Controlled environment media and communication system

• US 10,182,254 B2
• Filed: 05/23/2017
• Issued: 01/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Global Tel-Link Corporation
• Original Assignee: Global Tel-Link Corporation
• Inventors: Hodge, Stephen L
• Primary Examiner(s): Zenati, Amal
• Application Number:
  US15/603,095
• Publication Number:
  US 20170324929A1
• Time in Patent Office: 602 Days
• Field of Search: 348 1401
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1059 End-user terminal functionalities specially adapted for real-time communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/611 for multicast or broadcast systems for broadcast or conference H04L12/18; arrangements for broadcast or distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/00; arrangements for broadcast applications with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time H04H60/00; selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS], H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44218 Detecting physical presence or behaviour of the user, e.g. using sensors to detect if the user is leaving the room or changes his face expression during a TV program methods or arrangements for recognising human body or animal bodies or body parts G06V40/10; methods or arrangements for acquiring or recognising human faces, facial parts, facial sketches, facial expressions G06V40/16; methods or arrangements for recognising movements or behaviour G06V40/20; arrangements for identifying users in broadcast systems H04H60/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4882 for displaying messages, e.g. warnings, reminders arrangements for providing short real-time information to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1895
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6543 for forcing some client operations, e.g. recording remote booting in general G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/141 between two video terminals, e.g. videophone telephonic communication systems combined with television receiver for reception of entertainment or information matter H04M11/085
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q

Abstract

The Controlled Environment Media And Communication System delivers communications services to residents of controlled facilities using a common network architecture. Some of the communications capabilities of the Controlled Environment Media And Communication System include media distribution, video visitation, intra-facility messaging, and other such communications services.

Claims

1. An intra-facility communications system for sending and receiving messages within a secured facility, the system comprising:

a secured network, the secured network including a first secured partition and a second secured partition, the first secured partition and the second secured partition having different levels of network security and being physically separated from each other;

an access terminal available to a resident of the secured facility, the access terminal configured to;

receive an intra-facility message from the resident that is designated for delivery to an intended recipient; and

transmit the intra-facility message using the first secured partition of the secured network; and

a central intra-facility communications server, the central intra-facility communications server configured to;

receive the intra-facility message via the first secured partition of the secured network;

perform a redundancy check on the received intra-facility message, the redundancy check including comparing contents of the received intra-facility message to contents of previously-sent messages and comparing message parties of the received intra-facility message to message parties of previously-sent messages;

assign an expiration date to the received intra-facility message, upon which the received intra-facility message will be deleted; and

route the intra-facility message to the intended recipient using the second secured partition of the secured network.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the secured facility is a prison and residents of the secured facility are prison inmates, the first secured partition of the secured network is available to the prison inmates, and the second secured partition of the secured network is not available to the prison inmates.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein access to the first secured network partition is available to the prison inmates and access to the second secured network partition is not available to the prison inmates.

4. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

an authentication server with connectivity to the secured network;

wherein the prison inmates possess one class of authentication credentials which disallows access to the second secured partition of the secured network, and prison staff possess another class of authentication credentials which allows access to the second secured partition of the secured network.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the access terminal is an inmate kiosk located within an inmate cell.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the access terminal presents a list of options for intra-facility messages via a graphical user interface to the resident, the access terminal receives input indicative of one of the list of options, and the intra-facility message includes the chosen option in the intra-facility message.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a media distribution server with access to the second secured partition of the secured network;

wherein the access terminal is further configured to receive media from the media distribution server and playback the media for consumption.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a video visitation server with access to the second secured partition of the secured network, the video visitation server configured to conduct video visitation sessions between the access terminal and a second video visitation server;

wherein the access terminal is further configured to conduct video visitation sessions with one or more other video visitation endpoints by utilizing the video visitation server.

9. An intra-facility communications system for sending and receiving messages within a secured facility, the system comprising:

a network that provides communication services to the secured facility, the network including a first secured partition and a second secured partition that have different levels of network security and that are physically separated from each other;

an access terminal connected to the network, the access terminal configured to;

receive an intra-facility message and secondary data from a resident; and

transmit the intra-facility message to the network via the first secured partition;

a central intra-facility communications server, the central intra-facility communications server configured to;

receive the intra-facility message and the secondary data from the access terminal;

perform a redundancy check on the received intra-facility message, the redundancy check including comparing contents of the received intra-facility message to contents of previously-sent messages and comparing message parties of the received intra-facility message to message parties of previously-sent messages;

assign an expiration date to the received intra-facility message, upon which the received message will be deleted; and

route the intra-facility message based on the secondary data via the second secured partition.

10. The intra-facility communications system according to claim 9, wherein the secondary data includes resident name, resident identifying information, data of message submission, and message type.

11. The intra-facility communications system according to claim 9, wherein the intra-facility message is a kite message directed to a service department associated with the secured facility.

12. The intra-facility communications system according to claim 9, wherein the central intra-facility communications server is further configured to:

analyze the intra-facility message; and

flag the intra-facility message for review based on the analysis.

13. The intra-facility communications system according to claim 12, wherein to analyze the intra-facility message, the central intra-facility communications server is configured to scan the intra-facility message for keywords and key phrases.

14. The intra facility communications system of claim 9, further comprising a database, the central intra-facility communications server being configured to store the intra-facility message, together with the secondary data, in the database.

15. An intra-facility communications system for sending and receiving messages within a secured facility, the system comprising:

a network that provides communication services to the secured facility, the network including a first secured partition and a second secured partition that have different levels of network security and are physically separated from each other;

a user terminal located within the secured facility, the user terminal being configured to receive a message from an inmate of the secured facility via the second secured partition, and to transmit the message to the network via the first secured partition;

a central intra-facility communications server configured to screen the message and to store the message in a message database, the message database including a plurality of previous messages sent by the inmate, wherein to screen the message, the central intra-facility communications server is configured to;

perform a redundancy check on the received message, the redundancy check including comparing contents of the received message to contents of previously-sent messages and comparing message parties of the received message to message parties of previously-sent messages.

16. The intra-facility communications system of claim 15, wherein the central intra-facility communications server is further configured to compare the content of the received message to content of the plurality of previous messages.

17. The intra-facility communications system of claim 16, wherein the intra-facility communications server is configured to determine, based on the comparison, that the content of the received message is substantially similar to content of at least one of the plurality of previous messages.

18. The intra-facility communications system of claim 17, wherein the intra-facility communications server is further configured to, in response to the determination, cancel transmission of the message.

19. The intra-facility communications system of claim 15, wherein the central intra-facility communications server is further configured to:

receive a status from an agency recipient of the message; and

store the status, together with a timestamp corresponding to a time of receipt of the status, with the message in the database.

20. The intra-facility communications system of claim 19, wherein the intra-facility communications server is further configured to notify the inmate of the status in response to the receiving of the status.