Secure nonscheduled video visitation system

• US 9,774,826 B1
• Filed: 04/03/2017
• Issued: 09/26/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Global Tel-Link Corporation
• Original Assignee: Global Tel-Link Corporation
• Inventors: Hodge, Stephen Lee
• Primary Examiner(s): Anwah, Olisa
• Application Number:
  US15/477,307
• Publication Number:
  US 20170280100A1
• Time in Patent Office: 176 Days
• Field of Search: 348 1401, 348 1408, 348 1412
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/32 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2139 Recurrent verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/26 Government or public services business processes related to the transportation industry G06Q50/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/10 Character recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/10 Human or animal bodies, e.g. vehicle occupants or pedestrians; Body parts, e.g. hands
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/16 Human faces, e.g. facial parts, sketches or expressions
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/172 Classification, e.g. identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/50 Maintenance of biometric data or enrolment thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/00 Speech recognition G10L17/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/00 Speaker identification or verification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/06 Decision making techniques; Pattern matching strategies
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/22 Interactive procedures; Man-machine interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 Conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/155 involving storage of or access to video conference sessions tracking arrangements for later retrieval of a computer conference content or participants activities H04L12/1831

Abstract

Described are methods and systems in which the censorship and supervision tasks normally performed by secured facility personnel are augmented or automated entirely by a Secure Nonscheduled Video Visitation System. In embodiments, the Secure Nonscheduled Video Visitation System performs voice biometrics, speech recognition, non-verbal audio classification, fingerprint and other biometric authentication, image object classification, facial recognition, body joint location determination analysis, and/or optical character recognition on the video visitation data. The Secure Nonscheduled Video Visitation utilizes these various analysis techniques in concert to determine if all rules and regulations enforced by the jurisdiction operation the secured facility are being followed by the parties to the video visitation session.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a biometric scanner;

an identity database; and

a video visitation central processing platform comprising one or more processors and/or circuits configured to;

receive biometric information from the biometric scanner;

perform authentication using the biometric information;

connect a video visitation session between a local video communication device and a remote video communication device in response to the authentication;

conduct a first analysis on video visitation data using the identity database to identify individuals participating in the video visitation session;

determine that additional biometric information corresponding to the individuals participating in the video visitation session has not been received from the biometric scanner during the video visitation session; and

control a state of the video visitation session in response to the determining that the additional biometric information has not been received from the biometric scanner during the video visitation session.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the biometric scanner comprises a fingerprint scanner or a fingerprint reader.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the identity database is configured to store identity data of one or more users of a video visitation system associated with a controlled environment.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the biometric information comprises at least one of one or more fingerprints, palm prints, hand geometry, finger vasculature, DNA information, and iris information.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein performing authentication using the biometric information further comprises:

matching the biometric information received from the biometric scanner with fingerprint information stored in the identity database.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the first analysis comprises identifying a speaker from the individuals participating in the video visitation session based on audio data included in the video visitation data.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the first analysis comprises identifying one or more of the individuals participating in the video visitation session based on image data of the video visitation data.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the state of the video visitation session comprises one of a connected state, a disconnected state, or a supervised state.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors and/or circuits are configured to:

control the state of the video visitation session further based on the first analysis.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising a censorship database, wherein the censorship database is configured to store objects that are disallowed during video visitation sessions,

wherein the one or more processors and/or circuits are further configured to:

conduct a second analysis on the video visitation data using the censorship database to identify one or more objects in the video visitation data that are also present in the censorship database; and

control the state of the video visitation further based on the second analysis.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors and/or circuits are further configured to:

disconnect the video visitation session between the local video communication device and the remote video communication device in response to the determining that the additional biometric information has not been received from the biometric scanner during the video visitation session.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors and/or circuits are further configured to:

flag the video visitation session between the local video communication device and the remote video communication device for supervision in response to the determining that the additional biometric information has not been received from the biometric scanner during the video visitation session.

13. A method for secure video visitations in a controlled environment, the method comprising:

performing authentication using biometric information received from a biometric scanner;

connecting a video visitation session between a local video communication device and a remote video communication device in response to the authentication;

conducting a first analysis on video visitation data using an identity database to identify individuals participating in the video visitation session;

determining that additional biometric information corresponding to the individuals participating in the video visitation session has not been received from the biometric scanner during the video visitation session; and

controlling a state of the video visitation session in response to the determining that the additional biometric information has not been received from the biometric scanner during the video visitation session.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein performing authentication using the biometric information further comprises:

matching the biometric information received from the biometric scanner with fingerprint information stored in the identity database.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the biometric scanner comprises a fingerprint scanner or a fingerprint reader, and wherein the biometric information comprises at least one of one or more fingerprints, palm prints, hand geometry, finger vasculature, DNA information, and iris information.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the identity database is configured to store identity data of one or more users of a video visitation system associated with the controlled environment.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein conducting the first analysis on video visitation data comprises identifying a speaker from the individuals participating in the video visitation session based on audio data included in the video visitation data.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

disconnecting the video visitation session between the local video communication device and the remote video communication device in response to the determining that the additional biometric information has not been received from the biometric scanner during the video visitation session.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

flagging the video visitation session between the local video communication device and the remote video communication device for supervision in response to the determining that the additional biometric information has not been received from the biometric scanner during the video visitation session.

20. A system comprising:

an identity database; and

a video visitation central processing platform comprising one or more processors and/or circuits configured to;

authenticate a user using biometric information received from the user;

connect a video visitation session between a local video communication device and a remote video communication device in response to the authentication;

conduct a first analysis on video visitation data using the identity database to identify individuals participating in the video visitation session;

determine that additional biometric information corresponding to the individuals participating in the video visitation session has not been received from the biometric scanner during the video visitation session; and

control a state of the video visitation session in response to the determining that the additional biometric information has not been received from the biometric scanner during the video visitation session.