CA2249711A1

CA2249711A1 - Message passing via pstn

Info

Publication number: CA2249711A1
Application number: CA 2249711
Authority: CA
Inventors: Nizar Ladha; Nazir Dosani
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1998-10-20
Filing date: 1998-10-20
Publication date: 2000-04-20

Abstract

Apparatus to pass information message between two independent systems connected via a Publicly Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) by embedding the information message within the telephone number or address of a called party. Caller Identity (CID), Caller Line Identity (CLI) or Calling Number Identification (CNID) information is used to find the originating point of the information.

Description

Field of Invention The present invention relates to information passing between two (2) independent systems connected via a Publicly Switched Telephone Network.
Background of the Invention From its introduction, Publicly Switched Telephone Network has typically been used to pass information between various parties connected to it. With the advent of modems, electronic equipment at remote sites, such as security 1 o panels, vending machines, environment monitoring systems, meters, load management system, etc, etc, send information to a central location or a central clearing house via the Publicly Switched Telephone Network.
Currently, to send information to a central clearing house, a modem at a remote site, goes ofd hook, dials the telephone number of a modem at the central clearing house, waits for an answer, sends the information electronically and then hangs-up.
As a number of remote sites call into the central clearing house at a same time, 2 o a number of telephone lines are connected between the Publicly Switched Telephone Network and the central clearing house. If one telephone line is busy, the remote site dials the telephone number of the next line.
In some countries, call-charges apply whenever a remote modem makes a 2 5 connection with a modem at a central clearing house and long-distance charges may also apply if the central clearing house is situated in a different geographical location.
Even though some of the electronic equipment at remote sites, such as security panels, vending machines, environment monitoring systems, meters, load management system, etc, etc, send short information messages, the telephone charges, especially with wireless telephone system, can be substantial if the messages are sent on a regular basis.
1 o With the advent of Internet, email, containing information for a central clearing house, is used also. The maj or problem with this technology is the amount of processing power and memory requirements.
The present invention overcomes the call-charges and long-distances charges by including information within the telephone number and in case of email, by including the information within the email address.
The invention is of general application but is best explained in relation to a security system, in which an alarm panel is connected to a central monitoring 2 o computer via a Publicly Switched Telephone Network to send short information messages.
Security systems for both residential and commercial applications have gained wide acceptance and central monitoring of such security systems is typically 2 5 recommended.

To protect a particular location, a number of sensors monitor the area and these sensors communicate with an on-site alarm panel. The alarm panel acts as a central source for the sensors and relays this information via a Publicly Switched Telephone Network to a central monitoring computer. The central monitoring computer, upon receipt of the information processes the information and based on this processed information, takes or initiates certain predetermined steps. These steps includes producing an operator report and advising local police, fire-fighter or private security personnel. These steps can 1 o vary further by the instructions from the customers or owners of the alarm panel and the central monitoring computer operator.
The Caller Identification Information is particular to subscribed telephone service and may contain telephone number of the calling party, alpha-numeric identification of the calling party, time and date of the call or other information.
The time and date stamp, within the Caller Identification Information, could be used as a independent time stamp in case of problems at a latter date.
Hartley et al, (United States Patent number 5,511,109) teaches a method of 2 o using the Caller Identification Information as automatically supplied by Publicly Switched Telephone Network and the information from alarm panel to determine the steps to take. This method becomes costly to the customer if long distance telephone charges are involved or in the case of a wireless system, the airtime is charged to the customer.

