls a bank to obtain information about his/her bank account.
In order to track customer service quality, many of these calls and their associated data entry activities are monitored and/or recorded. The recorded or monitored multimedia thus will contain sensitive information of the caller revealed during the session. In many cases this is undesired as it may be against company policies or the law in a given jurisdiction to record certain personal information. In addition, sensitive information of a person is kept in the recorded data and unauthorized access to that data could occur, resulting in possible identity theft of the person whose sensitive information is contained in the recorded data.
Overview
Techniques are provided herein to automatically edit multimedia associated with call center sessions when monitoring and/or recording the multimedia. Multimedia associated with a session between a caller and a call center agent is received. The multimedia for the session is analyzed to determine when sensitive information is about to be revealed. The multimedia is edited to mask the sensitive information in a monitored and/or recorded copy of the multimedia.
Referring first to
The agent terminals 30(1)-30(N) comprise a display monitor 32, a keyboard 34 and a headset 36 with an audio microphone and speakers. The agent terminals 30(1)-30(N) may be terminal devices or they may be personal computer devices. The monitoring terminal 40 comprises a display monitor 42 and audio speakers 44. In one example, the monitoring terminal 40 may be a personal computer. Call center agents associated with the agent terminals are shown at reference numerals 37(1)-37(N) and a monitoring person associated with the monitoring terminal 40 is shown at 46.
The recording server 50 is configured to automatically edit out portions of the multimedia that are determined to contain sensitive information. This editing function may be invoked by the call center controller 20. The recording server 50 sends the edited monitoring copy of the multimedia to the monitoring terminal 40 and sends the edited recording copy of the multimedia to the data storage 57 for storage. The network interface device 60 enables communication to and from the call center 10 via a network 80.
The information server 70 is a computer server that responds to requests for data from a call center agent during a session with a caller. The information server 70 retrieves data and generates forms that are displayed to the call center agent for use during a session. The information server 70 also receives information entered by the call center agent into a form in order to retrieve additional information for the call center agent to use during a session with a caller. The information server 70 is shown as being part of the call center 10 but this is only an example. It is also possible that the information server 70 is separate from the call center 10 and connected to network 80 to enable remote access by the call center agent terminals 30(1)-30(N), via the call center controller 20.
Callers interact with the call center via the network 80. For example, a caller may use a landline telephone 90, a mobile phone 92 or a personal computer 94 to communicate with the call center 10. The network 80 consists of a collection of voice and data (wired and wireless) networks through which the devices 90-94 interface and also to which the call center 10 interfaces via the network interface 60.
A session between a caller and a call center agent may consist of a voice call and the call center agent retrieves information at the request of the caller, which information is displayed to the call center agent on his/her display monitor. The call center agent can then read from the displayed information and speak it back to the caller as needed, and perform other functions for caller. In another mode, the session may comprise an on-line chat session whereby the caller and call center agent exchange short statements in an on-line chat or instant messaging format, and the call center agent retrieves information for the caller by copying text sent by the caller to the call center agent and pasting that information into various forms that are displayed to the call center agent on a display monitor. In another variation, the caller may enter the sensitive information himself/herself to a form that is displayed simultaneously to the caller and the call center agent. In still another example, the session may be a text message exchange between the caller and the call center agent, and the call center agent retrieves information for the caller in a manner similar to that described for an on-line chat or instant messaging session. In the on-line chat and text messaging examples, the exchanges between the caller and call center agent are maintained in video that tracks the displayed exchanges to the call center agent. In still another mode, the caller and call center agent may be engaged in a live video session that also includes any of the types of multimedia described herein.
Thus, the term “caller” is not meant to be limited to a person who makes a voice call and it may apply to on-line exchanges, text-based exchanges, a video session or any combination of multimedia interactions described above. Likewise, the term “call center” is not meant to be limited to a standard call center in this regard. Moreover, the call center may be used for customer support, account information such as with a bank or investment entity, or any other call or contact center in which people seek information and a center is established to receive the calls or communications from callers to respond to questions or receive information from people.
A session between a caller and a call center agent may involve interaction by the call center agent with displayed forms, such as data entry into a displayed form based on information supplied by the caller, data retrieval, etc. The call center controller 20 generates the information that is displayed on a display 32 of an agent terminal to a call center agent. When a monitoring function of a session between a call center agent and a caller is activated, such as by a supervisor, the call center controller 20 renders the same multimedia that is presented to the agent terminal, after the recording server 50 has edited it as described herein, to the monitoring terminal 40. Similarly, when a recording functionality is requested for a session between a call center agent and a caller, the same multimedia, after the recording server 50 has edited it, is sent to the data storage 57 for storage. In addition, the call center controller 20 captures any audio for voice conversations between the call center agent and a caller and sends it to the recording server 50 for editing when a monitoring and/or recording function is activated. In a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) implementation of a call center system, voice/media and control/signaling do not necessarily travel in the same path. The multimedia associated with a call agent session travels in a path directly between the two endpoints involved in the session. The call center controller 20 handles the signaling/control signals and the multimedia is directed to the recording server 50 for automatic editing when a monitoring and/or recording function is activated. In a VoIP system implementation, the call center controller 20, agent terminals 30(1)-30(N), monitoring terminal 40 and recording server 50 all have network connectivity to each other. The monitoring terminal 40 is used, for example, by a call agent supervisor to monitor sessions handled by call center agents, and/or for a person undergoing training to become a call center agent in order to view activities of a call center agent as part of a training program.
The term “multimedia” as used herein is meant to refer to one or more of text, audio, still images, animation, video, metadata and interactivity content forms associated with a session between a caller and a call center agent.
