Alarm panel with cellular communications backup
First Claim
1. A communication protocol for an alarm panel having a cellular transmission arrangement comprising the steps ofregistering the cellular transmission arrangement with a cell site by using two way communication between said cellular transmission arrangement and said cell site,causing a transmitter of said cellular transmission arrangement to assume a sleep mode state,using a receiver of said cellular transmission arrangement to monitor cellular signals and make ongoing assessments of the operation status of said cellular transmission arrangement,ignore any query signals from the cell site,and in the event of a negative assessment for a specified period of time said cellular transmission arrangement attempting to register with said cell site using a cellular transmission arrangement.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An alarm panel of a security system communicates with a remote monitoring arrangement using a cellular communication protocol which deports from the conventional AMPS protocol and is less vulnerable to fraudulent activities. The modified protocol reduces transmissions from the cellular arrangement to the cell site by ignoring query signals. The cellular arrangement continues to monitor received cellular transmissions to provide an assessment of the ability to respond.
47 Citations
8 Claims
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1. A communication protocol for an alarm panel having a cellular transmission arrangement comprising the steps of
registering the cellular transmission arrangement with a cell site by using two way communication between said cellular transmission arrangement and said cell site, causing a transmitter of said cellular transmission arrangement to assume a sleep mode state, using a receiver of said cellular transmission arrangement to monitor cellular signals and make ongoing assessments of the operation status of said cellular transmission arrangement, ignore any query signals from the cell site, and in the event of a negative assessment for a specified period of time said cellular transmission arrangement attempting to register with said cell site using a cellular transmission arrangement.
- 3. An alarm panel of a security system comprising input means for receiving signals from a plurality of sensors and processing means for processing said signals and determining whether an alarm condition exists, said alarm panel including a communication arrangement for communicating with a remote monitoring station using at least two communication transmission protocols, one of said communication transmission protocols including cellular transmission protocol, said cellular communication protocol having a normal communication state for reporting alarm conditions and a ready assessment state for providing an assessment of whether the cellular capability of the communication arrangement is ready to operate, said ready assessment state including means for sending a cellular communication to a cell site to register therewith on an infrequent basis to reduce the transmissions therebetween, and means for monitoring cellular communications in general to provide an indication that the cellular capability is operative, said alarm panel determining a potential problem of said cellular capability when received transmissions fail to satisfy a predetermined level, said cellular communication arrangement ignoring cell site signals requesting to report.
Specification