Telephony based remote location monitoring

A system for controlling a telephone network for telephony based remote location monitoring, comprising:

• a telephone network for allocating communication channels between a caller telephony device and a remote location telephony device;
• said telephone network further comprising:
• means, responsive to receiving a caller request to listen only to said remote location telephony device, for allocating a listen only channel between said caller telephony device and said remote location telephony device;
• means for activating a microphone at said remote location telephony device via said listen only channel;
• means for streaming audio detected at said microphone via said listen only channel to said caller telephony device;
• means, responsive to receiving said caller request to listen only to a plurality of remote location telephony devices by rotating said listen only channel among said plurality of remote location telephony devices, for monitoring a current time period that said listen only channel is allocated between said caller telephony device and said remote location telephony device;
• means, responsive to said current time period exceeding a rotation time limit, for deallocating said listen only channel between said caller telephony device and said remote location telephony device;
• and
• means for reallocating said listen only channel between said caller telephony device and a next remote location telephony device from among said plurality of remote location telephony devices.

A computer program product for controlling a telephone network for telephony based remote location monitoring, comprising:

• a recording medium;
• means, recorded on said recording medium, for allocating a listen only channel between a caller telephony device and a remote location telephony device, responsive to receiving a caller request to listen only to said remote location telephony device;
• means, recorded on said recording medium, for activating a microphone at said remote location telephony device via said listen only channel;
• means, recorded on said recording medium, for streaming audio detected at said microphone via said listen only channel to said caller telephony device;
• means, recorded on said recording medium, for monitoring a current time period that said listen only channel is allocated between said caller telephony device and said remote location telephony device, in response to receiving said caller request to listen only to a plurality of remote location telephony devices by rotating said listen only channel among said plurality of remote location telephony devices;
• means, recorded on said recording medium, for deallocating said listen only channel between said caller telephony device and said remote location telephony device, in response to said current time period exceeding a rotation time limit;
• and
• means, recorded on said recording medium, for reallocating said listen only channel between said caller telephony device and a next remote location telephony device from among said plurality of remote location telephony devices.

A method for enabling caller initiated telephony based remote location monitoring, comprising:

• responsive to detecting a caller selection to listen only to a remote location telephony device, sending a request to a telephone network to allocate a listen only channel between a caller telephony device and said remote location telephony device;
• receiving an audio stream from said remote location telephony device at said caller telephony device via said listen only channel while said caller continues to select to listen only to said remote location telephony device, such that a listener is enabled to initiate monitoring said remote location with minimized allocation of resources;
• and
• responsive to detecting said caller selection to listen only to a plurality of remote location telephony devices through a rotating listen only channel, sending said request to said telephone network to allocate a rotating listen only channel between said caller telephony device and a plurality of remote location telephony devices.

A system for enabling caller initiated telephony based remote location monitoring, comprising:

• a caller telephony device communicatively connected to a telephone network;
• said caller telephony device further comprising:
• means, responsive to detecting a caller selection to listen only to a remote location telephony device, for sending a request to said telephone network to allocate a listen only channel between said caller telephony device and said remote location telephony device;
• means for receiving an audio stream from said remote location telephony device at said caller telephony device via said listen only channel while said caller continues to select to listen only to said remote location telephony device;
• and
• means, responsive to detecting said caller selection to listen only to a plurality of remote location telephony devices through a rotating listen only channel, for sending said request to said telephone network to allocate a rotating listen only channel between said caller telephony device and a plurality of remote location telephony devices.

A computer program product for enabling caller initiated telephony based remote location monitoring, comprising:

• a recording medium;
• means, recorded on said recording medium, for sending a request to a telephone network to allocate a listen only channel between a caller telephony device and a remote location telephony device, in response to detecting a caller selection to listen only to said remote location telephony device;
• means, recorded on said recording medium, for receiving an audio stream from said remote location telephony device at said caller telephony device via said listen only channel while said caller continues to select to listen only to said remote location telephony device;
• and
• means, recorded on said recording medium, responsive to detecting said caller selection to listen only to a plurality of remote location telephony devices through a rotating listen only channel, for sending said request to said telephone network to allocate a rotating listen only channel between said caller telephony device and a plurality of remote location telephony devices.