There is provided a method of correlating a telephone call between a first party and a second party with information that is to be used in a third party service implemented in relation to the telephone call. The method comprises routing telephone calls involving the first party via a third party service system that implements the third party service. The method further comprises, at a communication management system of the first party, determining call identification data for the telephone call and session data associated with a session of the third party service to be implemented in relation to the telephone call, and sending the call identification data and the session data to the third party service system; and, at the third party service system, receiving the call identification data and the session data from the communication management system, using the received call identification data to identify the telephone call, using the received session data to determine the information that is be used in the third party service, and correlating the information with the identified telephone call.

One embodiment of the present invention provides a collect call method and system thereof, more particularly, in order to charge the called party with a uniform toll for collect call, which is determined by only the type and location of called party terminal. In one embodiment, the collect call method, system and a counsel service providing method use a free VoIP network for part of the voice call link and a charge PSTN network for the rest of the voice call link. In one embodiment, if the first link corresponding to the collect call request is established, the collect call switch calls the called party terminal to establish the second link, and billing on the second link is initiated.

In a packet communication system, session border controllers receive and process communication packets to detect DTMF signaling. If DTMF signaling is detected, the session border controllers determine if DTMF transcoding is required. If DTMF transcoding is required, the session border controllers transfer DTMF transcoding instructions to a DTMF transcoding server. In response to the transcoding instructions, the DTMF transcoding server transfers transcoded DTMF signaling.

In one embodiment, a secure mechanism operates in conjunction with a three-way bridge in a contact center to protect against inadvertent exposure of sensitive information provided during a call. During the call, an agent may bridge on an interactive voice response system (“IVR”) onto the call prompting the party to enter sensitive information, such as a credit card account number, to effect a payment. The information may be provided by the party using dual-tone multiple frequency (“DTMF”) tones or speech. The IVR may provide a confirmatory announcement indicating the sensitive information received. A switch may be controlled by the IVR so that any sensitive information expected from the party or provided by the IVR in a confirmatory announcement is not presented to the agent or to a recording system. In this manner, the IVR suppresses the exposure of sensitive information to the agent and/or a recording system.

A call processing system comprises first and second interfaces configured to selectively pass voice signals and data signals between caller and agent to enable communication. An attenuation means is configured to selectively attenuate voice and data signals passing from the first interface to the second interface to impede the agent from receiving voice and data signals from the caller. While a string of discrete data signals is received at the first interface, the system is configured to operate exclusively in each of: a first mode in which voice and data signals are permitted to pass from the first interface to the second interface to enable the agent to receive them from the caller; and a second mode in which the attenuation means attenuates voice and data signals passing from the first interface to the second interface to impede the agent from receiving them from the caller.

Provided are methods, apparatuses and a system for synchronizing call media and content. In a process of playing call media to a user and displaying content associated with the call media, a terminal acquires new call media from a call media server and acquires, after querying a synchronization server for content information corresponding to the new call media, content associated with the new call media from a content server, respectively, in response to a user operation. The terminal plays the new call media to the user, and displays the content associated with the new call media simultaneously.

A method to discriminate a signal as a DTMF digit is operative in a service provider having a VoIP-based media server. The media server accepts both in-band DTMF and RTP telephone events. A digit detection module receives as input a data stream that may include one or more DTMF digits. The module processes the input data stream and provides, as output, an indication of what digit(s) have been detected and from what source (e.g., in-band audio, an RTP 2833 telephone event, of both). The output is then further processed by a discrimination algorithm to make a final digit determination. If RTP telephone events are detected, the algorithm prefers them and ignores in-band DTMF until the call ends or the media is re-negotiated. The approach detects when duplicate digits of differing types are initially received and only accepts one of them, regardless of spacing or duration.

Intercom systems and methods for image data transmission are provided. The intercom system may include a first intercom including a first image acquisition device, one or more second image acquisition devices, and a second intercom. During an intercom with the second intercom, the first intercom may receive a request for target image data captured by one or more target image acquisition devices of the first image acquisition device and the one or more second image acquisition devices from the second intercom. The one or more target image acquisition devices may include at least one target second image acquisition device of the one or more second image acquisition devices. In response to the request, the first intercom may obtain the target image data from the one or more target image acquisition devices. The first intercom may also send a signal encoding the target image data to the second intercom for display.

Various embodiments of the invention provide methods, systems, and computer-program products for handling a call reaching a party's voicemail. A predictive model is used to generate a first probability of an outcome occurring as a result of leaving a voicemail message and a second probability of the outcome occurring as a result of sending a text message. If the first probability is greater, an IVR uses DTMF tone(s) to bypass a greeting on the voicemail so that a message can be recorded with minimal time. If the second probability is greater, the call is ended and an email is sent to the party's service provider using an email address comprising a mobile number for the party and a domain portion specific to the provider. As a result, the provider delivers a text message to the party with the body of the message including the content of the email.

Methods and apparatus implementing a telephony terminal for connecting a telephone to a data network. In one implementation, a telephony system includes: a phone connection for connecting to a telephone; a network connection for connecting to a network; and a controller connected to said phone connection and to said network connection; wherein said controller provides a phone service for processing information for said phone connection, said controller provides a network service for processing information for said network connection, and said controller provides a network voice service for converting information to and from a network voice format.