GB2370624A

GB2370624A - Alarm handset with button surrounded by a raised finger guide

Info

Publication number: GB2370624A
Application number: GB0126199A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Eric Beattie
Original assignee: EDINBURGH COMM Ltd
Current assignee: EDINBURGH COMM Ltd
Priority date: 2000-11-01
Filing date: 2001-11-01
Publication date: 2002-07-03
Anticipated expiration: 2021-11-01
Also published as: GB0126199D0; GB0026775D0; AU2002212479A1; WO2002037440A1; GB2370624B

Abstract

Alarm handset 24 which is used as part of an alarm monitoring system comprises an alarm button 25 on a face of a handset for actuation, and a guide means on the handset to direct the user's finger towards the button 25. The guide means may consists of two walls, 33, 34. Alternatively these walls may be joint by a third wall 35 to form a continuous U-shaped raised portion at the apex of which the alarm button 25 is situated. The height of the walls may increase towards the alarm button, thereby providing a tactile way of identifying the position of the alarm button. The alarm button 25 is designated by a circular area shown in red and forming a slightly raised domed portion as compared to the flat surrounding region 30. The region around the alarm button may further be highlighted by a flourescent material or markings. When slight pressure is applied to button 25 e.g. by human finger, there is a responsive physical depression and audible click thereby giving a positive feedback that switching has been achieved.

Description

ALARM HANDSET

The present invention relates to an alarm handset.

s According to the present invention, there is provided an alarm handset for an alarm monitoring system comprising an alarm button on a face of the handset for actuation and guide means on the handset to direct towards the button. lo Preferably the guide means comprises a wall whose height increases towards the button.

Preferably, the guide means comprises two walls. The handset may have a third wall which joins the two walls; the three walls may form a continuous Is generally U-shape with the alarm button in the apex region of the shape.

Preferably, the alarm button comprises a raised generally domed area surrounded by a flat region. The alarm button may be marked by a red area, and a region around the alarm button may have fluorescent material or so markings.

Preferably, the handset alarm has a light energisable when the handset is electrically connected to the alarm monitor system.

as The present invention also provides an alarm monitoring system including a plurality of alarm handsets according to the present invention connected to the system.

l. The alarm monitoring system of the present invention is suited to warn of any difficulty or danger which occurs in the home e.g. a break-in to the premises, a fire, a medical emergency, an assault on a person, any temporary or prolonged incapacity, essentially any situation in which an s occupant wishes to summon help or assistance.

While the present invention is primarily described in relation to use in a domestic house, it is equally applicable to use in other applications, for example in hospitals, schools, factories, offices or any industrial or lo commercial multi-occupancy buildings.

In order that the present invention may more readily be understood, a description is now given, by way of example only, reference being made to

the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a block circuit diagram of a conventional regulator; Figure 2 is a block circuit diagram of a regulator used in the present invention; Figure 3 is a block schematic drawing of an alarm monitoring system go using a handset of the present invention; Figure 4 is a handset of the present invention.

Conventional regulator 1 as shown in Figure l (e.g. for power supplies) generally cannot have a potential of greater than 40 volts applied to its input 25 terminals. This is of no use in a telephone circuit, as the voltage on the line (defined by terminals 2, 3) can be as low as 7 volts, and as high as 192 volts. Notwithstanding this, normal supplies have other drawbacks when trying to supply regulated power to an associated circuit when only limited input power is available. This increasingly common problem is accentuated so when working with the PSTN. It is a regulatory requirement that when a

circuit is in its quiescent mode (the normal mode) it must draw no more than 25 11 amps from the PSTN.

A normal regulator 1 must take enough current through a ground current 5 resistor 4 not only to bias a zener diode 5, but also to supply the PNP regulator transistor 6. Even using a very high current gain or HFE transistor, this current is several magnitudes more than the 25 11 amps available for the whole circuit.

o This problem is further compounded by the fact that the zener voltage varies with input current supplied via resistor 4. This means the regulator 1 will have a slightly varying output voltage depending on the input voltage and hence current through the resistor 1.

The regulator 10 of Figure 2 overcomes all these problems as follows. The zener reference voltage is derived from the output voltage. A 240V FET 11 replaces the PNP transistor to overcome the input voltage problem, and to avoid the problem of bipolar HFE variance. FET's are voltage-controlled devices, and hence no current is required to operate them.

As the input voltage is increased to the circuit, the resistor R1 (12) will freely pull-up the voltage on the gate of FET 11 until stopped by the collector of the NPN transistor 13 whose only special feature is a low quiescent or "dark current".

No matter what the turn on voltage of the FET 11 is, its source eventually rises to the zoner diode voltage. At this point, the anode of diode 14 also starts to rise, and this in turn causes the base of the NPN transistor 13 to rise. A point is reached when the current flowing into the base of transistor

- l 13 will be sufficient to cause its collector to hold the rise of R1 (12). This in turn stops the rise of the base and hence the source of PET 11.

A state of equilibrium now exists. Capacitor C1 (15) and C2 (16) simply 5 decouple the output as with any regulator circuit. Resistor R3 (18) can now be varied (or the zoner changed) to alter the output voltage as required.

Capacitor C3 (17) serves to desensitise the circuit to input voltage fluctuations (this is normally described as a gyrator circuit and is the lo transistor equivalent of an inductor).

As the circuit 10 requires virtually no bias current to operate, the quiescent current of the entire regulator circuit is almost entirely defined by resistor R1 (12) and the FET pull-up. With an input of, e.g., 15 volts with the 15 output set to 5 volts, the quiescent of the circuit is only l amp.

