Abstract:
The invention discloses a call recording method, including the steps of: (a) setting a call recording extension in a first terminal; (b) dialing the first terminal via the call recording extension from the first terminal to communicate with a server when a phone call is established between the first terminal and a second terminal; (c) activating a three-way conference; and (d) recording the content of the phone call between the first terminal and the second terminal into the server by use of the three-way conference.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to a call recording; and more particularly, to a call recording suitable for a communication system. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Art 
         [0004]    As every body knows, the call recording function allows a user to record the content of the phone call and take action to access the recorded content of the phone call. At present, for the Private Branch Exchange (PBX) system, suitable settings are needed to achieve the recording function. Moreover, the recording settings of telephones corresponding to different PBX servers are not all the same, and it is especially complicated regarding the internet protocol private branch exchange system. 
         [0005]    Because the communication data between the terminals of the IP-PBX system is transmitted by a form of network packets, it is difficult to intercept and reorganize the network packets in technique, which needs very complicated recording system accompanying with special network settings. However, if the network packets have been encrypted, it is almost impossible to reorganize the network packets. In addition, if the IP-PBX system communicates with a terminal outside the network thereof by analog circuits, a recording apparatus can be set in the way of the analog circuits. However, if the IP-PBX system communicates with the terminal outside the network by network, the difficulty of recording is as aforementioned. 
         [0006]    Currently, certain telephones are equipped with digital recorders, so the telephones can carry on the recording without the support of PBX server. However, the storage capacity of each such telephone has its restriction, not like the PBX system having a huge storage capacity. Hence, the recording time and the number of phone call are very restricted in such phones. 
         [0007]    Therefore, a major scope of the invention is to provide a call recording method suitable for a communication system to solve the above mentioned problem. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    An aspect of the present invention is to provide a call recording method. According to an embodiment of the invention, the call recording method comprises the following steps. 
         [0009]    Firstly, a call recording extension is set in a first terminal. When a phone call is established between the first terminal and a second terminal, the first terminal dials to the first terminal via the call recording extension to communicate with a server. Next, a three-way conference is activated. Afterwards, the content of the phone call between the first terminal and the second terminal is recorded into the server by use of the three-way conference. 
         [0010]    Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a communication system. According to another embodiment of the invention, the communication system comprises a server, a first terminal and a second terminal. 
         [0011]    The server comprises a data base. The first terminal has a call recording extension set in it. When a phone call is established between the first terminal and the second terminal, the first terminal dials to the first terminal via the call recording extension to communicate with the server and to activate a three-way conference, and then the content of the phone call between the first terminal and the second terminal is recorded into the data base of the server. 
         [0012]    The advantage and spirit of the invention may be understood by the following recitations together with the appended drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE APPENDED DRAWINGS 
         [0013]      FIG. 1  is a functional block diagram illustrating a communication system according to an embodiment of the invention. 
           [0014]      FIG. 2  is the transmission direction of the audio frequency signal during the three-way conference. 
           [0015]      FIG. 3  is a functional block diagram illustrating a communication system according to another embodiment of the invention. 
           [0016]      FIG. 4  is a flow chart illustrating the call recording method according to another embodiment of the invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0017]    In order to sufficiently understand the concept of the invention, embodiments and their related figures are listed in the following for detailed descriptions. Please refer to  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 1  is a functional block diagram illustrating a communication system  1  according to an embodiment of the invention. 
         [0018]    As shown in  FIG. 1 , the communication system  1  comprises a PBX server  10 , a first terminal  12 , a second terminal  20  and a voice mail server  14 . Please note that the communication system  1  may comprise a plurality of terminals and is not limited to the first terminal  12 . Moreover, besides existing independently (as shown in  FIG. 1 ), the voice mail server  14  may also be contained in the PBX server  10 . In practice, the PBX server  10  can be an Internet Protocol Private Branch Exchange (IP-PBX). And, the communication system  1  according to the invention can be applied to a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). 
         [0019]    In practice, the first terminal  12  and the voice mail server  14  communicate with each other via a first network N 1 , for example, a Local Area Network (LAN), and through the PBX server  10 . But, the communication is not limited to LAN. The second terminal  20  is outside the first network N 1  and is located in a second network N 2 . The second terminal  20  is communicated with the first terminal  12  via, for example, a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) N 3 . 
         [0020]    As shown in  FIG. 1 , the first terminal  12  has a call recording extension  120  therein and comprises a communication unit  122 . In practice, the first terminal  12  may be connected to an external electronic apparatus (e.g. a computer) and the call recording extension  120  in the first terminal  12  is setup via an application program. The communicating unit  122  is for connecting to apparatuses of the communication system  1 , for example, the second terminal  20  and the server. It is emphasized that the first terminal  12  according to the invention has the function of three-way conference. In addition, the call recording extension  120  is standard for the PBX server  10 , i.e. the first terminal  12  does not need the PBX server  10  to provide special support. The voice mail server  14  comprises a data base  140 . 
