WO2020077393A1

WO2020077393A1 - Emergency warning apparatus and systems

Info

Publication number: WO2020077393A1
Application number: PCT/AU2019/051110
Authority: WO
Inventors: Paul Nagy; Jon Bird
Original assignee: George Patterson Y&r Pty Ltd
Current assignee: George Patterson Y&r Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2018-10-17
Filing date: 2019-10-14
Publication date: 2020-04-23
Anticipated expiration: 2021-04-17

Abstract

The invention is directed to apparatus useful for establishing emergency communication between a first party being a person in impending danger and/or in need of assistance, and a second party that is able to issue a warning of the impending danger and/or render the required assistance. The apparatus in one form is configured to: (i) detect combustion; and (ii) receive a radio signal and/or transmit a radio signal on a frequency that is used, or reserved for use, or exclusively used by an emergency service, a government agency, a community organization, a publicly broadcasting radio station, or for mobile telephony.

Description

EMERGENCY WARNING APPARATUS AND SYSTEMS

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the field of electrically powered warning and alert apparatus for use in a home, an office, a workshop, a school, a hospital or any other building occupied by humans. More particularly, the invention is directed to apparatus useful for establishing emergency communication between a first party being a person in impending danger and/or in need of assistance, and a second party that is able to issue a warning of the impending danger and/or render the required assistance.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

In emergency situations it is often necessary to issue an alert or communicate instructions to persons that are in impending danger. Taking the example of a wild fire (also known as a bush fire), fire authorities typically monitor the progress of the fire front and issue evacuation alerts to resident in the path of the oncoming fire. Such alerts may be issued by way of emergency workers physically attending the affected region and either door-knocking individual homes or using a loud speaker mounted on a moving vehicle to warn residents of the oncoming fire and convey the urgent need to evacuate.

In many instances, the progress of a fire front is unpredictable with unexpected changes in wind direction meaning that a region that was previously considered safe suddenly falls in the path of the fire. In other circumstances, the wind direction remains unchanged but the fire front travels at an accelerated rate toward a region. In any event, it is often the case that there is insufficient time for emergency workers to travel to the region to provide the required alert and instructions.

In light of the need to rapidly communication an alert to residents of a region in impending fire danger, the prior art provides a number electronic means by which such an alert may be given. Public broadcast radio has been used for many years to issue warnings, although in more recent years many homes simply do not have a radio receiver. Where there is a receiver in the home, the person may not even know of the impending danger and not have the radio switched on, much less tuned to a station that is broadcasting an alert.

Television is another prior art means for issuing warnings, however again it is often that case that a person is unaware of the impending danger and does not have the television switched on.

Public radio and television may not be used in many circumstances where the number of persons in impending danger are small, or in a small geographic region. In such circumstances, the broadcaster (and especially a commercial broadcaster) may not agree to interrupt normal programming to issue multiple warnings for a danger that may affect only very minor proportion of its audience.

Warning by way of public radio and television will be unavailable where the fire has brought down power lines to a home, and the occupant does not have a battery powered radio or television.

In more recent years, the ubiquitous nature of smart phones has been exploited for issuing warnings to persons in impending danger. Advantageously, many individuals keep their smart phone switched on and on their person, or at least within hearing range. In these prior art systems, an emergency service is able to dispatch mass SMS text messages to potentially affected persons. In some situations, the fire has destroyed local mobile phone towers and so such warnings care not received by affected parties. In some situations, the person is located in an area where mobile reception is poor or absent. This situation arose in the Australian town of Tathra in the course of a bush fire in the summer of 2018, where the fire front destroyed the town’s mobile phone towers and many of the SMS text messages to evacuate dispatched by fire services were simply not received.

In other circumstances, a mobile phone may have a flat battery, may not be in an operational state, may have the volume turned down, or has automatically entered“do not disturb” mode at night time. In these situations, a warning SMS message may not be received or if it is received it is not timely viewed. Even where an SMS alert system works flawlessly, a recipient that has impaired sight, hearing or cognitive ability may not comprehend the message and perish.

As will be appreciated, smart phone-based warning systems are used to alert residents of impending dangers associated with a cyclone, hurricane, tidal wave, flood, terrorist attack, military activity, civil unrest and the like. These applications all suffer from the same deficiencies as discussed supra.

In an emergency situation it may be desirable for a person in impending danger to communicate with a party concerned with their well-being. For example, the person concerned may be elderly or mentally compromised and the party concerned may be a relative, a friend, or a carer. An emergency service may have issued a SMS text message warning to the person but a relative, for example, may wish to make direct contact with the person to ensure that he/she is aware of the emergency.

Even in non-emergency situation, a concerned party may wish to communicate with a person. Some elderly persons neglect to charge their smart phone making it difficult for concerned relativeness to call and check on their well-being. In these situations, it would be desirable to have some other means of communicating with the elderly person.

