Computer program, method, and system for managing multiple data recording devices

Abstract

A multiple recording device management system including an intermediate multiple recording device managing apparatus, a vehicle recording device mounted in a police vehicle and synced to the managing apparatus, and a personal recording device carried by a police officer and wirelessly synced to the managing apparatus. The managing apparatus is operable to detect when the vehicle recording device, personal recording device, or any other synced device in range has begun recording and to transmit a communication signal to any synced recording device in range indicating that the recording device should begin recording and to further transmit a time stamp to synced recording devices for corroborating recorded data.

Having thus described various embodiments of the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent includes the following: 
     
         1 . A data recording and management system comprising:
 a recording device for recording video data of a law enforcement event, said recording device configured to be mounted on or configured to be carried by a law enforcement officer;   one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a mobile communications device carried by the law enforcement officer, perform the following steps:
 pair the mobile communications device with the recording device; 
 receive the recorded video data from the recording device; 
 present, to the law enforcement officer and on a display of the mobile communications device, one or more fields for inputting data related to the recorded video data; 
 receive data inputted by the law enforcement officer in at least one of the one or more fields presented on the mobile communication device's display; and 
 associate the received inputted data with the recorded video data; and 
   a recording device manager configured to:
 receive a trigger signal; 
 said trigger signal being indicative of at least one of activation of a law enforcement vehicle's siren, activation of the law enforcement vehicle's signal lights, or manual activation of another recording device, 
 wherein the manual activation of another recording device is performed by the law enforcement officer or another law enforcement officer; and 
 broadcast, in response to receiving the trigger signal, at least one communication signal to the recording device instructing the recording device to begin recording. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the mobile communications device carried by the law enforcement officer, perform the following steps:
 present, to the law enforcement officer and on the display of the mobile communications device, one or more application settings personal to the law enforcement officer; and   receive a preferred setting inputted by the law enforcement officer,   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein said one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the mobile communications device carried by the law enforcement officer, perform the following steps:
 create a profile for the law enforcement officer for use of the recording device; and   associate said received preferred setting with the law enforcement officer's profile.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the manual activation is performed by said another law enforcement officer, and   wherein said another recording device is a video recording device for recording video data of the law enforcement event and is configured to be mounted on or configured to be carried by said another law enforcement officer.   
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said one or more fields for inputting data related to the recorded video data include fields for at least one of an event description, an age of a suspect, and a gender of a suspect. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the mobile communications device carried by the law enforcement officer, perform the following steps:
 obtain a geographic position reading from a GPS of the mobile communications device; and   associate the obtained geographic position reading with one or more frames of the recorded video data from the recording device, such that the geographic position reading of the mobile communications device is metadata for the recorded video data.   
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the trigger signal is based, at least in part, on the obtained geographic position reading. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the system is configured to associate at least one of the following items of metadata with the recorded video data: an indication of a type of said trigger signal, an identity of the law enforcement officer, a number of recording devices synced with the recording device manager during the event, and an identity of the recording devices synced with the recording device manager during the event. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein said one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the mobile communications device carried by the law enforcement officer, perform the following steps:
 obtain a geographic position reading from a GPS of the mobile communications device; and   associate the obtained geographic position reading with one or more frames of the recorded video data from the recording device, such that the geographic position reading of the mobile communications device is metadata for the recorded video data.   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the recording device includes a pre-event buffer, such that the instruction to record in response to the trigger signal is an instruction to store said recorded video data in a permanent memory of said recording device. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the recording device is configured to be placed in a covert mode by not illuminating at least one indicator on the recording device. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said another recording device is a data capture device. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the recording device manager is operable to be pre-synced with predetermined recording devices, is operable to compare a recording device identifier of a recording device with identifiers in a list of pre-synced recording devices, and is operable to selectively transmit communications only to the predetermined recording devices. 
     