Some regulations require the security system to be tested on a regular basis and these tests add to the cost of ownership especially with wireless telephone system.
The present invention overcomes these disadvantage and achieves two-way communication by:
1, Central monitoring computer identifies problems at a monitored location by monitoring the telephone number dialed by a remote alarm panel.
1 o 2, Central monitoring computer determines the location of the alarm panel, by using the Caller Identification Information.
3, Remote alarm panel monitors for responses from the central monitoring computer by using the Caller Identification Information of in-coming calls.
Summary of the Invention In a security system, according to the present invention, a central monitoring computer has a number of telephone lines attached to it from the Publicly 2 o Switched Telephone Network. The telephone numbers of these telephone lines (at the central monitoring computer) are assigned to each sensor or zone connected to the remote security panel in a manner that a different telephone number is dialed for each sensor or zone that is tripped.
2 5 According to the invention, when an alarm condition occurs, the telephone number assigned to the sensor or the zone, is dialed out by the security panel.
Thus the information is embedded within the telephone number to dial out.
From the Publicly Switched Telephone Network, the central monitoring computer, receives the Caller Identification Information on one of the attached telephone lines which identifies the location of alarm and the type of sensor or zone from the telephone line that received the Caller Identification Information.
1 o The Publicly Switched Telephone Network transmits the Caller Identification Information after the first ring with Bellcore protocol and before the first ring with British Telephone protocol. As Caller Identification Information is typically received by the receiving arrangement while it is in on-hook condition, call charges, long distance telephone charges or in the case of a wireless system, the airtime charges are not charged, to the customer, as the 'voice' channel is not used The receiving arrangement for the Caller Identification Information can be separate from the central computer, but can be an integral part of the computer, 2 o if desired.
The Caller Identification Information and the identification of the telephone line that received the Caller Identification Information is combined as an electronic signal for subsequent processing. Such subsequent processing is 2 5 typically carried out by a computer to combine with pre-stored instructions from the customer, but in a simple system the signal may be sent to a printer for printing a report.
A security system according to the present invention, comprises a host of alarm panels, each of which, on occasion, receives signals from sensors indicating the presence of an alarm condition in the space being monitored. Each alarm panel is capable of originating a telephone communication, using the telephone number assigned to the sensor, over a Publicly Switched Telephone Network with a central monitoring computer. The central monitoring computer receives 1 o the Caller Identification Information, while in on-hook condition, from the Publicly Switched Telephone Network and combines it with the identification of the telephone line that received the information to processes the information and based thereto, adopts an appropriate course of action. A receiving arrangement acts as an intermediary between the computer and any of the alarm panels. The receiving arrangement receives telephone network information, which contains the Caller Identification Information, from the Publicly Switched Telephone Network, which is particular to subscribed telephone service used by the central monitoring computer. The Caller Identification Information received from the receiving arrangement is combined with the 2 o identification of the receiving arrangement and thus the telephone line that received the information in an electronic signal for further processing.
Furthermore, the present invention sends a coded message from the central monitoring computer, with its attached multiple telephone lines, to a remote 2 5 alarm panel, attached to the Publicly Switched Telephone Network, with a receiving arrangement to receive telephone network information which contains the Caller Identification Information. Each of the phone lines at the central monitoring computer is assigned a response code, and to send a response code to a remote alarm panel, a telephone line at the central monitoring computer, with the appropriate response code, is used to call the remote alarm panel.
The receiving arrangement at the remote alarm panel, receives the telephone network information which contains the Caller Identification Information, as a response code, sent from the central monitoring computer. The remote alarm panel processes the response code in pre-stored steps.
The ability of the present invention to send and receive information is also used in other application, for example sending pre-set messages to a cellular telephone without incurring the air-time charges, vending machines sending pre-stored message over a long distance call without the long distance charges, or sending meter reading information to a central computer by dialing different numbers for each digit (each telephone number representing a digit).
For intemet environment, rather then composing a complete email which requires large amount of memory, the email address is modified to contain the 2 o information for a central monitoring computer or a response for the remote alarm panel. Typically, the information is put before the @ symbol and the site address is inserted after the @ symbol.
2 5 Brief Description of the Drawings In drawings which illustrate by way of example only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, Figure 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention; and Figure 2 is a block diagram of one embodiment of transmitting messages from the central computer to a remote alarm panel;
Detailed Description of the Invention As shown in Figure 1, in one embodiment the present invention comprises a security system generally shown as 10, includes a host of sensors 12 which typically monitor a given space and provide information to a particular alarm panel 14 regarding the status of such monitored space. A number of alarm panels 14 are shown and each alarm panel would be associated with a particular location or premises being monitored. There are typically at least several sensors which provide information to a given alarm panel. Upon detection of an alarm condition by one of the sensors 12, a signal is sent to the alarm panel 14, which then dials a telephone number associated with the tripped sensor 12.
2 0 Tone Detector 16, a commercial part M980 or M981 from Teltone, is used detect number rings made by the Publicly Switched Telephone Network 20 to receiving arrangement 26. The network information or Caller Identification Information is typically passed to the receiving arrangement 26 after the first ring in North America and so panel 14, typically hang-up just before or after the 2 5 second ring. The panel counts the number of rings by using "ring back tones"

