Systems and methods for acquiring, accessing, and analyzing investigative information

• US 9,990,683 B2
• Filed: 04/21/2016
• Issued: 06/05/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Securus Technologies Incorporated (Securus Special Investments LLC)
• Original Assignee: Securus Technologies Incorporated (Securus Special Investments LLC)
• Inventors: Sidler, James S., Viola, John J., Polozola, Michelle L.
• Primary Examiner(s): TRAN, QUOC DUC
• Application Number:
  US15/135,199
• Publication Number:
  US 20160239932A1
• Time in Patent Office: 775 Days
• Field of Search: 379 3201, 379 35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/265 Personal security, identity or safety
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/04 Segmentation; Word boundary detection
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/1822 Parsing for meaning understanding
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/088 Word spotting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1831 Tracking arrangements for later retrieval, e.g. recording contents, participants activities or behavior, network status
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/302 gathering intelligence information for situation awareness or reconnaissance
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/301 Management of recordings
• 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

Abstract

Disclosed are systems and methods which provide availability of information on a network wide basis, with the network or information technology (IT) fabric spanning a wide range of institutions and other sources of information, including correctional facilities, without regard to which jurisdiction the source of information belongs, e.g. police, courts, federal investigation agencies, public databases etcetera. Embodiments provide an electronic based capability to identify useful information and for locating, collecting, compiling, aggregating, distilling, and/or reporting robust data.

Claims

1. An investigative information system comprising:

a communication services module operable to provide a direct telephonic communication between a resident of a controlled environment facility and a non-resident, wherein one of the resident and the non-resident is a dialing party to the direct telephonic communication, and the other of the resident and the non-resident is a dialed party to the direct telephonic communication; and

an investigative tools module in communication with the communication services module operable to;

identify that the direct telephonic communication is between the resident and the non-resident,

provide, via a user interface on a communication device, an indication that the direct telephonic communication is ongoing, responsive to identifying the direct telephonic communication is between the resident and the non-resident, and

allow an investigator, via the communication device, to connect to and monitor the direct telephonic communication in a muted state while the direct telephonic communication is ongoing, wherein during the muted state, all interference from the investigator, the communication device, and a combination thereof is prohibited from entering the direct telephonic communication.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the investigative tools module further comprises a word search module configured to implement speech to text analysis to identify particular words within the direct telephonic communication and place event identifiers in association therewith, wherein responsive to identifying one or more of the particular words within the direct telephonic communication, the investigative tools module is configured to enable connection of the investigator to the direct telephonic communication.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the investigative tools module comprises an event detection module configured to identify a particular event being initiated with respect to the direct telephonic communication and to place event identifiers in association therewith.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the investigative tools module further allows the investigator to control one or more aspects of the direct telephonic communication.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the one or more aspects comprises termination of the direct telephonic communication.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the one or more aspects comprises muting at least one party of the direct telephonic communication.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the one or more aspects comprises the investigator barging into the direct telephonic communication.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the investigative tools module is further operable to, while the investigator is connected to the direct telephonic communication in the muted state, place one or more event identifiers in association with a recording of the direct telephonic communication in response to one or more signal inputs input to the communication device by the investigator, each of the one or more signal inputs being associated with an event of interest, each of the one or more event identifiers being a bookmark representing a different event of interest.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more signal inputs are dual-tone multi-frequency signal inputs.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more signal inputs are out of band signal inputs.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the investigative tools module is further operable to, while not in the muted state, filter the one or more signal inputs from entering the direct telephonic communication while the direct telephonic communication is ongoing.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the investigative tools module provides the user interface configured to display a dashboard including a timeline of the direct telephonic communication to the investigator, the timeline including the one or more event identifiers associated with the direct telephonic communication and configured to scroll as the direct telephonic communication progresses.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the dashboard is further configured to include graphically represented buttons enabling the investigator to control presentation of the recording of the direct telephonic communication, while monitoring the direct telephonic communication.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein at least one event of interest comprises a presence of a threat in the direct telephonic communication.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein at least one event of interest comprises a presence of a keyword in the direct telephonic communication.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein at least one event of interest comprises a reference to a person of interest in the direct telephonic communication.

19. The system of claim 10, wherein at least one of the one or more event identifiers includes a comment with respect to the direct telephonic communication.

20. The system of claim 10, wherein the investigative tools module allows the investigator to define the event of interest associated with each of the one or more signal inputs.

21. The system of claim 14, wherein the dashboard includes an interactive information presentation comprising information associated with the direct telephonic communication, and allowing the investigator to obtain additional desired information.

22. The system of claim 14, wherein the dashboard includes information associated with the direct telephonic communication, wherein the information comprises prompts to guide the investigator with respect to the placing event identifiers.

23. The system of claim 14, wherein the dashboard includes information associated with the direct telephonic communication, wherein the information comprises one or more controls to facilitate the investigator controlling one or more aspects of the monitoring the direct telephonic communication.

8. An investigative information system, comprising:

an information portal operable to provide a user interface;

an investigative tools module in communication with information portal, the investigative tools module operable to;

display, via the user interface, an indication of an on-going telephone call between a first party and a second party, wherein the first party is a resident of a correctional facility;

display, via the user interface, identifying information of the first party to the on-going telephone call;

display, via the user interface, identifying information of the correctional facility;

display, via the user interface, a telephone number associated with the on-going telephone call and the second party;

display a map of a location associated with the telephone number;

enable an audio connection to the on-going telephone call at the information portal, wherein no audio interference is input to the on-going telephone call from the information portal while the information portal is in a muted state;

enable terminating the on-going telephone call; and

enable transferring to another communication device an audio connection to the on-going telephone call, wherein no audio interference is input to the on-going telephone call from the other communication device while the other communication device is in a muted state.

9. An investigative information system, comprising:

an information portal operable to provide a user interface;

an investigative tools module in communication with information portal, the investigative tools module operable to;

receive a recorded telephone call from a database, wherein the recorded telephone call is a recording of a telephone call between a first party and a second party, wherein the first party is a resident of a correctional facility;

display, via the user interface, a waveform of the recorded telephone call;

display, via the user interface, an indication of a detected three-way call attempt in the recorded telephone call, wherein the detected three-way call attempt is automatically detected by a call processing system;

display, via the user interface, identifying information of the first party;

display, via the user interface, identifying information of the correctional facility;

display, via the user interface, a telephone number associated with the telephone call and the second party;

play the recorded telephone call, wherein a graphical play button and a graphical pause button configured to cause the recorded telephone call to be played and paused, respectively, are displayed via the user interface;

create, based on user input, a textual bookmark of an event of interest in the recorded telephone call;

create, based on additional user input, a textual note relating to the recorded telephone call; and

cause the textual bookmark and the textual note to be stored in association with the recorded telephone call in the database.