EP2543178A2

EP2543178A2 - Method and device for the legally secure archiving of telephone contents

Info

Publication number: EP2543178A2
Application number: EP11705870A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Jerry John Artishdad; Christian Hett; Alexander Naumann
Original assignee: Artec Computer GmbH
Current assignee: Artec Computer GmbH
Priority date: 2010-03-01
Filing date: 2011-02-23
Publication date: 2013-01-09
Also published as: DE102010009765A1; DE102010009765B4; WO2011107386A3; US20120323856A1; KR20120130242A; US9344559B2; KR101523615B1; WO2011107386A4; WO2011107386A2

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and a device for the legally secure archiving of telephone contents. In particular, it should be possible to provide a legally compliant possibility of longtime archiving for telephone conversations and faxes. This is achieved by the system according to the invention for the legally secure archiving of telephone contents, comprising a. a control module (A) for telephone connections; b. a communication module (I) for ISDN links and/or a communication module (V) for VoIP connections and/or a communication module (X) for IAX connections; c. an administration module (S) to which an internal data storage unit (T1) and/or one or several external data storage units (T2, T3) are connected; d. a configuration module (K) for the configuration of the control module (A) and the administration module (S), wherein - the control module (A) is connected to the communication module (I), the communication module (V) and/or the communication module (X) as well as to the administration module (S), - the communication module (I) is connected to one or several telephone terminals and/or a telephone installation, - the communication module (V) is connected to a VoIP server, - the communication module (X) is connected to an IAX server, - the configuration module (K) and the administration module (S) have a network connecting possibility for clients. The is further achieved by a method for the legally secure archiving of telephone contents according to the main claim.

Description

Method and device for legally compliant archiving of telephony content

The present invention is concerned with a method and apparatus for legally compliant archival of telephony content. In particular, a legally compliant long-term preservation option for telephone calls and faxes should be created here.

In business dealings arises again and again the necessity, z. B. to record telephone conversations as proof of contractual agreements. This results in two principal problem areas. On the one hand, the data protection regulations must be adhered to during the preparation of the records and, on the other hand, a revision-proof long-term archiving of the recorded conversations is also necessary - also in compliance with the data protection provisions.

In the field of telephone records, magnetically or digitally recording hardware solutions that can be connected to a conventional telephone are generally known. In this case, an information of the / the conversation partner / s of the recorded phone calls is dependent on the announcement by the recording. In addition, there are pure audio recordings that can not provide any reliable proof of their date of manufacture or their unaltered originality. Similar solutions are known in particular in the field of Internet telephony via voice over IP (VoIP). In these, a software records the conversations on the participant's computer as an audio file. Again, there are the same disadvantages as in the hardware solutions for the standard phones.

Object of the present invention was therefore to develop a solution by means of which a telephone connection can be controlled so that, depending on the consent of the caller to a recording a record of telephone conversations is carried out and this record legally safe, data protection compliant and can be stored under preservation of the special evidential force recorded natural language in an archive data storage for long-term preservation. Likewise, a verifiable archiving of fax transmissions should be made possible.

This object is achieved by means of a method for legally compliant archiving of telephony content, in each case at least containing the steps

a. for internal calls

- Receiving a call

- Polling a destination number

- Calling the destination number

- Play a recording hint

- Request the consent of the called party

- If the called party agrees to connect the participants and announce the recording status otherwise termination of the call or other configured behavior in case of refusal

- Upon successful approval of the called recording of the conversation in an audio file

- With the consent of the called party, provide the audio file with a time stamp and advanced signature

- Upon successful approval of the called filing of the time-stamped and signed audio file in an archive memory for long-term archiving

b. for external calls

- Receiving a call

- Play a recording hint

- Request the consent of the caller

- If the caller has given his consent Establish the connection to the internal subscriber and announce the record status otherwise cancel the call or other configured behavior in case of refusal

- If the caller has consented to recording the call in an audio file - Upon successful caller approval, provide the audio file with a timestamp and advanced signature

- If the caller has given his consent, filing the time-stamped and signed audio file in an archive memory for long-term archiving in conference calls

Receiving a call from a conference participant wishing to initiate the recording of the conference call

- Play a recording hint

- Connection of the system as a conference participant

- Recording the conference call in an audio file

- Provide the audio file with a timestamp and advanced signature

- Storage of the time-stamped and signed audio file in an archive memory for long-term archiving

or

- Connection of the system as a conference participant

- Separation of the connection of the calling conference participant with the conference call

- Play a recording hint

- Request the consent of the conference participants

- If the conference participants have given their consent, the caller will be called back to join the conference and the recording status will be announced, otherwise the conference call will be terminated or something else configured

Behavior in case of refusal

- With the agreement of the conference participants, record the conference call in an audio file

