Patent ID: 7050549

Claim:
A call tracing system for use in a telephony system having nodes in relationship to one another by communication links carrying signaling messages being used to set up voice channels in the telephony system to facilitate calls, the call tracing system comprising: a) a first probe that (i) monitors respective communication links for a triggering signaling link message related to a given call; (ii) upon detecting the triggering signaling link message matching the call, extracts call parameters from the initial triggering signaling link message; (iii) issues a trigger including a timestamp, indicating the time of the initial signaling link message, and further including the call parameters in response to detecting the triggering signaling link message related to the given call; b) a first element manager coupled to the first probe that receives the trigger from the first probe and broadcasts the trigger; and c) a second probe, distinct from the first probe, that (i) monitors communication links for signaling link messages, (ii) has a buffer for the temporary storage of signaling link messages, (iii) receives the trigger, (iv) searches and discovers in the buffer signaling link messages that match the call parameters and that were placed in the buffer before the second probe received the trigger, and transmits any matching messages discovered in the buffer to a computing device; (v) upon receiving the trigger, watches respective communication links for signaling link messages that match the call parameters and transmits any matching messages, detected passing through the respective communication links, to the computing device without intervening storage in the buffer.