System and method for device address assignment in an alarm system using interactive address assignment for faster commissioning

A method of operating an alarm system installed in a region to be monitored, the method comprising:

• providing a graphical interface device for displaying information,
• identifying a plurality of alarm system devices, each alarm system device located at a different location within the region, by a different unique device identifier;
• displaying the positions of the alarm system devices in the region on a plan displayed on a display of the graphical interface device;
• wherein the graphical interface device display is configured to provide:
• a display of the alarm system devices, and is further configured to enable a user to associate the alarm system devices with the positions of devices on the plan so as to activate the functionality of each device in the alarm system by allocating a respective unique system address to each respective alarm system device using the display;
• wherein the graphical interface device is a mobile graphical interface device and is equipped with a positioning system to identify a geographic position of the mobile graphical interface device in the region, and wherein the geographic position of the mobile graphical interface device is displayed on the plan;
• and
• wherein the plan is displayed on the display and the user can drag and drop a device icon from the plan to one of the available addresses on the display to activate the device functionality in the system, to allocate the address to the device and to incorporate a link to the plan location with the address.

A graphical interface device for use with an alarm system installed in a region to be monitored, the graphical interface device, comprising:

• a display for displaying information on the graphical interface device,
• wherein the alarm system has a plurality of alarm system devices, the alarm system devices being in a plurality of locations in the region, each of the alarm system devices being identified by a unique device identifier, the identifiers provided on the graphical interface device;
• and
• wherein the positions of the alarm system devices in the region are provided on a plan on the display of the graphical interface device;
• wherein the display is configured to provide a display of the devices and being further configured to enable a user to associate devices with the positions of devices on the plan so as to activate the functionality of each device in the alarm system by allocating a respective unique system address to each respective device using the display;
• wherein the graphical interface device is a mobile graphical interface device and is equipped with a positioning system to identify a geographic position of the mobile graphical interface device in the region, and
• wherein the geographic position of the graphical interface device is displayed on the plan provided on the graphical interface device;
• and
• wherein allocating unique system addresses to the respective alarm system devices includes incorporating a link to the location of each alarm system device on the plan such that the status of activated alarm system devices is configured to be displayed on the plan to provide a user with a location in the region of the alarm system.