U.S. patent application number 10/430631 was filed with the patent office on 2004-02-19 for wireless community alerting system.
This patent application is currently assigned to Vinewood Technical Services, Inc.. Invention is credited to Kacalek, Todd N., Wolf, Blake A., Wright, Thomas C..
Application Number | 20040034689 10/430631 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 22182199 |
Filed Date | 2004-02-19 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040034689 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Kacalek, Todd N. ; et
al. |
February 19, 2004 |
Wireless community alerting system
Abstract
A pager-based alert system includes a monitor center that is in
telephonic or data communication with a paging station allowing the
command center to send multi-digit code words where selected digits
comprise an address for selecting one or more of a plurality of
physical units (paging receivers) and to direct the receiver to
output visible and/or audible signals indicative of a particular
alert condition. By providing the physical unit with graphic icons
overlaying the visual indicators, an observer can readily determine
the nature of the alert condition so that appropriate remedial
action can be taken.
Inventors: |
Kacalek, Todd N.; (Plymouth,
MN) ; Wright, Thomas C.; (Tucson, AZ) ; Wolf,
Blake A.; (Eden Prairie, MN) |
Correspondence
Address: |
NIKOLAI & MERSEREAU, P.A.
900 SECOND AVENUE SOUTH
SUITE 820
MINNEAPOLIS
MN
55402
US
|
Assignee: |
Vinewood Technical Services,
Inc.
Plymouth
MN
|
Family ID: |
22182199 |
Appl. No.: |
10/430631 |
Filed: |
May 6, 2003 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
10430631 |
May 6, 2003 |
|
|
|
10084011 |
Feb 25, 2002 |
|
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|
Current U.S.
Class: |
709/206 ;
455/458; 719/318 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G08B 27/006 20130101;
G08B 3/1091 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
709/206 ;
719/318; 455/458 |
International
Class: |
G06F 015/16; H04Q
007/20 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. An electronic messaging system comprising: (a) a monitoring
center for accepting alerts from authorized agencies including the
Federal Department of Homeland Security; (b) at least one paging
terminal having the ability to broadcast a radio frequency carrier
suitably modulated with information including addressing data and
message data, said at least one paging terminal adapted to receive
paging instructions from said monitoring center pertaining to an
alert; (c) a plurality of physical units, each including (i) a
receiver tuned to said carrier frequency, the receiver including a
demodulator for recovering the addressing data and message data,
(ii) a microprocessor coupled to receive the addressing data and
message data, the microprocessor having a memory for storing a code
list, and (iii) a plurality of visual signaling devices controlled
by the microprocessor, selected ones of the plurality of visual
signaling devices being activated only when received addressing
data matches an entry in said code list, said plurality of visual
signaling devices including a color-coded display indicative of a
level of threat of terrorist attack as established by the
Department of Homeland Security.
2. The electronic messaging system of claim 1 wherein the one(s) of
the plurality of visual signaling devices activated is determined
from said message data.
3. The electronic messaging system of claim 2 wherein the visual
signaling devices are light sources.
4. The electronic messaging system of claim 3 and further including
icons adapted to be illuminated by said light sources, the icons
representing the nature of alerts being signaled.
5. The electronic messaging system of claim 4 and further including
colored, transparent overlays illuminated by said light sources,
said overlays being colored and lettered in accordance with a
standard established by the Federal Department of Homeland
Security.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No.
10/084,011, filed Feb. 25, 2002, and entitled "Wireless Community
Alerting System".
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] This invention relates generally to electronic messaging
systems, and more particularly, to a pager-based community alerting
system for informing subscribers of immediate or impending
conditions so that an appropriate response may be made.
[0004] 2. Discussion of the Prior Art
[0005] The prior art includes a large number of patents and
publications relating to emergency warning systems whereby members
of the public can be alerted to such events as dangerous weather
conditions, terrorist activities, environmental hazards and the
like. The Lemelson et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,084,510 describes a
danger warning and emergency response system having an extensive
listing of prior art relating to such systems. The apparatus of the
Lemelson '510 patent is intended to provide emergency information
to large multitudes of persons who may be in harms way. Given the
fact that the implementation described in the '510 patent calls for
satellites, pilotless aircraft, a downlink to a command center
having one or more computers for analyzing received information
from the satellites to arrive at a "danger index" as well as a
ground base radio broadcasting system, the implementation cost
would price the system out of reach of most subscribers.