via tone detector 16.
Figure 1 illustrates this telephone connection by telephone channel 18 being connected to Publicly Switched Telephone Network 20 which is connected by channel 24 to receiving arrangement 26. In a normal system, the alarm information would be forwarded through the Publicly Switched Telephone Network 20 to a receiving arrangement 26 which then forwards the information on to the central monitoring computer 30 through communication channel 28.
The Publicly Switched Telephone Network 20 can be a land line system, a 1 o wireless system, a cellular system or any combination thereof or other combinations or systems that provide a Publicly Switched Telephone Network.
Receiving arrangement 26 recognizes Call Identification Information or information particular to the telephone service which the alarm panel 14 uses to effect the telephone call. Other information could be provided by the Publicly Switched Telephone Network which is useful to, or processed by, the central monitoring computer 30. In Figure 1 , the Publicly Switched Telephone Network 20 has a computer indicated as 22 which inputs this Caller Identification into the signal provided to the destined receiving arrangement 26.
2 0 The receiving arrangement 26 receives the Caller Identification Information which is typically, in North America, communicated between the first and second rings of the incoming call from alarm panel 14. The receiving arrangement 26 identifies itself to central monitoring computer 30 via communication channel 28 and then forwards the Caller Identification 2 5 Information. Typically, the Caller Identification Information (typically a telephone number) is used to identify the alarm panel 14 that placed the call and the identification of the receiving arrangement 26 is used to identify the type alarm from the panel 14. The Caller Identification is accurate, as it is provided by the Publicly Switched Telephone Network 20 and is not subject to 5 possible alarm panel installation errors or purposeful corruption at the protected premises.
For the purposes of meter reading or other similar applications the telephone number of the receiving arrangement, called by the originating equipment, 10 indicates the information sent by the originating equipment.
Incoming communication from Publicly Switched Telephone Network 20 on channel 24 is connected to receiving arrangement 26 which extracts and interprets, in conventional fashion, the Caller Identification Information as supplied by the Publicly Switched Telephone Network 20 and generates an electronic signal corresponding to same. If desired, the Caller Identification Information is immediately displayed (not shown). The Caller Identification Information is then combined with the identification of the receiving arrangement 26 for forwarding to central monitoring computer 30 for further 2 o processing.
A 'handshake' with receiving arrangement 26, is assumed by alarm panel 14, after Tone Detector 16 detects a preset number of rings. Tone Detector 16 detects other tones on the Publicly Switched Telephone Network such as "line 2 5 busy" and "reorder tones", and these tones can be used by the panel as error indication.
The combined Caller Identification Information and receiver arrangement identification could, if desired, be immediately output to output device (not shown), such as a printer or an LED, LCD or other display. The combined or linked information is also made available as an electronic or other digital data signal to central monitoring computer 30 via channel 28. The receiving arrangement 26 and central monitoring computer 30 can be separate as shown in Figure 1 or combined into one unit.
During initial installation, the alarm panel 14 can be required to complete an initial installation communication with the central monitoring computer 30 which will receive and store the location of alarm panel by the Caller Identification Information and type of sensor by the identification of the receiving arrangement 26. All of the information could be stored in customer database 40 including the steps to take in case of an alarm condition.
An alternate phone number, of a receiving arrangement with communication capability, could be programmed into alarm panel 14 to force it to stay online 2 o with central monitoring computer 30. This alternate telephone number could be used to test the alarm panel 14 or to remotely re-program alarm panel 14 from the central monitoring computer 30 or monitor the premises under surveillance by alarm panel 14.
2 5 It can be appreciated that the type of information provided by the Publicly Switched Telephone Network 20 ,may vary. This information can be the telephone number of the service, the identity of the subscriber of the service or any other particular code provided by the Publicly Switched Telephone Network 20. The present system merely uses the fact that there is identity information of the original party provided by the many Publicly Switched Telephone Networks 20 and also the fact that an alarm panel 14 can dial a number of different telephone numbers ( a different telephone number for each sensor 12 or for each digit to transfer). Thus reducing the cost of data transfers.
The central station 30 need not always be a computer, as in a simple system, it 1 o may be a printer for producing a report of an occurrence and details thereof.
Alarm panels which communicate with receiving arrangements associated with a central station are well known and complete a particular procedure, typically referred to as a "handshake" between the alarm panel and the receiving arrangement, prior to the receipt of the alarm information. The present system utilizes the Publicly Switched Telephone Network tones such as "ring back tones" to complete the "handshake" procedure, Caller Identification Information to identify the calling panel and the receiving arrangement identification to identify the problem at the monitored premises, this 2 o information is provided in a data signal for processing by the central computer or a central station.
Figure 2 illustrates a system for transmitting a coded response signal from the central station or central monitoring computer 30 to a alarm panel 14 via the 2 5 Publicly Switched Telephone Network 20.

