FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to movable operations unit and more specifically, but not exclusively, to movable operation unit for use by law enforcement officers.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Law enforcement officers rely on communication with headquarters, other officers in the field, and information from official law enforcement sources to effectively carry out their duties on a regular basis. This may include using radios to communicate with headquarters , dispatchers, or other officials to obtain information relevant to their duties.

Official sources which law enforcement has access to may include databases related to:

- identities and official records of citizens and/or permanent residents;

- criminal records and arrest history of individuals;

- stolen and/or wanted vehicles or other goods; and

- information related to the location and activity of law enforcement officials.

A problem in the industry is, that due to the sensitive and privileged information in the official sources, very high standards of security and data integrity is required to be maintained in relation to the databases and often requires special equipment and network access to access the sources. Further, where an official in the field requests such information, it may be broadcast over unencrypted radio which breaches the confidentiality and integrity of the information. A further problem is that such requests for information is often time consuming which may inhibit the officials to effectively carry out their duties. OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide movable operation unit which, at least partially, alleviates some of the problems associated with the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the invention there is provided a movable operation unit comprising:

- an enclosure which is configurable between an operating configuration and a movable configuration;

- a power source within the housing;

- a plurality of computing units within the enclosure which are powered by the power source and common controls for controlling each computing unit using the common controls;

- each computing unit running software for performing tasks required by law enforcement officials;

- a display with a plurality of display sections, each display section being associated with one of the computing units;

- the display being visible and accessible when the enclosure is in the operating configuration and not visible or accessible when the enclosure is in the movable configuration; and

- communication means allowing each computing unit to communicate with at least one external network.

The enclosure includes two halves which hinge on one side such that when the two halves are moved about the hinge away from each other, the enclosure is moved towards the operating configuration when the halves are moved toward each other, the enclosure is moved towards the movable position.

The enclosure includes a handle and integrated wheels for handling and moving the operation unit.

The display is mounted within one half of the enclosure.

The power source may include connectors for connecting the unit to a 220V power outlet or an external 12V power source.

The power source may also include removable rechargeable batteries and an associated battery charger circuit for charging the removable batteries when the unit is connected to a power outlet or external power source.

The display may include four quarters, where each quarter is a section of the display associated with a computing unit.

The common controls may include a keyboard and trackpad or trackball for controlling the interfaces of the computing units. The common controls may be connected to the computing units using a KVM switch.

Each computing unit has an operating system which is suited to the function of the computing unit.

Communications means include a plurality of audio sources, including audio from each computing unit, and a plurality of audio communications devices and an audio mixer for mixing the audio sources into a mixed audio feed.

The unit may include a loudspeaker and/or audio output port for monitoring the mixed audio feed. The unit may also include a microphone. The audio sources may include radio, satellite, and radio frequency (RF), or cellular sources.

The unit may include holders for a cellphone, radio, or satellite communication device.

The communications means may include means for receiving a plurality of video sources. Video sources may include body worn cameras or CCTV cameras. The communications means may provide the video sources to one of the computing units and the relevant computing unit may process and display the video sources on the display.

The communications means may include one or more of the following devices:

- a network router;

- a network switch; - a wireless modem; and/or

- a video capture module;

The unit may communicate with external networks using the wireless modem using one or more of the following communication protocols: LTE Cat. 6, 5G, satellite, and/or WiFi.

The computing units may communicate with an external network using a virtual private network (VPN). At least one of the computing units may be configured to use the VPN to access data from an external private network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

An embodiment of the invention is described below, by way of a non-limiting example only, and with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a movable operation unit in a movable configuration; and

Figure 2 is a schematic perspective view of a movable operation unit in an operating configuration.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

With reference to the drawings, in which like features are indicated by like numerals, movable operation unit is generally indicated by reference numeral 1 .

The movable operation unit 1 is intended for use by law enforcement officials in the field where the duties of the law enforcement officials require access to official information sources as well as video feeds and radio communications. The mobile operation unit 1 includes an enclosure which is configurable between an operating configuration (shown in figure 2) and a movable configuration (shown in figure 1) and consists of a top half 2 and a bottom half 3. The two halves (2 and 3) hinge on one side such that when the two halves (2 and 3) are moved about the hinge away from each other, the enclosure is moved towards the operating configuration when the halves are moved toward each other, the enclosure is moved towards the movable position. The enclosure includes a handle 4 and integrated wheels for handling and moving the operation unit 1. The enclosure also includes clasps for fixing the two halves (2 and 3) together such that the enclosure is in the movable configuration. When in the movable configuration, the movable operation unit 1 resembles a large suitcase and may be manipulated by picking the movable operation unit up by the handle 4 or moved around using the integrated wheels. In this example, the movable operation unit 1 has been designed with an operating temperature of 0° to 60° Celsius, has an ingress protection (IP) rating of IP43, has dimensions of 600mm width, 370mm depth, and 500mm height when in an upright position where the handle 4 faces upward, has a weight of about 28kg, and a maximum power consumption of 500W. The movable operation unit 1 include a power source, typically within the enclosure, for powering components of the movable operation unit 1. The power source may include connectors 5 for connecting the unit to a 220V power outlet or an external 12V power source. The power source may also include removable rechargeable batteries (not shown) and an associated battery charging circuit for charging the removable batteries when the unit 1 is connected to a power outlet or external power source (including, for example, solar panels which may be set up in close proximity to the unit 1). The batteries in this example are two rechargeable lithium polymer batteries, each with a capacity of 32000mAh and a combined weight of 2kg, which are connected in series. This allows each battery to be disconnected and recharged separately. The state of charge of the batteries may be indicated on indicators 6 which are integrated into the unit 1 . The unit 1 may also include an inverter (not shown) which may be used to power a power outlet integrated into the unit for powering ancillary devices from the batteries (within the load limits of the batteries and inverter). The expected power consumption of the unit (including any ancillary devices) is expected to be within the range of 250W to 480W which provides a battery life of between 2 hours and 4 hours.