[0006] The prior art is also replete with systems specifically
designed for warning citizens of impending natural disasters, such
as tornadoes, hurricanes, heavy snow and ice storms in an affected
geographical area. For example, the Uber et al. U.S. Pat. No.
4,633,515 describes an emergency broadcast alert system that
comprises a radio receiver referred to as a "scanner" that is
designed to lock onto a broadcasted signal in the presence of
noise. The receiver then repeatedly scans within a predetermined
frequency band, looking for a transmitted signal from the National
Weather Service and the receiver then provides an audible alarm so
that one would, therefore, have to resort to broadcast television
or radio to find out the storm path and expected time of arrival in
a given geographical area. Thus, while the Uber system is
relatively inexpensive, it lacks a capability to promptly advise a
listener of important information relating to a potentially
dangerous storm.
[0007] U.S. Pat. No. 6,177,873 to Cragun also describes a weather
warning system that includes a communication link for receiving
transmitted alerts (weather warnings/watches). It also includes a
user interface that allows for selection of different geographic
areas so that weather conditions affecting areas other than those
of interest are filtered out. For proper operation, it is essential
that the system be preprogrammed to identify geographical areas and
weather intensity parameters. The ability to program the system may
exceed the capabilities of many end-users.
[0008] Thus, a need exists for a subscriber-based alerting system
that is inexpensive to implement and, thus, well within the budget
of most persons occupying houses, apartments and other residential
units as well as commercial and government establishments and that
requires little or no manual involvement, yet is both versatile and
reliable in operation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] According to the present invention, an electronic messaging
system for both emergency and non-emergency events affecting
different communities or subscriber groupings comprises a
monitoring center for accepting and verifying alerts from
authorized agencies. The monitoring center may be coupled through a
public switched telephone network or dedicated data network to at
least one paging provider network having the ability to broadcast a
radio-frequency carrier suitably modulated with information,
including addressing data and message data, based upon paging data
input from the monitoring center pertaining to an alert. A
plurality of physical units are installed in residential,
commercial, and government buildings. Each includes a receiver,
tunable to the carrier frequency of a paging provider network, a
demodulator for recovering the address data and message data sent
by the paging terminal, a microprocessor coupled to receive the
addressing and message data, where the microprocessor further
includes a memory that stores a list of codes pertinent to a
particular end user physical unit. The physical units also include
a plurality of visual and audible signaling devices that become
activated between an off-state, an on-state, or a blinking-state
only when received addressing data matches an entry in the physical
unit's stored code list. The physical units may also include an
alphanumeric display to convey verbiage pertaining to a particular
alert.
[0010] In accordance with a further feature of the invention, a
graphics icon may be associated with each of the visual indicating
devices to readily convey in a non-lingual manner the nature of the
alert being sent to occupants viewing the physical unit. For
example, the icon may comprise a funnel cloud to represent a
tornado warning or an automobile to indicate parking
restrictions.
[0011] Various other features and advantages of the invention will
become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following
detailed description of a preferred embodiment, especially when
considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which
like numerals in the several views refer to corresponding
parts.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] FIG. 1 is a general block diagram of the electronic
messaging system comprising a preferred embodiment of the present
invention;
[0013] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of each of the physical units (PU)
illustrated in FIG. 1;
[0014] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the Status & Message
Display Module shown in FIG. 2;
[0015] FIG. 4 is a front perspective view of a physical unit
showing the layout of visual signaling devices thereon;
[0016] FIG. 5 shows a series of icons used on the unit of FIG.
4;
[0017] FIG. 6 is a functional flow diagram helpful in understanding
the software algorithms used in implementing the system of FIG. 1;
and
[0018] FIG. 7 is an overlay for a physical unit incorporating the
current Homeland Security Advisory System for indication of a level
of terrorist threat.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0019] Referring first to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a system
block diagram of the electronic messaging system of the present
invention. It comprises a monitoring center 10 that is coupled by a
communications link 12 to a paging provider network 14 having
transmission equipment for broadcasting information to one or more
physical units 16. Virtually many thousands, millions or an
unlimited number of physical units 16 may be incorporated into the
messaging system contemplated.
[0020] The monitoring center 10 incorporates a computing and
communications networking equipment and an operator who may receive
a variety of alerts from authorized public and/or private agencies
or individuals. The operator at the monitoring center determines
the legitimacy of the alert in question. He/she may then contact
the paging provider network, sending an alpha and/or numeric
message, via a public switched telephone network or data network to
the paging transmitter 14 of a licensed paging service provider.