The central monitoring computer 30 selects an appropriate telephone dialer 46, which corresponds to the required response code, via select channel 48. The telephone dialer 46 which is connected to Public Switched Telephone Network 20 via telephone channel 50, dials the telephone number of the required panel 14. The receiving arrangement 26, at panel 14, receives the Caller Identification Information from the Publicly Switched Telephone Network 20 via telephone channel 18. The decoded Caller Identification Information is sent to panel 14 for further processing. Thus, the identification of the dialing telephone dialer 46 1 o is received by panel 14 and this information is used as a response code to take some type of action. The code could be to "reset" the panel 14, to "redial"
the telephone number, to request the panel 14 to send the next code, or to select one of the consumption meter attached to security panel 14.
There are concerns that electronic data signal, as created by modem, is subject to sabotage or error when travailing through the Publicly Switched Telephone Network 20. Errors within the electronic signal, are created by the electronic noise or cross talk within the Publicly Switched Telephone Network 20. As the Caller Identification Information is created within the Publicly Switched 2 0 Telephone Network 20 by computer 22, such errors are eliminated.
Furthermore, in a wired telephone network, the alarm panel can be moved around by the owner as the Caller Identification Information always identifies the current location of the alarm panel.
Sabotage of central monitoring computer 30 can occur by flooding of the receiving arrangement 26 with false calls. The receiving arrangement typically pass on the identity of the originating telephone service and this information could be compared to customer database 40 by the central monitoring computer 30. If the information does not compare then a sabotage can be assumed and the originating telephone could be identified by its Caller Identification Information.
The present invention, thus, provides the means of sending a coded signal from alarm panel 14 to central monitoring station 30 and also receive a signal from the central monitoring computer 30 to alarm panel 14.
A number of consumption meters can be attached to security panel 14. For ease of explanation only 2 meters 15 and 17 are shown in Figure 1 and 2. The meter to read can be a request from central monitoring computer 30 via a response code received by receiving arrangement 16 or preset meter reading based on local date and time.
The alarm panel 14 reads the required meter, either meter 15 or 17 and saves the information in local memory, not shown. If required, the data is 2 o compressed, using any of the compression methods, prior to embedding the data into the telephone number. A number of telephone calls may be required to transfer the whole data. The data to transfer can be current meter reading, peak demand, difference from last reading, etc, etc.
2 5 Meter identification or digit identification can be added within the data for transfer to central monitoring computer 30.
The number of digits, in a telephone number, that can be replaced depends on the number of telephone lines 24. For example, with a 100 telephone lines 24, 5 the last 2 digits can be replaced. With 10 telephone lines only the last digit can be replaced. A compression technology could increase the number of digits to transfer.
Currently with the advent of email address, most electronic equipment have a 1 o site address which are the characters after the @ symbol. Anything before the @ symbol still ends at the same site address. It is up to the local program to decode the characters before the @ symbol. By embedding the data to transfer before the @ symbol, the amount of processing power and the memory requirements can be reduced.
Most electronic equipment, such as security panels, vending machines, environment monitoring systems, meters, load management system, etc, etc, at remote sites, have a need to receive or transmit short information messages via a Publicly Switched Telephone Network.
A preferred embodiment of the invention having thus been described by way of example only, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications and adaptations may be made without departing from the scope of invention, as set out in the appended claims.

