Methods, systems, and products for security services

• US 8,405,499 B2
• Filed: 08/07/2009
• Issued: 03/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SimpliSafe Incorporated (Hellman & Friedman LLC)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hicks, John Alson III
• Primary Examiner(s): Bugg, George
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wang, Jack K
• Application Number:
  US12/537,358
• Publication Number:
  US 20110032095A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,327 Days
• Field of Search: 340/516, 340/531, 348/143
• US Class Current: 340/516
• 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: H04L 61/106 across networks, e.g. mapping telephone numbers to data network addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1059 End-user terminal functionalities specially adapted for real-time communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/40 Support for services or applications

Abstract

Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for notification of alarms in security systems. A packetized alarm message is received from a security system associated with a network address. The network address is associated to a notification address. A Voice-over Internet Protocol call to the notification address is initiated over a data network to alert of an alarm from a security system.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a packetized alarm message at a monitoring server, the packetized alarm message sent from a security system associated with a network address;

querying a database that associates network addresses to notification addresses;

retrieving a notification address associated with the network address associated with the security system; and

initiating a Voice-over Internet Protocol call over a data network to the notification address to alert of an alarm from the security system.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining whether a wireline broadband network connection is available to the network address.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising routing the Voice-over Internet Protocol call to a broadband modem address associated with a broadband data modem when the wireline broadband network connection is available.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising routing the Voice-over Internet Protocol call to a wireless modem address associated with a wireless data modem when the wireline broadband network connection is unavailable.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising sending the packetized alarm message over the data network.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising extracting the network address from a header portion of the packetized alarm message.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising extracting the network address from a payload portion of the packetized alarm message.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising periodically sending a polling message over the data network to the network address.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising receiving a response to the polling message.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising associating the network address to a telephone number when the response is not received within a predetermined amount of time.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising initiating a plain old telephone system call to the telephone number to alert of a failed communication attempt to the network address.

12. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

memory for storing code that when executed causes the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising;

receiving an alarm code detected by a security system;

querying a database for the alarm code, the database associating alarm codes to network addresses;

retrieving a network address from the database that is associated with the alarm code; and

sending a packetized alarm message to the network address to notify of the alarm code detected by the security system.

13. The system according to claim 12, further comprising code that causes the processor to perform operations comprising sending the packetized alarm message over a wireline broadband network connection to the data network.

14. The system according to claim 12, further comprising code that causes the processor to perform operations comprising sending the packetized alarm message over a wireless network connection to the data network.

15. The system according to claim 12, further comprising code that causes the processor to perform operations comprising determining an availability of a connection to a data network.

16. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

memory for storing code that when executed causes the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising;

storing associations between a plurality of alarm codes to a plurality of network addresses such that different alarm codes are associated with different network addresses;

receiving an alarm code associated with an alarm detected by a security system;

querying the associations for the alarm code;

retrieving a network address associated with the alarm code;

sending a packetized alarm message to the network address over a wireline broadband network connection to a data network; and

sending the packetized alarm message over a wireless network connection to the data network when the wireline broadband network connection is unavailable.

17. The system according to claim 16, further comprising code that causes the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving multiple alarm codes associated with the alarm; and

sending multiple packetized alarm messages to multiple network addresses such that each of the multiple packetized alarm messages routes to the network address associated with the alarm code.

18. The system according to claim 16, further comprising code that causes the processor to perform operations comprising periodically testing an availability of the wireline broadband network connection to the data network.

19. The system according to claim 16, further comprising code that causes the processor to perform operations comprising periodically testing an availability of the wireless network connection to the data network.

20. A computer readable memory storing processor executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

receiving an alarm code associated with an alarm detected by a security system;

storing a database that associates alarm codes to network addresses such that different alarm codes are associated with different network addresses;

querying the database for the alarm code associated with the alarm;

retrieving a network address from the database that is associated with the alarm code;

when a wireline broadband network connection is available to a data network, then sending a packetized alarm message to the network address over the wireline broadband network connection;

when the wireline broadband network connection is unavailable, then sending the packetized alarm message over a wireless network connection to the data network;

when the wireless network connection is unavailable to the data network, then associating the network address to a telephone number; and

initiating a telephone call to the telephone number to alert of the alarm in the security system.