The paging transmitter receives, processes, stores and forwards
information input by the monitoring center 10 staff who has
validated the call by determining the authenticity of the calling
agency or individual. An RF transmission system owned by the paging
company is often comprised of a plurality of transmitters capable
of accepting data from the telephone lines. It should be
understood, however, that instead of telephone lines, the
communication link 12 may also comprise an RF link, data network or
satellite transmission. Upon decoding the alert data, the
transmitter translates the paging data into a signal that modulates
an RF carrier signal of a desired frequency.
[0021] The physical units 16 are modified versions of commercially
available receivers, which can be leased from a paging service
provider or purchased through various retailers, and are adapted to
receive messages transmitted to it from the pager terminal 14.
[0022] Once the paging transmitter 14 receives a page message from
the monitoring center 10, it processes, stores and forwards the
information to another paging transmitter through its
communications network and/or ultimately on to the physical unit(s)
16. The processing step involves encoding the paging data for
transmission through the carrier paging system. Typically, an
encoder accepts the incoming paging message, validates the pager
address and "encodes" the address and page data into the
appropriate paging signaling protocol. Once the page is encoded, it
is sent to the RF link system, which includes the link transmitter
and link receiver. A link transmitter sends the page to a link
receiver, which is located at another paging terminal site along
the channel. The transmitters of the paging terminal(s) then
broadcast the page across the coverage area on the specified
carrier frequency.
[0023] Once data is received from the encoder, the paging protocol
employed at the paging transmitter 14 organizes the message into
frames of data, which is a specified sized packet of data bits. One
popular paging protocol developed by the Motorola Company is
referred to as FLEX.RTM.. In it there are a total of 128 frames and
it takes exactly four minutes to transmit all 128 frames. The FLEX
protocol provides a variety of common services, such as message
routing, encryption, data compression to enable applications to
send messages reliably, securely and efficiently over the
communication channel comprising one or more paging terminal(s) 14
to the physical units 16. Other protocols are also available.
[0024] Turning next to FIG. 2, there is shown a block diagram of
each of the plurality of physical units 16. The heart of the
physical unit 16 is a receiver module 18 coupled to receive the
encoded messages transmitted by the pager transmitter 14. Without
limitation, the receiver 18 may be a Motorola Type LS350, which is
operatively coupled to a microprocessor 20, preferably a microchip
Type TMP86FS41 Flash-based 8-bit CMOS microcontroller. While this
microcontroller is not the only commercially available unit that
can be used, its architecture provides a 16-bit wide instruction
word with separate 8-bit wide data buses. A two-stage instruction
pipeline allows all instructions to execute in a single cycle
except for programmed branches. It incorporates a large register
set that can be used to achieve very high performance. As such, it
is well suited to use in home appliances, consumer electronics and
hand-held electronics. Because of its wide application, it has a
relatively low cost, making it a good choice for use in the present
invention.
[0025] The microprocessor-based controller 20 is connected in
controlling relation to a status & message display module 22.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the status & message display
driver 22 and it preferably comprises a microcontroller 24 that is
connected to data lines 26 and 28 by way of a data interface
comprising NPN transistor switches 30 and 32, respectively.
[0026] The microcontroller 24, preferably a PIC 16F62
microcontroller, is especially designed to function as a display
driver and its outputs are connected through current limiting
resistors, as at 34, to visual signaling devices, here shown as
LEDs 36-48. Ten of these LEDs (36-45) are used to convey alert
message information to an observer while the remaining three
(46-48) provide information as to the operating status of the
system. One of the status indicators 46 is illuminated as long as
alternating current power is being applied to the physical unit. A
second indicator, 47, may be used to indicate the charge status of
the back-up battery used in the system and the remaining status
indicator 48 may be used to indicate that the system is disabled
because, for example, a subscriber has not paid the monthly charge
for the alerting service. An alpha readout 49 could also be
included in addition to the visual signaling devices to provide
further information to the end user.
[0027] Certain emergency conditions may require immediate action on
the part of a subscriber. For example, a tornado warning may take
place at a time that a subscriber is sleeping or otherwise out of
visual contact with the physical unit. For this reason, an audible
signaling device termed a siren is also included in the physical
unit as represented by block 50 in FIG. 2. The issuance of an
audible signal by the system results in the subscriber moving to a
position to visually examine the physical unit's display panel to
become advised of the nature of the alert.
