US 5,923,731 AGranted

Telephone monitoring and alarm device

AssigneeCommand Communications, Inc.

InventorWilliam C. McClure

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Abstract

A telephone monitoring and alarm apparatus which has a telephone line sensing means which determines whether an incoming telephone line is cut or busy and alerts a user as to the status of the telephone line. Other sensing means detect the presence of fire, smoke, water, or other designated conditions and transmits a representative alarm signal to the apparatus. Upon receipt of an alarm indication from one of the sensing means or a line cut/line busy condition from the telephone line sensing means, a processing means disconnects the telephone extensions at the location from the incoming telephone line, and executes a predetermined response. This response can be visual alarms, audio alarms or dialing a predetermined telephone number and transmitting a predetermined alarm message. The apparatus can be programmed as to which telephone numbers to call and messages to send. Additionally, each apparatus has a unique programmable security address thereby preventing activation of the apparatus based upon another alarm condition at a near-by location. The alerting features of the apparatus can be manually activated by a telephone extension or a pendant.

Claims5

Dependent claims

A telephone monitoring and alarm apparatus which monitors a telephone line entering a user's location and other alarms for recognition of conditions predetermined by the user and initiates a programmable response, the monitoring and alarm apparatus comprising;

a) telephone line sensing means for sensing the voltage upon a telephone line and determining whether the telephone line is busy or cut and providing an output indicative thereof;
b) a second sensing means for detecting the occurrence of a predetermined event;
c) a signal reception means to receive signals from a remote sensing means;
d) a processing means for processing and prioritizing inputs, retrieving information from an information storage means, and implementing programs and instructions contained in said information and transmitting alert messages;
e) a programming means to program information to be utilized upon the occurrence of a predetermined condition by said processing means;
f) an information storage means to store information provided by said programming means for later retrieval by said processing means;
g) an alerting means which upon receipt of said alert messages from said processing means notifies predetermined locations or users;
h) a system status display means which displays the operating status of said telephone monitoring and alarm apparatus as determined by said processing means;
i) a power supply means for providing power to all components of said telephone monitoring and alarm apparatus;
j) an attenuation means for attenuating the incoming telephone line signal so as to provide an output suitable for further processing;
k) a polarity compensating means and voltage comparison means for comparing the signal strength on the telephone line against a predetermined reference voltage to determine whether the telephone line is busy or cut and providing an output indicative thereof;
and
l) said voltage comparison means is a voltage dividing network connected to four op amps such that a line voltage within a predetermined range indicates the telephone line is busy while a line voltage less than a predetermined value indicates the telephone line is cut, said polarity compensation means is accomplished by two op amps configured for a positive polarity telephone line signal while the remaining two op amps are configured for a negative polarity telephone line signal.

10 more elements

A telephone monitoring and alarm apparatus which monitors a telephone line entering a user's location and other alarms for the recognition of conditions predetermined by the user and initiates a programmable response, the monitoring and alarm apparatus comprising;

a) a telephone line sensing means for sensing the voltage upon a telephone line and determining whether the telephone line is busy or cut and providing an output indicative thereof;
b) a second sensing means for detecting the occurrence of a predetermined event;
c) a signal reception means to receive signals from a remote sensing means;
d) a processing means for processing and prioritizing inputs, retrieving information from an information storage means, and implementing programs and instructions contained in said information and transmitting alert messages;
e) a programming means to program information to be utilized upon the occurrence of a predetermined condition by said processing means;
f) an information storage means to store information provided by said programming means for later retrieval by said processing means;
g) an alerting means which upon receipt of said alert messages from said processing means notifies predetermined locations and users;
h) a system status display means which displays the operating status of said telephone monitoring and alarm apparatus as determined by said processing means;
i) a power supply means for providing power to all components of said telephone monitoring and alarm apparatus;
j) a radio frequency reception means for receiving radio frequency signals generated by said sensing means and providing a received signal output;
k) a signal conversion means which converts said received signal output into a format suitable for further digital processing and generates a stream on digital signal bits;
and
l) a digital word restoration and comparison means which restores said stream of digital signal bits into a digital word of predetermined length, compares said digital word against a preselected programmable verification code, outputs a digital word of predetermined length, and generates a received data valid signal when said digital word matches said preselected programmable verification code.

10 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.