Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Zoned or cellular telephone system
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-16
2004-12-07
Tran, Cong Van (Department: 2683)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Zoned or cellular telephone system
C455S414200, C455S420000, C370S242000, C370S244000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06829478
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to security and monitoring systems for both residential as well as business and industrial use. It relates more particularly to security and monitoring systems that operate over wired or wireless networks. Even more particularly, it relates to security and information systems that use condition sensors connected by a network that facilitates remote monitoring, notification, and interaction.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Existing premises security monitoring systems are usually connected to central monitoring stations via the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or a by a commercial wireless network. In the event of a system alert, current monitoring center procedures provide the customer with an alarm verification call, notification to the local police or fire authorities, and notification to a number of designated contact numbers. Although only 20% of the households in this country have monitored security systems, false-alarm police dispatches account for 98% of police dispatches nationwide. Such false alarm events typically cost municipalities nationwide over $1.5 billion per year. As a result of the high incidence of false alarms plaguing the industry, it is not uncommon for the police to take as long as an hour to reach the premises where an alarm has been activated.
Further, when an alarm system is violated, the siren only sounds for a period of up to five minutes. Should the homeowner return to the premises before the police arrive and after the alarm ceases, the safety of that individual is seriously compromised.
In the residential security system industry today, upon the receipt of an alarm transmission from a security or premises monitoring system, the dispatcher of the central station monitoring facility calls the premises to verify whether the emergency event is valid. If there is no answer or if it is otherwise deemed necessary, the dispatcher notifies the appropriate authority for emergency dispatch. At the time of emergency notification, the dispatcher at the central station monitoring facility is limited to the information transmitted from the base unit in the premises. The dispatcher does not have access to real-time information about the situation that could influence his decision as to whether to notify the emergency authority.
Furthermore, the calls made to the customer contacts after the authorities are dispatched are most typically not given priority by the central station monitoring facilities and are only made to the customer contacts when emergency calls and dispatches for other customers are not being made. Therefore, it is not uncommon for the contacts listed in the customer file to be notified about the alarm so long after the incident that notification is useless.
When the central station monitoring facility calls the premises to verify the alarm event, if the event notification is not cancelled, the dispatcher immediately notifies the emergency authorities for dispatch to the premises in question. If the homeowner is not at home at the time of the alarm event, the homeowner's knowledge of the premises, hardware and authorized users is not available to influence or control the action taken by the central station monitoring facility at the time of alarm signal transmission. And, it is only after the emergency authorities have been dispatched that the dispatcher of the central station monitoring facility attempts to notify the other contacts listed in the customer's file.
Current systems also allow customers limited or no opportunities to alter contact numbers in their profiles or to be contacted via the growing variety of communication devices available to the public (e.g., fax, e-mail, pager, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), text messaging device). It is therefore generally uncommon for the contact numbers stored in the customer's contact list to be up-to-date due to the cumbersome process required to update a contact list.
These factors seriously compromise the safety of the owner of the premises, who, if not on premises at the time of the alarm event, may not receive information about the alarm notification prior to entering the premises while an intruder is still present. The above factors also contribute to the high incidence of false alarm dispatches in this country. If the owner of the premises is not on the premises at the time of the alarm event, the owner is not able to direct the central station monitoring facility whether to cancel or continue with authority dispatch.
The current call flow process from a security or premises monitoring system direct to a Central Monitoring Station, which calls the premises for verification and then notifies the authority for emergency dispatch, is an inefficient premises monitoring solution. This call flow configuration also has adverse cost and safety implications for the system owner, central station monitoring facilities, authorities, and cities alike.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an improved system for monitoring premises security and other conditions. It is a primary object of this invention to provide a system that transmits interactive notifications about premises event and alert information in the order and manner determined by the customer within the customer profile to any wired or wireless communication device. It is yet a further object of this invention to receive transmissions of alarm notifications regarding changes in the status of any one of a number of sensors or parameters in a security or premises monitoring system at a remote Information Management Network via the Public Switched Telephone Network, Wireless Commercial Network, cable network or other commercial network.
It is another object of the present invention that the customer be able to remotely and securely access the Information Management Network via the Internet or telephone to modify and review the information in his Customer Profile and Event Log within the Information Management Network, using a secure web or telephone interface, to easily and securely maintain and update contact lists and notification preference points, schedule times for certain information notifications, update call flow sequences, access personal account information, review detailed alarm history, review results of notifications made to each of the delineated devices, review billing information, schedule non-alarm event notifications and update and review other alarm signal and hardware related information. It is another object of the invention that the Information Management Network initiate periodic interactive notifications to customers to encourage them to update their Customer Profile by entering the correct digital or voice recognized pass code.
It is yet a further object of the invention that the customer be able to determine the order in which contacts will receive the event transmission and have the opportunity to cancel said event transmission prior to said transmission being sent to the central station monitoring facility or private guard service for authority dispatch. It is another object of the present invention that an authorized recipient of an event notification can cancel the transmission of the notification to the subsequent contacts in the notification sequence or a central station by entering the correct digital or voice recognized pass code. It is yet another object of this invention that a central station monitoring facility use the Information Management Network to contact customer devices listed in the Customer Profile concurrently or following the dispatcher's verification call to the home, to allow an authorized individual, remote from the premises, to cancel the alarm notification prior to dispatch of the authorities. It is still another object of the invention that the recipient of a notification call be able to be transferred or conferenced with the emergency authority through a digital or voice request. It is another object of the invention that the receipt of information by the recipient can be confirmed and a record
Crawford Keith D.
Gadboys Jeffrey A.
Jacobs Jack H.
Layton Pamela G.
Burns & Levinson LLP
Lan Yan
Tran Cong Van
Williams Frederick C.
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