Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7626980?ie=ISO-8859-1&dq=6,910,205
Timestamp: 2014-03-14 06:17:43
Document Index: 118018956

Matched Legal Cases: ['arty 201', 'arty 202', 'arty 201', 'arty 201', 'arty 201', 'arty 202', 'arty 202', 'arty 201', 'arty 202', 'arty 202', 'arty 201', 'arty 201', 'arty 202']

Patent US7626980 - Method and apparatus for enabling communications assistance for law ... - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsThe present invention enables packet-switched network providers, e.g., VoIP network providers, to use commonly deployed components and capabilities to support surveillance services, e.g., CALEA services. Specifically, signaling and media streams that flow through Border Elements can be forked and simultaneously...http://www.google.com/patents/US7626980?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7626980 - Method and apparatus for enabling communications assistance for law enforcement act servicesAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS7626980 B1Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 11/019,703Publication dateDec 1, 2009Filing dateDec 22, 2004Priority dateDec 22, 2004Fee statusPaidAlso published asUS8306190, US20100074425, US20130003614Publication number019703, 11019703, US 7626980 B1, US 7626980B1, US-B1-7626980, US7626980 B1, US7626980B1InventorsMarian Croak, Hossein EslambolchiOriginal AssigneeAt&T Corp.Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (13), Non-Patent Citations (2), Referenced by (4), Classifications (16), Legal Events (2) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetMethod and apparatus for enabling communications assistance for law enforcement act servicesUS 7626980 B1Abstract The present invention enables packet-switched network providers, e.g., VoIP network providers, to use commonly deployed components and capabilities to support surveillance services, e.g., CALEA services. Specifically, signaling and media streams that flow through Border Elements can be forked and simultaneously redirected to a surveillance server, a CALEA Server in addition to the terminating endpoint. Additionally, a Media Server (MS) can unobtrusively join a third leg to a communication media path between the CALEA Server and the two, calling party and called party, endpoints. A CALEA Server provides the ability to identify and collect content of voice telephone calls traversing the VoIP Network, as mandated by the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act.
1. A method for providing a surveillance service in a communication network, comprising:
receiving a call setup message for a call with a calling party number and a called party number;
determining whether at least one of: said calling party number or said called party number requires surveillance; and
performing surveillance on said call if surveillance is determined to be required, wherein said performing comprises:
instructing at least one border element (BE) to be traversed by a first media path for said call to perform at least one surveillance function, wherein each one of said at least one surveillance function comprises simultaneously forking at least a portion of said call to a second media path at a time of receiving said call setup message if surveillance is determined to be required.
determining whether at least one of: said calling party number or said called party number is registered on a surveillance list.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one surveillance function comprises at least one of: a surveillance of said call setup message associated with said call, or a surveillance of said first media path associated with said call.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein said forking at least a portion of said call comprises:
forking said call setup message via said second media path to a surveillance server.
6. The method of claim 4, wherein said forking at least a portion of said call comprises:
forking a conversation media stream on said first media path via said second media path to a media server to be bridged to a surveillance server.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one border element is instructed by a call control element (CCE).
8. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the steps of a method for providing a surveillance service in a communication network, comprising:
10. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein said determining comprises:
11. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein said at least one surveillance function comprises at least one of: a surveillance of said call setup message associated with said call, or a surveillance of said first media path associated with said call.
12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein said forking at least a portion of said call comprises:
13. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein said forking at least a portion of said call comprises:
14. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein said at least one border element is instructed by a call control element (CCE).
15. A system for providing a surveillance service in a communication network, comprising:
means for receiving a call setup message for a call with a calling party number and a called party number;
means for determining whether at least one of: said calling party number or said called party number requires surveillance; and
means for performing surveillance on said call if surveillance is determined to be required, wherein said performing comprises:
17. The system of claim 15, wherein said at least one surveillance function comprises at least one of: a surveillance of said call setup message associated with said call, or a surveillance of said first media path associated with said call. Description
The present invention relates generally to communication networks and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for enabling CALEA services in packet switched networks, i.e. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) networks.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Increasingly providers of network services are expected to conform to some provisions of established regulatory practices associated with providing residential phone services. One important such service capability is Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), the ability for law enforcement agencies to unobtrusively receive real time access to call setup information between two endpoints, and with less frequency, listen to conversations occurring between two endpoints.
Therefore, a need exists for a method and apparatus for enabling CALEA services in packet-switched networks, e.g., VoIP networks.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In one embodiment, the present invention enables VoIP network providers to use commonly deployed components and capabilities to support CALEA services. Specifically, signaling and media streams that flow through Border Elements can be forked and simultaneously redirected to the CALEA Server in addition to the terminating endpoint. Additionally, a Media Server (MS) can unobtrusively join a third leg to a communication media path between the CALEA Server and the two, calling party and called party, endpoints. A CALEA Server provides the ability to identify and collect content of voice telephone calls traversing the VoIP Network, as mandated by the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. A Media Server (MS) is a special server that typically handles and terminates media streams, and to provide services such as announcements, bridges, transcoding, and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) messages.
FIG. 2 illustrates an example of enabling CALEA services in a VoIP network of the present invention;
FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of a method for enabling CALEA services in a VoIP network by a Call Control Element of the present invention;
FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of a method for enabling CALEA services in a VoIP network by a Border Element of the present invention; and
Increasingly providers of network services are expected to conform to some provisions of established regulatory practices associated with providing residential phone services. One important such service capability is Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), the ability for law enforcement agencies to unobtrusively receive real time access to call setup information between two endpoints, and with less frequency, listen to conversations occurring between two endpoints.