[0028] To provide a more observable visual indication that a
physical unit has received an alert message, a "visual enhancer" in
the form of a flashing light bar, star or other pattern is provided
as represented by block 52 in FIG. 2. In implementing block 52, the
same type of display driver as is implemented in the Status &
Message display 22 can be used. Upon receipt of an alarm-enable,
the PIC 16 F62 microcontroller executes a program causing a
plurality of light-emitting diodes that are physically arranged in
a desired pattern to blink on and off either in synchronism or
sequentially so as to create the illusion of movement. A subscriber
noticing the flashing pattern would then approach the physical unit
and view the particular alert message(s) being displayed by the
visual signaling devices (LEDs) 36-45. The microcontroller 20 is
also coupled to a set of contacts to control the operation of
remotely located devices such as, but not limited to horns, light
flashers, and vibrating devices as represented by block 54 in FIG.
2. Thus, in a commercial or industrial installation, an
audible/visual signaling device located in a building remote from
the physical unit itself can be actuated by an appropriate message
picked up by the receiver 18 and processed by the microcontroller
20. The sounding or flashing device has its own power source that
becomes connected to it when a "remote set" signal from
microcontroller 20 actuates appropriate relay contacts (not shown).
Those relay contacts become reset or reopened upon receipt of a
remote-rst signal from the microcontroller 20.
[0029] It has also been found expedient to provide a historical
memory in the physical unit itself for recording the time and date
and type of alert events received by the physical unit in question.
The historical memory is represented by block 56 and preferably may
comprise an Electrically Erasable PROM memory such as a Type
24LC16B device. It has 16 kilobits, organized as eight blocks of
256.times.8-bit memory. Those skilled in the art will appreciate,
however, that other commercially available memory devices can be
used as well.
[0030] With continued reference to FIG. 2, provision is made for
manually resetting a physical unit following receipt of an alert
message. The only end user input/control for the physical unit is a
push-button momentary contact switch which when depressed causes a
signal to be applied to the reset (RST) input to the receiver 18
and a /RST input to microcontroller 20 and selected inputs of the
status & message display 22, the audible alarm 50 and the
remote switch 54.
[0031] The central power module 57 (FIG. 2) comprises a full wave
rectifier for converting AC line power to a DC voltage as well as
conventional integrated circuit voltage regulators for providing
the requisite operating voltages for the receiver 18, the CPU 20
and the circuits 22, 52, 54 and 56 shown in the system block
diagram of FIG. 2. The central power 57 also includes a DC battery
backup, which takes over in the event of AC line power failure. A 9
volt battery fits into a compartment that is wired so as to render
the compartment polarity insensitive. As such, it matters not which
way the battery is inserted in the compartment. This avoids system
malfunction in the event of an AC power failure if a subscriber had
improperly inserted the battery into a battery compartment that has
not been so wired as to be polarity insensitive.
[0032] Referring to FIG. 4, there is shown a front perspective view
of a physical unit 16 showing the layout of visual and audible
signaling devices thereon. It comprises a box-like housing 56 in
which printed circuit boards (not shown) carrying the circuitry
depicted in the block diagram of FIG. 2 reside. The alert message
visual signaling devices 36-45 may be arranged in a horizontal row
while the status visual indicators 46, 47 and 48 may be grouped
separately and may be arranged in a vertical pattern on the housing
56. The audible alarm (siren) 50 is disposed behind the top cover
with an aperture through which the sound is emitted. The reset
button 60 for the system reset block 62 in FIG. 2 also projects
through an aperture formed in the housing 56 and is an integral
part of the top overlay so as to be accessible to the
subscriber.
[0033] The "visual enhancer" light array, as at 62, may also be
provided. The on/off state of the individual LEDs is controlled by
the microprocessor 20, which is adapted to send a signal over line
64 in FIG. 2 to the block 52 labeled Alarm Display. The LEDs in the
array 62 are shown as being arranged in a star-shaped pattern, but
other patterns may be used as well. By causing the array 76 to
blink on and off at a desired rate, the fact that a message has
been received by the physical unit 16 can readily be discerned
whereby the subscriber can then more closely examine the physical
unit and note which one(s) of the message indicators 36-45 has
(have) been activated.
