FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
The Patents Rules, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
[See section 10 and rule 13]
TITLE OF THE INVENTION SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING VOICE AND SCREEN RECORDINGS IN A CONTACT CENTER
2. APPLICANT
Name Nationality Address
Intelenet Global Services Private Limited IN Plot CST No.1406 -A/28, Mindspace, Malad (West), Mumbai-400090

The following specification particularly describes and ascertains the nature of the invention and the
manner in which it is to be performed.

System and method for managing voice and screen recordings in a contact center BACKGROUND
Field of the invention
[001] The present invention relates generally to call management in a contact center, and more particularly to managing voice and screen recordings for each call in the contact center.
Description of the related art
[002] A contact center includes an Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) for receiving all incoming calls, and then determining on how the call is to be treated, to which sub process this call should be sent, to which skill set does this call should be sent, to which agent for that skillset is available, and what to do after the call has been received. The ACD advertises the arrival of calls and their associated status or actions to any device that integrates with it.
[003] The contact center further includes a call and screen recording system, which is a device that is integrated with the ACD. The device listens to the advertisements and the status updates to perform its necessary activities related to voice and screen recording. When the call is picked up by the agent, the voice recording engine of the recorder starts the recording of the voice. The screen recorder engine of the recorder starts the screen recording of the agent workstation from that point. When the ACD receives an intimation that the customer who has made the call to the contact center has hung up the call, or in some way the call has terminated it provides the status update to all the devices including the recorder. The recorder on receiving this update stops the voice and the screen recording for that call.

[004] Recording of voice and screen is a critical compliance requirement in a BPO industry to address regulatory requirements, in-house training, client demands, and various compliance and contractual needs, imposed during the outsourcing of business. These regulations are applicable to both inbound customer service type contact centers as well as outbound contact centers which deal with telemarketing or any sales activities.
[005] Most of the industry deployment of voice and screen recorder receives the trigger to start and stop recording through Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) from an Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) system. The ACD, Recorder, Trunk and the Desktops are part of the federated landscape. They rely on several synchronous and asynchronous communications between each other to achieve the overall recording objective. They report data in their own reporting layer to authorized users. However, federated systems such as these lead to disparate views and lack the capability to show a single version of the truth, which is so critical in a real-time environment. [006] The contact center team manually reconciles the overall number of calls in both the ACD system and the number of recordings in the recorder on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. The difference of these two numbers is reported as the number of calls not recorded by the recorder. However, assessment of the recordings at such a high level provides no assurance that the needed recordings are in place. Usually, it is discovered at a very crucial stage that certain voice or screen recordings are missing.
[007] Further, today each business process requires different percentage of call or screen recordings. For example, public sector banks expect extreme and stringent recording percentages i.e. 100% in both voice and screen recordings. Table 1 shows how the recording requirements in some of the key industry verticals. [008] The manual reconciliation may lead to different problems, some of them are illustrated below:

1. It is not real-time. It is critical to know which calls were recorded and which were not at real-time, since not finding a recording could lead to significant penalties which may be passed on to the BPO service provider
2. It is at best done end of the day, at worst at the end of the month. This leaves no time to take corrective action
3. There is a possibility of manipulation of the data to hide inefficiencies
4. It does not take into consideration the business rules for each process
5. It cannot be used to alert the business that they are running into a risk for a certain day or hour or a certain type of a call
6. It does not actually tell the BPO team, as to how many voice and screens have been recorded. There could be a possibility that voice recordings were happening successfully while the screen recordings were not or vice versa
Objects of the invention
[009] It is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method that
may provide a single and correct picture of the amount of recording that has been
done based on the recording percentages applicable to the business.
[0010] It is another object of the present invention to provide a system and method
that may address the challenges in getting the right representation of recording
percentages by integrating different elements together.
[0011] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a system and method
that may compare the validation and percentage compliance achieved with respect to
business requirements.
[0012] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a system and method
that may understand interconnectivity of different devices in a contact center
and provides a methodology to address the above-mentioned problems of existing
systems.

