ON-SITE CONFIGURATION OF A HARDWARE DEVICE MODULE OF A SECURITY SYSTEM

• US 20090113193A1
• Filed: 10/24/2007
• Published: 04/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SerComm Corporation
• Original Assignee: Sequal Technologies Incorporated (Niterra Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Stevens, Jim, Nesse, Ted
• Granted Patent: US 8,412,922 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]

Abstract

A security system is provided. The security system comprises a plurality of hardware device modules and a plurality of sensor detection devices. At least one of the hardware device modules has a microcontroller coupled to a memory element that stores a configuration map for on-site configuration comprising configuration option information available for the at least one hardware device module. The plurality of sensor detection devices are capable of sending at least a signal to one or more of the hardware device modules.

Claims

1. A security system, the system comprising:

a plurality of hardware device modules, at least one of which having a microcontroller coupled to a memory element that stores a configuration map for on-site configuration comprising configuration option information available for the at least one hardware device module; and

a plurality of sensor detection devices capable of sending a signal to one or more of the hardware device modules.

2. The security system of claim 1, wherein an on-site configuration tool having a configuration engine is directly coupled to the security system and is capable of receiving the configuration map from the at least one hardware device module and is capable of generating a dynamic user interface to configure the at least one hardware device module based on the received configuration map using the configuration engine.

3. The security system of claim 2, wherein a user interface module is the on-site configuration tool.

4. The security system of claim 3, wherein the user interface module also includes a display that can display the dynamic user interface and a user input device that can be used to configure options provided in the dynamic user interface.

5. The security system of claim 1, wherein the configuration map is encoded using an ASCII format.

6. The security system of claim 1, wherein the configuration option information stored in the configuration map includes one or more of:

a menu identification, a menu index identification, an input data type, an input data size, a multiple entry index, a grouping index, a minimum user input value, a maximum user input value, an input validator selector, a value used to disable a feature, a user access index and a text prompt.

15. The method of claim 4, wherein the on-site configuration tool is a user interface module.

7. A configurable hardware device module usable in a security system, the configurable hardware device module comprising:

a microcontroller; and

a memory element coupled to the microcontroller;

wherein the memory element stores a configuration map for on-site configuration comprising configuration option information available for the configurable hardware device module.

8. The configurable hardware device module of claim 7, wherein the configuration map is encoded using an ASCII format.

9. The configurable hardware device module of claim 7, wherein the configuration option information in the configuration map includes one or more of:

a menu identification, a menu index identification, an input data type, an input data size, a multiple entry index, a grouping index, a minimum user input value, a maximum user input value, an input validator selector, a value used to disable a feature, a user access index and a text prompt.

10. An on-site configuration tool usable in a security system, the on-site configuration tool comprising:

a microcontroller; and

a memory element coupled to the microcontroller;

wherein the memory element stores a configuration engine that is capable of generating a dynamic user interface based on a configuration map received from a configurable hardware device module.

11. The on-site configuration tool of claim 10, wherein a user interface module is the on-site configuration tool.

12. The on-site configuration tool of claim 11, wherein the memory element also stores a configuration map comprising configuration option information available for the user interface module.

13. The on-site configuration tool of claim 10, further comprising a display coupled to the microcontroller that can display the dynamic user interface and a user input device coupled to the microcontroller that can be used to configure options provided in the dynamic user interface.

14. A method of on-site configuration of a configurable hardware device module of a security system, the method comprising:

providing a configurable hardware device module having a configuration map;

directly coupling an on-site configuration tool having a configuration engine, a display and a user input device to the security system;

transferring the configuration map from the configurable hardware device module to the on-site configuration tool;

generating a dynamic user interface specifically tailored to the configurable hardware device module using the configuration engine in the on-site configuration tool and the configuration map transferred into the on-site configuration tool from the configurable hardware device module.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising including configuration option information in the configuration map having one or more of:

a menu identification, an menu index identification, an input data type, an input data size, a multiple entry index, a grouping index, a minimum user input value, a maximum user input value, an input validator selector, a value used to disable a feature, a user access index and a text prompt.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the configuration map is encoded in an ASCII format.