[0034] To render the nature of an alert condition more
understandable, in accordance with the present invention, a
suitable icon is associated with and possibly overlaid upon each of
the message indicators. FIG. 5 illustrates only a few of the
possible icons that may be applied over their associated LEDs so as
to become illuminated when a particular alert event is being
transmitted to the physical unit. In FIG. 5, icon A can be
associated with, say, LED 36 in FIG. 3 to thereby indicate receipt
of a tornado alert from the paging station. Icon B in FIG. 5 can be
made overlay the LED 37 in FIG. 3, which then becomes illuminated
when the alert condition being transmitted is a severe
thunderstorm. Likewise, icon C may be associated with LED 38 to
signal a snowstorm or blizzard. Icon D in FIG. 5 can be positioned
over LED 39 to indicate a school closing alert. By controlling the
LED 39, it can be made to blink to indicate a two-hour delay or it
may remain on steadily to indicate an all day closing. Similarly,
icon E representing a school bus may overlay the LED 40 to signal
that buses are running late.
[0035] Those skilled in the art will recognize that the icons
presented in FIG. 4 are somewhat arbitrary and are provided only as
an example of how a particular alert being transmitted to the unit
16 is to be interpreted. Further information on the severity or
urgency of a particular alert can be conveyed by a judicious choice
of LED color for the message indicators.
[0036] Assume that an authorized individual or agency wishes to
issue an alert to all subscribers residing in a given geographical
area. The address code broadcast by the paging station may be based
upon postal zip codes, which consume only five (or nine depending
on the degree of localization desired) digits out of the total
number of digits used. This leaves ample capacity for storing
additional code digits for further defining particular subscriber
physical units and alert types to which given physical unit 16 can
be responsive.
[0037] The present invention also has the capability to issue and
display multiple types of alerts simultaneously. For example, in
the case of a snow storm in a particular area, an alert for the
storm itself, and a school closing occasioned by the storm can be
simultaneously displayed. The capability also exists for one
physical unit 16 to be located in multiple physical or logical
zones. For example, one physical unit could be part of weather zone
1 and school zone 1. A different physical unit could also be a part
of weather zone 1 but reside in school zone 2. It is also possible
to program a physical unit residing in weather zone 1 to respond to
alerts for both weather zone 1 and weather zone 7, even if weather
zone 7 is physically separate by geographical distance. Logical
groups of common interest can also be alerted simultaneously,
regardless of their geographic distance from one another. For
example, members of the armed forces could reside in geographically
disperse areas but could be considered as one logical group.
[0038] Having described the apparatus involved in implementing the
present invention, consideration will next be given to its mode of
operation. In this regard, reference is made to the flow diagram of
FIG. 6, which is illustrative of the algorithm executed by the
hardware. Referring to block 66, an event occurs or a condition
develops that requires the notification of an individual or group
of individuals or a group of people having physical units 16 and
subscribing to the alerting service. An authorized party, such as
the Federal Department of Homeland Security, the National Weather
Service, the State Patrol, a school district superintendent or a
city official initially determines at decision block 68 whether the
event is of a nature requiring notification to subscribers. If so,
the authorized individual contacts the monitoring center 10 by a
voice telephone call, fax message, e-mail, etc. (block 70).
Notification in all cases will consist of the type of event or
condition that exists, which may be an emergency or non-emergency.
The notification will also specify the physical or logical area to
be covered. Examples of an emergency event may include severe
weather conditions, an environmental disaster or the like. A
non-emergency event may be the existence of a lawn sprinkling ban
to conserve water, delayed school openings and periodic system
tests that are regularly scheduled and issued automatically by the
monitoring center for the purpose of performing a non-intrusive end
to end test of the system. System tests can be performed on a per
physical unit basis, a group by group basis, or globally to include
all units.
[0039] A determination is made at decision block 72 to verify that
the caller is authorized to initiate the type of alert to be
issued. If the caller does not have the proper level of
authorization, he is so advised and no alert is issued (block
74).
[0040] If, on the other hand, the individual calling the monitoring
center is authorized to issue a particular alert, the monitoring
center dials the appropriate pager number(s), or accesses the
paging service provide via a data network (block 76). It should be
recalled at this point that all of the physical units 16 contain
paging receivers 18 that are preprogrammed to respond to the same
CAP code. All of the physical units will, therefore, receive all
messages sent from the paging station 14 that are associated with
that paging telephone number, whether it is intended that those
particular physical units are to respond or not. The determination
as to whether or not a particular physical unit should respond is
made by comparing the incoming signal data stream and the database,
which resides in the physical unit, looking for a match as a result
of the comparison.
