Abstract:
Embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for recording media communications. An exemplary method is comprised of the following steps: configuring an endpoint recording device for relaying an incoming call to an endpoint component; receiving the incoming call from a communication system; determining whether to relay the incoming call to the endpoint component based on the configurations of the endpoint recording device; responsive to determining that the incoming call is to be relayed, relaying media communications associated with the incoming call to the endpoint component via the endpoint recording device; and recording the relayed media communications at the endpoint component.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/540,902, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. utility application entitled, “Systems and Methods For Endpoint Recording Using Phones,” having Ser. No. 11/394,410, filed Mar. 31, 2006, which is entirely incorporated herein by reference, a continuation-in-part of copending U.S. utility application entitled, “Systems and Methods For Endpoint Recording Using a Conference Bridge,” having Ser. No. 11/395,350, filed Mar. 31, 2006, which is entirely incorporated herein by reference, and a continuation-in-part of copending U.S. utility application entitled, “Systems and Methods For Endpoint Recording Using a Media Application Server,” having Ser. No. 11/395,759 filed Mar. 31, 2006, which is entirely incorporated herein by reference. This application also claims the benefit to U.S. Provisional Application entitled “Systems and Methods for Enterprise Recording Via Software Switch”, filed on Aug. 15, 2006, having Ser. No. 60/837,816. All of the above referenced applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention is generally related to recording media communications and, more particularly, is related to systems and methods for recording the media communications through a customer center. 
     BACKGROUND 
     A traditional passive tap recording technique includes recorders that are deployed along routes of communications. In this technique, each recorder operates similar to a “sniffer” by analyzing pass-by communication packets. The recorder records the packets corresponding to certain communication sessions based on its configuration.  FIG. 1  shows a typical deployment of passive tap recorders in a contact center. In an IP telephony environment, recorders are typically deployed either at the voice gateway, which interfaces between Internet Protocol (IP) network and public switched telephone network (PSTN), or at switches in order to stay along the routes of the communications. This technique has the advantages of (1) minimum intrusion to a communication system, (2) cost effectiveness in deployment for companies with centralized office locations, and (3) easy scalability for compliance recording. However, for companies with many distributed branch offices, the above advantages start to diminish. This is especially true if the purpose of the recorders is for quality monitoring. 
     With the growing usage of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology, many telephony-based businesses, such as customer centers, are adopting distributed telephony systems with local access to PSTN, which are still controlled by centralized soft switches. Many customer centers are using at-home agents with soft-phones on their personal computers (PCs). Hence, some of the communications in the distributed telephony system may not be “along the communication route” that is needed for passive tap recording. Secondly, network security has now become a concern. The deployment of encryption technology has made passive tap recording become even more problematic. 
     In addition, many customer centers deploy recorders for quality monitoring purposes, instead of compliance. In this regard, only a small percentage of the communications are recorded, monitored, and sampled. However, to assure the accuracy of the sampling, communications are randomly selected for recording across all branch offices. With passive tap recording, a large number of recorders are potentially required and each recorder may have low usage. 
     A typical IP-based customer center using the passive tapping “sniffing” recording method is shown in  FIG. 1 . Two branch offices are shown in the figure. To communicate with any agents at the customer center, a customer communication device, such as a time domain multiplexing (TDM) or an IP phone, first sends communication signals to a call-processing device of the customer center, such as a soft switch. The communication signals can be sent either directly to the call-processing device in case of IP to IP communications or via a media processing device, such as a voice gateway in case of TDM to IP. The communication network can be a PSTN network or IP-based network. Once the communication signals have been received, the call-processing device then routes the communication signals to an agent phone. 
