Fire protection and security monitoring system
OwnerDaniel J. Horoninventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A facility monitoring system includes a monitoring station receiving inputs from different control panels, each panel supporting detectors and other devices. Data from the panels are scanned, segmented into categories and presented in a standard format including a category identifying devices by type and state or condition. The monitoring station stores graphic information including site maps and floor plans to provide backgrounds, and device images positionable on the backgrounds to accurately depict device locations in the facility.
Claims32
A facility monitoring system, including:
- a plurality of devices disposed at different locations throughout a monitored facility, each device being adapted to generate a condition signal variable in response to changing conditions proximate the device to alternatively indicate at least two different states;
- a facility monitoring station having a memory for storing facility mapping information, location information and device image information;
- said facility monitoring station further having an image generator coupled to receive the condition signals as inputs and adapted to produce a visible image based on the inputs, said visible image including a map depicting the monitored facility and a plurality of device images displayed on the map to depict said devices, each device image being associated with a different one of the devices;
- and
- a transmission pathway for linking the devices and the facility monitoring station, to provide said condition signals as further inputs to the image generator and thereby substitute a second one of the device images for a first one of the device images in response to a change in the associated condition signal, thus to visually indicate a change of state with respect to the associated device;
- and
- wherein the image generator further is adapted to permit a system user to selectively position each of the device images on the map to depict the location of its associated device.
For use with a facility monitoring system that includes at least one circuit and a plurality of detectors removably coupled to the circuit, a facility monitoring device including:
- a memory for storing facility mapping information, detector information and graphic device information;
- a coupler for associating the memory with at least one circuit having a plurality of detectors removably coupled thereto and when coupled providing respective condition signals to the receiving station via the circuit, said coupler further transmitting said detector information, which includes an individual identification of each detector coupled to the circuit, to the memory;
- said receiving station further including an image generator operatively associated with the memory for producing a visible image based on the mapping information;
- said receiving station further including an information management component operatively associated with the memory for generating a listing that includes an individual identification of each detector coupled to the circuit;
- wherein the image generator further is adapted to generate a device image associated with a selected one of the detectors in response to a deletion of the entry on said list associated with the selected detector, and to display the device image on the map to represent the selected detector.
A process for monitoring a facility in which a plurality of detectors, forming at least one detector surface, are distributed throughout the facility and generate respective condition signals that vary in response to changes in predetermined conditions proximate the detectors;
- the process including:
- storing facility mapping information, detector information including at least respective individual identifications of a plurality of detectors on a circuit, and graphic device information;
- based on the detector information, generating a list of entries, each entry associated with one of the detectors coupled to the circuit;
- based on the mapping information, generating a visible background image comprising a map of the facility;
- and
- with respect to each of the entries on the list;
- a. deleting the entry;
- b. creating a graphic device representing the detector associated with the deleted entry;
- and
- c. displaying the graphic device on the facility map whereby the graphic device is part of the visible image;
- and
- repeating a-c until all entries are deleted from the list and graphic devices associated with the entries and their corresponding detectors are part of a visible composite image.
In a facility monitoring system including a plurality of control panels and at least one detector coupled to each control panel, said detectors being disposed at different sensing locations throughout the monitored facility;
- a process for monitoring the facility based on inputs from the control panels, including:
- storing descriptive information relating to and identifying types of control panels and types of detectors that can be coupled to the control panels, whereby the information is arranged in a plurality of categories;
- reading incoming information from the control panels, and comparing the incoming information with the previously stored categorized information, to identify incoming segments of the panel information and categorized segments of the previously stored information that coincide;
- and
- generating a textual image including all of the matched information segments in a standard format.
A monitoring station for use in a facility monitoring system including at least two different types of control panels and at least one detector associated with each of the panels, with said detectors being disposed at different sensing locations throughout the monitored facility and generating a condition signal variable in response to changing conditions proximate the detector to alternatively indicate at least two different states;
- said monitoring station including:
- a memory including a first data storage area for storing system information including at least panel and detector identifying information and arranged in a plurality of categories;
- a second data storage area for receiving data from the control panels;
- a comparator for comparing data in the first and second data storage areas and generating matched data consisting essentially of segments of the stored data and incoming data that match one another;
- and
- an image generator for producing a visible image of the matched data, arranged in a standard format according to said categories.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.