Remote confinement system

• US 4,999,613 A
• Filed: 04/26/1989
• Issued: 03/12/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/1987
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Guradian Technologies Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Guardian Technologies LLC (Lasko Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Collier, Donald W., Williamson, Lon A., Pennypacker, Frank C., Fuller, Kip L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Swann, III, Glen R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): MULLEN, THOMAS J
• Application Number:
  US07/343,860
• Time in Patent Office: 685 Days
• Field of Search: 340/573, 340/576, 340/539, 340/825.49, 340/825.44, 340/538, 340/527, 340/309.15, 340/514, 340/516, 340/529, 180/272, 379/38, 379/40, 381/42, 382/3-4, 358/105, 358/108, 128/719, 128/632, 128/637, 40/665
• US Class Current: 340/573.4
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/27 with central registration
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/22 responsive to presence or absence of persons
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/00 Telephonic communication systems specially adapted for combination with other electrical systems

Abstract

A remote confinement system provides a plurality of different unsupervised tests to determine the presence, identity or conduct of the prisoner. The tests preferably include an RF test performed continuously with an RF transmitter attached to the prisoner and a receiver at the remote location, a schedulable voice test performed to identify a person as the specified prisoner, and a breath alcohol test to determine the prisoner'"'"'s sobriety. The tests are performed with equipment at the remote location in accordance with test selections and schedules selected in a prior automated communication with a central office computer. Events which include test results are communicated to the central office upon a selectively established communications link to the central office, in reply to which communication information selecting subsequent tests procedures or scheduling is communicated from the host to and stored at the remote location. The information communicated from the host includes an identification code for the transmitter attached to the specified prisoner. The RF test generates a message for transmission to the central unit when the prisoner enters or leaves the remote location, but sounds a warning if the signal is lost and delays transmission of the message to allow the prisoner to return following his departure.

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 041,698, filed Apr. 21, 1987, and now U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,377, and entitled "Remoted Confinement System" which is hereby expressly incorporated in its entirety herein by reference.

Claims

1. A remote confinement system for monitoring from a central office the presence of a specified prisoner at a remote confinement location at which the specified prisoner is assigned for unsupervised confinement, said system comprising:

a transmitter having attached thereto means for securing said transmitter to the body of the specified prisoner, said transmitter including means for transmitting a signal carrying characteristic information of the identity of said transmitter;

a receiver at said remote location for receiving said signal from said transmitter when said prisoner is within proximity to said remote location;

a processor at said remote location including a storage device for storing a transmitter ID code;

said processor including means for accepting transmitter identity information from said received signal, means for comparing said received information with a transmitter ID code stored in said storage device, and means for generating an output signal carrying the result of the comparison;

means for establishing a communications link between said remote location and said central office;

means for communicating from said central office to said remote location the transmitter ID code corresponding to the characteristic information of the identity of said transmitter; and

said processor including means for storing said assigned ID code in said storage device.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein:

said communicating means includes means at said remote location for establishing said communications link in response to certain results of the comparison.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein:

said communications link is a telephone communications system and said communications link establishing means includes a dialer and means for transmitting the results of the comparison through said telephone system to said central office.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein:

said central office includes means located thereat for communicating the assigned transmitter ID number to said remote location in reply to the establishing of the communications link.

5. A remote confinement system for monitoring from a central office the presence of a specified prisoner at a remote confinement location at which the specified prisoner is assigned for unsupervised confinement, said system comprising:

a transmitter having attached thereto means for securing said transmitter to the body of the specified prisoner, said transmitter including means for transmitting a signal carrying characteristic information of the identity of said transmitter;

a receiver at said remote location for receiving said signal from said transmitter when said prisoner is within proximity to said remote location;

means at said remote location for generating an alarm signal perceivable by a person in proximity to said remote location in response to the absence of a received signal from said transmitter by said receiver; and

means for establishing a communications link between said remote location and said central office if said absence persists for a specified time after said alarm signal is generated.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein:

said communicating means includes means at said remote location for establishing said communications link only if said absence persists for said specified time.

7. A remote confinement system for monitoring from a central office the presence of a specified prisoner at a remote confinement location at which the specified prisoner is assigned for unsupervised confinement, said system comprising:

a remote confinement location at which a specified prisoner is assigned for unsupervised confinement;

a plurality of means at said remote location for performing a plurality of different supervised tests for compliance by the prisoner with a term of the prisoner'"'"'s confinement;

means at said remote location for generating a signal carrying information from said tests;

means for establishing a communications link between said remote location and said central office;

means for communicating from said central office to said remote location information for selecting at least one of said tests from the plurality of tests to be performed; and

means at said remote location for activating said test performing means so as to cause the performance of the tests selected.