It is an aspect of the present invention to overcome or alleviate a problem of the prior art by providing an apparatus and system to facilitate communication between the occupant of a building and an external party such as an emergency service in an emergency situation. It is a further aspect of the present invention to provide an alternative to prior art apparatus and systems.

The discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles and the like is included in this specification solely for the purpose of providing a context for the present invention. It is not suggested or represented that any or all of these matters formed part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present invention as it existed before the priority date of each claim of this application. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a first aspect, but not necessarily the broadest aspect, the present invention provides an apparatus configured to: (i) detect combustion; and (ii) receive a radio signal and/or transmit a radio signal.

In one embodiment of the first aspect, the radio signal has a frequency that is used, or reserved for use, or exclusively used by an emergency service, a government agency, or a community organization.

In one embodiment of the first aspect, the radio signal has a frequency that is used, or reserved for use, or exclusively used by a publicly broadcasting radio station.

In one embodiment of the first aspect, the radio signal has a frequency that is used, or reserved for use, or exclusively used for mobile telephony.

In one embodiment of the first aspect, the apparatus comprises (i) a combustion detector; and (ii) a radio signal receiver and/or a radio signal transmitter.

In one embodiment of the first aspect, the apparatus comprises one or more sources of electrical energy, wherein the combustion detector and the radio signal receiver (where present), and the radio signal transmitter (where present) are powered by the one or more sources of electrical energy.

In one embodiment of the first aspect, the one or more sources of electrical energy is or includes a battery source of electrical energy.

In one embodiment of the first aspect, the one or more sources of electrical energy is or includes a mains source of electrical energy. In one embodiment of the first aspect, the one or more sources of electrical energy includes a mains source of electrical energy and a battery source of electrical energy, and wherein the apparatus is configured such that under a condition of electrical energy being unavailable from the mains source of electrical energy, the radio signal receiver (where present) and/or the radio signal transmitter (where present) is/are powered by the battery source of electrical energy.

In one embodiment of the first aspect, the apparatus is configured such that under a condition that electrical energy is available from the mains source of electrical energy, (i) the radio signal receiver (where present) and/or radio signal transmitter (where present) is/are powered by the mains source of electrical energy, and/or (ii) the radio signal receiver (where present) and/or radio signal transmitter (where present) is/are not powered by the battery source of electrical energy.

In one embodiment of the first aspect, the apparatus comprises: an audio output means configured to emit an audio communication encoded by the radio signal as received by the radio signal receiver (where present), or emit an audio alarm that is triggered by the radio signal as received by the radio signal receiver (where present); and/or a visual output means configured to display a visual communication encoded by the radio signal as received by the radio signal receiver (where present), or emit a visual alarm that is triggered by the radio signal receiver (where present).

In one embodiment of the first aspect, the apparatus comprises an audio input means configured to receive an audio signal from the environs of the apparatus and convert the audio signal into an electrical signal suitable for input into the radio signal transmitter (where present).

In one embodiment of the first aspect, the combustion detector detects any one or more of: a smoke particle, heat, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide.

In one embodiment of the first aspect, the apparatus comprises a housing, wherein the housing encloses all or substantially all elements of the apparatus.

In one embodiment of the first aspect, the housing has one or more openings configured to allow an airborne particle external the housing to enter the housing. In one embodiment of the first aspect, the apparatus is configured to be mounted on an internal ceiling or an internal wall of a human-habitable building.

In a second aspect, the present invention provides a system for communication from a first party outside a building to a second party inside the building, the system comprising: the apparatus of any embodiment of the first aspect installed in or about the building, and a radio signal transmitter of the first party, wherein the system is configured such that, in use, the radio transmitter transmits a radio signal to the apparatus, and the radio signal is received by the apparatus.

In one embodiment of the second aspect, the radio signal has a frequency that is used, or reserved for use, or exclusively used by an emergency service, a government agency, or a community organization.

In one embodiment of the second aspect, the radio signal has a frequency that is used, or reserved for use, or exclusively used by a publicly broadcasting radio station.

In one embodiment of the second aspect, the radio signal has a frequency that is used, or reserved for use, or exclusively used for mobile telephony.

In one embodiment of the second aspect, the first party is an emergency service, a government agency, or a community organization and the second party is an occupant of a human-habitable building in which the apparatus is installed.

In one embodiment of the second aspect, wherein the first party is a publically broadcasting radio station, and the second party is an occupant of a human-habitable building in which the apparatus is installed.

In one embodiment of the second aspect, the first party is a mobile telephony provider, and the second party is an occupant of a human-habitable building in which the apparatus is installed. In one embodiment of the second aspect, the second party is an occupant of a human-habitable building in which the apparatus is installed, and the first party is concerned with the well-being of the occupant.