The movable operation unit 1 includes a plurality of computing units (not shown) within the enclosure which are powered by the power source and common controls (7, 8 and 9) for controlling each computing unit using the common controls (7, 8, and 9). The common controls include a computer keyboard 7, a trackball 8 (which may also be substituted with a trackpad), and custom controls 9 which may include buttons and indicators for controlling the computing units. Each computing unit will typically include computing hardware which includes a central processing unit, associated memory, such as random-access memory (RAM), and storage and runs software for performing tasks required by law enforcement officials. Depending on the application, the computing unit will be tailored to the specific software which it is required to run. For example, where the software required is designed to run on the Microsoft® Windows® operating system, the computing unit will have hardware which is capable of running the windows operating system in order to run the required software. Where the required software is designed to run on Android® mobile operating syste, similarly, the hardware of the computing unit will be suitable for running the Android ® operating system in order to run the software required by law enforcement officials. The top half 2 of the enclosure includes an integrated display 10 which accessible when the enclosure is in the operating configuration (shown in figure 2) and not visible or accessible when the enclosure is in the movable configuration (shown in figure 1 ) and has a plurality of display sections (10a, 10b, 10c, and 10d) with each display section being associated with one of the computing units or one of multiple displays for each computing unit. In this example, the display 10 is divided into four quadrants where each quadrant is associated with a specific computing unit.

One of the quadrants is associated with a computing unit which runs emergency location system (ELS) software which provides an operator with a map and location of law enforcement officers, suspects, and/or persons who have contacted law enforcement in case of an emergency or other scenario. This computing unit will also be configured to receive video feeds from multiple sources including closed circuit television (CCTV) and/or body worn cameras which are worn by law enforcement officers in the field. The video processing capabilities of the unit include:

- H.323, SIP, and WebRTC signalization protocols;

- H.239, BFCP, VNC, and RTSP real time content protocols;

- H.261 H.263, H.264, H.264 (High Profile), H.264 SVC, H.265 (HEVC), and VP8 video codecs; and

- G.711 , G.722, G.722.1 , G.729A, Opus, ala, ulaw, and aac audio codecs.

A second computing unit will be used to connect to the law enforcement virtual private network (VPN) to remotely access official sources and databases, such as criminal and/or arrest records, road and transport authority databases for stolen or wanted vehicles, and internal law enforcement file sharing, chat, and email services. A third computing unit is configured to access vehicle location software, which is used to track movements of patrols of law enforcement officers. The common controls are shared between the computing units using a KVM switch which allows the common controls to be used, depending on requirements, by each computing unit as and when required. The unit also includes communication means for audio, video, and data communications. Audio sources may include radio, satellite, and radio frequency (RF), or cellular radio sources. For this purpose, the unit 1 includes an RF radio 11 , satellite radio 12, and cellular phone 13. The unit 1 also includes a holder for a smartphone 14. The unit 1 includes an audio mixer (not shown) which mixes the audio from the audio sources into a single feed (including any audio generated or received by the plurality of computing units), which may be monitored by the operator using built-in loudspeakers or via a headphone jack integrated into the unit 1. The unit may also include a built-in microphone and camera 15 for the operator to use in return communication to the various sources and software.

The communication means further allows the unit 1 and the computing units to access external networks and for this purpose may include a network router, a network switch, and/or a wireless modem for enabling the unit 1 to communicate with external networks using the wireless modem using one or more of the following communication protocols: LTE Cat. 6, 5G, satellite, and/or WiFi.

It is envisaged that the invention will provide a movable operation unit which is portable and easily movable by law enforcement to the scene of an emergency, or to any location where a number of different audio, video, and data sources are required in order to perform their official duties. The unit is equipped with all necessary equipment to access radio, video, and internal official sources and databases and essentially provides many of the functions which a operation room or control room would usually be responsible for.

The invention is not limited to the precise details as described herein. For example, instead of having a display with four quadrants, the display may be divided into a grid with six or eight sections. Further, instead of using a trackball or trackpad as part of the common controls, the unit may have an integrated joystick or similar pointing device controller.