- If the conference participants have given their consent, provide the audio file with a time stamp and advanced signature

- If the conference participants have given their consent, the time-stamped and signed audio file can be stored in an archive memory for long-term archiving for fax content, whereby the distinction between fax content and voice content is automatic

- Receiving a call

- For outgoing fax calls, determine the destination number and connect to the fax machine or fax server

- For incoming fax calls Connect to the internal fax machine or fax server

- Recording the fax in a recording file, whereby the recording is transparent to the participating fax machines and / or fax servers

- Provide the log file with a timestamp and advanced signature

- Storage of the time-stamped and signed recording file in an archive memory for long-term archiving. Furthermore, the object is achieved by the inventive system for legally compliant archiving of telephony content, including

a. a control module (A) for telephone connections,

b. a communication module (I) for ISDN connections and / or a communication module (V) for VoIP connections and / or a communication module (X) for IAX connections,

c. a management module (S) to which an internal data memory (T1) and / or one or more external data memories (T2, T3) are connected, d. a configuration module (K) for configuring the control module (A) and the management module (S),

in which

- Control module (A) with communication module (I), communication module (V) and / or communication module (X) and with management module (S) is connected,

Communication module (I) is connected to one or more telephony terminals and / or a telephone system,

Communication module (V) is connected to a VoiP server,

Communication module (X) is connected to a ΙΑΧ server, - Configuration module (K) and management module (S) have a network connection option for clients.

The system according to the invention consists of several modules, which can be designed both as hardware and as software components. The schematic structure of the system is shown in FIG. Control module (A) is used to control conversations of any kind. This module is configured by the configuration module (K). There are special connection variants in the form of modules (I), (V) and (X). Communication module (I) is used for the communication of control module (A) with one or more telephone terminals and / or a telephone system, communication module (V) for the communication of control module (A) with a VoIP server and communication module (X) of communication an IAX server. Communication module (I) preferably controls an ISDN card with connections via S0 buses and multiplex and is also connected to one or more telephony terminals and / or a telephone system. The communication module (V) provides communication to a VoIP server and preferably has SIP / SIPS and / or H.323 protocols and is correspondingly connected to SIP / SIPS and / or H.323 servers. Communication module (V), communication module (X) to an IAX server.

The configuration of the modules (I), (V) and (X) is flexible and takes place via the configuration module (K). Most preferably, the configuration module (K) is executed as a web service.

Preferably, one or more fax machines are connected to the communication module (I), communication module (V) and / or communication module (X) to allow an original fax output in addition to the archival.

Management module (S) is used to manage the control module (A) and the legally compliant archiving of the data from the control module (A). The management module (S) is also configured via configuration module (K). The management module (S) also has connection to the data memory (T1) stored in the system and / or one or more external data memories (T2) and (T3) configured via the configuration module (K). For archiving four different scenarios are provided, which represent different scenarios of a possible telephone conversation with its recording and control. These individual scenarios can be configured in detail independently of each other. Each scenario can be assigned to specific numbers (one or more). It is also possible to specify via which ports (ISDN port, ΙΑΧ port or VoIP access) a specific defined scenario can be achieved by the communication modules (I), (V) and (X). It is finally possible to define many scenarios, also for different areas or companies in different languages. Hosting is also possible.

During a dialing process or the announcement to one of the two call participants, it can be determined whether the other subscriber is to hear a music on hold or a predefined announcement.

The announcements and confirmations of the recording are helpful for a legally compliant recording and archiving of the conversations, in particular to meet privacy concerns. The method according to the invention defines four scenarios: gateway, forward, conference and conference with callback, as well as fax.

2, the scenario Gateway is shown schematically. In this scenario, the system prompts the caller to enter (or otherwise transmit) a phone number. This number is then called by the system and the person called is asked whether he agrees to a recording of the call or not. If rejected, the conversation could be instant to be ended. The caller is informed of the decision of the called party, then both parties are connected.

It is possible to define which telephone numbers are allowed to reach this scenario and whether this can only be achieved by internal or external telephone numbers. Likewise, the configuration of a list of allowed destination numbers is possible.

In Fig. 3 the scenario forward is shown schematically. The idea of this scenario is to specify a fixed destination number or even a number pool to which the call is forwarded. In this scenario, a caller calls the system and is initially asked if he or she agrees to a recording of the following conversation. The caller can agree or reject this record by pressing one of two configured buttons. Alternatively, a verbal approval via speech recognition is possible. A rejection can also be deactivated, so that only a confirmation takes place or the caller must hang up, if he contradicts the recording. It can be configured whether the call will be terminated immediately if the recording is rejected. After a successful keystroke or verbal approval, the specified destination numbers are called by the system according to a defined scheme and the caller is notified of the status of the caller's selection if configured. Furthermore, it is possible to require no input of a key or verbal consent, a rejection must be made in the case by hanging up or a subsequent stop the recording. Subsequently, both participants are connected in the system and the participants in the conversation are in contact with each other. A recording has been running since the beginning of the announcement that the call is being recorded, the record being deleted if the consent is denied. It is possible to define which telephone numbers are allowed to reach this scenario and whether this can only be achieved by internal or external telephone numbers.