In a third aspect, the present invention provides a system for communication from a first party inside a building to a second party outside the building, the system comprising: the apparatus of any embodiment of the first aspect installed in or about the building, and a radio signal receiver of the second party, wherein the system is configured such that, in use, the radio transmitter of the second party transmits a radio signal to the apparatus, and the radio signal is received by the apparatus.

In one embodiment of the third aspect, the radio signal has a frequency that is used, or reserved for use, or exclusively used by an emergency service, a government agency, or a community organization.

In one embodiment of the third aspect, the radio signal has a frequency that is used, or reserved for use, or exclusively used for mobile telephony.

In one embodiment of the third aspect, the first party is an occupant of a human-habitable building in which the apparatus is installed and the second party is an emergency service, a government agency, or a community organization.

In one embodiment of the third aspect, the first party is an occupant of a human-habitable building in which the apparatus is installed and the second party is a mobile telephony provider.

In one embodiment of the third aspect, the first party is an occupant of a human-habitable building in which the apparatus is installed and the second party is concerned with the well-being of the occupant.

In a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for duplex communication between a first party inside a building to a second party outside the building, the system comprising: the apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 17 installed in or about the building, a radio signal transmitter of the second party, and a radio signal receiver of the second party, wherein the system is configured such that, in use, the radio signal transmitter of the second party transmits a first radio signal to the apparatus, and the first radio signal is received by the apparatus, and the radio signal transmitter of the apparatus transmits a second radio signal to the radio signal receiver of the second party, and the second radio signal is received the radio signal receiver of the second party.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a preferred apparatus of the present invention being a smoke detector comprising a radio receiver tuned to an emergency frequency in operable communication with an amplifier and speaker capable of relaying a voice warning and instructions from emergency service personnel to a person occupying a home in which the apparatus is installed. Not all components of circuit are shown.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a preferred apparatus of the present invention being identical to that shown in FIG. 1 , except for the addition of a radio transmitter function and a microphone. In addition to relaying voice warning and instructions from emergency service personnel, this embodiment is also capable of receiving voice messages from a person occupying a home in which the apparatus is installed. Not all components of circuit are shown.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a preferred apparatus of the present invention being identical to that shown in FIG. 1 , except for the addition of a cell phone function and a microphone. In addition to relaying voice warning and instructions from emergency service personnel, this embodiment is also capable of sending and receiving voice messages to and from a person occupying a home in which the apparatus is installed by way of a proximal cell phone tower (not shown). Not all components of circuit are shown. FIG. 4 is a diagram of a system of the present invention demonstrating the transmission and reception of radio signals between an apparatus of the present invention and stationary or mobile emergency services, or a cell phone tower.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION INCLUDING PREFERRED

EMBODIMENTS

Reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" or similar wording means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, but may. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner, as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from this disclosure, in one or more embodiments.

Similarly it should be appreciated that the description of exemplary embodiments of the invention, various features of the invention are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of one or more of the various inventive aspects. This method of disclosure, however, is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed invention requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than all features of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment. Thus, the claims following the Detailed Description are hereby expressly incorporated into this Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment of this invention.

Furthermore, while some embodiments described herein include some but not other features included in other embodiments, combinations of features of different embodiments are meant to be within the scope of the invention, and from different embodiments, as would be understood by those in the art. In the claims below and the description herein, any one of the terms“comprising”,“comprised of’ or“which comprises” is an open term that means including at least the elements/features that follow, but not excluding others. Thus, the term comprising, when used in the claims, should not be interpreted as being limitative to the means or elements or steps listed thereafter. For example, the scope of the expression a method comprising step A and step B should not be limited to methods consisting only of methods A and B. Any one of the terms“including” or“which includes” or“that includes” as used herein is also an open term that also means including at least the elements/features that follow the term, but not excluding others. Thus, “including” is synonymous with and means“comprising”.

The invention has been described with reference to certain advantages. It is not suggested or represented that each embodiment of the invention have all of the advantages described. Any particular embodiment may have only a single advantage. In some embodiments, the invention may provide no advantage and merely provide a useful alternative to the prior art.

The present invention is predicated at least in part on Applicant’s discovery that the combination of a combustion detector (such as a smoke detector) and radio communication means provides substantial advantage in addressing the problem of communicating with a person in an emergency situation. As will discussed further herein, the detector will need other components such as a speaker and/or a microphone in order to allow for voice communication to be effected.

One advantage of incorporating radio communication means into a combustion detector arises from the fact that a combustion detector is mandatory for all habitable buildings according to the law in many jurisdictions. Accordingly there is no further effort or minimal further effort required to provide means for communicating with an emergency service in the course of an emergency at the same time as installing a combustion detector. The co-installed radio receiver and/or radio transmitter provides instant communication with emergency services.

