Patent ID: 8583078

Claim:
A method executed by a cellular monitoring system for managing cellular usage in a controlled area, the method comprising: identify a cellular device within signal range of one or more femto cells placed in a controlled area, wherein a size of the controlled area is configurable by varying the signal strengths associated with the one or more femto cells, and wherein identify the cellular device within signal range of one or more femto cells placed in the controlled area is performed using a control channel; determining whether the cellular device is an authorized device within the controlled area; communicating with a cellular service provider subscriber database to determine a subscriber name associated with the cellular device in response to a determination that the cellular device is an unauthorized device; alerting security personnel in response to determination that the cellular device is not an authorized device within the controlled area; receiving an incoming or outgoing call associated with the cellular device; determining whether the incoming or outgoing call occurs during an authorized time; blocking the incoming or outgoing call in response to a determination that the incoming or outgoing call occurs during an unauthorized time; monitoring a duration of an incoming or outgoing call associated with the cellular device; subtracting an amount of time associated with the duration of the incoming or outgoing call from a calling account associated with a user of the cellular device; restricting calls associated with the cellular device to only authorized calling numbers; and receiving user configurations for alerting the security personnel from a user via a Web portal associated with the cellular monitoring system, wherein an alert message includes information about an unauthorized cellular device including a mobile identification number associated with the unauthorized cellular device and an approximate location of the unauthorized cellular device.