Method, system, and apparatus for controlling a plurality of wireless-radio equipped camera systems in a talkgroup

1. A wireless-radio equipped camera installation that is a member of a first talkgroup, the wireless-radio equipped camera installation comprising:

a camera;

an electro-mechanical pan, tilt, and/or zoom drive element coupled to the camera;

a wireless communications interface comprising one of an infrastructure wireless communication interface for communicating with an infrastructure radio access network (RAN) and an ad-hoc wireless communication interface for communicating with an ad-hoc network;

a processor; and

data storage containing instructions executable by the processor for causing the wireless-radio equipped camera installation to carry out a set of functions, the set of functions comprising:

receiving, via the wireless communication interface, a group voice call containing a voice-command;

determining that the wireless-radio equipped camera installation is a target of the group voice call, and responsively text-converting the voice-command into an actionable text-based command;

operating the electro-mechanical pan, tilt, and/or zoom drive element in accordance with the actionable text-based command; and

capturing, via the camera, one or more of imagery and video based on the voice-command.

2. The wireless-radio equipped camera installation or claim 1 , the set of functions further comprising, prior to operating the electro-mechanical pan, tilt, and/or zoom drive element in accordance with the actionable text-based command, authenticating one or both of the group voice call and a source communication device of the group voice call.

3. The wireless-radio equipped camera installation of claim 1 , the set of functions further comprising:

after or while operating the electro-mechanical pan, tilt, and/or zoom drive element in accordance with the actionable text-based command, text to voice converting an acknowledgment message acknowledging the voice command and transmitting, via the wireless communication interface, the voice-converted acknowledgment to the first talkgroup.

4. The wireless-radio equipped camera installation of claim 1 , the set of functions further comprising:

coordinating execution of the actionable text-based command with a plurality of second wireless-radio equipped camera installations also joined to the first talkgroup, via communications transmitted over one of the group call over the wireless communication interface and a second short-range wireless communication interface, and operating the electro-mechanical pan, tilt, and/or zoom drive element in accordance with the actionable text-based command and the coordinated execution.

5. The wireless-radio equipped camera installation of claim 4 , wherein coordinating execution of the actionable text-based command is performed via the second short-range wireless communication interface, the second short-range wireless communication interface comprising one of a direct-mode land-mobile-radio (LMR), Bluetooth, Zigbee, near-field communication (NFC), and IEEE 802.11 wireless interface.

6. The wireless-radio equipped camera installation of claim 1 , wherein the wireless communications interface comprises the infrastructure wireless communication interface and the group call is received over the infrastructure wireless communication interface, the wireless-radio equipped camera installation determining that the wireless-radio equipped camera installation is a target of the group voice call by tuning to one of a conventional radio channel and a trunked traffic radio channel assigned to a talkgroup to which the group call is directed.

7. The wireless-radio equipped camera installation of claim 6 , wherein the one of the conventional radio channel and trunked traffic radio channel is an FDMA or TDMA channel assigned to the wireless-radio equipped camera installation via a provisioning process or an over-the-air signaling process.

8. The wireless-radio equipped camera installation of claim 1 , wherein the wireless communications interface comprises the infrastructure wireless communication interface and the group call is received over the infrastructure wireless communication interface, the wireless-radio equipped camera installation determining that the wireless-radio equipped camera installation is a target of the group voice call by receiving a broadcast call header message containing a talkgroup identifier, comparing the received talkgroup identifier to a provisioned or over-the-air signaled talkgroup identifier identifying the first talkgroup, and finding a match between the received talkgroup identifier and the provisioned or over-the-air signaled talkgroup identifier identifying the first talkgroup.

9. The wireless-radio equipped camera installation of claim 8 , wherein the wireless communications interface comprises the infrastructure wireless communication interface and the infrastructure wireless communication interface is a broadband wireless interface.

10. The wireless-radio equipped camera installation of claim 1 , the set of functions further comprising: encoding the one or more of imagery and video, and transmitting the encoded one or more of imagery and video to the first talkgroup or to a secondary network.

11. The wireless-radio equipped camera installation of claim of claim 10 , further comprising coordinating operation of the pant, tilt, zoom motor with a plurality of second wireless-radio equipped camera installations also joined to the first talkgroup, via communications transmitted over one of the group call over the wireless communication interface and a second short-range wireless communication interface, to capture differing viewpoints or zoom levels of the destination indicated in the voice command.

12. A method carried out by wireless-radio equipped camera installation that is a member of a first talkgroup, the method comprising:

receiving, via a wireless communications interface comprising one of an infrastructure wireless communication interface for communicating with an infrastructure radio access network (RAN) and an ad-hoc wireless communication interface for communicating with an ad-hoc network, a group voice call containing a voice-command;

determining that the wireless-radio equipped camera installation is a target of the group voice call, and responsively text-converting the voice-command into an actionable text-based command; and

operating an electro-mechanical pan, tilt, and/or zoom drive element, coupled to a camera, in accordance with the actionable text-based command; and

capturing, via the camera, one or more of imagery and video based on the voice-command.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising, prior to operating the electro-mechanical pan, tilt, and/or zoom drive element in accordance with the actionable text-based command, authenticating one or both of the group voice call and a source communication device of the group voice call.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising: after or while operating the electro-mechanical pan, tilt, and/or zoom drive element in accordance with the actionable text-based command, text to voice converting an acknowledgment message acknowledging the voice command and transmitting, via the wireless communication interface, the voice-converted acknowledgment to the first talkgroup.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising coordinating execution of the actionable text-based command with a plurality of second wireless-radio equipped camera installations also joined to the first talkgroup, via communications transmitted over one of the group call over the wireless communication interface and a second short-range wireless communication interface, and operating the electro-mechanical pan, tilt, and/or zoom drive element in accordance with the actionable text-based command and the coordinated execution.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the wireless communications interface comprises the infrastructure wireless communication interface and the group call is received over the infrastructure wireless communication interface, the wireless-radio equipped camera installation determining that the wireless-radio equipped camera installation is a target of the group voice call by tuning to one of a conventional radio channel and a trunked traffic radio channel assigned to a talkgroup to which the group call is directed.

17. The method of claim 12 , wherein the wireless communications interface comprises the infrastructure wireless communication interface and the group call is received over the infrastructure wireless communication interface, the wireless-radio equipped camera installation determining that the wireless-radio equipped camera installation is a target of the group voice call by receiving a broadcast call header message containing a talkgroup identifier, comparing the received talkgroup identifier to a provisioned or over-the-air signaled talkgroup identifier identifying the first talkgroup, and finding a match between the received talkgroup identifier and the provisioned or over-the-air signaled talkgroup identifier identifying the first talkgroup.

18. The method of claim 12 , further comprising encoding the one or more of imagery and video, and transmitting the encoded one or more of imagery and video to the first talkgroup or via a secondary network.