Figure 3 shows schematically an alarm monitor system 20 having, in a domestic house 21, a telephone receiver unit 22 and telephone line 23. An alarm handset unit 24 is permanently plugged into the telephone line 23 so such that, when alarm button 25 is pressed, an alarm call is made via the telephone line to a call centre 26 which is permanently manned by a number of operators 27 who have access to a databank 28 of subscriber information.

The alarm call to call centre 26 comprises a signal in the V.23 modem format with appropriate data content and it includes a serial number 5 identifying the actual handset 24.

Reception of the alarm call at call centre 26 causes compiler 29 to locate within, and then output from, database 28 all the relevant subscriber information (SI) and pass it on to an operator 27.

: Thus, when an alarm call is received by an operator 27, simultaneously the operator is provided with the following information from databank 28: À Address of house 21; À Location of alarm handset 24 (as there may be more than one handset 24 5 in a house) within house 21; À The name(s), age(s) and medical condition or medical information of the occupant(s) as registered with the call centre; À The telephone number of the house 21; À The telephone number of the nearest Police station; lo À The telephone number of any contact; À The telephone number of the nearest Ambulance call-out; À The telephone number of the nearest Fire Station centre callout; À A security number or code pre-agreed with the subscriber; À A history of the subscriber's use of the service and of previous calls.

The operator immediately telephones the house 21 using the centre telephone number provided by the databank 28. If the telephone call is answered, the operator 27 asks for the security number or code given corresponding to that which is on the databank; if this is correctly given, so then the operator asks if any further assistance is required. If the security number or code given differs, or if no security number or code is given, then the operator immediately telephones the nearest Police station.

If the telephone call is not answered, within a predetermined time period 25 (e.g. 30 seconds), the operator 27 immediately telephones the nearest Police station (perhaps also the Ambulance call-out centre andlor the Fire Station call-out centre) and advises that the call has not been answered.

À: l. . - s : The registration procedure for setting up a handset 24 in the alarm monitor system is as follows: The subscriber telephones the call centre 26 using the telephone 22 at house 5 21. An operator 27 asks the subscriber a series of questions and inputs the appropriate information into databank 28. The operator instructs the compiler 29 to enter the "program handset" mode and asks the subscriber to connect handset 24 to the telephone line and activate the alarm on handset 24. The handset 24 sends a "ready to program" message to the call centre lo 26 which responds by sending the configuration information to the handset 24. Once programmed, handset 24 sends a "confirm programmed" message to call centre 26. The operator 27 advises the subscriber that programming has been completed and asks the subscriber to conduct a test activation to ensure that the system is operating correctly.

At predetermined intervals (e.g. every month), handset 24 sends a message to call centre 26 to check if any changes are to be made to the procedure for alarm calls (e.g. the telephone number of the call centre, or the subscriber information). This also acts as a check to monitor which handsets are no so longer in use.

In this way, as soon as an alarm call is received at the alarm call monitor centre, an immediate appropriate response is made.

25 Figure 4 shows the front face of the alarm handset 24 which has alarm button 25 designated by a circular area shown in red and forming a slightly raised domed portion as compared to the flat surrounding region 30. When slight pressure is applied to button 25 e.g. by a human finger, there is a responsive physical depression and audible click, thereby giving a positive so feedback that switching has been achieved.

À Handset 24 has a transparent circular portion 31 though which there can be seen a light-emitting diode 32 which is illuminated when handset 24 is plugged into the telephone system. Region 30 is impregnated with 5 fluorescent material so that the front face of handset 24 can be seen in the dark. Handset 24 has two lateral walls 33 and 34 on either side of the long side edges of region 30, being bridged by a third wall 35, the three walls forming lo a U-shape with button 25 located at its apex, the height of walls 33 and 34 increasing towards button 25. In this way, the front face of handset 24 is shaped so that a person is able to readily and quickly locate the button area 25 by touch alone (e.g. in the dark or in a smoky atmosphere) having little or no familiarity with the design of the handset.

1) In a variant, handset 24 is incorporated in a telephone answering machine with a regulator in another patent application by the same applicant.

The handset 24 may have a wire-less link e.g. by infra-red, ultra-sonic, 20 radio-frequency or optical signals, to a base unit connected to the telephone system, for example allowing the handset to be worn by the subscriber or to be carried around the house 21. Information on such location can be included in the SI data.

Claims

r. -.À ..À . s. CLAIMS

1. An alarm handset for an alarm monitoring system comprising an alarm button on a face of the handset for actuation and guide means on the s handset to direct towards the button.

2. A handset according to Claim 1 wherein the guide means comprises

a wall whose height increases towards the button.

lo

3. A handset according to Claim 1 or 2 wherein the guide means comprises two walls.

4. A handset according to Claim 3 comprising a third wall which joins the two walls.

5. A handset according to Claim 4 wherein the three walls form a continuous generally U-shape, with the alarm button in the apex region of the shape.

20

6. A handset according to any preceding claim, wherein the alarm button comprises a raised generally domed area surrounded by a flat region.

7. A handset according to any preceding claim wherein the alarm button is marked by a red area.

8. A handset according to any preceding claim wherein a region around the alarm button has fluorescent material or markings.

g

r - '' At

9. A handset according to any preceding claim wherein the handset has a light energisable when the handset is electrically connected to the alarm monitor system.

5

10. An alarm monitoring system including a plurality of alarm handsets according to any preceding claim connected into the system.