House arrest monitoring system
First Claim
1. A system for monitoring the presence or absence of an individual within a defined area, said system comprising:
- (a) an identification tag that is attached to the individual, said identification tag including;
a first power source,sensing means for sensing prescribed conditions associated with the operation and use of said tag, andmeans coupled to said first power source for periodically transmitting in short data bursts an identification signal including identification information that uniquely identifies said tag, and hence the individual to whom the tag is attached, and status information that indicates the prescribed conditions sensed by said sensing means;
(b) receiving means positioned within said defined area for receiving said identification signal;
(c) processing means coupled to said receiving means for noting the time of receipt and content of the received identification signals, from which time and content information a determination can be made as to the presence or absence of the individual within the defined area during any given time period; and
(d) tamper means included within said processing means for sensing one of a plurality of tamper conditions associated with the use of said processing means and for generating a tamper condition signal in the event that one of said plurality of tamper conditions occurs.
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A house arrest monitoring system that automatically verifies the presence or absence of prisoners, patients or other personnel who are required to remain at a prescribed location or to report to the prescribed location at a certain time. The system includes an identification tag that is worn by the individual being monitored. This tag transmits an identification signal that includes a unique identifying code, as well as status information that indicates whether the tag has been removed from near the flesh of the individual being monitored. The tag is totally self-contained and includes circuitry to sense when the tag is held near the flesh of the individual, as well as code generating and transmitting circuitry to periodically generate and transmit the identification signal. A field monitoring device (FMD) is included at the prescribed location to receive and process the identification signal, and to communicate with a central processing unit (CPU) located at a remote central monitoring location. The CPU is able to communicate with a large number of FMD'"'"'s located at diverse field locations.
309 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A system for monitoring the presence or absence of an individual within a defined area, said system comprising:
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(a) an identification tag that is attached to the individual, said identification tag including; a first power source, sensing means for sensing prescribed conditions associated with the operation and use of said tag, and means coupled to said first power source for periodically transmitting in short data bursts an identification signal including identification information that uniquely identifies said tag, and hence the individual to whom the tag is attached, and status information that indicates the prescribed conditions sensed by said sensing means; (b) receiving means positioned within said defined area for receiving said identification signal; (c) processing means coupled to said receiving means for noting the time of receipt and content of the received identification signals, from which time and content information a determination can be made as to the presence or absence of the individual within the defined area during any given time period; and (d) tamper means included within said processing means for sensing one of a plurality of tamper conditions associated with the use of said processing means and for generating a tamper condition signal in the event that one of said plurality of tamper conditions occurs. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A system for monitoring the presence or absence of an individual within a defined area, said system comprising:
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(a) an identification tag that is attached to the individual, said identification tag including; a first power source, sensing means for sensing prescribed conditions associated with the operation and use of said tag, and means coupled to said first power source for periodically transmitting in short data bursts an identification signal including identification information that uniquely identifies said tag, and hence the individual to whom the tag is attached, and status information that indicates the prescribed conditions sensed by said sensing means, said transmitting means including stable radio frequency (RF) generating means for generating an RF carrier signal at a prescribed frequency, said RF carrier signal being modulated by the identification information and status information; (b) receiving means positioned within said defined area for receiving said identification signal, said receiving means including at least two spaced-apart receiving antennas, the distance between any two antennas being selected as a function of the wavelength of the prescribed frequency of said RF carrier signal, said receiving means further including means for connecting only one of said at least two spaced-apart receiving antennas to an RF receiving circuit at any instant of time, all of said at least two spaced-apart receiving antennas having respective time periods for being connected to said RF receiving circuit; (c) processing means coupled to said receiving means for noting the time of receipt and content of the received identification signals, from which time and content information a determination can be made as to the presence or absence of the individual within the defined area during any given time period; and (d) tamper means included within said processing means for sensing one of a plurality of tamper conditions associated with the use of said processing means and for generating a tamper condition signal in the event that one of said plurality of tamper conditions occurs.
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19. A system for monitoring the presence or absence of an individual within a defined area, said system comprising:
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(a) an identification tag that is attached to the individual, said identification tag including a first power source, sensing means for sensing prescribed conditions associated with the operation and use of said tag, and means coupled to said first power source for periodically transmitting in short data bursts an identification signal including identification information that uniquely identifies said tag, and hence the individual to whom the tag is attached, and status information that indicates the prescribed conditions sensed by said sensing means; (b) repeater means selectively positioned within said defined area for receiving said identification signal and, after a prescribed delay, retransmitting said identification signal to said receiving means, said repeater means including verification means for verifying that the received identification signal is a valid identification signal before said signal is retransmitted to said receiving means; (c) receiving means positioned within said defined area for receiving said identification signal; (d) processing means coupled to said receiving means for noting the time of receipt and content of the received identification signals, from which time and content information a determination can be made as to the presence or absence of the individual within the defined area during any given time period; and (e) tamper means included within said processing means for sensing one of a plurality of tamper conditions associated with the use of said processing means and for generating a tamper condition signal in the event that one of said plurality of tamper conditions occurs.
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20. A house arrest monitoring system comprising:
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a plurality of electronic tags, each including means for periodically transmitting an identification signal over a specified range; a plurality of field monitoring devices, each of said field monitoring devices including means for receiving the identification signals transmitted by said tags when said tags are within the specified range of said field monitoring devices; at least one central processing unit coupled to said field monitoring devices, said central processing unit including; means for sorting, logging and processing the identification signals received from each of said field monitoring devices, means for generating reports that document the identification signals received by said central processing unit, including the time at which any given identification signal was received and the identity of the field monitoring device from which it was received, selection means for allowing an operator in contact with said central processing unit to select a desired report to be generated by said central processing unit; monitoring means for monitoring the receipt of said identification signals received from said field monitoring devices and for automatically reporting any unusual patterns detected in the identification signals received. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification