Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
  • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
  • H04M3/42221—Conversation recording systems
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
  • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
  • H04M3/42025—Calling or Called party identification service
  • H04M3/42034—Calling party identification service
  • H04M3/42059—Making use of the calling party identifier
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
  • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
  • H04M3/42025—Calling or Called party identification service
  • H04M3/42085—Called party identification service
  • H04M3/42102—Making use of the called party identifier
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
  • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
  • H04M3/42314—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers in private branch exchanges
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
  • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
  • H04M3/50—Centralised arrangements for answering calls; Centralised arrangements for recording messages for absent or busy subscribers ; Centralised arrangements for recording messages
  • H04M3/51—Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention, e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
  • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
  • H04M3/54—Arrangements for diverting calls for one subscriber to another predetermined subscriber
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W4/00—Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
  • H04W4/12—Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W4/00—Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
  • H04W4/16—Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a system for recording voice/data transmissions and particularly but not exclusively to transmissions received by a mobile telecommunications device such as a mobile telephone, PDA or the like.
• voice/data transmissions such as telephone conversations, or data transmissions such as SMS, MMS messages, between mobile telephones and the like, for example for forensic or legal reasons such that these transmissions can be reviewed and checked subsequently.
• a telecommunications system comprising an electronic call centre, and a telecommunications device operative to transmit and receive data over the network to/from a desired location, the telecommunications device being provided with routing means operative to route data transmissions between the telecommunications device and the desired location to the electronic call centre.
• the electronic call centre is operative to store a copy of the data transmission for later review.
• the system of the current invention stems from some work in trying to improve our original system and in particular in trying to ensure that the recording of voice/data transmission has indeed taken place, and in trying to ensure that the operation of the electronic call centre and the routing means are largely invisible at least to the person receiving the voice/data transmission.
• a telecommunications system comprising an electronic call centre, and a recipient telecommunications device operative to receive a voice/data transmission over a telecommunications network, the recipient telecommunications device being provided with routing means operative to route the voice/data transmission via the electronic call centre, the electronic call centre being operative to store a copy of the voice/data transmission, the system being operative to verify that the voice/data transmission has been routed via the electronic call centre.
• the system is operative to redirect the voice/data transmission via the electronic call centre if the verification is negative.
• the system is operative to route the voice/data transmission to the electronic call centre via a phone number/DDI that is unique to the user of the recipient telecommunications device.
• the system is operative to determine the telephone number of the recipient telecommunications device that corresponds to the unique phone number/DDI and to route the voice/data transmission to the determined telephone number.
• the system is operative to identify the CLI of the originating telecommunications device of the voice/data transmission and to subsequently determine where to route the voice/data transmission on the basis of the CLI. Preferably where no CLI is identified, the system is operative to route the voice/data transmission to the electronic call centre.
• the system may be operative to modify the CLI to include an identifier indicative that the voice/data transmission has been routed via the electronic call centre. This indicates that the voice/data transmission is being recorded as required.
• a predetermined identifier is stored on the routing means, the electronic call centre adding the identifier to the CLI, the routing means being operative to compare the added identifier with the predetermined identifier to verify that the voice/data transmission has been routed via the electronic call centre.
• the identifier may comprise a prefix or suffix to the CLI.
• the identifier may comprise the absence of part of the CLI such that the CLI is shorter than a predetermined length, the system being operative to compare the length of the CLI with a predetermined length to verify that the voice/data transmission has been routed via the electronic call centre.
• the identifier may comprise a default CLI stored on the routing means, the electronic call centre being operative to route the voice/data transmission to the routing means with the default CLI, the routing means being operative to compare the default CLI transmitted with the voice/data transmission with the default CLI stored on the routing means to verify that the voice/data transmission has been routed via the electronic call centre.
• the routing means is operative, where the verification performed by the routing means is negative, to cache the CLI of the inbound voice/data transmission for a predetermined time period and to route the voice/data transmission via the electronic call centre.
• the system is preferably operative to check the CLI with any CLIs that have been cached, to verify that the voice/data transmission has been routed via the electronic call centre.
• the routing means is preferably operative to search the address book of the recipient telecommunications device to try to match the CLI of the voice/data transmission with any CLIs stored on the recipient telecommunications device, the routing means being operative to display the identity of the originator of the voice/data transmission when a match is successful.
• a recipient telecommunications device operative to receive a voice/data transmission over a telecommunications network, the recipient telecommunications device comprising routing means operative to route the voice/data transmission via an electronic call centre, the routing means being operative to verify that the voice/data transmission has been routed via the electronic call centre.
• an electronic call centre operative to receive a voice/data transmission over a telecommunications network from a recipient telecommunications device, the voice/data transmission having been originally directed to the recipient telecommunications device, the electronic call centre being operative to store a copy of the voice/data transmission, and to modify the voice/data transmission to indicate that the voice/data transmission has been routed via the electronic call centre.