To address this need, the present invention enables packet-switched network providers, e.g., VoIP network providers, to use commonly deployed components and capabilities to support CALEA services. Specifically, signaling and media streams that flow through Border Elements can be forked and simultaneously redirected to the CALEA Server in addition to the terminating endpoint. Additionally, a Media Server (MS) can unobtrusively join a third leg to a communication media path between the CALEA Server and the two, calling party and called party, endpoints. A CALEA Server provides the ability to identify and collect content of voice telephone calls traversing the VoIP Network, as mandated by the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. A Media Server (MS) is a special server that typically handles and terminates media streams, and to provide services such as announcements, bridges, transcoding, and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) messages.
FIG. 2 illustrates an example of enabling CALEA services in a VoIP network. In FIG. 2, calling party 201 places a call to called party 202. CALEA Server (CS) 214 has previously sent a request using flow 230 to CCE 211 to perform CALEA surveillance for both signaling and media path activities on the phone number of calling party 201. CCE 211 receives the call setup message from calling party 201, via flow 231, and finds out that the calling party has been placed on the CALEA surveillance list. CCE 211 then instructs BE 212 and BE 213, via flow 232 and flow 233 respectively, to request the needed CALEA functions, including surveillance of both signaling and media path activities, to be activated for this phone call between calling party 201 and called party 202. CCE 211 then continues to progress the call setup message via flow 234 to called party 202 without either party being aware of the CALEA functions being performed. Upon receiving the CALEA instructions from CCE 211, BE 212 and BE 213 activate the requested CALEA functions for the call. More particularly, for signaling surveillance, BE 212 and BE 213 forks all call setup related signaling messages carried by flow 231 and flow 234 using flow 235 and flow 236 respectively to CS 214. In addition, the original call setup message originated by calling party 201 will be processed and sent to called party 202 without either party being aware of the CALEA functions being performed. When the call is setup between the called party 202 and the calling party 201, media path 241 will be used to transport the conversation media streams. For media path surveillance, BE 212 forks the media path conversation media stream to MS 215 to fulfill the CALEA media path surveillance request. MS 215 bridges a call leg from BE 212 to CS 214 to perform media path surveillance functions. More particularly, MS 215 bridges call leg 242 comprising the conversation media stream of calling party 201 and called party 202 and call leg 243 with CS 214 together so that media streams exchanged between the calling and the called parties can be monitored by the CS 214. Typically, call leg 243 will be setup as listen-only mode. The conversations between the calling and the called parties can occur without either party being aware of the CALEA functions being performed.
FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of a method for enabling CALEA services in a VoIP network, e.g., by a Call Control Element. Method 300 starts in step 305 and proceeds to step 310.
In step 310, the method receives a call with the calling party number and/or the called party number requiring CALEA surveillance. The CALEA surveillance is specified by either the calling party number, or the called party number, or both. For example, the network receives the call setup message and determines whether the calling party number, or the called party number, or both phone numbers are on a surveillance list, thereby requiring surveillance to be performed.
In step 320, the method instructs the BEs that are to be traversed by the media path to be setup for the call to begin signaling surveillance functions. In step 330, the method checks if media path surveillance is also requested for the call. If media path surveillance is also requested for the call, the method proceeds to step 340; otherwise, the method proceeds to step 350. In step 340, the method instructs the MS to bridge the conversation media stream forked from one of the BEs that is to be traversed by the media path to the CS. Note that the CS call leg is setup in a listen-only mode so that unobtrusive surveillance can be carried out while conversations between the calling and the called parties are conducted as usual. In step 350, the method instructs that same BE that is to be traversed by the media path to be setup for the call to begin media path surveillance functions. The method ends in step 360.
FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of a method for enabling CALEA services in a VoIP network, e.g., by a Border Element. Method 400 starts in step 405 and proceeds to step 410.
In step 410, the method receives instructions from the CCE to perform CALEA surveillance for a phone call associated with a specific calling party number and a specific called party number. In step 420, the method unobtrusively forks all call setup related signaling messages to the CS while the original call setup related signaling messages are being processed by the network as usual. In step 430, the method checks if media path surveillance is also requested for the call. If media path surveillance is requested, the method proceeds to step 440; otherwise, the method proceeds to step 450. In step 440, the method forks the conversation media stream to the MS so that the conversation media stream can be directed to the CS for surveillance. The method ends in step 450.
FIG. 5 depicts a high level block diagram of a general purpose computer suitable for use in performing the functions described herein. As depicted in FIG. 5, the system 500 comprises a processor element 502 (e.g., a CPU), a memory 504, e.g., random access memory (RAM) and/or read only memory (ROM), a CALEA service module 505, and various input/output devices 506 (e.g., storage devices, including but not limited to, a tape drive, a floppy drive, a hard disk drive or a compact disk drive, a receiver, a transmitter, a speaker, a display, a speech synthesizer, an output port, and a user input device (such as a keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, and the like)).
It should be noted that the present invention can be implemented in software and/or in a combination of software and hardware, e.g., using application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), a general purpose computer or any other hardware equivalents. In one embodiment, the present CALEA service module or process 505 can be loaded into memory 504 and executed by processor 502 to implement the functions as discussed above. As such, the present CALEA service process 505 (including associated data structures) of the present invention can be stored on a computer readable medium or carrier, e.g., RAM memory, magnetic or optical drive or diskette and the like.
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