Integrated Alert System

• US 20100281405A1
• Filed: 06/20/2006
• Published: 11/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jeff Whattam
• Original Assignee: Jeff Whattam
• Inventors: Whattam, Jeff
• Granted Patent: US 10,950,116 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/764
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/025 Extracting rules from data
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/00 Alarm systems in which the location of the alarm condition is signalled to a central station, e.g. fire or police telegraphic systems

Abstract

Alert systems provide increased functionality and interactive operation by use of subsystems (240, 250, 260) that are coupled between the GUI/rules engine (220, 210) and the alert devices (248, 258, 268), wherein the subsystems (240, 250, 260,) provide for bidirectional flow of information. Therefore, in one aspect, the GUI (220) displays functional and operational parameters of associated alert devices (248, 258, 268) in real time and thus allows an administrator rule building without knowledge of installed devices. In another aspect, as the alert system displays and controls all associated alert devices (248, 258, 268) via the GUI (220), contemplated alert systems allows activation of multiple and distinct alert devices (248, 258, 268) using a single user interface. Viewed from another perspective, contingency and area specific alerts can be triggered from the GUI (220) using only point and click action.

Claims

1. An alert system, comprising:

a rules engine informationally coupled to a first subsystem and a second subsystem, wherein first and second subsystems are coupled to first and second alert devices, respectively;

a GUI informationally coupled to the rules engine, wherein the GUI is configured to display at least one of an operational parameter and an operational status of at least one of the first and second alert devices;

wherein the subsystem is configured to provide at least one of the operational parameter and the operational status to at least of the rules engine and the GUI; and

wherein at least one of the rules engine and the GUI are configured to allow building of a rule using at least one of the displayed operational parameter and operational status.

2. The alert system of claim 1 wherein the first and second subsystems comprise a first and second device adapter and a first and second channel adapter, respectively.

3. The alert system of claim 2 wherein the first and second subsystems are configured such that the first device adapter controls the second channel adapter.

4. The alert system of claim 2 wherein the first subsystem has a plurality of redundant first device adapters and a plurality of redundant first channel adapters.

5. The alert system of claim 1 further comprising a scheduler that is configured to schedule activation of the first and second alert devices upon activation of the first and second alert devices via the first channel adapter.

6. The alert system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the rules engine, the first subsystem, and the second subsystems are configured to automatically provide at least one of an updated displayed operational parameter and an updated operational status upon modification or exchange of the first alert device.

7. The alert system of claim 1 wherein the GUI is configured to allow for operator input of a contingency and to further allow selection of a defined area in which first and second alert devices are to be activated in response to the contingency.

8. The alert system of claim 1 wherein the GUI is configured to display at least one of the operational parameter and operational status of all alert devices coupled to the rules engine.

9. The alert system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the alert devices is configured to provide upon activation by the rules engine a feedback signal to the operator, optionally via the GUI.

10. The alert system of claim 9, wherein the alert device is a computer configured to provide an alert screen to a person, and wherein the alert device is further configured to lock other applications on the computer until the person has provided the feedback signal.

11. An integrated system for control of multiple subsystems comprising a GUI and an optionally redundant rules engine that is configured to control each of the subsystems, wherein each of the subsystems includes a device adapter that provides bi-directional flow of information between (a) at least one of the rules engine and the GUI and (b) at least one of a channel adapter and an alert device coupled to the subsystem.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the information that flows from the at least one of the rules engine and the GUI to the channel adapter is selected from the group consisting of a query into operational capability, a query into operational status, and an alert command based on previously identified operational capability.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the information that flows from the channel adapter to at least one of the rules engine and the GUI is selected from the group consisting of operational capability information, operational status information, and a feedback signal in response to an alert command.

14. The system of claim 11 wherein the rules engine, the GUI, and the subsystems are configured to allow building of a rule using the GUI, and wherein the alert device and subsystem are configured such that GUI provides real-time information on at least one of operational capability and operational status of the alert device.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein the rules engine, the GUI, and the subsystems are configured to allow activation of a multi-alert device alert using the GUI in response to (a) definition of an affected area and (b) definition of a contingency.

16. A method of operating an alert system, comprising:

providing a GUI, a rules engine, a plurality of subsystems, and a plurality of alert devices, and coupling the GUI, the rules engine, the plurality of subsystems, and the plurality of alert devices to each other such that;

the subsystems receive alert commands from at least one of the GUI and the rules engine and transfer the alert commands to the alert devices;

the subsystems provide at least one of operational capability and operational status of the alert devices to at least one of the GUI and the rules engine; and

building a rule for the rules engine using the GUI and information displayed on the GUI, wherein the displayed information is the at least one of the operational capability and operational status provided by the subsystem.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising the steps of selecting a contingency and defining an area of alert notification using the GUI, and activating a contingency responsive alert in the area using the GUI, wherein the contingency responsive alert employs at least two distinct alert devices.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein defining the area of notification comprises selecting on the GUI an area using at least one of a Venn diagram, a geographic coordinate, a jurisdictional boundary, an area code, and a Zip code, wherein the GUI optionally displays at least one of a satellite image and a moving or three-dimensional object.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising a step of receiving feedback information from a person in response to activation of at least one of the two alert devices.

20. The method of claim 16 wherein the subsystems are configured such that an alert device is activatable by at least two distinct subsystems.