Moreover a combustion detector is designed to be powered 24 hours per day, every day. This affords a combustion detector a unique position among many other electrical items installed or otherwise present in a habitable building which may not be continuously powered and operable. For example appliances such as a radio, television, heater, air conditioner, washer, dryer and devices such as cell phones, personal computers, tablets and the like are similarly liable to be unpowered an inoperable at certain times. The continuous power applied to a combustion detector is well exploited in the present apparatus given the need to continuously monitor radio transmissions of an emergency service in case an alert is issued.

Further relevant to the issue of continuous power supply, many combustion detectors are configured so as to emit a piercing low power alarm tone when the power supply (as provided by a battery, for example) is almost depleted. Householders are used to this tone and will quickly replace a battery in a combustion detector, thereby ensuring also power for the radio communication means of the apparatus. Even in the absence of a low power alarm tone, householders often rigorously replace combustion detector batteries at regular intervals and before any tone is emitted so as to ensure continuous operation and therefore protection.

A combustion detector that is powered by mains electricity may have a backup battery to ensure that any fire is detected and an alarm emitted even where there is an interruption to the mains supply. An electrical fire may trigger a residual current device to cut power to all circuits of the home, and without a backup battery a combustion detector would not emit any alarm. This ability to operate optionally on backup battery power is an important feature exploited by the present invention given that in a natural disaster (such as bushfire or cyclone) mains power may be cut to a home, and in which case the radio communication means remains powered by the backup battery so as to allow the reception and/or transmission of messages to and from emergency services personnel.

A further advantage is that a combustion detector will typically be mounted in an unobstructed and open position, and can therefore be readily be heard. Detectors are generally mounted such that any smoke particles are able to readily enter the detection chamber, and furthermore any alarm emitted will be heard. Typical mounting positions include on a ceiling or an upper region of a wall of a room which is often used. Accordingly, any alert issued by emergency services via the present apparatus is very likely to be heard and comprehended. Indeed, many buildings have a number of combustion detectors (and in some cases functionally linked) such that a message from an emergency service may be heard whatever the position of the occupant within the building.

As used herein, the term“combustion detector” is any electrical or electronic device that is capable detecting combustion and the products of combustion such as heat, smoke, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide. An apparatus according to the present invention may comprise a combustion detector in the form of a photo electric-based particle detector or an ionization-based particle detector, a thermal detector, a carbon monoxide detector or a carbon dioxide or indeed any combination thereof.

The apparatus may assume a similar or substantially identical construction to that of a prior art combustion detector having all of the usual features such as a housing, mounting fixtures, battery bay, mains electrical connection means, alarm piezo buzzer, battery check button, low battery indicator light or tone et cetera. The addition of communication means such as radio transmitter, receiver, speaker, microphone and the like does not necessarily require a significant amount of room within the housing and therefore an apparatus of the present invention may have a similar or substantially identical appearance to a prior art combustion detector. Furthermore, the present apparatus may be installed in a similar or substantially identical manner and position as for a prior art combustion detector.

In some embodiments, the present apparatus comprises radio communication means that operate on a frequency used by an emergency service. As used herein the term“emergency service” is intended to include a fire service, a police service, an ambulance/paramedic service, a natural disaster service. The radio communication means that operate on a frequency used by a government agency such as a weather bureau, an intelligence organization, a military organization, a regional or national or state alert or assistance organization, an air traffic control organization. Some radio frequencies are particularly used by community organizations such as a community radio station.

In other embodiments of the invention, the frequency is one used by a public radio station, including any commercial radio station. As explained supra, the radio communication means of the present apparatus will ideally be powered continuously so as to allow for communication at any time that an emergency arises. A combustion detector will typically be continuously powered in any event so as to be capable of detecting a fire with the radio communication means of the present apparatus exploiting the provision of continuous power.

The present invention will now be further described by reference to the non-limiting embodiments of the drawings.

Reference is made to FIG. 1 showing an exemplary embodiment of the invention, being generally configured as a photoelectric smoke alarm having incorporated a radio receiver tuned to an emergency services radio frequency.

The detector is powered by a 9V supply, which may be a battery or by a down-converted 204V mains source. Where power supply is supplied by battery, the battery may be of the rechargeable type such that upon loss of mains power (as may be expected in a natural disaster) the radio receiver and amplifier are at least able to continue operation for some hours. A trickle charge circuit of the type well known to the skilled artisan may be used so as to not overburden the battery. The battery will preferably be of a high power density type such as those using lithium ion technologies to ensure sufficient power is supplied to the radio receiver for an extended period of time.

In an emergency scenario, an occupant of the home in which the smoke detector of FIG. 1 is installed may receive a voice warning from emergency services (via the radio receiver, amplifier and speaker) to evacuate or to take shelter, or to perform any other health or safety-related task.