[0041] A test is made at decision block 78 as to whether the
monitoring center has received a pager tone or data connection
confirmation and, if not, control loops back over line 80 causing
the monitoring center to redial the pager number or reconnect the
data network until the test at decision block 78 is satisfied. At
this point, the monitoring center inputs the appropriate data such
as, but not limited to a 16 decimal digit code (block 82). This
code represents a combination of whether or not one or more of the
physical units 16 should respond to the input code and the manner
in which the response is to be made. To include a single physical
unit, the unit's unique address would be sent along with the data
stream instructing the unit as to how to respond. To address
multiple units simultaneously, the use of "wild card" characters
would be used to indicate all users of a particular sub group. For
example, if the address data of each unit was nine characters long,
wild card characters in place of digits six through nine would
alert all units matching the first five digits irrespective of what
the last four digits were. The use of wild card characters for all
nine digits would equate to all units, therefore all unit would
respond to the following string of data which would convey exactly
how the physical unit should respond.
[0042] It is to be recalled at this point that all of the physical
units 16 are preprogrammed with a list of one or more codes to
which they will respond. All physical units are also preprogrammed
with instructions as to how they should respond to a given code
that matches one on their list, e.g., visual signal only, audible
signal only, both visual and audible signals, whether the remote
contacts should be actuated, etc. Furthermore, multiple codes can
be stacked on an individual physical unit meaning, for example,
that a visual indication indicative of severe weather and sound can
be turned on simultaneously when a test light also has been turned
on.
[0043] A test is made at decision block 84 to determine whether the
physical units receive the code from the paging transmitter and, if
not, control again passes over line 80 causing the monitoring
center to again redial the pager number. If, however, the code was
properly received, the subscriber unit responds appropriately to
the notification. The subscriber's attention is captured by the
flashing "visual enhancer" 62 and by the individual visual
signaling LEDs and/or sound output. Their focus is then brought to
the individual light(s) that are illuminated. The screening which
overlays the individual lights bearing the icons serves to indicate
what the particular light represents. Additional information may be
communicated via an alpha display screen 49 as well.
[0044] If the subscriber desires to cancel the notification, he or
she can depress the user interface button 60 and if the physical
unit's programming allows, shut off the light and/or sound. It is
be understood, however, that certain notifications are not able to
be reset by the end-user and will require cancellation from the
monitoring center via the same process used in which they were
individually actuated, it being understood that a different code is
employed to terminate a notification.
[0045] The present invention is readily adaptable for use as a part
of the Federal Government's Homeland Security Advisory System
(HSAS) to disseminate information regarding the risk of terrorist
attacks to federal, state and local authorities as well as to
members of the public. The HSAS includes five levels of potential
risk. Referring to FIG. 7, in addition to the icons described
previously, there are provided five additional colored overlays
adapted to be back-lit by underlying LED devices. The color coding
of green, blue, yellow, orange and red correspond to the colors
used in the HSAS. In addition, the colored icons include the words
"low", "guarded", "elevated", "high" and "severe" in accordance
with the HSAS standards. In adopting the overlay of FIG. 7, the
icons in row 90 will overlay the LED lights 36-45 shown in FIG. 4
and the bar 92 would be used as the attention attractor rather than
the star-shaped configuration shown in FIG. 4. Five additional LEDs
would be added to the physical unit 16 to back light the HSAS
status indicators shown in row 94. The three overlays shown in the
vertical column 96 will overlay the LEDs 46, 47 and 48 to provide
an indication of whether AC power, battery backup or a disabled
state of the unit is active, all as previously described. Finally,
if the physical unit incorporates an alpha/numeric LCD display, a
cutout may be provided in the overlay 89 allowing messages to show
through. The area labeled "PRESS" overlays the "RESET" button in
FIG. 4.
[0046] From what has been heretofore described, it should be
apparent how messages can be formatted and sent to the physical
units for causing a selected one of the threat level indicators in
row 94 to be illuminated as the alert level is issued by the
Department of Homeland Security.
[0047] This invention has been described herein in considerable
detail in order to comply with the patent statutes and to provide
those skilled in the art with the information needed to apply the
novel principles and to construct and use such specialized
components as are required. However, it is to be understood that
the invention can be carried out by specifically different
equipment and devices, and that various modifications, both as to
the equipment and operating procedures, can be accomplished without
departing from the scope of the invention itself.
* * * * *