System and method for alarm signaling during alarm system destruction

• US 10,223,901 B2
• Filed: 11/27/2017
• Issued: 03/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alarm.com Inc. (Alarm.com Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Alarm.com Inc. (Alarm.com Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Trundle, Stephen Scott, Slavin, Alison Jane, Martin, Jean-Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hung T
• Application Number:
  US15/822,319
• Publication Number:
  US 20180075730A1
• Time in Patent Office: 463 Days
• Field of Search: 340502, 340506, 340527, 340528, 3405391, 34053911, 34053914, 34053916, 34053917, 340531, 340540, 340541
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/002 Generating a prealarm to the central station
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/10 using wireless transmission systems G08B25/009 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 29/00 Checking or monitoring of signalling or alarm systems; Prevention or correction of operating errors, e.g. preventing unauthorised operation
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 29/02 Monitoring continuously signalling or alarm systems
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 29/046 prevention of tampering with detection circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 29/16 Security signalling or alarm systems, e.g. redundant systems
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 29/185 Signal analysis techniques for reducing or preventing false alarms or for enhancing the reliability of the system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks

Abstract

A system and method provide for the immediate transmission of a potential alarm to a remote alarm signal escrow site and from the escrow site to a host station in the event where a control panel or an alarm signaling device is tampered with or destroyed by a disablement tactic, e.g., a “crash and smash intrusion.” A system and method may also send an alarm signal during such an attack by using predictive analysis of real-time events.

Claims

1. A method for handling an alarm situation, the method comprising:

receiving, by a remote escrow site that is different from a remote host station and that is physically separate from a monitored property, and from one or more sensors or a control panel located at the monitored property, data indicating events occurring at the monitored property;

detecting, by the remote escrow site and based at least on a sequence of the events occurring at the monitored property, an alarm situation, wherein the alarm situation is a situation in which (i) an unauthorized entrance to the monitored property has likely occurred and (ii) a first communication path from the one or more sensors or the control panel to the remote host station has likely been disrupted; and

in response to detecting the alarm situation, transmitting, from the remote escrow site to the remote host station over a second communication path that is different than the first communication path, an alarm signal indicating that the alarm situation has occurred.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first communication path is a wired communication path, and the second communication path is a wireless communication path.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising:

in response to detecting the alarm situation, generating, by the remote escrow site, the alarm signal.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising:

in response to detecting the alarm situation, transmitting, from the remote escrow site to a user device that is associated with a user of the monitored property and that is different from the remote host station, a notification indicating that the alarm situation has occurred.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the alarm situation comprises:

determining, based on the analysis of the sequence of the events occurring at the monitored property, that an alarm signal cannot be transmitted to the remote host station from the one or more sensors or the control panel using the first communication path.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the alarm situation comprises:

determining, based on the analysis of the sequence of the events occurring at the monitored property, that (i) a sensor of the one or more sensors has been triggered, and (ii) that a message indicating that the one or more sensors have been disarmed or that the one or more sensors have not been disarmed within a prescribed delay period has not been received.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the alarm situation comprises:

determining, based on the analysis of the sequence of the events occurring at the monitored property, (i) that a message received by the remote escrow site indicates that an alarm signal is expected to be transmitted to the remote host station from the one or more sensors or the control panel, and (ii) that an update message that is expected to be received by the remote escrow site indicating whether the alarm signal was transmitted to the remote host station from the one or more sensors or the control panel was not received by the remote escrow site.

8. An alarm system for handling an alarm situation, the system comprising:

one or more sensors for identifying an alarm situation at a location of a monitored property;

a control panel located at the monitored property; and

a remote escrow site that is different from a remote host station and that is physically separate from the monitored property, wherein the remote escrow site is configured to;

receive, from the one or more sensors or the control panel, data indicating events occurring at the monitored property;

detect, based at least on a sequence of the events occurring at the monitored property, an alarm situation, wherein the alarm situation is a situation in which (i) an unauthorized entrance to the monitored property has likely occurred and (ii) a first communication path from the one or more sensors or the control panel to the remote host station has likely been disrupted; and

in response to detecting the alarm situation, transmit, to the remote host station over a second communication path that is different than the first communication path, an alarm signal indicating that the alarm situation has occurred.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the first communication path is a wired communication path, and the second communication path is a wireless communication path.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the remote escrow site is configured to:

in response to detecting the alarm situation, generate the alarm signal.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the remote escrow site is configured to:

in response to detecting the alarm situation, transmit, to a user device that is associated with a user of the monitored property and that is different from the remote host station, a notification indicating that the alarm situation has occurred.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein detecting the alarm situation comprises:

determining, based on the analysis of the sequence of the events occurring at the monitored property, that an alarm signal cannot be transmitted to the remote host station from the one or more sensors or the control panel using the first communication path.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein detecting the alarm situation comprises:

determining, based on the analysis of the sequence of the events occurring at the monitored property, that (i) a sensor of the one or more sensors has been triggered, and (ii) that a message indicating that the one or more sensors have been disarmed or that the one or more sensors have not been disarmed within a prescribed delay period has not been received.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein detecting the alarm situation comprises:

determining, based on the analysis of the sequence of the events occurring at the monitored property, (i) that a message received by the remote escrow site indicates that an alarm signal is expected to be transmitted to the remote host station from the one or more sensors or the control panel, and (ii) that an update message that is expected to be received by the remote escrow site indicating whether the alarm signal was transmitted to the remote host station from the one or more sensors or the control panel was not received by the remote escrow site.

15. An alarm system for providing an alarm signal comprising:

a receiver at a remote escrow site, the remote escrow site being different from a remote host station and physically separate from a monitored property, wherein the receiver is configured to receive, from one or more sensors or a control panel, data indicating events occurring at the monitored property;

one or more processors at the remote escrow site configured to detect, based at least on a sequence of the events occurring at the monitored property, an alarm situation, wherein the alarm situation is a situation in which (i) an unauthorized entrance to the monitored property has likely occurred and (ii) a first communication path from the one or more sensors or the control panel to the remote host station has likely been disrupted; and

a transmitter at the remote escrow site that is configured to, in response to detecting the alarm situation, transmit, to the remote host station over a second communication path that is different than the first communication path, an alarm signal indicating that the alarm situation has occurred.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the first communication path is a wired communication path, and the second communication path is a wireless communication path.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more processors at the remote escrow site are configured to:

in response to detecting the alarm situation, generate the alarm signal.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the transmitter at the remote escrow site is configured to:

in response to detecting the alarm situation, transmit, to a user device that is associated with a user of the monitored property and that is different from the remote host station, a notification indicating that the alarm situation has occurred.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein detecting the alarm situation comprises:

determining, based on the analysis of the sequence of the events occurring at the monitored property, that an alarm signal cannot be transmitted to the remote host station from the one or more sensors or the control panel using the first communication path.

20. The system of claim 15, herein detecting the alarm situation comprises:

determining, based on the analysis of the sequence of the events occurring at the monitored property, that (i) a sensor of the one or more sensors has been triggered, and (ii) that a message indicating that the one or more sensors have been disarmed or that the one or more sensors have not been disarmed within a prescribed delay period has not been received.