The third scenario Conference and Conference with callback is shown in FIGS. 4a, 4b and 5. Fig. 4a shows the process of a telephone system that allows an immediate start a three-party conference. Fig. 4b shows the corresponding variant of a telephone system that allows the beginning of a three-way conference only by merging held connections. For an existing telephone call from one to n subscribers, the system can be switched at any time for the purpose of recording. This then forms a conference call in a broader sense. Depending on the telephone system, only the caller of the device or all subscribers hear the confirmation that is being recorded immediately. Depending on the telephone system, the call must be returned to the previous call. A recording, if configured, can be stopped or otherwise controlled at any time. Each participant in the conversation has the opportunity to do so.

In Fig. 5 shows the flow of the conference callback. This scenario differs from the aforementioned conference scenario in that the caller of the system is asked to end his call immediately. The rest of the participants are then asked if they agree to a record of the conversation or reject it. If rejected, the conference call can be ended immediately. When a recording is made, this is said and the caller is called back by the system, the decision is sent to him and he is reintegrated into the existing conference call.

The callback guarantees that the other party (s) of the conference who did not start the recording will in any case take note of the message and optional approval, whereas the aforementioned conference scenario can not guarantee this depending on the telephone system. The fourth scenario, Fax, does not include a request to approve the recording, as no consent is necessary and possible. The distinction between language content and faxes is automatic. A distinction must be made between incoming and outgoing faxes.

For outgoing faxes, the system is called by the internal fax machine / fax server, determines the destination phone number, and connects to the fax machine or fax server. The destination number can be determined, for example, from a suffix of the selected fax number whose prefix is the internal number of the system. For incoming faxes, the system connects to the internal fax machine / fax server. Then, the fax is recorded at one time, and the communication between the fax machine to which it is to be forwarded and the fax machine that sends the fax is passed through 1: 1, so that the fax machines do not notice that the faxes are archived on the system were, d. H. the recording is transparent to them.

Preferably, a recording file for fax transmissions is an audio file, in particular a compressed format, preferably MP3 or WMA, a digital ISDN file, a graphics file, in particular TIF or JPG, and / or a document file, in particular PDF or, after previous OCR conversion, a text file.

One possible variant for fax operation is to transfer the fax data transmitted to the management module (S), eg. B. controlled by a set of rules, by e-mail to print, print and archive, or after the disclosure to delete, filter or only to archive and send a notification.

As a final procedural step, the recording file is provided with a timestamp and advanced signature in all scenarios the filing of the time-stamped and signed recording file in the archive memory for long-term archiving.

The control of the call recording is shown in FIG. In the entire scenarios, the recording status can be controlled during a call, as far as this is configured by the configuration module (K). For this purpose, each of the following points can be individually configured and determine whether this is even possible. A person authorized to control this can send a control action via a configurable key to the control module (A). Control module (A) performs the desired action if necessary. A call recording can be paused, started, deleted or restarted. Likewise, if necessary, delete the previous record. For each of these actions, an announcement is configurable, which both parties hear, and the buttons that lead to this action. Furthermore, the current recording status can be queried.

Most preferably, the recorded conversation or fax files are cryptographically encrypted before being stored in the archive data store in order to protect them from unauthorized viewing.

In an advantageous embodiment variant of the method, a selection from different announcement texts, in particular in different languages, takes place on the basis of the telephone number and / or the country code of the external caller. This ensures that every caller can understand the message.

In each of the scenarios according to the invention, care must be taken that calls can not be connected with other conversations. Also, at the end of a call, any recording that may be in progress must be ended immediately and the line of the other party must be closed. An invalid entry of a conversation participant can be seen as well as a missing input and to handle accordingly. This can be done by a renewed request, which may be limited in number, or even lead to the termination of the call. The acceptance of calls with suppressed phone number can be prevented.

It is ensured, prior to the acceptance of a call by the management module (S), that a reliable storage of the record can take place, eg. By checking the reachability of the external memory (T2) if the system is configured so that data must be immediately available on at least two memories.

The announcements for the caller and the called party can be different.

In general, it is possible to configure how many attempts a conversation participant makes when selecting whether the conversation should be recorded.

Preferably, a keywording or the setting of metadata after a successful call recording from each client via management module (S) is possible. The automatic setting of this metadata by the system is possible based on criteria such as the phone numbers or the scenario or the time. This is done by management module (S) via a set of rules to be configured or a conversion of the call data in text. Advantageously, an indexing of the telephone conversation by means of speaker-independent speech recognition from the recorded conversation and filing of the keywords takes place together with the recorded audio file.

