Mobile phone as a one-way recorded transmitter over a cellular network

• US 10,187,518 B2
• Filed: 05/12/2017
• Issued: 01/22/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Callyo 2009 Corp. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: World Emergency Network-Nevada Limited
• Inventors: Bennett, Christopher Ryan
• Primary Examiner(s): Mitchell, Nathan
• Application Number:
  US15/594,371
• Publication Number:
  US 20170251101A1
• Time in Patent Office: 620 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/265 Personal security, identity or safety
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/65 Telephone numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/30 for supporting lawful interception, monitoring or retaining of communications or communication related information circuit switched telephony call monitoring H04M3/2281
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/656 for recording conversations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/658 Means for redirecting recorded messages to other extensions or equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/04 with alarm systems, e.g. fire, police or burglar alarm systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2281 Call monitoring, e.g. for law enforcement purposes; Call tracing; Detection or prevention of malicious calls
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42221 Conversation recording systems at the subscriber's set H04M1/656
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42357 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/005 Transmission of information for alerting of incoming communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/22 Processing or transfer of terminal data, e.g. status or physical capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems

Abstract

Agencies oftentimes desire to monitor personnel in the field during the course of their duties. To provide flexible monitoring capabilities to agencies, a common mobile device such as a mobile phone is converted for use as a radio-based listening system to collect and transmit audio data. Phone features and accessories are leveraged to collect additional data for transmission. Collected data is streamed or otherwise transmitted to monitoring devices at the agency or in the field for operational oversight and recordation.

Claims

1. A computer based method for configuring telephonic devices as one-way recorded transmitters (mobile bugs), the method comprising:

provisioning a plurality of virtual numbers responsive to one or more requests to configure one or more of a plurality of telephonic devices as mobile bugs;

storing, for each telephonic device in the plurality of telephonic devices, device information corresponding to the telephonic device in association with a virtual number in the plurality of virtual numbers;

receiving, in response to a connection request from a target telephonic device to a target virtual number in the plurality of virtual numbers, device information corresponding to the telephonic device and the target virtual number;

identifying the target telephonic device as a mobile bug associated with the target virtual number in response to matching the device information of the target telephonic device to the device information associated with the target virtual number in a mapping table; and

transmitting instructions for connecting the target telephonic device to the target virtual number as the mobile bug with outgoing audio to the target telephonic device disabled.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving audio collected by the target telephonic device via the target virtual number for the duration of the connection between the target telephonic device and the target virtual number.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving situational data collected by the target telephonic device for the duration of the connection; and

synchronizing the received audio with the situational data for presentation.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein synchronizing the received audio with the situational data for presentation comprises streaming the received audio data in conjunction with the situational data via a monitoring interface, and wherein situational data comprises at least one of an estimate location measurement, still image data and video data, wherein the estimate location measurement is based on global positioning coordinates.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying device information of a monitoring device associated with the target virtual number in the mapping table; and

transmitting a notification to the monitoring device in response to identifying the target telephonic device as the mobile bug, the notification indicating the mobile bug is transmitting on the target virtual number.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing device information of a monitoring device in association with the target virtual number in the mapping table, the monitoring device permitted to monitor the mobile bug associated with the target virtual number;

receiving information in response to a second connection request from a second telephonic device to the target virtual number, the information including device information of the second telephonic device and the target virtual number;

identifying the second telephonic device as the monitoring device of the mobile bug on the target virtual number in response to matching the device information of the second telephonic device with the device information of the monitoring device stored in association with the target virtual number in the mapping table; and

in response to identifying the second telephonic device as the monitoring device of the mobile bug associated with the target virtual number, permitting the monitoring device to monitor the target telephonic device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein permitting the monitoring device to monitor the mobile bug comprises transmitting instructions for connecting the monitoring device to the target virtual number and passing audio collected at the mobile bug to the monitoring device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein device information is a transmitting number of a telephonic device.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a bug module to one or more of the plurality of telephonic devices configured as mobile bugs, the bug module configured to collect situational data and maintain a persistent connection with the virtual number associated with a given telephonic device in the mapping table.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the target telephonic device is a mobile phone.

11. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising computer program code for configuring telephonic devices as one-way recorded transmitters (mobile bugs), the computer program code when executed by a processor causing the processor to perform steps comprising:

provisioning a plurality of virtual numbers responsive to one or more requests to configure one or more of a plurality of telephonic devices as mobile bugs;

storing, for each telephonic device in the plurality of telephonic devices, device information corresponding to the telephonic device in association with a virtual number in the plurality of virtual numbers;

receiving, in response to a connection request from a target telephonic device to a target virtual number in the plurality of virtual numbers, device information corresponding to the telephonic device and the target virtual number;

identifying the target telephonic device as a mobile bug associated with the target virtual number in response to matching the device information of the target telephonic device to the device information associated with the target virtual number in a mapping table; and

transmitting instructions for connecting the target telephonic device to the target virtual number as the mobile bug with outgoing audio to the target telephonic device disabled.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11, further comprising computer program code for receiving audio collected by the target telephonic device via the target virtual number for the duration of the connection between the target telephonic device and the target virtual number.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising computer program code for:

receiving situational data collected by the target telephonic device for the duration of the connection; and

synchronizing the received audio with the situational data for presentation.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein synchronizing the received audio with the situational data for presentation comprises streaming the received audio data in conjunction with the situational data via a monitoring interface, and wherein situational data comprises at least one of an estimate location measurement, still image data and video data, wherein the estimate location measurement is based on global positioning coordinates.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11, further comprising computer program code for:

identifying device information of a monitoring device associated with the target virtual number in the mapping table; and

transmitting a notification to the monitoring device in response to identifying the target telephonic device as the mobile bug, the notification indicating the mobile bug is transmitting on the target virtual number.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11, further comprising computer program code for:

storing device information of a monitoring device in association with the target virtual number in the mapping table, the monitoring device permitted to monitor the mobile bug associated with the target virtual number;

receiving information in response to a second connection request from a second telephonic device to the target virtual number, the information including device information of the second telephonic device and the target virtual number;

identifying the second telephonic device as the monitoring device of the mobile bug on the target virtual number in response to matching the device information of the second telephonic device with the device information of the monitoring device stored in association with the target virtual number in the mapping table; and

in response to identifying the second telephonic device as the monitoring device of the mobile bug associated with the target virtual number, permitting the monitoring device to monitor the target telephonic device.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein permitting the monitoring device to monitor the mobile bug comprises transmitting instructions for connecting the monitoring device to the target virtual number and passing audio collected at the mobile bug to the monitoring device.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein device information is a transmitting number of a telephonic device.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11, further comprising computer program code for transmitting a bug module to one or more of the plurality of telephonic devices configured as mobile bugs, the bug module configured to collect situational data and maintain a persistent connection with the virtual number associated with a given telephonic device in the mapping table.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the target telephonic device is a mobile phone.