Service escrowed transportable wireless event reporting system

• US 8,265,605 B2
• Filed: 02/06/2008
• Issued: 09/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sierra Wireless America Incorporated (Sierra Wireless Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Numerex Corporation (Sierra Wireless Incorporated)
• Inventors: Marett, Michael A., Comer, Edward I.
• Primary Examiner(s): MITCHELL, NATHAN A
• Application Number:
  US12/012,848
• Publication Number:
  US 20080287109A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,679 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.1, 340/500, 340/501, 340/506, 340/540, 340/541.546
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0224 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0244 Optimization
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/08 by opening, e.g. of door, of window, of drawer, of shutter, of curtain, of blind
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/003 Address allocation methods and details
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/004 Alarm propagated along alternative communication path or using alternative communication medium according to a hierarchy of available ways to communicate, e.g. if Wi-Fi not available use GSM
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/08 using communication transmission lines G08B13/19658, G08B21/0286, G08B25/016 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/10 using wireless transmission systems G08B25/009 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 29/04 Monitoring of the detection circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3816 Mechanical arrangements for accommodating identification devices, e.g. cards or chips; with connectors for programming identification devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

A portable service escrowed event reporting system that may be sold through mass-market sales channels. Communications between a consumer and the provider of the event reporting system are not required in advance of the system being purchased by the consumer. After purchase of the system by the consumer, the system may be initialized. The service may have a finite amount of service associated with it when it is purchased. The consumer may choose to have the system report the occurrence of reportable events directly to them over a wireless network.

Claims

1. An event reporting system, comprising:

a portable controller comprising an operational identity that identifies a predetermined amount of prepaid event reporting services pre-associated with the event reporting system;

a human interface coupled to the portable controller; and

one or more short-range wireless event detectors, in communication with the portable controller, configured to generate an event report responsive to occurrence of a security event,

wherein the portable controller is configured to;

send, responsive to powering on the portable controller, the operational identity to a remote monitoring station over a wireless network to trigger;

a determination of the predetermined amount of pre-associated prepaid services based on the operational identity; and

an activation of the predetermined amount of pre-associated prepaid services; and

prompt a consumer through the human interface for information to establish a preference for reporting reportable events.

2. The event reporting system of claim 1, wherein the portable controller is further configured to:

contact the remote monitoring station over the wireless network automatically during initial power up;

receive a request from the remote monitoring station to provide information that establishes the consumer'"'"'s preferred mode of communication to receive event reports;

authenticate the consumer to grant access to configure the portable controller;

receive the event report from the event detector through a short-range wireless link established between the event detector and the portable controller; and

store the information of the consumer locally in a memory associated with the portable controller.

3. The event reporting system of claim 1, wherein the portable controller is further configured to transmit the event report directly to a telephone number of a consumer through a wireless network based on information of the consumer stored in a memory associated with the portable controller responsive to receiving the event report from the wireless event detector.

4. The event reporting system of claim 1, wherein the event detectors communicate with the portable controller wirelessly.

5. The event reporting system of claim 4, wherein an occurrence of a reportable event is reported, by the portable controller, directly to the consumer via a message conveyed wirelessly via Short Message Service (“

SMS”

).

6. The event reporting system of claim 4, wherein an occurrence of a reportable event is reported, by the portable controller, directly to the consumer over commercially available wireless communication data channels.

7. The event reporting system of claim 6, wherein the commercially available wireless communication data channels comprise at least one of:

General Packet Radio Service (“

GPRS”

), 1XRTT, 1XEV-DO, 1XMC, 3XMC and WCDMA.

8. The event reporting system of claim 1, wherein the portable controller reports an occurrence of a reportable event directly to the remote monitoring station, over a wireless network between the portable controller and the remote monitoring station.

9. An event reporting system, comprising:

a portable controller comprising a predetermined amount of prepaid event reporting services associated with the event reporting system;

a human interface coupled to the portable controller;

a short-range wireless event detector, communicatively coupled to the portable controller, configured to generate an event report; and

a transceiver communicably coupled to the portable controller,

wherein the portable controller is configured to;

establish an operational identity for the event reporting system responsive to powering on the portable controller;

responsive to establishing the operational identity for the event reporting system, trigger;

determining, at the remote monitoring station, the predetermined amount of prepaid services that is pre-associated with the portable controller through a look up based on the operational identity, and

activating, by the remote monitoring station, the predetermined amount of prepaid service that is pre-associated with the portable controller through sending the operational identity to the remote monitoring station during initial power up;

store an information of a consumer locally in a memory associated with the portable controller;

receive the event report from the event detector through a short-range wireless link established between the event detector and the portable controller; and

transmit the event report directly to a telephone number of the consumer through a wireless network based on the information of the consumer stored in a memory associated with the portable controller responsive to receiving the event report.