Furthermore, an input mask for information about the telephone call is preferably displayed on a client computer in the case of voice telephony content and this information is stored together with the recorded audio file after the telephone call has ended. During a call, one of the configured clients can be signaled that a recording is in progress. This has the option of talking to the client via a mask on the client or the conversation with the recording Provide metadata and other information. On the client, this metadata can be set via a program during the call, which signals the beginning, the progress and the end of a call and its recording by the management module (S).

Recorded conversations can be searched for and found using the metadata, but even without this metadata it is possible to find these conversations. Identification is possible based on the phone numbers or the time. An advantageous embodiment variant of the method according to the invention provides that, in addition to the recorded audio file, the call number of the internal and / or the external subscriber is stored in the archive data memory as a search criterion and / or authorization criterion for an archive query.

The system can be used to listen to a recording, download it and check the signature as far as the necessary rights, protected and checked by the management module (S), are met.

Claims

Method for the legally secure archiving of telephony content, in each case at least including the steps

a. for internal calls

- Receiving a call

- Polling a destination number

- Calling the destination number

- Play a recording hint

- Request the consent of the called party

b. for external calls

- Receiving a call

- Play a recording hint

- Request the consent of the caller

- If the caller has consented to recording the call in an audio file

- Upon successful caller approval, provide the audio file with a timestamp and advanced signature - If the caller has given his consent, filing the time-stamped and signed audio file in an archive memory for long-term archiving

in conference calls

- Play a recording hint

- Connection of the system as a conference participant

- Recording the conference call in an audio file

- Provide the audio file with a timestamp and advanced signature

or

- Connection of the system as a conference participant

- Play a recording hint

- Request the consent of the conference participants

- If the conference participants have given their consent, the caller will be called back to join the conference and the recording status will be announced, otherwise termination of the conference call or other configured behavior in case of refusal

- If the conference participants have given their consent, the time-stamped and signed audio file can be stored in an archive memory for long-term archiving d. for fax content, whereby the distinction between fax content and voice content is automatic

- Receiving a call

- For incoming fax calls Connect to the internal fax machine or fax server

- Provide the log file with a timestamp and advanced signature

- Storage of the time-stamped and signed recording file in an archive memory for long-term archiving

A method according to claim 1, characterized in that based on the phone number and / or the country code of the external caller a selection of different announcement texts, in particular in different languages, takes place.

A method according to claim 1 and 2, characterized in that the consent to the recording is verbal or by key input and the recording already takes place at the beginning of the query, the record is deleted in case of refusal of consent again.

A method according to claim 1 to 3, characterized in that an input mask for information about the call is displayed on a client computer in voice telephony content and this information is stored after the call with the recorded audio file.

A method according to claim 1 to 4, characterized in that as a search criterion and / or authorization criterion for an archive query in addition to the recorded audio file, the phone number of the inter- NEN and / or the external subscriber is stored in the archive data memory.

6. The method according to claim 1 to 5, characterized in that means of speaker-independent speech recognition from the recorded conversation is an indexing of the phone call and these keywords are stored together with the recorded audio file.

7. The method according to claim 1 to 6, characterized in that during the conversation, a control of the recording function can be done by initiating the recording or by all participants in the conversation.

8. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the recording file for fax transmissions an audio file, in particular a compressed format, preferably MP3 or WMA, a digital ISDN file, a graphics file, in particular TIF or JPG, and / or a document file, in particular PDF or after previous OCR conversion is a text file.

9. The method of claim 1 to 8, characterized in that the recorded conversation or fax files are encrypted cryptographically before filing in the archive data store.

10.System for legally compliant archiving of telephony content according to one of claims 1 to 9, including

a. a control module (A) for telephone connections,

in which

Control module (A) is connected to communication module (I), communication module (V) and / or communication module (X) and to management module (S),

- communication module (I) is connected to one or more telephony terminals and / or a telephone system,

Communication module (V) is connected to a VoIP server, communication module (X) is connected to a ΙΑΧ server,

- Configuration module (K) and management module (S) have a network connection option for clients.

1 1. System according to claim 10, characterized in that the communication module (V) has SIP / SIPS and / or H.323 protocols and is correspondingly connected to SIP / SIPS and / or H.323 servers.

12. System according to claim 10 and 1 1, characterized in that the configuration module (K) is designed as a web service.

13. System according to claim 10 to 12, characterized in that the communication module (I) controls an ISDN card and connected to the one or more telephone ieendgeräten and / or the telephone system.

14. System according to claim 10 to 13, characterized in that one or more fax machines with the communication module (I), communication module (V) and / or communication module (X) are connected.