Voice interaction analysis module

Abstract

A signal monitoring apparatus and method involving devices for monitoring signals representing communications traffic, devices for identifying at least one predetermined parameter by analyzing the context of the at least one monitoring signal, a device for recording the occurrence of the identified parameter, a device for identifying the traffic stream associated with the identified parameter, a device for analyzing the recorded data relating to the occurrence, and a device, responsive to the analysis of the recorded data, for controlling the handling of communications traffic within the apparatus.

1. A signal monitoring system for monitoring and analyzing communications passing through a monitoring point, the system comprising:
 a digital voice recorder ( 18 ) for monitoring two-way conversation traffic streams passing through the monitoring point, said digital voice recorder having connections ( 20 ) for being operatively attached to the monitoring point;    a digital processor ( 30 ) connected to said digital voice recorder for identifying at least one predetermined parameter by analyzing the voice communication content of at least one monitored signal taken from the traffic streams;    a recorder ( 38 ) attached to said digital processor for recording occurrences of the predetermined parameter;    a traffic stream identifier ( 36 ) for identifying the traffic stream associated with the predetermined parameter;    a data analyzer ( 36 ) connected to said digital processor for analyzing the recorded data relating to the occurrences; and    a communication traffic controller ( 34 ) operatively connected to said data analyzer and, operating responsive to the analysis of the recorded data, for controlling the handling of communications traffic within said monitoring system.    
     
     
       2. The monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein said at least one predetermined parameter includes a frequency of keywords identified in the voice communication content of the at least one monitored signal. 
     
     
       3. The monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein said digital processor further identifies episodes of anger or shouting by analyzing amplitude envelope. 
     
     
       4. The monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein said at least one predetermined parameter is a prosody of the voice communication content of the at least one monitored signal. 
     
     
       5. The monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein said connections for being operatively attached to the telephony exchange switch are attached via high impedance taps ( 20 ) to telephone signal lines ( 24 ,  26 ) attached to said telephony exchange switch. 
     
     
       6. The monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein said communication traffic controller serves to identify at least one section of traffic relative to another so as to identify a source of the predetermined parameter. 
     
     
       7. The monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein said communication traffic controller serves to influence further monitoring actions within the apparatus. 
     
     
       8. The monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein the analyzed contents of the at least one monitored signal comprise the interaction between at least two signals representing an at least two-way conversation. 
     
     
       9. The monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein the recorder operates in real time to provide a real-time indication of the occurrence. 
     
     
       10. The monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein said digital voice recorder comprises an analog/digital convertor ( 18 ) for converting analog voice into a digital signal. 
     
     
       11. The monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein said digital processor is a Digital Signal Processor ( 30 ) arranged to operate in accordance with an analyzing algorithm. 
     
     
       12. The monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein the digital processor is arranged to operate in real time. 
     
     
       13. The monitoring system of  claim 1 , further comprising a replay station ( 32 ) connected to said digital processor and arranged such that the voice communication content of the at least one monitored signal can be recorded and monitored by said digital processor for identifying the at least one parameter at some later time. 
     
     
       14. The monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one predetermined parameter comprises plural predetermined parameters and wherein said recorder records the occurrence of the plural predetermined parameters in each of the two directions of traffic separately. 
     
     
       15. The monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein said traffic stream identifier comprises a means for receiving an identifier tagged onto the traffic so as to identify its source. 
     
     
       16. The monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein said digital voice recorder for monitoring the traffic streams is operative responsive to an output from said traffic stream identifier identifying the source of the conversation in which the predetermined parameter has been identified, or a threshold occurrence of the predetermined parameter has been exceeded. 
     
     
       17. The monitoring system of  claim 1 , wherein said digital voice recorder, said digital processor, said recorder, said traffic stream identifier, and said data analyzer reside on an add-in card to a telecommunications system. 
     
     
       18. A system for monitoring and analyzing two- way voice communications passing through a call center, the system comprising:      a recorder operable to acquire two - way conversation voice traffic, the two - way conversation voice traffic occurring during a call center voice interaction;        an analysis module, the analysis module being configured to analyze the voice traffic for parameters within the two - way conversation voice traffic using one or more analysis algorithms, the analysis module outputting any patterns, trends, or anomalies.      
     
