Alarm sensor supporting long-range wireless communication
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- changing a state of a contact at an alarm detector disposed at a premises in response to the alarm detector detecting an alarm event;
providing an alarm signal for the alarm event by sensing the state change of the contact using an electrical source connected to the contact; and
wirelessly communicating the alarm signal from the alarm detector to a monitoring entity remotely located with respect to the premises.
12 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An alarm sensor can be located at a premises, for example a smoke detector mounted to a wall or ceiling of a building. In response to an alarm event, such as detection of a level of smoke indicative of a fire hazard, the alarm sensor can send a wireless notification directly to a remote recipient that is offsite from the premises. The recipient could be a smart phone or other handheld cellular device carried by a homeowner on vacation, for example. The alarm sensor can be either originally manufactured with remote notification capabilities or retrofitted after installation for remote notification. In some cases, the alarm sensor can be networked with other alarm sensors located at the premises. For example, an alarm sensor having remote notification capabilities can receive alarm notifications from other alarm sensors for relay to the remote recipient.
16 Citations
40 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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changing a state of a contact at an alarm detector disposed at a premises in response to the alarm detector detecting an alarm event; providing an alarm signal for the alarm event by sensing the state change of the contact using an electrical source connected to the contact; and wirelessly communicating the alarm signal from the alarm detector to a monitoring entity remotely located with respect to the premises. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method comprising:
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generating an alarm signal at a first alarm detector that is disposed at a premises in response to detection of an alarm event by any of a plurality of other alarm detectors that are disposed at the premises; and wirelessly communicating the alarm signal from the first alarm detector to a monitoring entity remotely located with respect to the premises, wherein the first alarm detector comprises; a contact that changes state when the first alarm detector detects a smoke event; and an electrical source that is connected to the contact via an electrical lead to detect the smoke event based on determining the state of the contact for sending a wireless notification of the smoke event from the first alarm detector to the monitoring entity. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An alarm detector comprising:
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a legacy portion that comprises a sensor operative to sense an alarm event and produce a corresponding alarm notification, including changing a state of a contact; and a retrofit portion that comprises; an electrical source and an associated electrical lead that is connected to the contact to detect the corresponding alarm notification by determining the state of the contact; a short-range wireless receiver operative to receive short-range wireless signals conveying alarm notifications from a plurality of other alarm detectors that are disposed locally; and a long-range wireless transmitter operative to transmit the corresponding alarm notification and the conveyed alarm notifications via long-range wireless signals over one or more commercial digital cellular telecommunications systems. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A retrofit kit for a smoke detector comprising:
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a housing that mates with the smoke detector; a sensor that is mounted to the housing and that is operative to sense when the smoke detector has detected a smoke event and provide an electrical signal when the smoke event is detected; and a digital cellular telecommunications transceiver that is integrated within the housing, that is electrically coupled to the sensor, and that is operative to emit a long-range wireless message in response to receiving the electrical signal, wherein the smoke detector comprises a contact that changes state when the smoke detector detects the smoke event, and wherein the sensor comprises an electrical source and an associated electrical lead for connecting to the contact to sense the smoke event based on determining the state of the contact. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A kit for upgrading an alarm detector from providing a local alarm notification to providing a remote alarm notification, the kit comprising:
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a housing that mates with the alarm detector via a receptacle; a sensor attached to the housing, the sensor comprising an electrical source and an associated electrical lead for connecting to a contact of the alarm detector to detect a state change of the contact indicative of an occurrence of the local alarm notification; and a wireless transceiver integrated within the housing and electrically connected to the sensor, the wireless transceiver operative to send, via long-range wireless signals over one or more commercial digital cellular telecommunications systems, the remote alarm notification to a remote recipient responsive to the sensor detecting the state change of the contact. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40)
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Specification