Systems and methods for endpoint recording using gateways

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for recording media communications an exemplary method is comprised of the following steps: receiving instructions at a gateway to record an incoming call; receiving the incoming call from a calling communication device; determining whether to record the incoming call based on the received instructions; routing the incoming call to a called communication device in a customer center; responsive to the determination to record the incoming call, duplicating the media communications via the gateway; transmitting the duplicated media communications associated with the incoming call via the gateway; and recording the duplicated media communications.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Many aspects of the invention can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present invention. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a system for passive tap recording;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a system in which voice and media communications can be recorded by an endpoint recorder located anywhere in a customer center premises;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a system in which voice communication can be recorded by a voice endpoint recorder located anywhere in a customer center premises using a conference bridge;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a system in which voice communication can be recorded by a voice endpoint recorder in a customer center premises having multiple branches using a conference bridge;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a system in which voice communication can be recorded by a voice endpoint recorder using a soft phone;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a system in which media communication can be recorded by a media endpoint recorder using a media application server;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a system in which both voice communication and media communication can be recorded by a voice endpoint recorder and a media endpoint recorder in a customer center;

FIG. 8 is schematic diagram of an embodiment of a system in which media streams can be recorded via a gateway;

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram that illustrates a high-level example of operation of a system such as shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram of an embodiment of a system such as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, in which a voice communication can be recorded using a conference bridge;

FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram of an embodiment of a system, such as shown in FIG. 5, in which a voice communication can be recorded using a soft phone;

FIG. 12 is a sequence diagram of an embodiment of a system, such as shown in FIG. 6, in which a media communication can be recorded via a media application server;

FIG. 13 is a sequence diagram of an embodiment of a system, such as shown in FIG. 7, in which a media communication can be recorded via a gateway; and

FIG. 14 is a flow diagram that illustrates operation of an embodiment of an endpoint recording device.

Claims

1. A method for recording a communication session, comprising the steps of: receiving the incoming call from a calling communication device;determining whether to record the incoming call based on the received instructions;routing the incoming call to a called communication device in a customer center;responsive to the determining that the incoming call is to be recorded, duplicating media communications associated with the incoming call via the gateway;transmitting the duplicated media communications via the gateway; andrecording the duplicated media communications.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising transmitting instructions to the gateway to route incoming calls based on customer center policy.

3. The method as defined in claim 2, wherein the instructions are transmitted from one of a soft switch and a recording device.

4. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising monitoring the incoming calls and invoking duplicate media streaming from the gateways based on the monitored calls.

5. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising receiving an event stream corresponding to the incoming call and determining whether to record the media communications associated with the incoming call based on business rules of the customer center.

6. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting the duplicated media communications to a recording device is performed by delivering the media communications to a recording device by issuing a session initiation protocol (SIP) invite to the recording device.

7. The method as defined in claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting the duplicated media communications to a recording device is performed by using a proxy server to distribute the duplicated media communications to a recording device.

8. The method as defined in claim 1, further comprising: duplicating the media communications from the calling communication device via the gateway; andtransmitting the duplicated media communications from the calling communication device to a recording device using one of a recording device name, an IP address, a SIP address, and a domain name system (DNS) name of the recording device.

9. A system for recording a communication session, comprising: a gateway operative to receive the incoming call and route the incoming call across a network;a first communication device operative to receive the incoming call from the gateway, the first communication device being coupled to a customer center, wherein the first communication device transmits media streams associated with the incoming call to a second communication device via the gateway, wherein the gateway duplicates the media streams and transmits the duplicated media streams over the network; anda recording device operative to record the duplicated media streams.

10. The system as defined in claim 9, further comprising a soft switch operative to instruct the gateway to duplicate and transmit the media streams.

11. The system as defined in claim 10, wherein the recording device is operative to transmit instructions to the soft switch, the soft switch being operative to instruct the gateway to duplicate and transmit the media streams based on the transmitted instructions.

12. The system as defined in claim 11, wherein the recording device monitors the incoming calls and invokes duplicate media streaming from the gateways based on the monitored calls.

13. The system as defined in claim 11, wherein the recording device receives an event stream corresponding to the incoming call and determines whether to record the media streams associated with the incoming call based on business rules of the customer center.

14. The method as defined in claim 9, wherein the gateway transmits the duplicated media streams to the recording device by issuing a session initiation protocol (SIP) invite to the recording device.

15. The method as defined in claim 9, further comprising a proxy server that receives the media streams associated with the incoming call and distributes the duplicated media streams to the recording device.

16. The system as defined in claim 9, further comprising: means for duplicating the media streams from the second communication device via the first communication device; andmeans for transmitting the duplicated media streams from the first communication device to the recording device using one of a recording device name, an IP address, a SIP address, and a domain name system (DNS) name of the recording device.

17. The system as defined in claim 10, wherein the second communication device is located at a customer center or at a customer premises.

18. A system for recording a communication session, comprising: a called phone operative to receive the incoming call, the called phone coupled to a customer center, the called phone being operative to transmit voice communications associated with the incoming call to a calling phone;a gateway operative to receive the voice communications associated with the incoming call, the gateway being operative to duplicate and transmit the voice communications over a network;a soft switch operative to instruct the gateway to duplicate and transmit the voice communications; anda recording device operative to record the duplicated voice communications.

19. The system as defined in claim 18, wherein the recording device is operative to transmit instructions to the soft switch to facilitate recording of the voice communications.

20. The system as defined in claim 19, wherein the recording device monitors the incoming calls and invokes duplicate media streaming from the gateways based on the monitored calls.