     After several rounds of communication signals exchange, media communications between the agent&#39;s phone and customer&#39;s phone can proceed via media processing device and distribution devices. The distribution devices are network routers and switches. In order to record the media communications using passive tapping, recorders are deployed at the media processing device or distribution devices using the network traffic monitoring or duplicating features, such as the Cisco&#39;s Switch Port Analyzer (SPAN) feature, on these devices. These tapping features are often available to the recorders that are directly connected to the media processing device or distribution devices, namely to recorders deployed at each branch office. Hence, a large customer center having multiple branches, such as a branch in New York, a branch in Los Angeles, and a branch in Chicago, may need multiple recorders in each branch to record the voice communications. 
     SUMMARY 
     Embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for recording media communications. An exemplary method is comprised of the following steps: configuring an endpoint recording device for relaying an incoming call to an endpoint component; receiving the incoming call from a communication system; determining whether to relay the incoming call to the endpoint component based on the configurations of the endpoint recording device; responsive to determining that the incoming call is to be relayed, relaying media communications associated with the incoming call to the endpoint component via the endpoint recording device; and recording the relayed media communications at the endpoint component. 
     Customer center includes, but is not limited to, outsourced contact centers, outsourced customer relationship management, customer relationship management, voice of the customer, customer interaction, contact center, multi-media contact center, remote office, distributed enterprise, work-at-home agents, remote agents, branch office, back office, performance optimization, workforce optimization, hosted contact centers, and speech analytics, for example. 
     Other systems, methods, features, and advantages of the present invention will be or become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following drawings and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features, and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the present invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims. 
    
    
     
       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. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Disclosed herein are systems and methods for recording communication signals. In particular, the recording of the communication signals can be achieved using a soft switch, a conference bridge, a soft phone, a media communication device, a media application server and/or a gateway. In some embodiments, this can be accomplished without having a recorder directly connected to a switch or voice gateway for passive tape recording. 
     Exemplary systems are first discussed with reference to the figures. Although these systems are described in detail, they are provided for purposes of illustration only and various modifications are feasible. After the exemplary systems are described, examples of flow diagrams and sequence diagrams of the systems are provided to explain the manner in which the communication signals can be recorded. 
     Referring now in more detail to the figures,  FIG. 2  is a systematic diagram of an embodiment of a system in which voice and media communications can be recorded to an endpoint recorder. Two branch offices  203 ,  206  of a company may need to record communications with customers. Customer communication devices  223 ,  236  connect to branch offices  203 ,  206  either via an IP network  219  or via a PSTN network  216 ,  233 , respectively. The customer communication devices  223 ,  236  can include, but are not limited to, telephones, soft-phones on hand held devices, or Personal Computers. 
     Recording device(s)  226  can be deployed anywhere on the IP network  219  connected to the branch offices  203 ,  206 . Alternatively or additionally, the recording devices  226  can communicate with media controlling/processing/distributing devices  213 ,  231  in a secure fashion in encrypted environments, for getting communication events and for sending instructions. With the capability of the recording devices  226  to communicate with the media controlling/processing/distributing devices  213 ,  231 , the recording device  226  can selectively record communications in the customer center using business rule policy. Alternatively or additionally, if a recording device is a cluster of recording devices, the recording device can communicate with the media controlling/processing/distributing devices  213 ,  231  to select which recording device from the cluster of recording devices to record the communications for load balancing purposes. 
     The media controlling/processing devices control the communication between customers and agents and between agents. The media controlling/processing devices can include, but are not limited to, voice gateways, soft switches, conference bridges, and multi-media application servers. The distributing devices can include, but are not limited to, routers and switches. Based on static configuration or instructions from the recording devices, the media controlling/processing devices can duplicate and transmit on-going communication between communication devices  209 ,  229 ,  223 ,  236  to the recording devices via the IP network  219  using its media processing features, such as conferencing. Alternatively or additionally, the media controlling/processing devices can also instruct the communication devices  209 ,  229  at the company premises  203 ,  231 , respectively, to duplicate and transmit any on-going communications to the recording devices  226  using media processing features on the communication devices  209 ,  229 . The operation of the system  200  is further described in relation to  FIG. 9 . 
       FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a system in which voice communications can be recorded to a voice endpoint recorder using a conference bridge. As indicated in this figure, the system  300  is comprised of a customer center premises  301  that includes an IP telephony system  303  that enables communications between agent phones  319 ,  323 ,  326  and between agent phones and customer phone(s)  329 . The IP telephony system  303  includes soft switch  306 , conference bridge  309 , voice gateway  313  and agent phones  319 ,  323 ,  326 , all of which are connected to a company network  316 . Calls from the customer phone  329  can be routed to a voice gateway  313 , which can route the calls to the soft switch  306 . The soft switch  306  receives incoming calls and routes the calls to the agent phones  319 ,  323 ,  326 . The soft switch  306  communicates with the conference bridge  309  via the company network  316 . The IP telephony system  303  communicates with a voice endpoint recorder  339  via an IP network  333 . The company network  316  and IP network  333  can include, but are not limited to, a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), a virtual private network (VPN) and the Internet. 
     In this embodiment, the soft switch  306  is operative to send a command to the agent phones  319 ,  323 ,  326  and voice gateway  306  via the company network  316 , instructing the agent phones  319 ,  323 ,  326  and voice gateway  306  to transmit voice communications associated with the incoming calls through the conference bridge  309  via the company network  316 . The soft switch  306  also sends a command to the conference bridge  309  via the company network  316  to duplicate and transmit the voice communications to the voice endpoint recorder  339  using the IP network  333 . The operation of the system  300  is further described in relation to  FIGS. 9 and 10 . 
     Alternatively or additionally, the soft switch  306  can receive instructions for recording the voice communications from the voice endpoint recorder  339  via the IP network  333 . In turn, the soft switch  306  sends a command based on the received instructions to the conference bridge  309 . Alternatively or additionally, the soft switch  306  can have capabilities of a conference bridge. That is, the soft switch  306  can duplicate and transmit the voice communications without using the conference bridge  309  to the voice endpoint recorder  339 . The soft switch  306  with conferencing capabilities is added value to companies with a small number of agent phones. 
       FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a system in which a voice communication can be recorded by a voice endpoint recorder in a customer center premises having multiple branches using a conference bridge. System  400  is similar to the system  300  in  FIG. 3  described above. That is, the system  400  includes a customer center premises  401 , customer phone  429 , company network  416 , voice gateway  413 , IP network  433 , soft switch  406 , agent phones  419 ,  423 ,  426  and voice endpoint recorder  439 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 4 , the customer center premises  401  further includes headquarters  403  that communicates with branches  443 ,  446  via the IP network  433 . The headquarters  403  can be provided at one location, e.g., Chicago, and the branches  443 ,  446  can be provided at different locations, e.g., Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Despite the different locations of the headquarters  403  and branches  443 ,  446 , a voice communication can be recorded to a single voice endpoint recorder  439  using the conference bridge  409  and IP network  433 . Note that the headquarters  403  includes a similar system as shown in  FIG. 3 . That is, the headquarters  403  includes soft switch  406 , conference bridge  409 , company network  416  and agent phones  419 ,  423 ,  426 . 
     Agent phones  449 ,  453  within the branches  443 ,  446  can receive voice communications from within the customer center premises  403  or from customer phone  429 . The soft switch  406  can send a command to the agent phones  449 ,  453 , instructing the agent phones  449 ,  453  to transmit the voice communications through the conference bridge  409  via the IP network  433 . The soft switch  406  also can send a command to the conference bridge  409  via the company network  416  to duplicate and transmit the voice communications to the voice endpoint recorder  439  using the IP network  433 . The operation of the system  400  will also be described in greater detail in relation to  FIGS. 9 and 10 . 
       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. The system  500  is similar to the system  300  in  FIG. 3  described above. That is, the system  500  includes a customer center premises  501 , customer phone  529 , company network  516 , IP network  533 , voice gateway  513 , and voice endpoint recorder  539 . 