During a session between a call center agent and a caller for certain types of transactions (e.g., bank account transactions, investment account transactions, medical information transactions, etc.) sensitive information of the caller may be revealed (either by the caller or the call center agent) in the multimedia associated with the session. The sensitive information may be revealed in audio, video and/or other data. The recording server 50 performs a “digital whiteout” or masking of a portion of multimedia frames containing sensitive information, a portion of audio containing sensitive information, or of data in a file that contains sensitive information. The recording server 50 automatically recognizes certain key phrases or other “signatures” that are associated with sensitive information that is revealed in the multimedia and edits the multimedia to block out or mask the sensitive information from a monitoring copy and/or recorded copy of the multimedia. Examples of sensitive information include personal data, e.g., Social Security Number or other person identification number, bank account number, personal identification codes, etc. The sensitive information may be revealed when it is entered by a call center agent into a field of a form displayed to the call center agent. The sensitive information may reside in a portion of a video frame associated with the display of the digital form that the call center agent is working with or in a confidential document. In addition, the sensitive information may be contained in a portion of an audio stream in which the confidential or sensitive information is spoken.
Thus, in one example, the multimedia comprises audio associated with a conversation between the caller and the call center agent and data associated with interaction by the call center agent with a form displayed on a monitor to the call center agent.
Reference is now made to
The memory 54 is, for example, random access memory (RAM), but may comprise electronically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) or other computer readable memory in which computer software may be stored or encoded for execution by the processor 52. At least some portion of the memory 54 is also writable to allow for storage of data generated during the course of the operations described herein. The processor 52 is configured to execute instructions stored in the memory 54 for carrying out the various techniques described herein. In particular, the processor 52 is configured to execute program logic instructions (i.e., software) stored in memory 54 for monitoring and recording editing process logic 100. Generally, the monitoring and recording editing process logic 100 is configured to cause the processor 52 to receive multimedia associated with a session between a caller and a call center agent, analyze the multimedia from the session to determine when sensitive information is about to be revealed and editing the multimedia to mask or hide the sensitive information in a monitored and/or recorded copy of the multimedia stream.
The operations of processor 52 may be implemented by logic encoded in one or more tangible media (e.g., embedded logic such as an application specific integrated circuit, digital signal processor instructions, software that is executed by a processor, etc), wherein memory 54 stores data used for the operations described herein and stores software or processor executable instructions that are executed to carry out the operations described herein. The monitoring and recording editing process logic 100 may take any of a variety of forms, so as to be encoded in one or more tangible media for execution, such as fixed logic or programmable logic (e.g. software/computer instructions executed by a processor) and the processor 52 may be an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) that comprises fixed digital logic, or a combination thereof. For example, the processor 52 may be embodied by digital logic gates in a fixed or programmable digital logic integrated circuit, which digital logic gates are configured to perform the operations of the process logic 100. In one example, the process logic 100 is embodied in a tangible processor or computer-readable (non-transitory) memory medium (memory 54) that is encoded with instructions for execution by a processor (e.g. a processor 52) that, when executed by the processor, are operable to cause the processor to perform the operations described herein in connection with process logic 100. Memory 54 may also buffer multimedia (voice, video, data, text, etc.) streams associated with a caller-call center agent session.
The operations described herein to automatically edit multimedia associated with a caller-call agent session may be implemented in any suitable computing apparatus that is part of or separate from the call center 10 and which communicates with the call center 10 by the network 80.
Reference is now made to
Reference is now made to
The processor 52 analyzes the text, video or graphical data associated with the digital form 122 to determine whether there is sensitive information about to be revealed. For example, the processor 52 can determine when the call center agent's point of focus, e.g., cursor, is at a portion of the multimedia such as form 122, e.g., a field such as field 123(6) that is designated to contain sensitive information in the form 122. Field 123(6) is an example of a portion of the form 122 where sensitive information is to be entered by the call center agent, or even by a caller in the case of an on-line chat session or text session, for example. Digits of a Social Security Number are shown as D1D2D3-D4D5-D6D7D8D9. When the processor 52 detects the location of the cursor at field 123(6), it uses this as a queue to edit out or mask the portion of the multimedia that contain this field in the multimedia for the recording of the multimedia because it indicates that the call center agent is about to enter a caller's Social Security Number into that field. The location of the cursor at field 123(6) is indicated by the bold outline of the field 123(6) shown in
Reference is now made to
In a call center session that is text-based or an on-line chat session, the processor 52 also detects certain key words in any of the words or phrases typed by the caller or call center agent during the session, and using these key words as a queue that sensitive information is about to be revealed during the session.
Turning to
Reference is now made back to
Policy information may be stored that indicates types of information to be edited out and/or queues or triggers for information to be edited out. The analyzing and editing operations 120 and 130 are performed based on the policy information. For example, in the case of fields in a form that are displayed to a call center agent, policy information may be stored that indicates which fields of forms are to be masked and the editing operation at 130 is performed to mask one or more portions of video frames in the video based on the policy information. In addition, the policy information may include information indicating relationships between fields in different, but related forms, and whether fields in other forms should be masked as well. Examples of the policy information for fields in forms are described in more detail hereinafter in connection with
Examples of techniques to edit the sensitive information are now described.
Another example is shown in
Still another example is shown in
Reference is now made to
The techniques described herein prevent undesirable disclosure of personal or sensitive information when a recording of session is made. Callers and operators of call centers have a greater sense of confidence to know that confidential information or other sensitive information is not included in the recorded or monitored data.
The above description is intended by way of example only.