Telephonic communications – Audio message storage – retrieval – or synthesis – Dynamic audio signal recording or reproduction
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-05
2003-04-15
Tsang, Fan (Department: 2645)
Telephonic communications
Audio message storage, retrieval, or synthesis
Dynamic audio signal recording or reproduction
C379S134000, C379S201020, C379S213010, C379S221090, C379S230000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06549613
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to telecommunications, and more particularly to the lawful intercept of telephony communications in a telecommunications network using Signaling System 7 (SS7).
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Court authorized access to telephone communications and call-identifying information is one of the most crucial tools for effective law enforcement. The introduction of new digitally based technologies, transmission modes, services, and features have made it increasingly difficult for law enforcement to conduct court authorized electronic surveillance. In October of 1994, at the request of the nation's law enforcement community, Congress took action to protect public safety and national security by enacting the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). CALEA sets forth the interception assistance capability requirements that telecommunications carriers need to meet and maintain within their networks to assist law enforcement in conducting electronic surveillance. These requirements apply to the intercept of wireline and wireless communications.
In order to meet the requirements of law enforcement to intercept communications, the telecommunications industry has defined an interface specification between a Telecommunication Service Provider (TSP) and a Law Enforcement Agency (LEA), called the J-STD-025 (Lawfully Authorized Electronic Surveillance). The J-STD-025, “Lawfully Authorized Electronic Surveillance”, is a joint standard by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) Committee TR45.2 and the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) Committee T1-Telecommunications. Compliance to J-STD-025 is seen by the telecommunications industry as “safe harbor” under Section 107 of the CALEA, Public Law 103-414.
J-STD-025 views the intercept function as five broad categories: access, delivery, collection, service provider administration, and law enforcement administration. The relationships between these functional categories are shown in FIG.
1
. As illustrated in
FIG. 1
, the Service Provider Administration Function
10
is responsible for controlling the TSP access and delivery functions. The Law Enforcement Administration Function
11
is responsible for controlling the LEA collection functions. The access function
14
, consisting of one or more Intercept Access Points (IAPs), isolates an intercept subject's communications or callidentifying information unobtrusively. The access function
14
provides access to communications traversing a telecommunications network. The delivery function
16
is responsible for accepting information from one or more access functions
14
and delivering intercepted communications to one or more collection functions
18
. The delivery function
16
delivers information over two distinct types of channels: Call Content Channels (CCCs) and Call Data Channels (CDCs). The CCCs are generally used to transport call content, such as voice or data communications. The CDCs are generally used to transport messages which report call-identifying information, such as calling party identities and called party identities. The collection function
18
is responsible for collecting and analyzing intercepted communications and call-identifying information. The collection function
18
is the responsibility of the LEA.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides method and apparatus for intercepting calls for a subject under surveillance (SUS) in a Signaling System 7 (SS7) compliant telephone system, or a telephone system with equivalent relevant functions, by forwarding calls for a SUS from the end office switch to a delivery function, which in turn forwards the calls back to the end office switch for further processing, and in addition obtains call content and information as the call passes through the delivery function. The delivery function can in turn deliver call content and information to a collection function.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5590171 (1996-12-01), Howe et al.
patent: 5881132 (1999-03-01), O'Brien et al.
patent: 5930698 (1999-07-01), Bertacchi
patent: 5937035 (1999-08-01), Andruska et al.
patent: 6078648 (2000-06-01), Albers et al.
patent: 6160883 (2000-12-01), Jackson et al.
patent: 98/48574 (1997-04-01), None
Intermin Standard (Trial Use Standard)—Lawfully Authorized Electronic Surveillance—J-STD-025, Telecommunications Industry Association, Arlington, VA (Dec. 1997).
Joint TIA Interim Standard/T1 Trial Use Standard—J-STD-25 (SP-3589A+) Requirements Matrix (Draft), C.I.S., 39 p. (Dec. 5, 1997).
Outline of Missing Capabilities Nos. 1-11, C.I.S., 35 p. (Aug. 27, 1997).
Gauthier Gerald
Pennie & Edmonds LLP
Tsang Fan
Ulysses Holding LLC
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