	US 7,564,953 B2
	System and method for end-to-end communications tracing
Randall P. J. Ethier, Herndon, Va. (US); Michael P. Hammer, Reston, Va. (US); and Scott S. Firestone, Mountain View, Calif. (US)
Assigned to Cisco Technology, Inc., San Jose, Calif. (US)
Filed on Apr. 17, 2007, as Appl. No. 11/736,157.
Application 11/736157 is a continuation of application No. 10/888905, filed on Jul. 09, 2004, granted, now 7,209,548.
Application 10/888905 is a continuation of application No. 10/868982, filed on Jun. 15, 2004, granted, now 7,283,619.
Prior Publication US 2007/0201621 A1, Aug. 30, 2007
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. H04M 1/24 (2006.01); H04M 3/08 (2006.01); H04M 3/22 (2006.01); H04M 15/00 (2006.01)

U.S. Cl. 379—32.05 [379/32.01; 379/112.06; 379/133]

61 Claims

1. A method of tracing communications, comprising:

receiving a trace trigger request from a management node, wherein the trace trigger request comprises a unique identifier and trace criteria;

extracting the unique identifier and the trace criteria from the trace trigger request;

receiving a call signaling message;

determining whether the call signaling message matches the trace criteria; and

attaching a trace tag to the call signaling message if the call signaling message matches the trace criteria, wherein the trace tag comprises the unique identifier.