Third party monitoring of a activity within a monitoring platform

• US 10,225,396 B2
• Filed: 06/01/2017
• Issued: 03/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Global Tel-Link Corporation
• Original Assignee: Global Tel-Link Corporation
• Inventors: Hodge, Stephen Lee
• Primary Examiner(s): Tieu, Binh Kien
• Application Number:
  US15/611,598
• Publication Number:
  US 20180338036A1
• Time in Patent Office: 642 Days
• Field of Search: 379 103, 379 3201, 379 48, 379 49, 379 8811, 379 8812, 379 8817, 379 8822, 379 9301, 379 9307, 379133, 37926501, 37926505, 37926506, 379188, 379200, 379249, 370259, 370352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• 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 3/38 Graded-service arrangements, i.e. some subscribers prevented from establishing certain connections queuing arrangements H04Q3/64

Abstract

The present disclosure describes a monitoring environment that monitors an activity for activity that may be indicative of being prohibited by the local, the state, and/or the national governing authorities, namely suspicious activity, or activity that is prohibited by the local, the state, and/or the national governing authorities, namely prohibited activity. The monitoring environment verifies the activity is actually being monitored within the monitoring environment. The verification can require one or more monitoring persons monitoring the activity to perform one or more tasks to verify their attentiveness in monitoring the activity. The one or more tasks can be as simple as activating a checkbox or providing a code or an electronic signature to provide some examples, although more complicated tasks, such as a biometric verification such as a retinal, a facial, and/or a voice verification to provide some examples, are possible as will be recognized by those skilled in the relevant art(s) without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A monitoring station for monitoring a review of a data communication from an insider person within a controlled environment, the monitoring station comprising:

a memory storage device configured to store text information corresponding to the data communication; and

at least one processor, associated with the memory storage device, configured to;

monitor whether a warning alert relating to the text information has been received from a monitoring person at the monitoring station during a predetermined amount of time; and

instruct the monitoring person to perform a task to determine whether the monitoring person is monitoring the text information when the warning alert has not been received from the monitoring person during the predetermined amount of time.

2. The monitoring station of claim 1, wherein the data communication is between the insider person within the controlled environment and an outsider person within an uncontrolled environment remote from the controlled environment.

3. The monitoring station of claim 1, wherein the data communication is between the insider person within the controlled environment and a second insider person within the controlled environment.

4. The monitoring station of claim 1, wherein the data communication comprises:

a text message;

or

an electronic mail message.

5. The monitoring station of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to generate the warning alert when the monitoring person indicates suspicious activity or prohibited activity is present in the text information.

6. The monitoring station of claim 5, wherein the warning alert comprises:

an annotation, a flag, a bookmark, an audible alert, and/or a video alert indicating presence of the suspicious activity or prohibited activity in the text information.

7. The monitoring station of claim 1, wherein the task comprises:

entry of a response to a question by the monitoring person at the monitoring station;

entry of a code by the monitoring person at the monitoring station;

or

entry of a biometric verification by the monitoring person at the monitoring station.

8. The monitoring station of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to receive a monitoring schedule, the monitoring schedule including a designation of the monitoring person from among a plurality of monitoring persons or the monitoring station from among a plurality of monitoring stations to review the text information.

9. A monitoring station for monitoring a review of a video communication from an insider person within a controlled environment, the monitoring station comprising:

a memory storage device configured to store video information corresponding to the video communication; and

at least one processor, associated with the memory storage device, configured to;

monitor whether a warning alert relating to the video information has been received from a monitoring person at the monitoring station during a predetermined amount of time; and

instruct the monitoring person to perform a task to determine whether the monitoring person is monitoring the video information when the warning alert has not been received from the monitoring person during the predetermined amount of time.

10. The monitoring station of claim 9, wherein the video communication is between the insider person within the controlled environment and an outsider person within an uncontrolled environment remote from the controlled environment.

11. The monitoring station of claim 9, wherein the video communication is between the insider person within the controlled environment and a second insider person within the controlled environment.

12. The monitoring station of claim 9, wherein the video communication comprises:

a video conference.

13. The monitoring station of claim 9, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to generate the warning alert when the monitoring person indicates suspicious activity or prohibited activity is present in the video information.

14. The monitoring station of claim 13, wherein the warning alert comprises:

an annotation, a flag, a bookmark, an audible alert, and/or a video alert indicating presence of the suspicious activity or prohibited activity in the video information.

15. The monitoring station of claim 9, wherein the task comprises:

entry of a response to a question by the monitoring person at the monitoring station;

entry of a code by the monitoring person at the monitoring station;

or

entry of a biometric verification by the monitoring person at the monitoring station.

16. The monitoring station of claim 15, wherein the biometric verification comprises:

retinal verification data;

facial verification data;

or

voice verification data.

17. The monitoring station of claim 9, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to receive a monitoring schedule, the monitoring schedule including a designation of the monitoring person from among a plurality of monitoring persons or the monitoring station from among a plurality of monitoring stations to review the text information.

18. A monitoring station for monitoring a review of a non-communication related activity within a controlled environment, the monitoring station comprising:

a memory storage device configured to store text, audio, and/or video information corresponding to the non-communication related activity; and

at least one processor, associated with the memory storage device, configured to;

monitor whether a warning alert relating to the text, the audio, and/or the video information has been received from a monitoring person at the monitoring station during a predetermined amount of time; and

instruct the monitoring person to perform a task to determine whether the monitoring person is monitoring the text, the audio, and/or the video information when the warning alert has not been received from the monitoring person during the predetermined amount of time.

19. The monitoring station of claim 18, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to generate the warning alert when the monitoring person indicates suspicious activity or prohibited activity is present in the text, the audio, and/or the video information.

20. The monitoring station of claim 19, wherein the warning alert comprises:

an annotation, a flag, a bookmark, an audible alert, and/or a video alert indicating presence of the suspicious activity or prohibited activity in the text, the audio, and/or the video information.

21. The monitoring station of claim 18, wherein the task comprises:

entry of a response to a question by the monitoring person at the monitoring station;

entry of a code by the monitoring person at the monitoring station;

or

entry of a biometric verification by the monitoring person at the monitoring station.

22. The monitoring station of claim 21, wherein the biometric verification comprises:

retinal verification data;

facial verification data;

or

voice verification data.

23. The monitoring station of claim 18, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to receive a monitoring schedule, the monitoring schedule including a designation of the monitoring person from among a plurality of monitoring persons or the monitoring station from among a plurality of monitoring stations to review the text information.

24. The monitoring station of claim 18, wherein the non-communication related activity comprises:

movement of an insider person within the controlled environment;

a visitation between the insider person within the controlled environment and an outsider person from an uncontrolled environment remote from the controlled environment;

exercising activity of the insider person within the controlled environment;

leisure time activity of the insider person within the controlled environment;

mealtime activity of the insider person within the controlled environment;

educational activity of the insider person within the controlled environment;

or

employment activity of the insider person within the controlled environment.