[0013] It is yet another object of the present invention to improve the service quality
in a BPO which is of paramount importance by addressing the gaps existing in screen
and voice recording.
[0014] It is yet another object to provide a methodology to measure the compliance
by providing a two-way matching process to get complete view of recording status.
[0015] It is yet another object of providing automated alerts for recording exceptions.
[0016] It is yet another object to provide a methodology which can be deployed across
different recording solutions available today in the market.
[0017] It is yet another object of providing automated reporting of recording
percentages resulting in considerable saving of human time and error reduction.
SUMMARY
[0018] In an embodiment, there is provided a system and method that may provide a
single and correct picture of the amount of recording that has been done based on
the recording percentages applicable to the business.
[0019] In an embodiment, there is provided a system and method that may address
the challenges in getting the right representation of recording percentages by
integrating different elements together.
[0020] In an embodiment, there is provided a system and method that may compare
the validation and percentage compliance achieved with respect to business
requirements.
[0021] In an embodiment, there is provided a system and method that may understand interconnectivity of different devices in a contact center and provides a methodology to address the above-mentioned problems of existing systems. [0022] In an embodiment, there is provided a system and method to improve the service quality in a BPO which is of paramount importance by addressing the gaps existing in screen and voice recording.

[0023] In an embodiment, there is provided a system and method to provide a
methodology to measure the compliance by providing a two-way matching process
to get complete view of recording status.
[0024] In an embodiment, there is provided a system and method to provide
automated alerts for recording exceptions.
[0025] In an embodiment, there is provided a methodology which can be deployed
across different recording solutions available today in the market.
[0026] In an embodiment, there is provided automated reporting of recording
percentages, resulting in considerable saving of human time and error reduction.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[001] FIG.l illustrates a table that shows the recording requirements in some of the
key industry verticals;
[002] FIG.2 illustrates an environment, wherein various embodiments of the present
invention can be practiced;
[003] FIG.3 shows a schematic compliance framework for addressing the gaps
between screen and voice recording and reporting, in accordance with an embodiment
of the present disclosure; and
[004] FIG.4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for addressing the gaps between
screen and voice recording and reporting, in accordance with an embodiment of the
present disclosure.
[005] The following detailed description of illustrative embodiments is better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For illustrating the present invention, exemplary constructions of the invention are shown in the drawings. However, the invention is not limited to specific methods and instrumentalities disclosed herein. Moreover, those in the art will understand that the drawings are not to scale. Wherever possible, like elements have been indicated by identical numbers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
[006] The invention is described in detail below with reference to several embodiments and numerous examples. Such discussion is for purposes of illustration only. Modifications to examples within the spirit and scope of the present invention, set forth in the appended claims, will be clear to one of skill in the art. Terminology used throughout the specification and claims herein is given its ordinary meaning as supplemented by the discussion immediately below. As used in the specification and claims, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Those with ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the elements in the Figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and are not necessarily drawn to scale.
[007] Referring now to Figures, FIG.2 illustrates an environment 200 of a call center organization, wherein various embodiments of the present invention can be practiced.
[008] The environment 200 includes a customer 202 coupled to an integrated system of Automatic Call Distributor (ACD) 204 and Customer Telephony Integration (CTI) 206 through a Public Switched Telephone Network 208 or equivalent like Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO), Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), etc.
[009] The customer 202 is a user that may make a phone call through their mobile phone/telephone at a predefined number to obtain product support or information enquiries. The predefined number is of a call center that handles large volumes of incoming phone calls from callers who have no need to talk to a specific person, but require assistance from a customer service representative 210. The customer service representative 210 has a mobile phone/telephone 212 for receiving a phone call from the customer 202, and a computing device 214 executing a screen recording application 216 for taking snapshots or making video of the screen of the computing device 214. In an embodiment, the customer service representative 210 can have a