     As in  FIG. 5 , the soft switch  506  manages incoming calls and routes the incoming calls to agent phones  519 ,  523 ,  526  via the company network  516 . The soft switch  506  communicates with the agent phones  519 ,  523 ,  526  to determine whether the phones can duplicate and transmit the voice communications associated with the calls to the voice endpoint recorder  539 . If the agent phones have the capability, the soft switch  506  instructs the agent phones  519 ,  523 ,  526  via the company network  516  to duplicate and transmit the voice communications associated with the incoming calls to the voice endpoint recorder  539  using the IP network  533 . Alternatively or additionally, the soft switch  506  can receive instructions for recording the voice communications from the voice endpoint recorder  539  via the IP network  533 . In turn, the soft switch  506  sends a command based on the received instructions to the soft phones  519 ,  523 ,  526 . The operation of the system  500  is further described in relation to  FIGS. 9 and 11 . 
       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. The media communications can include, but are not limited to, audio, video, and text communications. The system  600  comprises a customer center premises  601  and a customer premises  626  that includes media communication devices  619 ,  623 ,  629 , respectively. The media communications from the media communication device  629  can be routed to a media application server  609 . The media application server  609  and the media communication devices  619 ,  623  communicate with each other via a company network  616 . The media communication system  603  communicates with a media endpoint recorder  639  via an IP network  633 . 
     In this embodiment, the media application server  609  includes a media controller  606  and a media processor  607 . The media controller  606  receives incoming media communications, identifies the type of media communications, and routes the media communications to the media communication devices  619 ,  623  via the company network  616 . The media controller  606  can send a command to the media communication devices  619 ,  623  via the company network  616 , instructing the media communication devices  619 ,  623  to transmit the media communications through the media application server  609  via the company network  616 . Once the media application server  609  receives the media communications, the media processor  607  duplicates and transmits the media communications to the media endpoint recorder  639  using the IP network  633 . Alternatively or additionally, the media controller  606  can receive instructions for recording the media communications from the media endpoint recorder  639  via the IP network  633 . In turn, the media controller  606  sends a command based on the received instructions to the media processor  607 . The operation of the system  600  is further described in relation to  FIGS. 9 and 12 . 
     Alternatively or additionally, the media communication devices  619 ,  623  can have the capabilities of duplicating and transmitting the media communications to a media endpoint recorder  639 . For example, the media controller  606  manages the media communications and routes the media communications to the media communication devices  619 ,  623  via the company network  616 . The media controller  606  communicates with the media communication devices  619 ,  623  to determine whether the communication devices  619 ,  623  can duplicate and transmit the media communications to the media endpoint recorder  639 . If the communication devices  619 ,  623  have the capability, the media controller  606  instructs the media communication devices  619 ,  623  via the company network  616  to duplicate and transmit media communications to the media endpoint recorder  639  using the IP network  633 . Alternatively or additionally, the media controller  606  can receive instructions for recording the media communications from the media endpoint recorder  639  via the IP network  633 . In turn, the media controller  606  sends a command based on the received instructions to the communication devices  619 ,  623 . 
       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 using a soft switch, conference bridge, agent phones, media communication devices, voice gateway, and media application server, respectively, via an IP network. The soft switch  706 , conference bridge  709 , agent phones  719 ,  723 ,  726 , media communication devices  759 ,  763 , voice gateway  713 , and media application server  749  communicate with each other in an IP telephony system  703  via a company network  716 . 
     In one scenario, for example, calls from a customer phone can be routed to the voice gateway  713 , which can route the calls to the soft switch  706 . The soft switch  706  receives incoming calls and routes the calls to the agent phones  719 ,  723 ,  726 . The soft switch  706  communicates with the conference bridge  709  via the company network  716 . The IP telephony system  703  communicates with a voice endpoint recorder  739  via an IP network  733 . In this example, the soft switch  706  is operative to send a command to the agent phones  719 ,  723 ,  726  and voice gateway  706  via the company network  716 , instructing the agent phones  719 ,  723 ,  726  and voice gateway  713  to transmit voice communications associated with the incoming calls through the conference bridge  709  via the company network  716 . The soft switch  706  also sends a command to the conference bridge  709  via the company network  716  to duplicate and transmit the voice communication to the voice endpoint recorder  739  using the IP network  733 . In another scenario, for example, the soft switch  706  can have capabilities of a conference bridge, as mentioned above. The soft switch  706  can duplicate and transmit the voice communications without the conference bridge  709  to the voice endpoint recorder  739  using the IP network  733 . 
