In this post we explain a little about business telephone systems and how Threads ingests phone calls so that they may be replayed and transcribed (using ASR) at will. A key feature of Threads call ingestion is that it happens transparently to the user and is totally independent of the telephone system in use. As a result, the Threads subscriber is not tied to one particular business telephone system manufacturer nor to require special software or plug-ins. We discuss how calls may be ingested from both landline and mobile networks.
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1 LANDLINE NETWORKS **
We have discussed in an earlier blog post how Threads ingests emails. Although, once ingested, Threads treats phone calls and emails (or indeed any digital message) in the same way, the method by which it ingests these types of message differs. This is because phone calls and emails use different types of networks for connecting users. Emails are mostly exchanged via the Internet whereas historically in most business telephone systems, phone calls are routed via the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) through a dedicated network of what are termed landlines – these are typically owned and managed by telephone network company such as British Telecom, AT&T, etc. However, the routing of email and phone calls is tending to converge to the Internet as the preferred medium for transfer.
Emails are exchanged as strings of text when the user connects an email client application to an email server. This could be a local server (ie in the subscribers offices) or a cloud-based server such as Gmail or Microsoft Office 365.
Phone calls are exchanged as streams of digitally encoded acoustic speech. The phone equivalent of the email server is called a branch exchange in the PSTN. Just like an email server, the branch exchange is responsible for routing the call to the correct user. For domestic subscribers, the branch exchange is commonly located at a geographically central location in a building called a telephone exchange. The telephone exchange typically connects calls to individual consumer telephones, however in an office environment where there may be many users that are called via a single telephone number, there will be the need for a Private Branch Exchange (PBX). Once a call has been connected to an office, then the PBX routes it to an individual handset (or extension).
Traditional business telephone system connecting handsets to telephone exchange via a office-based PBX.
Traditional business telephone system connecting handsets to telephone exchange via a office-based PBX.
The trend nowadays is for PBX systems to use an office’s digital data network (often called a Local Area Network or LAN) to connect handsets as opposed to the traditional method of dedicated wiring using analogue signals. All these legacy analogue phone systems are unique, so to ingest calls from them into Threads would require engineering effort for every individual system to be supported. Therefore the approach taken by Threads is to support only modern digital telephone systems using a protocol called Voice Over IP or VoIP – a standard now adopted by most telephone system manufacturers.
Modern VoIP business telephone system using subscribers local area network (LAN) to route local calls between office handsets and local PBX
Modern VoIP business telephone system using subscribers local area network (LAN) to route local calls between office handsets and local PBX
An additional benefit is that Threads can ingest phone calls from so-called “hosted” PBXs. In this case, the PBX is provided as a Cloud service and connections are made to the PSTN via the hosted PBX provider.
Modern VoIP business telephone system using subscribers local area network (LAN) to route local calls between office handsets and Cloud-based (or hosted) PBX
Modern VoIP business telephone system using subscribers local area network (LAN) to route local calls between office handsets and Cloud-based (or hosted) PBX
The method used by Threads to ingest VoIP traffic is to intercept VoIP traffic at the point at which is it routed to the internal or hosted PBX. Rather than re-invent the wheel, Threads uses tried and tested open source software developed by a company called Orecx. For local PBXs hosted on the subscriber’s premises, Orecx runs on a low-cost stand-alone server – typically a PC running Linux – or on a virtual machine.
Threads-Orecx appliance collects VoIP traffic directly from subscriber’s local network and sends to Threads server in the Cloud.
Threads-Orecx appliance collects VoIP traffic directly from subscriber’s local network and sends to Threads server in the Cloud.
There are also versions that run in the Cloud, for subscribers use Cloud-hosted PBXs. Although Orecx supports an open source version, we strongly recommend that Threads subscribers use the commercially supported version.
Threads ingests calls from Orecx using some software we call the Threads-Orecx Gateway. Once the Orecx server has been deployed, we install the Threads-Orecx Gateway on same machine. The digital speech as well as the accompanying metadata (addressing details) are then transferred to the Threads server in the Cloud for processing. Before being transferred, the data is optimally conditioned for speech recognition.
Threads-Orecx software collects VoIP traffic directly from subscriber’s hosted PBX and sendts to Threads server in the Cloud
Threads-Orecx software collects VoIP traffic directly from subscriber’s hosted PBX and sendts to Threads server in the Cloud
2. Mobile phone networks
Much of the general architecture of landline networks applies to mobile phone networks. However, since these networks are mostly proprietary, mobile phone data cannot be ingested in the same way as that routed over the PSTN.
There are essentially 3 ways in which mobile phone data can be ingested by Threads;
Redirection
Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO)
Threads phone app
Threads is intended for cooperative interception of call data to assist in an organisation’s collaborative working. Therefore, all the privacy and security mechanisms for other types of messages apply the same, however, if the user wishes to obviate their use, the user may do so with ease.
2.1 Redirection
This technique involves routing mobile traffic via the subscriber’s LAN.
Incoming calls are redirected to the user’s mobile telephone. Callers are always given the landline number and the user sets up a redirect whenever not in the office.
Outgoing calls are made via the office. This is a simple a phone book in which all outgoing numbers are automatically prefixed with the subscriber’s office number. The office PBX is set to redirect the call on connection.
2.2 Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO)
Many mobile phone operator’s offer a facility for subscribers to run their own (virtual) network. This uses the existing operators infrastructure but allows the subscriber to intercept the call traffic made via the network.
2.3 Threads phone app
This is a simple phone application which operates in a similar way to other personal messaging systems such as Whatsapp but intercepts traffic for ingestion by Threads.
Further Information
** For a more in depth discussion of the relevant technology, please refer to Adopting an Open Source VoIP phone system