8. The remote confinement system of claim 7 wherein said test performing means comprises:

a transmitter having attached thereto means for securing said transmitter to the body of the specified prisoner, said transmitter including means for transmitting a signal carrying characteristic information of the identity of said transmitter; and

a receiver at said remote location for receiving said signal from said transmitter when said prisoner is within proximity to said remote location.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein said test performing means includes means for testing a person at said remote location for alcohol consumption.

10. The system of claim 9 further comprising means at said remote location for analyzing the voice of the person tested for alcohol consumption to determine whether the person is the specified prisoner.

11. The system of claim 7 wherein said test performing means includes means for verifying the identity of a person at the remote location as the specified prisoner.

12. The system of claim 7 wherein said information communicated from said central office includes information for scheduling said tests, and said system further comprises means at said remote location for initiating said selected test in response to said scheduling information.

13. A remote confinement system for monitoring from a central office the presence of a specified prisoner at a remote confinement location at which the specified prisoner is assigned for unsupervised confinement, said system comprising:

means at said remote location for performing an unsupervised test on a person at said remote location for those effects on said person which a violation of a behavioral condition would produce on the person of the prisoner which would persist subsequent to a violation;

means at said remote location for generating a test signal carrying information of said test;

means at said remote location for generating an identity signal carrying information verifying the identity of the tested person;

means at said remote location for continuously monitoring the proximity of the specified prisoner to said remote location and means for generating a monitor signal carrying information of certain monitored events in response thereto; and

means for transmitting said information from said test, identify and monitor signals from said remote location to said central office.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein said test performing means includes means for testing said person for alcohol consumption.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein said identity information carrying signal generating means includes means for testing the voice of said person and to determine whether said person is the specified prisoner.

16. A remote confinement system for monitoring from a central office the presence of a specified prisoner at a remote confinement location at which the specified prisoner is assigned for unsupervised confinement, said system comprising:

a transmitter having attached thereto means for securing said transmitter to the body of the specified prisoner, said transmitter including means for transmitting a signal carrying characteristic information of the identity of said transmitter;

a receiver at said remote location for receiving said signal from said transmitter when said prisoner is within proximity to said remote location;

means at said remote location for performing an identity test on a person thereat and for generating a signal carrying information of the identity of the tested person;

means for transmitting said signals from said remote location to said central office; and

said signal generating means including means for deriving information related to a unique identifiable characteristic from a sample of the voice of the tested person.

17. The system of claim 16 further comprising means for performing an automatic voice analysis of the voice sample of the tested person and comparing the results of the analysis with known voice data of the specified prisoner.

18. The system of claim 16 further comprising means at said remote location for storing a voice characteristic of the specified prisoner, means at said remote location for comparing the characteristic derived from the tested person with the known voice characteristic of the specified prisoner.

19. The remote confinement system of claim 16 further comprising:

a processor at said remote location including a memory device for storing a transmitter ID code;

said processor including means for accepting transmitter identity information from said signal, comparing it with the transmitter ID code in said storage device, and generating an output signal carrying the result of the comparison;

means for establishing a communications link between said remote location and said central office; and

means for communicating an assigned transmitter ID code from said central office to said remote location corresponding to the characteristic information of the identity of said transmitter;

said processor including means for storing said assigned ID code in said storage device.

20. The remote confinement system of claim 16 further comprising:

means at said central office for generating an alarm signal perceivable by a person in proximity to said remote location in response to the absence of a received signal from said transmitter by said receiver;

means for establishing a communications link between said remote location and said central office if said absence persists for a specified time after said alarm signal is generated.

21. A method of monitoring from a central office the presence at a remote location of a specified prisoner assigned for unsupervised confinement at the remote location, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a transmitter to be secured to the specified prisoner and transmitting therefrom a signal carrying characteristic identity information;

providing a receiver at the remote location and receiving therewith the signal from the transmitter when the transmitter is within transmitting range to the remote location;

generating at the remote location an alarm locally perceivable by a person in said proximity to the remote location in response to the absence of the receipt by the receiver of a signal from the transmitter; and

communicating a reporting signal from the remote location to the central office in response to the absence of the receipt by the receiver of a signal from the transmitter within a specified time after the generation of the alarm.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the generation of the alarm occurs in response to the lapse of a specified time period during which no signal from the transmitter is received by the receiver.

23. A method of monitoring from a central office the presence of a subject at a remote location comprising the steps of:

providing a data storage device at the remote location and downloading information thereto from the central office;

performing a test at the remote location, for the condition of a subject at the remote location, and transmitting information from the test to the central office, in accordance with the information downloaded from the central office.

