Method and apparatus for simultaneously monitoring computer user screen and telephone activity from a remote location

Abstract

The present invention relates to simultaneous computer screen and voice monitoring from a remote location, and particularly relates to synchronized telephone and screen monitoring of a computer workstation from a remote location, by use of a multiple bounding rectangles technique. Such monitoring is useful for providing training and assistance to those using such workstations, especially in connection with telephone use, can also be useful for providing an audit trial of significant on-screen events, or can be used as a trigger to initiate other separate events. In one embodiment, graphics primitives are used to determine localized screen changes which are periodically copied from the monitored workstation desktop and sent over a network to a remote, monitoring, workstation. In another embodiment, localized screen changes are determined by full screen comparison, and sent over a network to a remote, monitoring, workstation.