     In yet another scenario, for example, the soft switch  706  communicates with the agent phones  719 ,  723 ,  726  to determine whether the phones can duplicate and transmit the voice communications to an endpoint recorder  739 . If the agent phones have the capability, the soft switch  706  instructs the agent phones  719 ,  723 ,  726  via the company network  716  to duplicate and transmit the voice communications associated with the incoming calls to the voice endpoint recorder  739  using the IP network  733 . 
     In yet another scenario, for example, the media application server  749  receives incoming media communications, identifies the type of media communications, and routes the media communications to media communication devices  759 ,  763  via the company network  716 . The media application server  749  can send a command to the media communication devices  759 ,  763  via the company network  716 , instructing the media communication devices  759 ,  763  to transmit the media communications through the media application server  749  via the company network  716 . The media application server  749  duplicates and transmits the media communications to the media endpoint recorder  743  using the IP network  733 . 
     In yet another scenario, for example, the media communication devices  759 ,  763  can have the capabilities of duplicating and transmitting the media communications to a media endpoint recorder  743 . For example, the media application server  749  manages the media communications and routes the media communications to the media communication devices  759 ,  763  via the company network  716 . The media application server  749  communicates with the media communication devices  759 ,  763  to determine whether the communication devices  759 ,  763  can duplicate and transmit the media communications to the media endpoint recorder  743 . If the communication devices  759 ,  763  have the capability, the media application server  749  instructs the media communication devices  759 ,  763  via the company network  716  to duplicate and transmit the media communications to the media endpoint recorder  743  using the IP network  733 . 
     In yet another scenario, for example, the voice gateway  713  can perform the functions of duplicating and transmitting the voice communications to the voice endpoint recorder  739 . For example, the voice gateway  713  receives instructions to record voice communications from the soft switch  706 . It should be noted that the soft switch can receive the recording instructions from the media endpoint recorder  743 . The voice gateway  713  receives, manages, and routes the voice communications to the agent phones  719 ,  723 ,  726  via the company network  716 . The voice gateway  713  determines whether to record the received voice communications at the agent phones  719 ,  723 ,  726  according to the received instructions. If the voice gateway  713  determines that the voice communications are to be recorded, the voice gateway  713  duplicates and transmits the voice communications to the voice endpoint recorder  739  using the IP network  733 . 
     In yet another scenario, for example, the voice gateway  713  is operative to be configured to duplicate the voice communications and transmit the duplicated voice communications to a second voice gateway (not shown). The second voice gateway transmits the duplicated voice communications to the desired endpoint component, such as the media endpoint recorder  743 , another endpoint 
     In yet another scenario, for example, the voice gateway  713  is operative to pass the voice communications to the second gateway. The second gateway is operative to be configured to duplicate the voice communications and transmit the duplicated voice communications to the desired endpoint component. 
     Alternatively or additionally, the voice endpoint recorder  739  is operative to be configured to duplicate and transmit voice communications. The voice endpoint recorder  739  is operative to duplicate and transmit the voice communications to the desired endpoint component using one of an endpoint component name, an IP address, a SIP address, and a domain name system (DNS) name of the desired endpoint component across the company and/or IP networks  716 ,  733 . Some reasons, among others, to transfer recorded media communications from one recorder to another include load balancing the recorders, archive, and replay. The operation of an endpoint recording device is further described in relation to  FIG. 13 . 