Claims

1. Apparatus to pass information between two independent systems, connected via a Publicly Switched Telephone Network using telephone network information comprising:
A host of telephone dialers which act as an intermediary between Publicly Switched Telephone Network and transmitting system, Receiving system with intermediary receiving means to receive telephone network information from the Publicly Switched Telephone Network, and The means for using the telephone network information within the receiving system.

2. A system for passing information of claim 1 wherein said telephone network information uniquely identifies a telephone service used by the transmitting system in completing the communication with the receiving system.

3. A system for passing information of claim 1 wherein said telephone network information is Caller Identification Information.

4. A system for passing information of claim 1 wherein said telephone network information is a telephone number.

5. A system for passing information of claim 1 wherein said telephone network information includes the time and date of communication.

6. A system for passing information of claim 1 wherein said telephone number of receiving means is embedded with a code.

7. A receiving arrangement which receives telephone communications from transmitting systems and upon initiation of a telephone communication from a transmitting system receives Caller Identification Information provided via a Publicly Switched Telephone Network, said Caller Identification Information being particular to the calling system, said receiving arrangement linking the Caller Identification Information with its own identification, and means to forward this linked information in a data signal for subsequent processing.

8. A receiving arrangement as claimed in claim 7 wherein said data signal is an electronic digital signal.

9. A receiving arrangement as claimed in claim 7 including also providing and combining date and time information provided by the Publicly Switched Telephone Network to the receiving system in the combined information data signal.

10. A receiving arrangement as claimed in claim 7 wherein said receiving arrangement is in combination with a receiving system and provides the data signal to said receiving system.

11. A receiving arrangement as claimed in claim 7 wherein Caller Identification Information identifies the calling system.

12. A receiving arrangement as claimed in claim 7 wherein Caller Identification Information indicates a code from the originating system.

13. A receiving arrangement as claimed in claim 7 wherein Caller Identification Information is a message from the originating system.

14. A receiving arrangement as claimed in claim 7 wherein the identification of the receiving arrangement and the Caller Identification Information indicates a message for the receiving system.

15. A receiving arrangement as claimed in claim 7 wherein the identification of the receiving arrangement and the Caller Identification Information indicates a code for the receiving system.

16. Apparatus to pass information using the call display information via a Publicly Switched Telephone Network comprising:
A host of telephone dialers connected a Publicly Switched Telephone Network, Telephone network tone decoder within the telephone dialer, Means for decoding the telephone network tones within the telephone dialer to indicate the delivery of the telephone network information.

17. Apparatus to pass information using email address within a Internet network comprising:
Separator symbol within the email address;
Site address after the separator symbol;
Means for embedding the information within the email address before the separator symbol.