Communication links

A communications system including a programming terminal and one or more remote terminals for use with an existing alarm panel of a type which is adapted to use a telephone line as a primary communications path, wherein the communications system provides the existing alarm panel with an ability to transmit signals via a path through a data network having a network protocol, comprising:

• a programming terminal associated with a modem emulator functionality adapted to convert serial data to a format suitable for transmission via the data network;
• the programming terminal including programming software, enabling the programming terminal, using the modem emulator functionality, to transmit serial data via the data network to a remote terminal of said one or more remote terminals;
• the remote terminal of said one or more remote terminals including:
• a network interface;
• telephone intercept means adapted to interface with the existing alarm panel, the existing alarm panel including ring detection means adapted to detect ringing signals from the telephone intercept means and to activate a voice frequency (vf) data modem associated with the existing alarm panel;
• a programmable data store;
• and
• processor means adapted to enter and retrieve data from the programmable data store.

A programming terminal for use in

• a communication system including the programming terminal and one or more remote terminals for use with an existing alarm panel of a type which is adapted to use a telephone line as a primary communications path, wherein the communications system provides the existing alarm panel with an ability to transmit signals via a path through a data network having a network protocol, comprising:
• a programming terminal associated with a modem emulator functionality adapted to convert serial data to a format suitable for transmission via the data network;
• the programming terminal including programming software enabling the programming terminal to transmit serial data via the modem emulator and the data network to a remote terminal of said one or more remote terminals;
• the remote terminal of said one or more remote terminals including:
• a network interface;
• telephone intercept means adapted to interface with the existing alarm panel, existing alarm panel including ring detection means adapted to detect ringing signals from the telephone intercept means and to activate a voice frequency (vf) data modem associated with the existing alarm panel;
• a programmable data store;
• and
• processor means adapted to enter and retrieve data from the programmable data store,
• the programming terminal comprising:
• a store of one or more sets of programming instructions, each of said programming instructions adapted to perform a programming or configuration function at a remote terminal of said one or more remote terminals, the programming terminal being adapted to initiate a selected one of the sets of programming instructions in response to a corresponding input instruction.

A customer terminal adapted for use in

• a communication system including the programming terminal and one or more remote terminals for use with an existing alarm panel of a type which is adapted to use a telephone line as a primary communications path, wherein the communications system provides the existing alarm panel with an ability to transmit signals via a path through a data network having a network protocol, comprising:
• a programming terminal associated with a modem emulator functionality adapted to convert serial data to a format suitable for transmission via the data network;
• the programming terminal including programming software enabling the programming terminal to transmit serial data via the modem emulator and the data network to a remote terminal of said one or more remote terminals;
• the remote terminal of said one or more remote terminals including:
• a network interface;
• telephone intercept means adapted to interface with the existing alarm panel, the existing alarm panel including ring detection means adapted to detect ringing signals from the telephone intercept means and to activate a voice frequency (vf) data modem associated with the existing alarm panel;
• a programmable data store;
• and
• processor means adapted to enter and retrieve data from the programmable data store,
• the customer terminal comprising:
• voice over internet protocol (VoIP) functionality, the customer terminal being adapted to distinguish between alarm communications and VoIP communications from a remote terminal, and to direct alarm communications to an alarm system and to transmit VoIP communications to a VoIP network.

A method of providing remote configuration access for a programming terminal via one or more data networks to one or more remote terminals,

• the programming terminal being adapted to program said one or more remote terminals via a public switched telephone network (PSTN) using an analog dial up modem,
• each of said one or more remote terminals being designed to be remotely configured via the PSTN,
• wherein a first remote interface means is connected to a corresponding one of the one or more remote terminals,
• the first remote interface means being adapted to provide a bi-directional interface between the corresponding remote terminal and a data network,
• wherein a modem emulator means is provided to interface the programming terminal with the data network, the modem emulator means including programming capabilities adapted for transmitting information via the data network,
• the method including the steps of:
• providing one or more sets of instructions and data;
• selecting one of the sets of instructions and data;
• converting the selected set of instructions and data to a format adapted for transmission via the data network, and
• transmitting the selected set of instructions and data to one of said one or more remote terminals via the data network.