• a telecommunications system comprising an electronic call centre, and a recipient telecommunications device operative to receive a voice/data transmission over a telecommunications network
• the recipient telecommunications device being provided with routing means operative to route the voice/data transmission to the recipient telecommunications device via the electronic call centre
• the electronic call centre being operative to store a copy of the voice/data transmission
• the routing means being operative to attempt to establish the identity of the originator of the voice/data transmission that has been routed via the electronic call centre and to display any identity that is established is shown on the recipient telecommunications device.
• a recipient telecommunications device operative to receive a voice/data transmission over a telecommunications network
• the recipient telecommunications device comprising routing means operative to route the voice/data transmission to the recipient telecommunications device via an electronic call centre operative to store a copy of the voice/data transmission, the routing means being operative to attempt to establish the identity of the originator of the voice/data transmission that has been routed via the electronic call centre and to display any identity that is established such that the identity of the originator is shown on the recipient telecommunications device.
• an electronic call centre operative to receive a voice/data transmission over a telecommunications network from a recipient telecommunications device, the electronic call centre being operative to store a copy of the voice/data transmission, and to transmit the identity of the originator of the voice/data transmission that has been routed via the electronic call centre to the recipient telecommunications device.
• Other aspects of the present invention may include any combination of the features or limitations referred to herein.
• Figure 1 is a schematic of a system in accordance with the present invention.
• Figure 2 is a control diagram illustrating the functionality of routing means comprising part of the system of Figure 1 ; and Figure 3 is a control diagram illustrating the functionality of a server of an electronic call centre comprising part of the system of Figure 1.
• an example mobile telecommunications system 1 comprises a switch, which may be a private branch exchange (or PBX) 3, or a telephony operator switch or any similar installation to which a plurality of telephones 5 may be connected, as is well known.
• the switch 3 is connected to the public/mobile telephone network 7, 8.
• An electronic call centre is connected to the public telephone network 7, directly or via the switch 3 and in this example comprises a control server 11 and a voice recording server 13 operative to create voice recordings via passive line taps.
• the connections between the control server 11 and the switch 3 may be via QSIG trunks 16, Ethernet connection 17 or a combination of the two.
• the recording server 13 may be a dedicated resource, or may be a pre-existing recording server, serving existing telephone extensions 5.
• the servers 11 , 13 may be connected to an administrator (not shown) via a LAN. Access to recordings and control of the electronic call centre is provided via an admin interface 26 which may be connected directly to the LAN 17 or via the internet using an IPSec VPN or other secure connection.
• an edge router 19 is connected via the ethernet connection 17 and is in communication, via an internet connection, with a remote support PC 21 and an SMS gateway server 22.
• a transmitting mobile phone 23 and a recipient mobile phone 25 communicate with the control server 11 via the public/mobile telephone network 7, 8 and switch 3, or alternatively the control server 11 may be directly connected to the public/mobile telephone network 7, 8.
• the transmitting and recipient mobile phones 23, 25 are exemplary and could comprise any suitable telecommunications device whether mobile, wireless or otherwise. Examples of such devices include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, PDAs, wired and/or wireless land line telephones.
• the functionality of the system 1 will be described, in the following example, with reference to transmitting and recipient telecommunications devices comprising mobile telephones.
• the recipient mobile phone handset 25 is provided with a routing means comprising voice/data transmission controller that may comprise software code stored on the handset, or hardware provided on the handset.
• the routing means is operative to route incoming realtime voice transmissions such as telephone calls via the electronic call centre 9.
• the routing means may additionally be operative to route and/or to forward copies of data transmissions such as SMS/MMS messages to the electronic call centre 9.
• the inbound voice/data transmissions to the recipient mobile telephone handset 25 which are required to be recorded, are controlled by the routing means and the electronic call centre 9 so as to arrive at the recipient handset 25 having been diverted via, and recorded by, the electronic call centre, that is, diverted via the control and recording servers 11 , 13.
• the following description is made with reference to a voice transmission, ie a telephone call. However the process described applies equally to data transmissions such as SMS or MMS messages.
• the routing means on the handset 25 examines the incoming Caller Line Identity (CLI) . If the CLI meets one of a number of conditions, the call is allowed by the routing means to ring normally on the recipient handset.
• CLI Caller Line Identity
• the routing means ends the call immediately, before it can be answered. Ending the call invokes call diversion between the recipient handset 25 and the electronic call centre 9.
• the mobile phone call diversion process is normally used for diverting calls to voice mail when the user is unable to take them.
• the call divert settings are changed so that calls rejected by the routing means of the recipient handset 25 are routed via the electronic call centre 9.
• Each recipient handset 25 is allocated a unique number (DDI) of the electronic call centre 9 to which their calls are routed in use.
• DAI unique number
• the electronic call centre 9 preferably fulfils the functions of:
• the recipient mobile phone user prefers to know, where possible, from whom the inbound call originates.
