Electronic house arrest monitoring system with automatic fee collection feature
First Claim
1. A method of operating an electronic house arrest monitoring (EHAM) system so as to automatically assess a prescribed fee to a responsible person or entity that has consented or been assigned responsibility to pay monitoring fees for an individual whose presence or absence at a monitoring location is being monitored by the electronic house arrest monitoring system, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) installing a field monitoring device at the monitoring location and coupling an electronic detection circuit to the individual to be monitored at the monitoring location;
(b) detecting whether a prescribed event occurs during a first predetermined period of time;
(c) generating a detection signal within the field monitoring device in the event the prescribed event is detected as occurring during the first predetermined period of time;
(d) accessing a communications network with the field monitoring device using a fee-based communications mode that has a prescribed fee associated therewith that is automatically assessed to the responsible person or entity when the communications network is accessed using the fee-based communications mode; and
(e) transmitting information indicating whether the prescribed event was detected in step (b) from the field monitoring device to a central monitoring system through the communications network, whereby the central monitoring system receives information indicating whether the prescribed event occurred during the first predetermined period of time.
10 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An EHAM system consists of a central monitoring system (CMS), a field monitoring device (FMD), an electronic detection circuit that generates a detection signal upon the occurrence of a predetermined event, e.g., the absence of the monitored individual from a monitoring location, and a communications network. The communications network consists of at least one communications link wherein a fee-based communications mode may be used. The CMS is installed at a central monitoring location, the FMD is installed at the monitoring location, and the electronic detection circuit is attached or otherwise coupled to the individual to be monitored at the monitoring location. The occurrence or non-occurrence of the predetermined event is detected during a prescribed reporting time period. Regular or random communications are established between the FMD and CMS during the reporting time period to inform the CMS about the occurrence or non-occurrence of the predetermined event. One communication between the FMD and CMS during a given reporting time period is made by accessing the communications link using the fee-based communications mode. All other communications between the FMD and CMS during the reporting time period are made by accessing the communications link using a non-fee-based communication mode. Hence, a predetermined fee is automatically assessed to the monitored individual only once each reporting time period.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method of operating an electronic house arrest monitoring (EHAM) system so as to automatically assess a prescribed fee to a responsible person or entity that has consented or been assigned responsibility to pay monitoring fees for an individual whose presence or absence at a monitoring location is being monitored by the electronic house arrest monitoring system, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) installing a field monitoring device at the monitoring location and coupling an electronic detection circuit to the individual to be monitored at the monitoring location; (b) detecting whether a prescribed event occurs during a first predetermined period of time; (c) generating a detection signal within the field monitoring device in the event the prescribed event is detected as occurring during the first predetermined period of time; (d) accessing a communications network with the field monitoring device using a fee-based communications mode that has a prescribed fee associated therewith that is automatically assessed to the responsible person or entity when the communications network is accessed using the fee-based communications mode; and (e) transmitting information indicating whether the prescribed event was detected in step (b) from the field monitoring device to a central monitoring system through the communications network, whereby the central monitoring system receives information indicating whether the prescribed event occurred during the first predetermined period of time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of operating an electronic house arrest monitoring (EHAM) system that automatically charges a prescribed fee to individuals being monitored by said EHAM system, said method comprising:
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(a) installing a field monitoring device (FMD) at each location where a monitored individual is expected to be, said field monitoring device including electronic detection circuitry and automatic telecommunications circuitry; (b) detecting when said monitored individual is at said location using said electronic detection circuitry within said field monitoring device; (c) sending automatically a report from said field monitoring device to a central monitoring location that communicates the detection made in step (b), said report being sent at least once during a prescribed reporting period; (d) sending the report of step (c) through one of a plurality of communications links depending upon the number of reports that have been sent during the prescribed reporting period, one of said plurality of communications links comprising a fee-based communications link that imposes a prescribed fee that is billed to said monitored individual each time that said fee-based communications link is accessed by said field monitoring device, and another of said plurality of communications links comprising a communications link that does not impose a prescribed fee each time that it is accessed; and (e) sending the report of step (c) through the fee-based communications link only once during the prescribed reporting period, whereby the prescribed fee is charged to said monitored individual only once during the prescribed reporting period.