     It should be noted that the systems  200 ,  300 ,  400 ,  500 ,  600 ,  700  can perform a service observation or a silent conference. Service observation is an extension-based monitoring functionality where an agent&#39;s communication is monitored when there is activity using a service observe access code entered along with the agent&#39;s IP address/port. The service observation enables supervisors to listen or view the media communication while the media communications take place. Silent conference is the ability to conference a monitored media communication into a conversation without “conference announcements” or indications. 
       FIG. 8  is schematic diagram of an embodiment of a system in which media streams can be recorded via a gateway. A customer center telephony system  805  has one or more agent phones  810 ,  815 ,  820  that are coupled to one or more gateways  823 , one or more interactive voice response (IVR) systems  827 , and one or more soft switches  830 . The customer center telephony system  805  is coupled to the recording system  833 , which includes one or more proxy servers  835 , one or more recorders  840 ,  845 ,  850 , and one or more recording control servers  855 . 
     It should be noted that the proxy server  835  is shown in  FIG. 8  as a separate device from the other components of the recording system  833 . However, the proxy server  835  can also be deployed on one of the recorders  840 ,  845 ,  850  or on other servers, such as the recording control server(s)  855 . The proxy server  835  can communicate with the soft switch  830  to receive call events and other call related information such as agent identifications. The communication can also involve the recording of at least one media stream associated with an interaction within the customer center telephony system  805 . 
     In general, incoming calls arrive at the gateway  823 , which serves the incoming and outgoing traffic. The soft switch  830  instructs the gateway  823  to route the incoming calls based on customer center policy. Many incoming calls are routed to the IVR  827  before transitioning the call to an available agent in one of potentially many customer centers. It should be noted that the gateway  823 , proxy server  835 , PBX communication (not shown) and other switching device or network devices (not shown) can also route the incoming calls according to the customer center policy. 
     The soft switch  830  is operative to monitor incoming calls and invoke duplicate media streaming from the gateways. For example, the soft switch  830  can monitor a route point and identify an agent who potentially will receive the call or a dialed number identification service (DNIS) that had been dialed, among others. The recording system  833  receives an event corresponding to the incoming call and determines if the media streams associated with the incoming call should be recorded based on defined business rules. If the media streams are to be recorded, the recording system  833  issues a command to the soft switch  830 , such as a computer-telephone integration (CTI) server. In turn, the soft switch  830  instructs the gateway  823  to duplicate the media streams associated with the incoming call and deliver the duplicated media streams to a specific recorder. 
     Once instructed to record the incoming call, the gateway  823  delivers the media streams to the recorder by issuing a session initiation protocol (SIP) invite to the recorder, which in turn responds with an “OK.” Alternatively or additionally, the proxy server  835  may be used to distribute the incoming call to a plurality of recorders configured, for example, as a high availability system. The gateway  823  continues to transmit the media streams associated with the incoming calls to the recorder regardless of how the call is routed within the switch or between call centres. In turn, the recorder continues to receive event streams about the incoming calls as the calls transition within the customer center and potentially are transferred between customer centers. 
     If the media streams are to be recorded while in an IVR platform, the soft switch  830  can be used to instruct the gateway  823  to duplicate the media streams, which provides cradle to grave recording from the point of first contact with the customer and also enables the validation of the IVR handling. 
     Alternatively or additionally, the gateway  823  can receive instructions from a call manager (not shown) to duplicate the media stream from an agent handset. Alternatively or additionally, the gateway  823  can receive instructions from a call manager JTAPI interface or other CTI event interfaces (not shown) such that this mechanism might be used in topologies where phone DMS (duplicate media streaming) is not practical or where the customer has made a large purchase in handsets which do not support DMS. 