While preferable, it is not necessary for the radio receiver be capable of relaying voice messages. Alternatively, the receiver may be configured to receive only a coded radio signal which triggers an alarm tone via the speaker, or indeed even via a simple buzzer (not shown). Alternatively, the coded signal may trigger a predetermined voice alert that is stored on a digital medium (not shown) within the smoke alarm, the voice alert being passed through the amplifier and speaker. The coded signal may be coded to trigger one of a number of voice alerts such as“evacuate now”,“do not leave”,“take shelter”,“close windows”,“sandbag entrances”, and the like.

Of course, it will be desirable for the radio receiver to remain silent at all times, apart from any time when an emergency situation arises. Alerts may only be emitted from the speaker only at a time of emergency, and circuitry or program instructions may be utilized to provide that end. For example, the sound amplifier feeding the speaker may only be activated when mains power is cut (that situation being indicative of an emergency situation). As another example, the amplifier may only be activated when a coded radio signal is received from emergency services on the frequency to which the receiver is tuned. Once the coded signal is received and the amplifier activated the emergency services audio signal may be transmitted through the speaker.

As shown in the embodiment of FIG. 2 the smoke alarm may be configured to not only receive radio signals, but also transmit signals to a remote receiver such an emergency services radio receiver. A microphone is provided allowing for an occupant of a home to respond to a query of emergency services personnel, or to provide an initial call for help to emergency services. As will be appreciated, where an emergency services radio frequency is used only simplex or half-duplex communication may be provided, and circuitry may be incorporated to automatically switch between receiving and transmitting mode given the inability of the occupant to manually switch.

Where legal or regulatory barriers exist prohibiting the civilian use of emergency services frequencies, the radio transmitter may be configured to be disabled until a coded radio signal is received from emergency services to unlock the transmission function. In the absence of such a coded signal, the smoke alarm would be incapable of transmitting on any restricted frequency and would therefore be compliant with local laws and regulations.

In some embodiments, the radio receiver is capable of receiving basic simplex radio signals of the type broadcast by a commercial, government or community radio stations.

In addition or alternatively to the type of radio transmitter/receiver referred to above, radio transmissions may be conveyed to and from the smoke alarm by way of cell phone transmission. Reference is made to the embodiment of FIG. 3 in that regard. Where local cell phone infrastructure has remained operational, the use of cell phone networks may be more reliable or practical in comparison to the use of emergency services radio frequencies. An appropriately configured smoke alarm may have a cell phone module with an integral SIM card (or similar). Such embodiments provide full duplex communication, as may be required in some emergency or non-emergency situations.

Embodiments utilizing cell phone technology may be used for a concerned member of the public (i.e. non-emergency services personnel) to communicate with an occupant in emergency or non- emergency situations. For example, a concerned relative of an elderly person in the general area of a bush fire may use the smoke alarm to communicate and make sure the person is fully aware of the need to evacuate or take other precautionary actions. Duplex communication provided by a cell phone will allow the relative to ensure that the person understands instructions and can answer any questions.

Even in a non-emergency situation, a smoke alarm having cell phone network connectivity make be useful to make routine welfare checks on an elderly person or a younger person at home alone. Particularly for elderly persons, their cell phone may be uncharged or out of easy reach and therefore not able to be utilized for the purposes of welfare checking welfare.

Circuitry may be provided such that any incoming call is automatically answered thereby providing duplex communication. Alternatively voice control may be used to answer calls, or even to make calls. An elderly person having had a fall may not be able to access their phone, but may nevertheless be able to call a relative via a smoke alarm configured to continuously monitor audio signals for a voice call command from an occupant nearby.

Smoke alarms having cell phone connectivity may also be able to receive (and optionally send) data (such as audio data) via the internet to a third party such as an emergency service or a relative. 3G or 4G connectivity may be provided so as to allow the smoke alarm to interface with a remote cloud computer server configured to transmit and/or receive data to/from the smoke alarm. In some embodiments, the smoke alarm may comprise a WiFi™ connectivity module capable of accessing the internet such that the smoke alarm interfaces with a remote cloud computer server configured to transmit and/or receive data to/from the smoke alarm. The module may be configured to interface with the occupant’s home WiFi™ router, or any sufficiently proximal public WiFi™ service.

In some embodiments of the invention, a smoke alarm may be configured to communicate with one or more similarly configured smoke alarms in the same building. As is common in the art, smoke alarms are placed in multiple locations throughout a building so as to ensure that any smoke is detected as quickly as possible. When one alarm senses smoke and emits a warning tone, any connected alarms will also emit a tone to ensure that occupants are adequately alerted. Such networks may be exploited in the context of the present invention by allowing for an occupant to hear any warning from any area of a building given that a smoke alarm will not be too far to be heard. Proximity is important given that voice commands from emergency services must be clearly audible and understood by an occupant.