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16. A method of operating an electronic monitoring (EM) system that automatically charges a prescribed fee for an individual being monitored by said EM system for a monitoring period during which the individual is monitored by said EM system, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) installing a field monitoring device (FMD) at a location where the individual being monitored is supposed to be at least some time during said monitoring period, said field monitoring device including detection circuitry that detects when said monitored individual is present at or absent from said location and automatic telephone dialing circuitry that selectively dials at least first and second telephone numbers; and
coupling said automatic telephone dialing circuitry to a telephone network through a telephone line for which a responsible person or entity has assumed financial responsibility for the prescribed fee associated with the use of said EM system;(b) detecting with the detection circuitry a time when said monitored individual is present at or absent from said location; (c) using the automatic telephone dialing circuitry within said field monitoring device to dial the first telephone number and thereby connect said field monitoring device through the telephone network to a central processing unit (CPU) at a central monitoring location at least once during the monitoring period; (d) electronically communicating information through said telephone link that includes said time when said monitored individual is present it or absent from said location; (e) using the automatic telephone dialing circuitry within said field monitoring device to dial the second telephone number once during the monitoring period and thereby connect said field monitoring device to a fee-based telephone network that charges said predetermined fee to said telephone line for which said person or entity has assumed financial responsibility each time such connection is made. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
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19. A method of operating an electronic monitoring (EM) system that automatically charges a fee to an assigned telephone line used in monitoring an individual by said EM system, said method comprising:
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(a) installing a field monitoring device (FMD) at each location where said individual is expected to be, said field monitoring device having detection circuitry therein that detects when said monitored individual is present at or absent from said location, and automatic telephone dialing circuitry programmed to dial a prescribed telephone number that causes a connection of the FMD through a telephone network to a telephone receiver at a monitoring agency; (b) coupling said field monitoring device to said telephone network through said assigned telephone line; (c) detecting with the detection circuitry in said FMD a time when said monitored individual is present at or absent from said location; (d) programming said FMD to automatically dial said prescribed telephone number using said automatic telephone dialing circuitry in said FMD during a prescribed reporting period and thereby initiating a telephone call to said telephone receiver at said monitoring agency; (e) receiving the telephone call dialed in step (d) with said telephone receiver; (f) coupling the telephone call received by the telephone receiver in step (e) to a central processing unit (CPU) maintained by the monitoring agency to establish a telephone link between said field monitoring device and said CPU; (g) determining with said CPU if said telephone call originated from the assigned telephone line coupled to said field monitoring device, and if so, charging a first prescribed fee to the assigned telephone line for the first time an incoming telephone call is received from said assigned telephone line during each reporting period, and charging a second prescribed fee to the assigned telephone line the second and subsequent times that an incoming telephone call is received from said assigned telephone line during said reporting period; and (h) determining with said FMD information including the time when said monitored individual is present at or absent from said location and electronically communicating said information through said telephone link from said FMD to said CPU. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 24)
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23. An electronic house arrest monitoring (EHAM) system that monitors and detects the presence or non-presence of an individual that is being monitored at a monitoring location and automatically assesses a predetermined fee to a responsible person or entity that has agreed or been ordered to pay costs associated with monitoring the individual, said EHAM system including:
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means for detecting the presence or non-presence of said individual at a monitoring location; means for generating a detection signal in response to the detected presence or non-presence of the individual at the monitoring location; means for accessing a communications network using a fee-based communications mode; means for transmitting information through the communications network to a central monitoring system (CMS) at a monitoring location, said central monitoring system being operated by an agency; and means for an operator of the communications network to automatically assess the predetermined fee to said responsible person or entity in response to the accessing of the communications network using the fee-based communications mode.
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25. An electronic house arrest monitoring (EHAM) system that monitors the presence or non-presence of an individual being monitored at a monitoring location, said EHAM system including:
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a central monitoring system (CMS); a communications network coupled to the central monitoring system; a field monitoring device (FMD) located at the monitoring location, said field monitoring device being connectable to the communications network for accessing the communications network in a fee-based communications mode in the event a fee-based communications mode is selected by the EHAM system; and an electronic detection circuit attached to the individual to be monitored at the monitoring location that communicates a detection signal indicative of the presence or non-presence of said individual at said monitoring location to the field monitoring device upon the occurrence of a predetermined event. - View Dependent Claims (26)
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Specification