     
       19. The system of  claim 18 , wherein the recorder is operable to capture the two- way conversation traffic in real - time or to retrieve the two way conversation voice traffic from a system data store.    
     
     
       20. The system of  claim 18 , wherein the analysis module is operable to receive feedback and modify any of the analysis algorithms based upon the received feedback.  
     
     
       21. The system of  claim 18 , wherein the analysis module comprises a call center analysis module.  
     
     
       22. The system of  claim 21 , wherein the call center analysis module comprises a distributed analysis module, whereby one or more call center agent computers comprise components of the distributed analysis module, the distributed analysis module being operable to use any of the one or more call center agent computers when said center agent computer has spare processing capacity.  
     
     
       23. The system of  claim 18 , further comprising a distributed capture module operable to utilize spare processing capacity from one or more call center agent computers to capture the two- way conversation voice traffic.    
     
     
       24. The system of  claim 18 , wherein the two- way conversation voice traffic comprises data packets transmitted over a computer network, the data packets comprising a packet header and a packet body.    
     
     
       25. The system of  claim 24 , wherein the recorder is operable to analyze the packet headers to determine whether to capture the data packets associated with the packet headers.  
     
     
       26. The system of  claim 24 , wherein the system is a computer station, and further comprises a storage module operable to store at least a portion of the data packets.  
     
     
       27. The system of  claim 18 , wherein the analysis module is operable to identify the occurrence of at least one predetermined parameter of voice communication content within the two- way conversation voice traffic.    
     
     
       28. The system of  claim 27 , wherein identifying the occurrence of said at least one predetermined parameter includes flagging and recording two- way conversation voice traffic that includes a talk - over condition.    
     
     
       29. The system of  claim 27 , wherein identifying the occurrence of said at least one predetermined parameter includes recording and flagging two- way conversation voice traffic that includes one or more of a predetermined group of words.    
     
     
       30. The system of  claim 27 , wherein identifying the occurrence of said at least one predetermined parameter includes recording and flagging two- way conversation voice traffic that includes stress on either or both sides of the conversation as indicated by changes in volume, speed and tone of speech.    
     
     
       31. The system of  claim 27 , wherein identifying the occurrence of said at least one predetermine parameter includes recording and flagging two- way conversation voice traffic that includes anger on either side or both sides of the conversation as identified by analyzing a voice envelope associated with the incoming or outgoing traffic streams.    
     
     
       32. The system of  claim 27 , wherein identifying the occurrence of said at least one predetermine parameter includes recording and flagging two- way conversation voice traffic that includes a delay between transmissions in opposite directions.    
     
     
       33. The system of  claim 18 , further comprising a call scoring module operable to analyze customer experience during voice interactions and assign a score to the voice interactions.  
     
     
       34. The system of  claim 33 , wherein the call scoring module uses such parameters as delay between transmissions in opposite directions, anger, stress, or use of one or more of a group of words to analyze customer experience during the voice interaction.  
     
     
       35. The system of  claim 18 , further comprising a communication traffic controller operable to assert control over that have been identified as including one or more of said anomalies.  
     
     
       36. The system of  claim 35 , wherein the digital processor is operable to notify a supervisor responsive to the occurrence of said at least one predetermined parameter.  
     
     
       37. The system of  claim 18 , the data analysis module is operable to direct a recording module to record two- way conversation voice traffic based upon the occurrence of one or more of one or more of said patterns, trends, or anomalies.    
     
     
       38. The system of  claim 37 , wherein the data analysis module is further operable to instruct the recording module to flag a record based upon the occurrence of one or more of said patterns, trends, or anomalies.  
     
     
       39. A system for monitoring and analyzing two- way voice communications passing through a call center, the system comprising:      a recorder operable acquire two - way conversation voice traffic, the two - way conversation voice traffic occurring during a call center voice interaction;        an analysis module, the analysis module being configured to analyze the two - way conversation voice traffic using one or more speech analysis algorithms and to produce exchange data based upon the two - way conversation voice traffic;        wherein the analysis module is further configured to analyze the exchange data for parameters within the two - way conversation voice traffic using one or more data analysis algorithms and to output any patterns, trends, or anomalies.