         [0021]    When a phone call is established between the first terminal  12  and the second terminal  20 , the user of the first terminal  12  can dial to the first terminal itself via the call recording extension  120  if the user wants to start recording the content of the phone call at any time during the period of the phone call. Because the first terminal  12  is communicated with the second terminal  20 , the first terminal  12  transfers the incoming call dialed via the call recording extension  120  to the voice mail server  14 , i.e. the voice mail server  14  is communicated via the communicating unit  122  and the three-way conference is activated. 
         [0022]    In practice, the first terminal  12  may comprise an input unit  124  (for example, a key switch) coupled to the communicating unit  122 . When the user presses the input unit  124  during the phone call of the first terminal  12 , the communicating unit  122  will make the phone call via the call recording extension  120  in response to the user&#39;s operation. 
         [0023]    Please refer to  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 2  is the transmission directions of the audio frequency signals during the three-way conference. After the three-way conference is activated, the first terminal  12  receives a first audio frequency signal A from the second terminal  20  and a second audio frequency signal B from the voice mail server  14 . For example, the first audio frequency signal A is the voice of the user of the second terminal  20 , and the second audio frequency signal B is a message of “greeting” or “goodbye” sent out from the voice mail server  14 . The second terminal  20  receives a third audio frequency signal C (for example, the voice of the user of the first terminal  12 ) from the first terminal  12  and the second audio frequency signal B from the voice mail server  14 . However, in practice, if the message from the voice mail server  14  is not desirable to be heard by the user of the second terminal  20 , the three-way conference can be modified to make the second terminal  20  receive the third audio frequency signal C from the first terminal  12  merely. Besides, the voice mail server  14  receives a fourth audio frequency signal D comprising the third audio frequency signal C from the first terminal  12  and the first audio frequency signal A from the second terminal  20 . 
         [0024]    It is known from the above explanations that, by use of the three-way conference of the first terminal  12 , the content of the phone call between the first terminal  12  and the second terminal  20  can be recorded into the data base  140  of the voice mail server  14 . In addition, the voice mail server  14  also comprises a receiving/transmitting unit  142  coupled to the data base  140 . 
         [0025]    After the content of the phone call between the first terminal  12  and the second terminal  20  is stored into the data base  140  of the voice mail server  14 , the user may access the recorded content of the phone call directly via any terminal connected to the receiving/transmitting unit  142 . Or, the voice mail server  14  may send the recorded content of the phone call in a form of an e-mail&#39;s attached file to the user for reading. 
         [0026]    Please refer to  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 3  is a functional block diagram illustrating a communication system  3  according to another embodiment of the invention. 
         [0027]    The communication system  3  comprises a PBX server  30 , a first terminal  32 , a second terminal  34  and a voice mail server  36 . In the embodiment, the first terminal  32 , the second terminal  34  and the voice mail server  36  are located in the same network N 4 , for example, a local area network, and communicate with each other via the PBX server  30 . 
         [0028]    As shown in  FIG. 3 , the first terminal  32  and the second terminal  34  have a first call recording extension  320  and a second call recording extension  340  therein respectively. It is emphasized that both the first terminal  32  and the second terminal  34  have the function of three-way conference. 
         [0029]    Therefore, when the user of the first terminal  32  dials to the second terminal  34 , the user of the second terminal  34  can dial to the second terminal  34  itself via the second call recording extension  340  if the user of the second terminal  34  wants to start recording the content of the phone call at any time during the period of the phone call. And then, the voice mail server  36  is communicated and the three-way conference is activated. Thereby, the content of the phone call is recorded into the data base  360  of the voice mail server  36 . Similarly, after the user of the second terminal  34  dials to the first terminal  32 , the user of the first terminal  32  also can achieve the recording furntion via the first call recording extension  320 . 
         [0030]    Please refer to  FIG. 4 .  FIG. 4  is a flow chart illustrating the call recording method according to another embodiment of the invention. In practice, the call recording method according to the invention can be performed in an IP-PBX system. In addition, the IP-PBX system may apply a session initiation protocol. 
         [0031]    Firstly, in step S 100 , a call recording extension is set in a first terminal. 
         [0032]    When a phone call is established between the first terminal and a second terminal, step S 102  is performed to dial to the first terminal via the call recording extension from the first terminal to communicate with a server. Please note that the first terminal and the second terminal can be in the same network or different networks. 
         [0033]    Next, in step S 104 , a three-way conference is activated. 
         [0034]    Afterwards, the content of the phone call between the first terminal and the second terminal is recorded into the server by use of the three-way conference. 
         [0035]    To sum up, the call recording method of the invention may set up the call recording extension in the terminal of the communication system, and record the content of the phone call of the terminal via the three-way conference. No matter the terminals are in the same network or different networks, the phone call between the terminals can be recorded according to this invention. Besides, because said call recording extension is standard for the PBX server, the call recording method of the invention does not need the special support of the PBX server or additional complicated recording systems. 
         [0036]    With the example and explanations above, the features and spirits of the invention will be hopefully well described. Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device may be made while retaining the teaching of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.