     Alternatively or additionally, the soft switch  830  can facilitate recording media streams associated with the incoming calls without the recording system constantly monitoring the event stream of the soft switch  830 . The soft switch  830  can be configured to record or not record on an extension based on some pre-existing configuration. For example, as soon as the soft switch  830  detects an incoming call for a particular extension, the soft switch  830  can route the duplicate media streams to the appropriately configured recorder of the recording system  833 . The gateway  823  receives instructions from the soft switch  830  and transmits SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) messaging for the duplicated media stream associated with the incoming call to the recorder. The SIP messaging is verbose enough such that the origin and reason for the call being recorded can be tagged without the soft switch events. The SIP messaging, includes, for example, the extension number and agent identification of the agent receiving the incoming call. 
     Alternatively or additionally, internal calls within the customer center can be recorded in certain scenarios. For example, incoming calls can be routed through a back-to-back gateway configuration such that the gateways can be instructed via the soft switch  830  to duplicate media streams associated with the incoming calls. 
       FIG. 9  is a flow diagram that illustrates a high-level example of operation of a system such as shown in  FIG. 2 . Beginning with block  902 , communication signals are received in a customer center. In block  903 , the customer center determines whether to duplicate the communication signals such as by using the media controlling/processing/distributing devices  213 ,  231 , as shown in  FIG. 2 . Alternatively or additionally, a recording device can provide instructions to the media controlling/processing/distributing devices  213 ,  231  for recording the communication signals. In block  904 , the customer center duplicates the communication signals such as by using the media controlling/processing/distributing devices  213 ,  231  or communication devices  209 ,  229 . In block  905 , the duplicated communication signals are transmitted to an endpoint recorder using a network. 
       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. Beginning with event  1003 , a telephone call can be made from a customer phone or an agent soft phone. If the telephone call is made from the customer phone, the telephone call is passed through a voice gateway, which routes the telephone call to a soft switch of a customer center premises. If the telephone call is made from a first soft phone, for example, within the customer center premises, the soft switch of the customer center premises receives the telephone call. In both situations, the soft switch routes the telephone call to a second soft phone within the customer center premises and instructs the second soft phone to transmit the voice communication associated with the telephone call through a conference bridge, as shown at event  1006 . At event  1007 , the soft switch can instruct both the first soft phone and the voice gateway to transmit the voice communication through the conference bridge. The instruction to the soft phone and the voice gateway can include an Internet Protocol (IP) addresses/port of the conference bridge. 
     At event  1008 , the soft switch instructs the conference bridge to duplicate and transmit the voice communication to a voice endpoint recorder. The instruction to the conference bridge can include an IP address/port of the voice endpoint recorder. At event  1009 , the second soft phone transmits the voice communication to the conference bridge such as by using the IP address/port of the conference bridge. At event  1013 , the conference bridge duplicates the voice communication from the second soft phone and transmits the duplicated voice communication such as by using the IP address/port of the voice endpoint recorder. Notably, the voice endpoint recorder can be located virtually anywhere in the customer center premises as long as the recorder is connected to a network. 
     At event  1016 , the conference bridge routes the voice communication from the second soft phone to the first soft phone or the voice gateway. At event  1019 , the first soft phone or the voice gateway transmits the voice communication to the conference bridge such as by using the IP address/port of the conference bridge. At event  1023 , the conference bridge duplicates the voice communication from the first soft phone or the voice gateway and transmits the duplicated voice communication to the recorder such as by using the IP address/port of the recorder. At event  1026 , the conference bridge routes the voice communication from the first soft phone or the voice gateway to the second soft phone of the customer center premises. Thereafter, the sequence is returned to event  1009  so that the second soft phone can transmit the voice communication to the conference bridge as instructed by the soft switch, as shown at event  1029 . 
       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. Beginning with event  1103 , a telephone call is transmitted from a first soft phone or a customer phone to a soft switch. At event  1104 , the soft switch communicates with a second soft phone of a customer center premises to determine whether the second soft phone has conferencing capabilities. If the telephone call is made from the first soft phone of the customer center premises, the soft switch communicates with the first soft phone of the customer center premises to determine whether the first soft phone has conferencing capabilities. In this embodiment, the first and second soft phones are assumed to have conferencing capabilities. At event  1106 , the soft switch routes the voice communication associated with the telephone call to the second soft phone, and instructs the second soft phone to duplicate and transmit the duplicated voice communication to a voice endpoint recorder. The instruction to the second agent phones includes, but is not limited to, an IP address/port of the voice endpoint recorder. 
