Systems and methods for managing alarms from recorders

1. A method for managing alarms from recorders, comprising the steps of:

organizing the recorders into a hierarchical view by geographic locations, wherein the recorders are distributed over multiple geographic locations;

receiving alarm alerts from one or more recorders by a central application module, the alarm alerts being operative to notify a user of a problem associated with the functionality of one or more recorders;

storing the alarm alerts in an alarm database;

managing the alarm alerts by the central application module so that a user can view the alarm alerts by navigating the hierarchical view of recorders; and

copying configuration and parameters from a source recorder associated with a first alarm alert to a target recorder, the configuration and parameters being applied to the target recorder to update predetermined functional areas of the target recorder.

2. The method as defined in claim 1 , further comprising assigning the one or more recorders to site groups and sites.

3. The method as defined in claim 2 , further comprising associating the alarm alerts with the one or more recorders that originated the alarm alerts and associating the alarm alerts with the site groups and sites.

4. The method as defined in claim 3 , further comprising displaying information corresponding to the site groups, sites, alarm alerts, and one or more recorders on a display device that enables a user to review an alarm alert of interest and take any corrective action.

5. The method as defined in claim 1 , further comprising including one or more audio servers at one of a site and site group level, which allows an application layer to determine the location of the audio server for load balancing and proximity determination purposes.

6. The system as defined in claim 1 , further comprising including one or more central archive manager (CAM) servers at one of a site and site group level, which allows the user to determine which recorders are associated with which CAM Server.

7. The method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the receiving, storing and managing alarm steps are embedded as services within a network.

8. A system for managing alarms from recorders, comprising:

organizing the recorders into a hierarchical view by geographic locations, wherein the recorders are distributed over multiple geographic locations;

one or more recorders operative to provide alarm alerts for notifying a user of a problem associated with the functionality of the one or more recorders;

one or more recorder computing devices that communicate with the one or more recorders, each of the recorder computing devices receiving the alarm alerts from a corresponding one of the one or more recorders; and

a central application module that communicates with the one or more recorder computing devices, the central application module being operative to receive and manage alarm alerts from the one or more recorders so that a user can view the alarm alerts by navigating the hierarchical view of recorders, the central application module further copying configuration and parameters from a source recorder associated with a first alarm alert to a target recorder, the configuration and parameters being applied to the target recorder to update predetermined functional areas of the target recorder.

9. The system as defined in claim 8 , further comprising an alarm database that stores the alarm alerts and associates the alarm alerts with originating recorders.

10. The system as defined in claim 9 , wherein the central application module is operative to manage sites and site groups, the central application module being operative to assign the one or more recorders to one of the sites and site groups.

11. The system as defined in claim 10 , wherein the central application module is operative to associate the alarm alerts with the sites and site groups.

12. The system as defined in claim 11 , wherein the central application module is operative to display the site groups, sites, alarm alerts, and one or more recorders on a display device that enables a user to review an alarm alert of interest.

13. The system as defined in claim 8 , wherein the central application module enables a user to include one or more audio servers at one of a site and site group level, which allows an application layer to determine the location of the audio server to go to for load balancing and proximity determination purposes.

14. The system as defined in claim 8 , wherein the central application module enables a user to include one or more central archive manager (CAM) servers at one of a site and site group level, which allows the user to determine which recorders consolidate to which CAM Server.

15. A system for managing alarms from recorders in a call center premises, comprising:

organizing the recorders into a hierarchical view by geographic locations, wherein the recorders are distributed over multiple geographic locations;

one or more recorders operative to provide alarm alerts for notifying a user of a problem associated with the functionality of the one or more recorders;

one or more recorder computing devices that communicate with the one or more recorders, each of the recorder computing devices receiving the alarm alerts from a corresponding one of the one or more recorders; and

a central application module that communicates with the one or more recorder computing devices,

wherein the central application module is operative to receive and manage alarm alerts from the one or more recorders so that a user can view the alarm alerts by navigating the hierarchical view of recorders,

wherein the central application module is embedded as service on the network, and

wherein the central application copies configuration and parameters from a source recorder associated with a first alarm alert to a target recorder, the configuration and parameters being applied to the target recorder to update predetermined functional areas of the target recorder.

16. The system as defined in claim 15 , wherein the central application module is operative to manage sites and site groups, the central application module being operative to assign the one or more recorders to the sites and site groups.

17. The system as defined in claim 16 , wherein the central application module is operative to associate the alarm alerts with the one or more recorders that originated the alarm alerts, the central application module being operative to associate the alarm alerts with the site groups and sites.

18. The system as defined in claim 17 , wherein the central application module is operative to display information corresponding to the site groups, sites, alarm alerts, and one or more recorders on a display device that enables a user to review an alarm alert of interest, and

wherein the central application module uses a hierarchy list for the site groups, sites, alarm alerts, and one or more recorders to show alarm statuses at any point within that hierarchy.