Turning now to FIG. 4 there is shown exemplary communication systems of the present invention. Central to each system is a smoke alarm (10) installed on the ceiling of a home (15). The smoke alarm (10) is normally powered by the mains supply to the home (15) but also comprises a back up battery to maintain operation where mains power is interrupted. In one system, a radio receiver of the smoke alarm (15) is tuned to receive radio signals (20) from an emergency services transmitter which may be a stationary antenna (25) or a mobile transmitter such as a fire truck (30).

As an alternative system, the smoke alarm (15) may be in operable communication with a cell phone network via the cell phone tower (35), thereby allowing full duplex communication between the smoke alarm (15) and a third party also connected to the cell phone network.

As will be understood, the apparatus and systems described herein may be deployed in part or in whole through one or more processors that execute computer software, program codes, and/or instructions on a processor. A processor may be any kind of computational or processing device capable of executing program instructions, codes, binary instructions and the like. The processor may be or may include a signal processor, digital processor, embedded processor, microprocessor or any variant such as a coprocessor (math co-processor, graphic co-processor, communication co processor and the like) and the like that may directly or indirectly facilitate execution of program code or program instructions stored thereon. In addition, the processor may enable execution of multiple programs, threads, and codes.

The threads may be executed simultaneously to enhance the performance of the processor and to facilitate simultaneous operations of the application. By way of implementation, methods, program codes, program instructions and the like described herein may be implemented in one or more thread. The thread may spawn other threads that may have assigned priorities associated with them; the processor may execute these threads based on priority or any other order based on instructions provided in the program code. The processor may include memory that stores methods, codes, instructions and programs as described herein and elsewhere.

Any processor may access a storage medium through an interface that may store methods, codes, and instructions as described herein and elsewhere. The storage medium associated with the processor for storing methods, programs, codes, program instructions or other type of instructions capable of being executed by the computing or processing device may include but may not be limited to one or more of memory, disk, flash drive, RAM, ROM, cache and the like.

The computer software, program codes, and/or instructions may be stored and/or accessed on computer readable media that may include: computer components, devices, and recording media that retain digital data used for computing for some interval of time; semiconductor storage known as random access memory (RAM); mass storage typically for more permanent storage, such as optical discs, forms of magnetic storage like hard disks, tapes, drums, cards and other types; processor registers, cache memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory; optical storage such as CD, DVD; removable media such as flash memory (e.g. USB sticks or keys), floppy disks, magnetic tape, paper tape, punch cards, standalone RAM disks, removable mass storage, off-line, and the like; other computer memory such as dynamic memory, static memory, read/write storage, mutable storage, read only, random access, sequential access, location addressable, file addressable, content addressable, network attached storage, storage area network, bar codes, magnetic ink, and the like.

The apparatus and systems described herein may transform physical and/or or intangible items from one state to another. The apparatus and systems described herein may also transform data representing physical and/or intangible items from one state to another.

The elements described and depicted herein, including in flow charts and block diagrams throughout the figures, imply logical boundaries between the elements. However, according to software or hardware engineering practices, the depicted elements and the functions thereof may be implemented on computers through computer executable media having a processor capable of executing program instructions stored thereon as a monolithic software structure, as standalone software modules, or as modules that employ external routines, code, services, and so forth, or any combination of these, and all such implementations may be within the scope of the present disclosure.

Furthermore, the elements depicted in any flow chart or block diagrams or any other logical component may be implemented on a machine capable of executing program instructions. Thus, while the foregoing drawings and descriptions set forth functional aspects of the disclosed systems, no particular arrangement of software for implementing these functional aspects should be inferred from these descriptions unless explicitly stated or otherwise clear from the context. Similarly, it will be appreciated that the various steps identified and described above may be varied, and that the order of steps may be adapted to particular applications of the techniques disclosed herein. All such variations and modifications are intended to fall within the scope of this disclosure. As such, the depiction and/or description of an order for various steps should not be understood to require a particular order of execution for those steps, unless required by a particular application, or explicitly stated or otherwise clear from the context.

The processes described above, and steps thereof, may be realized in hardware, software or any combination of hardware and software suitable for a particular application. The hardware may include a general purpose computer and/or dedicated computing device or specific computing device or particular aspect or component of a specific computing device. The processes may be realized in one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, embedded microcontrollers, programmable digital signal processors or other programmable device, along with internal and/or external memory. The processes may also, or instead, be embodied in an application specific integrated circuit, a programmable gate array, programmable array logic, or any other device or combination of devices that may be configured to process electronic signals. It will further be appreciated that one or more of the processes may be realized as a computer executable code capable of being executed on a computer readable medium. The Application software may be created using a structured programming language such as C, an object oriented programming language such as C++, or any other high-level or low-level programming language (including assembly languages, hardware description languages, and database programming languages and technologies) that may be stored, compiled or interpreted to run on one of the above devices, as well as heterogeneous combinations of processors, processor architectures, or combinations of different hardware and software, or any other machine capable of executing program instructions.

