Communications: electrical – Condition responsive indicating system – Specific condition
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-24
2001-04-10
Hofsass, Jeffery (Department: 2736)
Communications: electrical
Condition responsive indicating system
Specific condition
C340S531000, C340S541000, C340S584000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06215404
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to home security alarm systems. More particularly, the present invention is an audio recognition system for characterizing an alarm from the audio output of the alarm.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The home alarm system market is a huge market, growing at 12-15% annually. This market consists of fire alarms, burglar alarms, glass breaking alarms, and personal emergency response systems, to name but a few. Further, with only 10-12% of the home market penetrated with such home alarm systems, the market potential is tremendous. This same potential for alarm systems exists in the commercial sector, with businesses and industries accounting for a large sector of the marketplace.
All of these installations rely upon similar types of technologies, both wired and wireless, for providing an alarm to a central station that a break-in or some other type of emergency occurs. This is typically accomplished by some local detector at a window, a door, or in the ceiling, detecting the presence of an activity to be reported. The detector sends a signal to a local processor, usually on premises. That local processor then sends a signal over telephone lines or via a cellular network to a central station which is monitoring the system. The central station will then call the police, fire department, or anyone else a user has selected to notify them that an alarm has occurred.
There are many ways to send signals from the premises to a central station. A regular telephone line can be used. A cellular network can be used. A long range radio has some potential in areas of some degree of remoteness, or a dedicated line can be leased from the telephone company. The most common approach is to simply use a regular telephone line to transfer these signals.
These alarm signals work very well for reporting the particular break-in, but require a central monitoring station to interpret the results. This in turn requires that a full system be installed in a home, and the system, either wired or wireless, to link to the central station over telephone lines for that purpose.
Simultaneous with this growth of home alarm systems has been the growth of Internet access for individuals using PC's and other types of equipment. Access to the Internet is typically via a local point of presence via an Internet service provider (“ISP”). Using the Internet, an individual can literally access sites on the other side of the world from the location of the PC. If a personal computer can somehow be used for the monitoring of a home security system, the Internet can serve as the basis for transmitting a particular alarm that has sounded to a monitoring facility that can be located anywhere. Thus, the need for a central station linked to a specific telephone could potentially be eliminated in favor of Internet access to that monitoring station.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above market and monitoring options, the present invention offers an Internet option for the monitoring of home security systems.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to monitor security in a home through a variety of detectors.
It is a further objective of the present invention to allow home security monitoring to occur in a wireless mode.
It is a further objective of the present invention to allow an audio monitoring of detectors in the home, rather than a wireless RF monitoring function.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide Internet monitoring by a central station of a plurality of home security systems.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to allow a central station located anywhere on the Internet to provide monitoring services to a plurality of homes connected to the Internet but located anywhere in the world.
These and other objectives of the present invention will become apparent from a review of the specification that follows.
The present invention is an Internet audio-link security alarm monitoring system. As noted above, present systems involve a number of detectors that are connected, either in a wired or a wireless mode, to a local station. When an alarm sounds, the local station provides a signal to a central station, usually over normal telephone lines, that an alarm has been tripped. Usually, the central station can determine what zone or type of alarm has been tripped and provide an appropriate message to the police/fire/individual whom the user would like to have notified.
In contrast, the present invention is a personal computer that is connected to the Internet. The personal computer also has a microphone, which is used to listen for the audible alarm siren from a smoke detector, or other alarm device. Fast fourier processing of the input audio signal allows the personal computer to recognize the type of alarm being sounded. For example, a smoke detector would have one type of siren and a break-in alarm would have a different type of siren, as would a “water in the basement” detection device.
In practice, when an alarm is sounded, the sound is detected by the microphone at the PC. The PC identifies the frequency, characterizes the frequency, and identifies it as emanating from a particular source.
Upon the detection of an alarm siren, the PC dials or otherwise accesses the Internet connection and accesses a particular URL associated with a monitoring station. Given the pervasive nature of the Internet, the monitoring station can be located anywhere.
A signal, e-mail or other communication is then sent to the URL of the monitoring station that a particular alarm has gone off. The monitoring station then has a database of all users who are subscribers to the monitoring station. Stored with the user database is the local telephone numbers associated with the police, fire department, or any other individual that the user wishes to contact in the event of an emergency. The central monitoring station can then automatically place a telephone call, e-mail, fax, or otherwise communicate in either in an automated mode or in person, reporting the indication of an alarm at the user's premises.
In an alternative embodiment, the PC can characterize the siren that is sounding. If, for example, the siren is from a smoke alarm, the PC can automatically dial the telephone number of the fire department and notify the fire department via voice synthesis or in other manners known in the art, that a smoke alarm has gone off in the user's premises. In this fashion, the fire department can then dispatch appropriate vehicles to meet the demand of the alarm that has sounded.
Other capabilities of the present invention will be apparent from a review of the detailed description of the invention that follows.
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Hofsass Jeffery
Roberts Abokhair & Mardula LLC
Tang Son
LandOfFree
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