• the electronic call centre 9 is operative according to some rules whereby the routing means on the recipient handset 25 attempts to match the inbound CLI of the transmitting handset 23 with information stored on the recipient handset 25.
• the routing means of the recipient handset 25 is operative according to the following rules: 1. If the inbound call has no CLI the call is diverted by the routing means to the electronic call centre 9 and in particular to the control server 11.
• the call is allowed to ring on the recipient handset 25 and the routing means attempts to match the short CLI with numbers stored in the address book of the recipient handset 25 , by seeking to find the short CLI within a full length stored phone number. If a unique match is found, the corresponding contact name is displayed on the recipient handset screen 25. If there is no unique match, 'Unknown Caller' or the like is displayed together with, optionally, the short CLI. 3.
• a specified identifier can be stored on the recipient handset 25 by the routing means as part of a configuration data file for example.
• the call is allowed to ring and the routing means attempts to match the modified CLI with numbers stored in the recipient phone address book, by removing the specified identifier from the modified CLI. If a unique match is found, the corresponding contact name is displayed on the screen of the recipient handset 25. If there is no unique match, 'Unknown Caller' or the like is displayed along with, optionally, the CLI.
• the identifier may, for example, comprise a numeric, or alphanumeric, prefix or suffix to the standard CLI of the transmitting phone. Examples of such a prefix or suffix include 099, ABC, or AB9. 4.
• the call is allowed to ring.
• the routing means attempts to match the short CLI with numbers stored in the recipient phone address book. If a unique match is found, the corresponding contact name is displayed on the screen. If there is no unique match, 'Unknown Caller' or the like is displayed along with, optionally, the CLI.
• a default platform CLI for the electronic call centre 9 is stored on the routing means of the recipient handset 25 as part of a configuration data file. If the inbound CLI matches the default platform CLI, the call is allowed to ring. If a CLI has been cached by the routing means within a specified time limit (see 6 below) the routing means attempts to match the cached CLI with numbers stored in the recipient phone address book. If a unique match is found, the corresponding contact name is displayed on the screen. If there is no unique match, ' Unknown caller' or the like is displayed along with, optionally, the CLI.
• the routing means on the recipient handset 25 caches the CLI of the transmitting phone 23 for a specified period of time and terminates the call, which results in the call being diverted to the electronic call centre 9, that is, the routing and recording infrastructure as in 1 above.
• These rules may be used in accordance with the invention in any combination, with some of the rules being omitted if required.
• the control and recording server 11 , 13, and the routing means of the recipient handset 25 interact to ensure that the voice/data transmission is recorded as required.
• control and recording servers 11 , 13 are operative, in this example, as follows, with reference to Figure 3.
• a call When a call is diverted by the routing means from the recipient handset 25 under rule 1 or 5 above, it arrives at the electronic call centre 9, that is, at control server 11 , via a phone number or DDI that is unique to that handset user.
• the control server 11 performs a database lookup to determine the mobile number that corresponds to the specified phone number or DDL
• the control server 11 then routes the call back to the corresponding recipient mobile number. If the recipient mobile phone 25 is busy or not available, the call is routed to a voicemail facility within the control server 11 or recording server 13 where a message can be recorded for the user to retrieve.
• a recording is also added to a database on the recording server 13, allocated against the appropriate user and stored in a manner such that the user cannot tamper with or remove it. Only a person with the appropriate credentials can gain access to the latter recording.
• the control server 11 compares the CLI of the originator, that is, the transmitting phone 23, of the inbound call to a database of registered users of the system 1.
• control server 11 routes the call back to the recipient mobile user it was intended for. If rule 4 above is applicable, the original caller's CLI is presented to the recipient handset 25. If
• control server 11 routes the call back to the recipient handset 25 it was intended for and:
• the system 1 ensures that all required voice/data transmissions to a recipient handset 25 of a user of the system 1 are firstly recorded for later inspection by suitably authorised third parties, and secondly are diverted back to the recipient handset 25 with information sufficient to enable the user of the recipient handset 25 to identify the origin of the incoming transmission.
• the system 1 is thus such that the electronic call centre 9 appears invisible.
• the electronic call centre 9 may comprise any suitable combination of servers as required, or may require only one server.
• the user database (s) may be located in the server (s) or remote therefrom.
• system 1 and the electronic call centre 9 may be implemented as a hosted managed service, supplied as a remote service to third parties, or integrated with an organisation' s existing infrastructure on site.
• the switch 3 and/or servers 11 , 13 may be located remote from the party or organisation using the system 1 , or on site.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Telephonic Communication Services (AREA)

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• 2009
  • 2009-07-01 GB GB0911392A patent/GB2460964B/en active Active
• 2010
  • 2010-05-14 HK HK10104688.7A patent/HK1138970A1/xx not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2010-06-29 EP EP10740695A patent/EP2449757A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2010-06-29 WO PCT/GB2010/051068 patent/WO2011001171A1/en active Application Filing

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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