mobile phone instead of the conventional telephone, and also, the phone 212 and the computing device 214 can be integrated through a soft phone.
[0010] The screen recording application 216 makes several decisions on which call is to be recorded based on configurations which include parameters such as - for which skillset how many calls are to be recorded or what percentage of calls are to be recorded. These parameters can be very specific and could say that a certain number of calls must be recorded etc. These rules can be very complicated and granular.
[0011] The automatic call distributor (ACD) 204 is a telephony device that answers and distributes incoming calls to a specific group of terminals or agents within an organization. The ACD 204 often use a voice menu to direct callers based on the customer's selection, telephone number, and selected incoming line to the system or time of day the call was processed. The ACD 204 routes incoming calls to the most qualified employee or employees within a company that can address a caller's needs. The technology can also use rule-based instructions such as caller ID, automatic number identification, interactive voice response or dialed number identification services to determine how calls are handled.
[0012] The CTI 206 is a common name for any technology that allows interactions on a telephone and a computer to be integrated or coordinated. The term is predominantly used to describe desktop-based interaction for helping users be more efficient, though it can also refer to server-based functionality such as automatic call routing. It would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that current state CTI integrates phone calls on telephone and computer however future innovations does not restrict CTI covering smart phone.
[0013] The environment 200 further illustrates a call recording server 218, a screen recording server 220, a database server 222, a playback system 224 and a compliance

meter and database 226, coupled to the computing device 214 and the CTI 206 through a communication network 228. The communication network 228 may be either wired or wireless, wherein the wired network may include but not limited to Ethernet, Universal Serial Bus (USB) or other suitable implementation and wireless network may include, but not limited to, wireless personal area network (WPAN e.g. Bluetooth, Z-Wave, ZigBee), low power links (Bluetooth low energy (BLE), ibeacon), near field communication (NFC), wifi/802.11 or other suitable implementation, in accordance with the invention.
[0014] The call recording server 218 manages and stores the recording of call sessions between the customer 202 and one or more customer service representatives 210, and the screen recording server 220 manages the screen recording application 216 executing on the computing device 214. The database server 222 stores all entries of all call recordings, and the playback system 224 is used for call listening, quality monitoring or for compliance monitoring purpose along with the screen play.
[0015] The compliance meter and the database 226 is configured to monitor and control the mismatch between the incoming calls, and voice and screen recordings. In an embodiment, the compliance meter and database 11 is configured to recommend usage of raw data directly rather than pre-calculated data to eliminate wrong reporting and defining business rules within the compliance meter and database 226. The compliance meter and database 226 is further configured to rely on automation of the entire process right from extraction to comparison to deriving the necessary metrics and providing a mechanism to identifying outliers and attributing the reasons to each of the outliers.
[0016] FIG.3 shows the compliance meter and the database 226 for monitoring the mismatch between the incoming calls, and voice and screen recordings, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

[0017] A compliance meter application 301 of the compliance meter and the database 226 is configured to extract the details of calls received from the ACD table 302. In an embodiment, each call may be assigned a unique call identification number, so that the call can be tracked completely within the time that it is being handled at the contact center.
[0018] Further, the compliance meter application 301 is configured to fetch the call recording details from a logger table 304. The recording of one or more calls comprises performing screen and voice recording of the one or more incoming calls. The screen recording of the incoming calls is stored at a screen recording server, and the voice recording of the incoming calls is stored at a voice recording server. In an embodiment, each call/screen recording may be assigned a unique recording identification number. Also, the unique call identification number is an identifier which exists in both the screen recording data and call recording data and links the call with corresponding recordings.
[0019] In an embodiment of the present invention, a process wise compliance requirement database 306 provides compliance parameters to the compliance meter application based on the type of business process. Process wise compliance indicates the percentage recordings to be adhered to in case of screen and voice recordings. For example, today each business process requires different percentage of call or screen recordings. Analysis further showed that public sector banks expected extreme and stringent recording percentages i.e. 100% in both voice and screen recordings, while insurance industry needs similar requirements and some of the other industry requirements vary from X number of calls to be recorded per associate per day.