10. The event reporting system of claim 9, wherein the portable controller is further configured to store a calling line ID (“

CLID”

) for remotely accessing the controller.

11. The event reporting system of claim 9, wherein the portable controller reports the occurrence of the reportable event via cellular telephone based Short Messaging Service (SMS).

12. The event reporting system of claim 11, wherein the occurrence of the reportable event is reported in the form of a discrete SMS message presented on the screen of a wireless device used by the consumer.

13. The event reporting system of claim 9, wherein the portable controller reports the occurrence of the reportable event via a data connection over commercially available wireless communication service'"'"'s data channels.

14. The event reporting system of claim 9, wherein the occurrence of the reportable event is reported in the form of a discrete text message presented on the screen of a consumer'"'"'s wireless device.

15. The event reporting system of claim 9, wherein the portable controller reports the occurrence of the reportable event to the consumer via email conveyed wirelessly from the event reporting system.

16. The event reporting system of claim 9, wherein the occurrence of the reportable event is reported in the form of spoken words created by conversion of alarm data into audio synthesized speech.

17. The event reporting system of claim 16, wherein the portable controller uses a voice channel telephone call to report the occurrence of the reportable event.

18. The event reporting system of claim 10, wherein, in response to a communication from a mobile device matching the stored CLID, the portable controller accepts the message to access and re-configure the event reporting system.

19. The event reporting system of claim 9, wherein the portable controller is configured to authenticate the consumer'"'"'s identity by interpreting data messages conveyed from the consumer'"'"'s cellular telephone via DTMF tone sequences entered by the consumer.

20. The event reporting system of claim 9, wherein the portable controller is further configured to register a pass-code for remotely accessing the controller.

21. The event reporting system of claim 20, wherein the portable controller is further configured to authenticate the consumer'"'"'s identity via speech recognition of the pass-code.

22. An event reporting system, comprising:

a portable controller comprising an operational identity that identifies a predetermined amount of prepaid event reporting services that is pre-associated with the event reporting system; and

a short-range wireless event detector communicatively coupled to the portable controller, configured to generate an event report responsive to an event associated with a security breach,

wherein the portable controller is configured to;

communicate over a network with a remote monitoring station;

responsive to communicating with the remote monitoring station, trigger;

determining, at the remote monitoring station, the predetermined amount of prepaid services that is pre-associated with the portable controller through a look up based on the operational identity, and

activating, by the remote monitoring station, the predetermined amount of prepaid service that is pre-associated with the portable controller;

report reportable events directly to a consumer who has purchased the controller without prior communication with the remote monitoring station based on consumer information stored in a memory of the portable controller;

report reportable events to the consumer for a pre-determined period of time without requiring a billing identity to be created by the consumer with the remote monitoring station; and

purchase an additional amount of prepaid services.

23. The event reporting system of claim 22, wherein the occurrence of the reportable event is reported using alarm-industry, standard tone sequences within the audio channel of cellular telephony.

24. The event reporting system of claim 22, wherein the occurrence of the reportable event is reported using data representations of alarm industry data formats conveyed via the SMS data channel of cellular telephony.

25. The event reporting system of claim 22, wherein the occurrence of the reportable event is reported using data representations of alarm industry data formats conveyed via data connection over commercially available wireless communication data channels.

26. The event reporting system of claim 22, wherein the one or more event detectors are industry-standard, short-range wireless sensors comprising at least one of the following:

temperature detectors, door/window opening detectors, glass breakage detectors, and motion detectors.

27. The event reporting system of claim 22, wherein the portable controller comprises a LCD and keypad through which the event reporting system may be configured at the initial power-up of the controller.

28. The event reporting system of claim 22, wherein the portable controller is configured to store a calling line ID (“

CLID”

) for remotely configuring the event reporting system.

29. The event reporting system of claim 28, wherein the portable controller is configured to recognize the CLID of a consumer'"'"'s cellular telephone such that the consumer can configure the event reporting system via SMS messages conveyed from the consumer'"'"'s cellular telephone over the data channels of the serving cellular system.

30. The event reporting system of claim 28, wherein the portable controller performs authentication of the consumer'"'"'s identity by recognition of the CLID of the consumer'"'"'s mobile telephone.

31. The event reporting system of claim 22, wherein the portable controller is configured to accept a pass-code from the consumer for remotely accessing the event reporting system.

32. The event reporting system of claim 31, wherein the portable controller is configured to perform authentication of the consumer'"'"'s identity by interpreting data messages conveyed from the consumer'"'"'s mobile telephone via DTMF tone sequences entered by the consumer.

33. The event reporting system of claim 31, wherein the portable controller is configured to perform authentication of the consumer'"'"'s identity via speech recognition of the pass-code previously registered by the consumer.

34. The event reporting system of claim 22, wherein the period of time for reporting reportable events using the portable controller may be extended by the consumer by purchasing pre-paid usage cards.