Thus, in one aspect, each method described above and combinations thereof may be embodied in computer executable code that, when executing on one or more computing devices, performs the steps thereof. In another aspect, the methods may be embodied in systems that perform the steps thereof, and may be distributed across devices in a number of ways, or all of the functionality may be integrated into a dedicated, standalone device or other hardware. In another aspect, the means for performing the steps associated with the processes described above may include any of the hardware and/or software described above. All such permutations and combinations are intended to fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

The invention may be embodied in program instruction set executable on one or more processors. Such instructions sets may include any one or more of the following instruction types: Data handling and memory operations, which may include an instruction to set a register to a fixed constant value, or copy data from a memory location to a register, or vice-versa, to store the contents of a register, result of a computation, or to retrieve stored data to perform a computation on it later, or to read and write data from hardware devices.

Arithmetic and logic operations, which may include an instruction to add, subtract, multiply, or divide the values of two registers, placing the result in a register, possibly setting one or more condition codes in a status register, to perform bitwise operations, e.g., taking the conjunction and disjunction of corresponding bits in a pair of registers, taking the negation of each bit in a register, or to compare two values in registers (for example, to determine if one is less, or if they are equal).

Control flow operations, which may include an instruction to branch to another location in the program and execute instructions there, conditionally branch to another location if a certain condition holds, indirectly branch to another location, or call another block of code, while saving the location of the next instruction as a point to return to.

Coprocessor instructions, which may include an instruction to load/store data to and from a coprocessor, or exchanging with CPU registers, or perform coprocessor operations.

A processor may include "complex" instructions in its instruction set. A single "complex" instruction does something that may take many instructions on other computers. Such instructions are typified by instructions that take multiple steps, control multiple functional units, or otherwise appear on a larger scale than the bulk of simple instructions implemented by the given processor. Some examples of "complex" instructions include: saving many registers on the stack at once, moving large blocks of memory, complicated integer and floating-point arithmetic (sine, cosine, square root, etc.), SIMD instructions, a single instruction performing an operation on many values in parallel, performing an atomic test-and-set instruction or other read-modify-write atomic instruction, and instructions that perform ALU operations with an operand from memory rather than a register.

An instruction may be defined according to its parts. According to more traditional architectures, an instruction includes an opcode that specifies the operation to perform, such as add contents of memory to register— and zero or more operand specifiers, which may specify registers, memory locations, or literal data. The operand specifiers may have addressing modes determining their meaning or may be in fixed fields. In very long instruction word (VLIW) architectures, which include many microcode architectures, multiple simultaneous opcodes and operands are specified in a single instruction.

Some types of instruction sets do not have an opcode field (such as Transport Triggered Architectures (TTA) or the Forth virtual machine), only operand(s). Other unusual "0-operand" instruction sets lack any operand specifier fields, such as some stack machines including NOSC. Conditional instructions often have a predicate field— several bits that encode the specific condition to cause the operation to be performed rather than not performed. For example, a conditional branch instruction will be executed, and the branch taken, if the condition is true, so that execution proceeds to a different part of the program, and not executed, and the branch not taken, if the condition is false, so that execution continues sequentially. Some instruction sets also have conditional moves, so that the move will be executed, and the data stored in the target location, if the condition is true, and not executed, and the target location not modified, if the condition is false. Similarly, IBM z/ Architecture has a conditional store. Some instruction sets include a predicate field in every instruction; this is called branch predication. The instructions constituting a program are rarely specified using their internal, numeric form (machine code); they may be specified using an assembly language or, more typically, may be generated from programming languages by compilers.

Much of the disclosure herein relates to implementation of the invention in the form of a smoke alarm, however it will be appreciated that the invention is operable with other types of combustion detectors such as heat detectors and carbon monoxide detectors.

While the invention has been disclosed in connection with the preferred embodiments shown and described in detail, various modifications and improvements thereon will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the spirit and scope of the present invention is not to be limited by the foregoing examples, but is to be understood in the broadest sense allowable by law.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. An apparatus configured to:

(i) detect combustion; and

(ii) receive a radio signal and/or transmit a radio signal.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the radio signal has a frequency that is used, or reserved for use, or exclusively used by an emergency service, a government agency, or a community organization.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the radio signal has a frequency that is used, or reserved for use, or exclusively used by a publicly broadcasting radio station.

4. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the radio signal has a frequency that is used, or reserved for use, or exclusively used for mobile telephony.

5. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 4, comprising

(i) a combustion detector; and

(ii) a radio signal receiver and/or a radio signal transmitter.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, comprising one or more sources of electrical energy, wherein the combustion detector and the radio signal receiver (where present), and the radio signal transmitter (where present) are powered by the one or more sources of electrical energy.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the one or more sources of electrical energy is or includes a battery source of electrical energy.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 or claim 7, wherein the one or more sources of electrical energy is or includes a mains source of electrical energy.

9. The apparatus of any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the one or more sources of electrical energy includes a mains source of electrical energy and a battery source of electrical energy, and wherein the apparatus is configured such that under a condition of electrical energy being unavailable from the mains source of electrical energy, the radio signal receiver (where present) and/or the radio signal transmitter (where present) is/are powered by the battery source of electrical energy.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the apparatus is configured such that under a condition that electrical energy is available from the mains source of electrical energy,

(i) the radio signal receiver (where present) and/or radio signal transmitter (where present) is/are powered by the mains source of electrical energy, and/or

(ii) the radio signal receiver (where present) and/or radio signal transmitter (where present) is/are not powered by the battery source of electrical energy.

11. The apparatus of any one claims 1 to 10, comprising:

an audio output means configured to emit an audio communication encoded by the radio signal as received by the radio signal receiver (where present), or emit an audio alarm that is triggered by the radio signal as received by the radio signal receiver (where present); and/or

a visual output means configured to display a visual communication encoded by the radio signal as received by the radio signal receiver (where present), or emit a visual alarm that is triggered by the radio signal receiver (where present).

12. The apparatus of any one claims 5 to 11 , comprising an audio input means configured to receive an audio signal from the environs of the apparatus and convert the audio signal into an electrical signal suitable for input into the radio signal transmitter (where present).

13. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the combustion detector detects any one or more of: a smoke particle, heat, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide.

14. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 13, comprising a housing, wherein the housing encloses all or substantially all elements of the apparatus.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the housing has one or more openings configured to allow an airborne particle external the housing to enter the housing.

16. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 15, configured to be mounted on an internal ceiling or an internal wall of a human-habitable building.

17. A system for communication from a first party outside a building to a second party inside the building, the system comprising:

the apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 16 installed in or about the building,

and a radio signal transmitter of the first party,

wherein the system is configured such that, in use, the radio transmitter transmits a radio signal to the apparatus, and the radio signal is received by the apparatus.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the radio signal has a frequency that is used, or reserved for use, or exclusively used by an emergency service, a government agency, or a community organization.

19. The system of claim 17 or claim 18, wherein the radio signal has a frequency that is used, or reserved for use, or exclusively used by a publicly broadcasting radio station.

20. The system of any one of claims 17 to 19, wherein the radio signal has a frequency that is used, or reserved for use, or exclusively used for mobile telephony.

21. The system of any one claim 17 to 20, wherein the first party is an emergency service, a government agency, or a community organization and the second party is an occupant of a human-habitable building in which the apparatus is installed.

22. The system of any one of claims 17 to 21 , wherein the first party is a publically broadcasting radio station, and the second party is an occupant of a human-habitable building in which the apparatus is installed.

23. The system of any one of claims 17 to 22, wherein the first party is a mobile telephony provider, and the second party is an occupant of a human-habitable building in which the apparatus is installed.

24. The system of any one of claims 17 to 23, wherein the second party is an occupant of a human-habitable building in which the apparatus is installed, and the first party is concerned with the well-being of the occupant.

25. A system for communication from a first party inside a building to a second party outside the building, the system comprising:

the apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 16 installed in or about the building, and a radio signal receiver of the second party,

wherein the system is configured such that, in use, the radio transmitter of the second party transmits a radio signal to the apparatus, and the radio signal is received by the apparatus.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the radio signal has a frequency that is used, or reserved for use, or exclusively used by an emergency service, a government agency, or a community organization.

27. The system of claim 25 or claim 26, wherein the radio signal has a frequency that is used, or reserved for use, or exclusively used for mobile telephony.

28. The system of any one of claims 25 to 27, wherein the first party is an occupant of a human-habitable building in which the apparatus is installed and the second party is an emergency service, a government agency, or a community organization.

29. The system of any one of claims 25 to 28, wherein the first party is an occupant of a human-habitable building in which the apparatus is installed and the second party is a mobile telephony provider.

30. The system of any one of claims 25 to 28, wherein the first party is an occupant of a human-habitable building in which the apparatus is installed and the second party is concerned with the well-being of the occupant.

31. A method for duplex communication between a first party inside a building to a second party outside the building, the system comprising:

the apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 16 installed in or about the building, a radio signal transmitter of the second party, and

a radio signal receiver of the second party,

wherein the system is configured such that, in use, the radio signal transmitter of the second party transmits a first radio signal to the apparatus, and the first radio signal is received by the apparatus, and the radio signal transmitter of the apparatus transmits a second radio signal to the radio signal receiver of the second party, and the second radio signal is received the radio signal receiver of the second party.