[0020] In an embodiment of the present invention, the compliance meter application 301 identifies gaps based on the unique call identification numbers of the incoming calls, and unique recording identification numbers of the voice and screen recordings. In an embodiment, based on the mismatch between identifiers of both the data, the compliance meter application 301 may generate compliance data 307 and a report
308 including data about percentage of voice calls recorded, percentage of screen
calls recorded, percentage of voice and screen calls recorded, and percentage of calls
recorded but the recordings are in unknown state.
[0021] In an embodiment of the present invention, the compliance meter application 301 is configured to make use of an available alert mechanism 309 for the discrepancies in the recording system. In an example, the available alert mechanism
309 in this context is email and can be extended to SMS or similar other channel, other
channel or desktop alerts.
[0022] In an embodiment of the present invention, the compliance meter application 301 is configured to apply business rules to publish recording status automatically with an aim to provide reports for the business directly from within the system. Examples of business rules include, but are not limited to, day end rules, peak time rules, threshold compliance rules, and quantity based rules.
[0023] In an embodiment of the present invention, the compliance data 307 may be maintained outside the ACD and recording systems for obvious performance reasons. In an example, the ACD and recording systems may have terabytes of data and storing the compliance data in this database may adversely affect performance of this systems.
[0024] FIG.4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of managing call recordings in a contact center, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

[0025] At step 402, a unique call identification number is assigned to each incoming call of the contact center.
[0026] At step 404, a unique recording identification number is assigned to each call recording at the contact center.
[0027] At step 406, it is checked for each unique call identifier stored in the ACD table, if a corresponding entry has been made in the logger table.
[0028] At step 408, mismatch between the ACD table and the logger table are reported at pre-defined intervals of time.
[0029] Various embodiments of the present invention provide a call by call match between the ACD system and the recording system to granularly identify which call has been recorded and which is not, or whether both screen as well as voice were recorded or if a call was not recorded, the reasons for the system to skip or miss the recording or the recording type. The recording systems provide the reasons why an attempt to record has failed for a certain call which could be very generic and not leading to root cause of failure or could provide very specific reasons for failure which could not be addressable. With this granular information, immediate resolution is possible. In an example, every call has an entry in the ACD call table, and is used to identify whether corresponding screen recording was done or not to link the original call. Every call has an entry in the ACD (call) table and recording statistics (voice/Screen/Both) for the relevant call are saved in a logger table. An entry in the logger database is only made for calls that are recorded and not for the ones not recorded. For e.g. if call record #1 in the ACD table does not have corresponding record in the logger table, it indicates that the recording has failed for that call.
[0030] While the invention has been described in detail, modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will be clear to those of skill in the art. Such modifications

are also to be considered as part of the present invention. In view of the foregoing discussion, relevant knowledge in the art and references or information discussed above about the Background of the Invention, the inventions of which are all incorporated herein by reference, further description is deemed unnecessary. In addition, aspects of the invention and portions of various embodiments may be combined or interchanged either in whole or in part. Furthermore, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the foregoing description is by way of example only, and is not intended to limit the invention.

We Claim:
1. A method for managing call recordings in a contact center, the method comprising:
assigning a unique call identification number by an automatic call distributor (ACD), to each incoming call of the contact center;
storing the unique call identification number in the ACD table;
recording one or more incoming calls, at a call recording server;
assigning a unique recording identification number to each recorded call in a logger table;
checking for each unique call identification number stored in the ACD table, if a corresponding entry has been made in the logger table; and
reporting mismatches between the ACD table and the logger table, at pre-defined intervals of time.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the recording one or more calls comprising performing screen and voice recording of the one or more incoming calls.
3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the mismatches are reported for call listening, quality monitoring and compliance monitoring purpose along with the screen play.
4. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising generating an alert in an event of a mismatch between the ACD table and the logger table.
5. A system for managing call recordings in a contact center, comprising:
a processor; and
a memory comprising one or more instructions, wherein the processor is configured to execute the one or more instructions to:

assign a unique call identification number by an automatic call distributor (ACD), to each incoming call of the contact center;
store the unique call identification number in the ACD table;
record one or more incoming calls by a call recording server;
assign a unique recording identification number to each recorded call in a logger table;
check for each unique call identification number stored in the ACD table, if a corresponding entry has been made in the logger table; and
report mismatches between the ACD table and the logger table, at pre-defined intervals of time.
6. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the call recording server comprises a voice recording server for recording voice, and a screen recording server for recording screen.
7. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the mismatches are reported for call listening, quality monitoring and compliance monitoring purpose along with the screen play.
8. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the one or more instructions to generate an alert in an event of a mismatch between the ACD table and the logger table.