     At event  1109 , the second soft phone receives the voice communication from the first soft phone or the voice gateway, duplicates the voice communication and transmits the duplicated voice communication to the recorder such as by using the IP address/port of the recorder. At event  1113 , the second soft phone transmits the voice communication to the first soft phone or the voice gateway. At event  1116 , the first soft phone or the voice gateway transmits its voice communication to the second soft phone using the IP address of the second soft phone. At event  1119 , the sequence is returned to event  1109  during which the second soft phone receives the voice communication from the first soft phone or the voice gateway, duplicates the voice communication and transmits the duplicated voice communication to the recorder. 
       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. Beginning with event  1203 , media communications can be initiated from a customer communication device or a first agent communication device. At event  1206 , the media application server receives the media communications and instructs the first agent communication device to transmit the media communications through the media application server. At event  1209 , the media application server routes the media communications to a second agent communication device of the customer center premises and instructs the second agent communication device to transmit the media communications through the media application server. The instructions to the communication devices can include an IP address/port of the media application server. 
     At event  1219 , the communication devices transmit the media communications to the media application server such as by using the IP address/port of the media application server. In turn, the media application server receives and transmits the media communications to the communication devices. At event  1223 , the media application server duplicates the media communication from the communication devices and transmits the duplicated media communications such as by using an IP address/port of a media endpoint recorder. At event  1226 , the sequence is returned to event  1219  during which the media application server duplicates the media communications between the calling and called communication devices and transmits the duplicated media communications to the recorder. 
       FIG. 13  is a sequence diagram of an embodiment of a system, such as shown in  FIG. 6 , in which a voice communication can be recorded via a voice gateway. Subsequently, in this embodiment, a soft switch can transmit instructions to the gateway to facilitate the recording of the voice communications of an interaction. Beginning with event  1303 , voice communications can be initiated from a calling phone by a customer or an agent. At event  1306 , the voice gateway receives the voice communications and instructs the calling phone to transmit the voice communications through the voice gateway. 
     At event  1309 , the gateway routes the voice communications to a phone of the customer center premises and instructs the phone to transmit the voice communications through the gateway. The instructions to the phone can include an IP address/port of the gateway. The gateway further determines whether to record the voice communications of the call based on the received instructions from, for example, the soft switch. 
     At event  1319 , the phones transmit and receive the voice communications to the gateway such as by using the IP address/port of the gateway. At event  1323 , if the gateway determines that the voice communications are to be recorded, the gateway duplicates the voice communications from the phones and transmits the duplicated voice communications such as by using the IP address/port of the voice endpoint recorder. At event  1326 , the sequence is returned to event  1319  during which the gateway duplicates the voice communications between the calling and called phones and transmits the duplicated voice communications to the recorder. 
       FIG. 14  is a flow diagram that illustrates operation of an embodiment of an endpoint recording device. In block  1405 , the endpoint recording device is configured to duplicate and transmit media communications associated with an incoming call. For example, the endpoint recording device can receive instructions from a soft switch that configures the endpoint recording device to duplicate and transmit the media communications. In block  1410 , the endpoint recording device receives the media communications from a communication system, such as an IP telephony system. In block  1415 , the endpoint recording device determines whether to duplicate and transmit the media communications to a desired endpoint component based on the received instructions. In block  1420 , responsive to the determination, the endpoint recording device duplicates the media communications and transmits the duplicated media communications to a desired endpoint component across the communication system. 
     It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments are merely possible examples of implementations, merely set forth for a clear understanding of the principles of the invention. Many variations and modifications may be made to the above-described embodiments without departing substantially from the spirit and principles of the invention. All such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure and the present invention and protected by the following claims.