     
         14 . A data recording and management system comprising:
 a recording device for recording video data of a law enforcement event, said recording device configured to be mounted on or configured to be carried by a law enforcement officer; and   one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a mobile communications device carried by the law enforcement officer, perform the following steps:
 pair the mobile communications device with the recording device; 
 receive the recorded video data from the recording device; 
 present, to the law enforcement officer and on a display of the mobile communications device, one or more fields for inputting data related to the recorded video data; 
 receive data inputted by the law enforcement officer in at least one of the one or more fields presented on the mobile communication device's display; 
 associate the received inputted data with the recorded video data; 
 obtain a geographic position reading from a GPS of the mobile communications device; and 
 associate the obtained geographic position reading with one or more frames of the recorded video data from the recording device. 
   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , further including a recording device manager configured to:
 receive a trigger signal;   said trigger signal being indicative of at least one of activation of a law enforcement vehicle's siren, activation of the law enforcement vehicle's signal lights, or manual activation of another recording device,   wherein the manual activation of another recording device is performed by the law enforcement officer or another law enforcement officer; and   broadcast, in response to receiving the trigger signal, at least one communication signal to the recording device instructing the recording device to begin recording.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 ,
 wherein the manual activation is performed by said another law enforcement officer, and   wherein said another recording device is a video recording device for recording video data of the law enforcement event and is configured to be mounted on or configured to be carried by said another law enforcement officer.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein said another recording device is a data capture device. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the trigger signal is based, at least in part, on the obtained geographic position reading. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the system is configured to associate at least one of the following items of metadata with the recorded video data: an indication of a type of said trigger signal, an identity of the law enforcement officer, a number of recording devices synced with the recording device manager during the event, and an identity of the recording devices synced with the recording device manager during the event. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the recording device manager is operable to be pre-synced with predetermined recording devices, is operable to compare a recording device identifier of a recording device with identifiers in a list of pre-synced recording devices, and is operable to selectively transmit communications only to the predetermined recording devices. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein said one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the mobile communications device carried by the law enforcement officer, perform the following steps:
 present, to the law enforcement officer and on the display of the mobile communications device, one or more application settings personal to the law enforcement officer; and   receive a preferred setting inputted by the law enforcement officer,   
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein said one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the mobile communications device carried by the law enforcement officer, perform the following steps:
 create a profile for the law enforcement officer for use of the recording device; and   associate said received preferred setting with the law enforcement officer's profile.   
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein said one or more fields for inputting data related to the recorded video data include fields for at least one of an event description, an age of a suspect, and a gender of a suspect. 
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the recording device includes a pre-event buffer, such that the instruction to record in response to the trigger signal is an instruction to store said recorded video data in a permanent memory of said recording device. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the recording device is configured to be placed in a covert mode by not illuminating at least one indicator on the recording device. 
     
     
         26 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a video file, said video file comprising:
 one or more frames of recorded video data,   wherein the video data is of a law enforcement event,   wherein the video data was recorded by a recording device configured to be mounted on or configured to be carried by a law enforcement officer;   one or more items of data associated with the recorded video data,   wherein the one or more items of data was inputted by the law enforcement officer at a user interface displayed on a mobile communications device carried by the law enforcement officer; and   one or more items of metadata associated with the recorded video data,   wherein one of said one or more items of metadata is a global position reading generated by the mobile communications device,   wherein another of said one or more items of metadata is information indicative of a trigger signal that initiated recording by the recording device,   said trigger signal being indicative of at least one of activation of a law enforcement vehicle's siren, activation of the law enforcement vehicle's signal lights, or manual activation of another recording device,   wherein the manual activation of another recording device is performed by the law enforcement officer or another law enforcement officer.   
     
     
         27 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 26 , wherein the trigger signal is broadcast, by a recording device manager, to the recording device to initiate recording by the recording device. 
     
     
         28 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 27 , wherein the recording device manager receives information indicative of the trigger signal from a triggering device. 
     
     
         29 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 28 , wherein the metadata includes one or more of the following: an indication of a type of said trigger signal, an identity of the law enforcement officer, a number of recording devices synced with the recording device manager during the event, and an identity of the recording devices synced with the recording device manager during the event. 
     
     
         30 . The computer readable storage medium of  claim 29 , wherein the inputted data includes at least one of an event description, an age of a suspect, and a gender of a suspect.