24. The method of claim 23 further comprising the steps of:

providing a transmitter to be secured to the subject being monitored and transmitting therefrom a ID signal carrying information characteristic of the identity of the transmitter;

providing a receiver at the remote location and receiving therewith the ID signal from the transmitter when the transmitter is within proximity to the remote location; and

wherein said downloading step comprises the substeps of communicating from said central office to said remote location a transmitter ID code corresponding to the information characteristic of the identity of said transmitter and storing said transmitter ID code in the data storage device at the remote location; and

wherein said testing step includes the substep of comparing the transmitter identity information from said received ID signal with the transmitter ID code stored in said storage device, and generating an output signal carrying the result of the comparison.

25. The method of claim 24 further comprising the step of:

establishing a communications link from the remote location to the central office in response to certain results of the comparison and communicating information from the test through the established communications link to the central office.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein:

said communication link is a telephone communications system and said communications link establishing step includes the steps of automatically dialing a number for the central office; and

said information communicating step includes the step of transmitting the communicated information through the telephone system to the control office.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein:

said downloading step includes the step of communicating the assigned transmitter ID number to said remote location in reply to the establishing of the communications link.

28. A method of claim 23 further comprising the steps of:

generating at the remote location an alarm locally perceivable by a person in said proximity to the remote location in response to the absence of the receipt by the receiver of a signal from the transmitter; and

communicating a reporting signal from the remote location to the central office in response to the absence of the receipt by the receiver of a signal from the transmitter within a specified time after the generation of the alarm.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein:

the generation of the alarm occurs in response to the lapse of a specified time period during which no signal from the transmitter is received by the receiver.

30. The method of claim 23 further comprising the step of:

establishing a communications link from the remote location to the central office in response to certain results of the comparison and communicating information from the test through the established communications link to the central office.

31. The method of claim 30 further comprising the step of:

establishing a communications link from the remote location to the central office in response to certain results of the comparison and communicating information from the test through the established communications link to the central office;

repeating said downloading step to download additional information to the storage device through the established communications link; and

performing a subsequent test at the remote location, for the condition of a subject at the remote location, and transmitting information from the test to the central office, in accordance with the additional information downloaded from the central office.

32. The method of claim 23 further comprising the steps of:

establishing a communications link between the remote location and the central office;

performing said downloading step to download the information to the storage device through the established communications link; and

performing the test at the remote location, for the condition of a subject at the remote location, and transmitting information from the test to the central office, in accordance with the information downloaded from the central office.

33. The method of claim 23 wherein:

the downloaded information includes the time of the next test; and

the test is performed at the remote location at the time downloaded from the central office.

34. The method of claim 23 wherein:

the downloaded information includes the time of the next communication between the remote location to the central office; and

said method further comprises the step of initiating the establishment of a communications link between the remote location and the central office at the time downloaded from the central office and communicating information therethrough from the remote location to the central office.

35. The method of claim 34 further comprising the steps of:

repeating said downloading step through the communications link to download additional information to the storage device through the communications link; and

performing a subsequent test at the remote location, for the condition of a subject at the remote location in accordance with the additional information downloaded from the central office.

36. The method of claim 34 further comprising the steps of:

transmitting information from the test to the central office through the established communications link.

37. The of method of claim 23 further comprising the steps of:

providing means at the remote location for performing any of a plurality of different tests;

selecting at least one of the tests in accordance with the information downloaded from the central office; and

wherein the test performed is at least one of the selected tests.

38. The of method of claim 23 wherein the subject being monitored is a specified prisoner assigned for unsupervised confinement at the remote location.

39. A method of monitoring from a central office the unsupervised confinement of a specified prisoner at a remote location comprising the steps of:

performing an identity test on a person at the remote location to confirm the identity of the person as that of the specified prisoner;

generating an identity signal at the remote location carrying information from the identity test of the identity of the person;

continuously monitoring the proximity of the specified prisoner to the remote location and generating a monitor signal carrying information of the proximity of the specified prisoner to the remote location; and

transmitting information from the identity and monitoring signals from the remote location to the central office.

40. The method of claim 39 further comprising the steps of:

performing an additional test on a person at the remote location for those effects on the person which a violation of a behavioral condition would produce on the person of the prisoner which would persist subsequent to a violation;

generating a signal at the remote location carrying information of the additional test relating to the tested person'"'"'s compliance with the behavioral condition; and

said identity test being performed on the person being tested for the violation of the behavioral condition to confirm that the person so tested for the violation is the specified prisoner.

41. The method of claim 40 wherein the additional test is a blood alcohol test and the behavioral condition is the requirement that the specified prisoner abstain from the consumption of alcohol.

42. The method of claim 39 wherein the identity test is a test requiring the active participation of the person being tested and the proximity test is a passive test performable without the active participation of the specified prisoner.

43. The method of claim 42 wherein the identity test is a test for deriving information related to a unique identifiable characteristic of the person being tested from a sample of the voice of the tested person.