Voice recorder based position registration

• US 8,013,737 B2
• Filed: 09/03/2008
• Issued: 09/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: UTC Fire & Security Corporation (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Original Assignee: UTC Fire & Security Corporation (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Inventors: Gillis, Thomas M., Tiwari, Ankit, Bacellar, Luiz Fer, Oh, Jae-Hyuk, Netter, Christian M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mehmood; Jennifer
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wilson; Brian
• Application Number:
  US12/231,473
• Publication Number:
  US 20100052903A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,098 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 340/539.22
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/003 Address allocation methods and details
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/012 using recorded signals, e.g. speech G08B25/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 19/00 Speech or audio signals analysis-synthesis techniques for redundancy reduction, e.g. in vocoders; Coding or decoding of speech or audio signals, using source filter models or psychoacoustic analysis in musical instruments G10H

Abstract

A system and method for monitoring a location having at least one sensor for sensing a change in at least one condition using voice tags to announce alarms. The system includes a registration process where a voice recorder and a digital conversion unit form digital voice tags from recorded speech representing the type and location of sensors. The voice tag is sent as part of an alarm message or pre-stored in a control panel for later retrieval such that the type and location of an alarm is reproduced vocally at the time of the alarm. The registration process may be completed with a registration module which may be a keypad or the voice recorder may be included in the sensors. Additional features include sensor location change notification to ensure the stored voice tag represents the current location of the sensor.

Claims

1. A method for installing a sensor for sensing a change in at least one condition at a location;

comprising the sequential steps of;

powering up a control panel;

powering up a registration module having a signal strength indicator and a voice recorder;

first testing network signal strength at the location selected by using the signal strength indicator on the module to find a location having the desired signal strength;

powering up a sensor, the sensor having its own identification code;

receiving the identification code from the sensor, and indicating on a display of the module the presence of the sensor;

speaking a voice tag identifying the sensor into the voice recorder on the module;

the module converts the voice recording of the voice tag to a digital voice tag that the module then forwards to the control panel for storage by the control panel;

mounting the sensor in a selected location having confirmed signal strength; and

sending a test command from the module to the sensor so that the sensor sends a test signal to the control panel that responds with a success signal to the sensor.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the condition is selected from the group consisting of motion, smoke, heat, carbon monoxide, water, water vapor, door integrity, window integrity, audio changes, video changes and lock integrity.

3. A monitoring system prepared according to the method of claim 1.