Remote supervisory system
First Claim
1. Apparatus for monitoring the condition of a telephone subscriber'"'"'s premises comprising:
- (A) a telephone circuit extending from the premises;
(B) a telephone switching office remotely located from the premises and connected to the telephone circuit, said office including;
(i) linefinding and call switching means for recognizing an off-hook condition on the telephone circuit andii. for switching telephone calls to and from the telephone circuit,(ii) means for controlling the operation of said linefinding and call switching means for identifying the subscriber whose telephone circuit is off-hook, and(iii) memory means accessible by said controlling means for storing information including information concerning the identity of the subscriber;
(C) sensing means at the premises for detecting the occurrence of a predetermined condition at the premises;
(D) auxiliary means at the premises connected to the telephone circuit, said auxiliary means including(i) means responsive to the detection of said predetermined condition by said sensing means for creating a temporary off-hook condition on the telephone circuit, the off-hook condition being recognized and the subscriber being identified by said linefinding and call switching means in said office,(ii) means for transmitting a reporting signal to said office over the telephone circuit during the off-hook condition which signal is indicative of the nature of said predetermined condition at the premises, said reporting signal being such that, although it is applied to the call switching means in the office in the same manner as switching signals, the linefinding and call switching means does not respond to said reporting signal, and(E) (i) a receiver at said office that detects said reporting signal,(ii) said controlling means connecting said receiver to said circuit in response to said off-hook condition and responding to the detection of said reporting signal by said receiver by causing said reporting signal to be stored along with the subscriber identity in said memory means in said office.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A remote supervisory system operating in conjunction with a telephone company central office to enable monitoring of a subscriber'"'"'s premises over existing telephone circuits. Auxiliary equipment at the subscriber'"'"'s premises is coupled to the subscriber'"'"'s telephone circuit and includes sensors which monitor the condition of the premises. If an abnormal condition occurs at the premises, the condition is sensed by one of the sensors and the equipment, in response thereto, creates a temporary off-hook condition on the circuit, transmits to the central office alarm report signals indicative of the abnormality, and then goes back on-hook. The central office identifies the subscriber as it does in the case of a normal outgoing call, senses the transmitted alarm report signals and stores the signals and subscriber'"'"'s identity in its memory. The central office may be equipped to initiate a call to a predesignated action center to report the subscriber'"'"'s identity and nature of the alarm. The auxiliary equipment may also be adapted to report periodically to the central office rather than only in the case of abnormality, and may include command receivers and a recording unit which receive commands and messages over the circuit.
31 Citations
61 Claims
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1. Apparatus for monitoring the condition of a telephone subscriber'"'"'s premises comprising:
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(A) a telephone circuit extending from the premises; (B) a telephone switching office remotely located from the premises and connected to the telephone circuit, said office including; (i) linefinding and call switching means for recognizing an off-hook condition on the telephone circuit and ii. for switching telephone calls to and from the telephone circuit, (ii) means for controlling the operation of said linefinding and call switching means for identifying the subscriber whose telephone circuit is off-hook, and (iii) memory means accessible by said controlling means for storing information including information concerning the identity of the subscriber; (C) sensing means at the premises for detecting the occurrence of a predetermined condition at the premises; (D) auxiliary means at the premises connected to the telephone circuit, said auxiliary means including (i) means responsive to the detection of said predetermined condition by said sensing means for creating a temporary off-hook condition on the telephone circuit, the off-hook condition being recognized and the subscriber being identified by said linefinding and call switching means in said office, (ii) means for transmitting a reporting signal to said office over the telephone circuit during the off-hook condition which signal is indicative of the nature of said predetermined condition at the premises, said reporting signal being such that, although it is applied to the call switching means in the office in the same manner as switching signals, the linefinding and call switching means does not respond to said reporting signal, and (E) (i) a receiver at said office that detects said reporting signal, (ii) said controlling means connecting said receiver to said circuit in response to said off-hook condition and responding to the detection of said reporting signal by said receiver by causing said reporting signal to be stored along with the subscriber identity in said memory means in said office. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. Apparatus for supervising the condition of a telephone subscriber'"'"'s premises by utilizing a telephone circuit that extends from the subscriber'"'"'s premises to a telephone switching office of the type that includes linefinding means for identifying the subscriber whose telephone circuit is off-hook, and memory means for storing information including information concerning the identity of the subscriber, said apparatus comprising:
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(A) sensing means at the premises for detecting the occurrence of a predetermined condition at the premises; (B) responsive to the detection of said predetermined condition by said sensing means for creating a temporary off-hook condition on the telephone circuit, the subscriber whose telephone circuit is off-hook being identified by the line-identifying means in the office; (C) means for transmitting a reporting signal to the office over the telephone circuit during the temporary off-hook condition, said reporting signal being indicative of the nature of said predetermined condition at the premises and being such that line switching equipment at the office does not respond to it; and (D) means at the office for detecting and storing said reporting signal along with the subscriber identity in the memory means at the office. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A method of supervising the condition of a telephone subscriber'"'"'s premises by utilizing a telephone circuit that extends from the subscriber'"'"'s premises to a telephone switching office of the type that includes linefinding means for identifying the subscriber whose telephone circuit is off-hook, and memory means for storing information concerning the identity of the subscriber, said method comprising the steps of:
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(A) detecting at the subscriber'"'"'s premises the occurrence of a predetermined condition; (B) responsive to the detection of said predetermined condition, creating a temporary off-hook condition on the telephone circuit, the subscriber whose telephone circuit is off-hook being identified by the linefinding means in the office; (C) transmitting a reporting signal to the office over the telephone circuit during the off-hook period, said reporting signal being indicative of the nature of said predetermined condition at the premises and being such that the line switching equipment at the office does not respond to it; and (D) storing said reporting signal along with the subscriber identity in the memory means at the office. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61)
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Specification