Central call platform
A system and method for providing telephone services to a secure facility from an external, centralized call platform. An embodiment of the system includes a call processing center that is external to the facility and includes a plurality of computer clusters, and is configured to route communications to and from a router located at the secure facility. Having a majority of the system located outside the facility reduces equipment requirements at each individual facility, improves security and uptime, and provides more efficient management and expansion of the call platform.
1. A system for providing telephone services to a secure facility, the system comprising:
a call processing center that includes a plurality of computing clusters, the call processing center being configured to route voice communications to and from a router located at the secure facility wherein the voice communications to and from the router originate from authenticated users;
each of the plurality of computing clusters comprising:
at least one database node comprising a database that stores a plurality of recordings of telephone calls and voicemail messages based on the voice communications;
a call processing node configured to route the received voice communications to and from a destination telephone based on a previously-determined association between the authenticated users; and
an application node configured to provide a plurality of authorized users access to the plurality of recordings on the database nodes of at least two of the plurality of computing clusters,
wherein the plurality of computing clusters are geographically dispersed at a plurality of geographic locations, and
wherein the call processing center stores a cluster identifier associated with each database node and stores information regarding the plurality of geographic locations where data regarding the voice communications can and cannot be stored.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the call processing center is located outside the facility.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the call processing center is configured to receive internet protocol (IP) communications from the router via the Internet.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the call processing center is configured to route the voice communications to and from a voice over IP (VoIP) to plain old telephone service (POTS) provider.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the call processing node is configured to determine which one of a plurality of telecommunications providers to route the voice communications to and from based on at least one of time of day, a current rate of each of the telecommunications providers, and a load on a network of each of the telecommunications providers.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the call processing node is configured to determine whether a user at the secure facility has permission to call a called telephone number prior to the routing communications to the destination telephone.
7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the application node provides authorized users at least one of live call monitoring, access to call history, access to payment and transaction history, access to voicemail history, access to voice authorization attempts, and access to destination number history.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the router located at the secure facility is configured to communicate with a first cluster of the plurality of computing clusters, and is further configured to communicate with a second cluster of the plurality of computing clusters if the first cluster does not respond to communications.
9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the application node includes a web interface that is configured to provide authorized users with a plurality of facility and resident configuration options.
10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of facility and resident configuration options include call permissions for a particular resident.
11. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the database, call processing, and application nodes are on a single computer or are on separate computers or sets of computers, and computing resources are allocated to any one of the database, call processing, and application nodes based on a current processing load.
12. A system for providing telephone services to a plurality of secure facilities, the system comprising:
a call processing center that includes a plurality of computing clusters, the call processing center being configured to route voice communications to and from a plurality of routers located at the plurality of secure facilities wherein the voice communications to and from the plurality of routers originate from authenticated users;
each of the plurality of computing clusters comprising:
a database node comprising a database that stores a plurality of recordings of telephone calls and voicemail messages based on the voice communications;
a call processing node configured to route the received voice communications to and from destination telephones at each of the plurality of secure facilities based on a previously-determined association between authenticated users; and
an application node configured to provide a plurality of authorized users access to the plurality of recordings on the database node of at least two of the plurality of computing clusters via a web interface,
wherein the plurality of secure facilities are geographically dispersed,
wherein the call processing center stores a cluster identifier associated with each database node and stores rules that define whether voice communication data corresponding to a secure facility can be replicated at other computing clusters, and
wherein the call processing center replicates data corresponding to a facility by storing data in a plurality of database nodes based on the stored rules.
13. A method of providing voice communications to a secure facility, the method comprising:
providing a plurality of computing clusters that are geographically dispersed at a plurality of geographic locations;
receiving and sending, via the Internet, at a location outside the secure facility, voice communications in the form of internet protocol (IP) packets wherein the voice communications originate from authenticated users that have previously been associated with another authenticated user;
converting the IP packets to a plain old telephone service (POTS) signal;
routing the POTS signal to and from one of a plurality of telecommunications providers based on at least one of time of day, a current rate of each of the telecommunications providers, and load on a network of each of the telecommunications providers;
storing an identifier associated with a computing cluster and storing rules that define the geographic locations where data regarding the voice communications can and cannot be stored;
recording the voice communications at the location outside the secure facility based on the stored rules; and
providing access to the recorded voice communications via a web interface hosted on a web server.
14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
determining whether a caller at the secure facility has permission to call a called phone number; and
blocking the voice communications if the caller does not have the permission.
15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
authenticating a caller by receiving a personal identification number and a voice ID, and comparing the personal identification number and the voice ID to previously stored data.
16. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
receiving the voice communications from a plurality of secure facilities.
17. The system of claim 1 , wherein the application node is configured to initiate a call to a facility resident that connects to the secure facility via the interne and plays a ring assigned to the facility resident on a telephone in a current location of the facility resident.
18. The system of claim 1 , wherein the application node is configured to initiate a call to a facility resident, and the call processing center is configured to play a message identifying the facility resident and requesting that the facility resident enter the facility resident's unique identification information when a telephone at the facility is answered.
19. The system of claim 1 , wherein the router and the call processing center do not have a dedicated connection.
20. The system of claim 1 , wherein an outside caller is automatically routed to a telephone associated with a resident of the secure facility and wherein a telephone number dialed by the outside caller is not assigned any resident of the secure facility.
21. The system of claim 1 , wherein the call processing center is further operable to set call rates for the voice communications to and from the router.
22. The system of claim 1 , wherein the call processing center will not route the received voice communications to and from a destination telephone when an account associated with the destination telephone does not have sufficient funds, and the call processing center is further operable to provide for funding of the account by an authenticated user who is not a facility resident.