FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a self-contained disaster condition monitoring system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is often noted that a person's home is often the biggest investment a person will make in their lifetime. Similarly, for many business entities, an office building, manufacturing facility, warehouse, etc., may be one of the largest assets of the entity. As such, it only stands to reason that individuals as well as business entities often take considerable measures to secure and protect their homes, offices, etc.

To this end, and as is required by local regulations in many places, it is commonplace for a smoke detector and/or sprinkler system to be present in many commercial as well as residential facilities. Likewise, with the advent of the Internet and extensive Wi-Fi communication networks, it is not uncommon for many facilities to include remote access capabilities, video surveillance and/or a variety of remote alarms to alert an owner of the property of events occurring therein or thereon.

Furthermore, there are myriad devices available to monitor for other potentially devastating conditions that may impact a facility, whether a single family dwelling or a major manufacturing facility. These devices include such things as early warning earthquake and tornado detectors, as well as devices to monitor for water and/or gas leaks in a facility. Many of these known devices include one or more remote or wireless sensors positioned in various locations throughout the facility in communication with one or more dedicated alarm server. As will be appreciated, considerable time and effort is required to position remote or wireless sensors throughout a facility as well as to establish proper remote and/or wireless communication links between the sensors and corresponding alarm servers.

Typically, such devices provide an alarm, which may be audible, visible, or both, in and/or around the facility in which the device is positioned to monitor, so as to alert occupants of a facility of an impending or occurring disaster such that they may take appropriate action up to and including evacuating the location. Many of these devices also transmit a wireless alarm signal, such as via a Wi-Fi signal transmitted via an Internet connection, to an owner of the property so as to alert the owner of an impending and/or ongoing hazardous event occurring on the owner's property. Increasingly, such devices are configured to transmit an SMS text message directly to an owner or user of a particular monitoring device via the owner our user's cell phone or smart phone.

There are basically three types of SMS text messaging communication links in operation today. The first type of SMS text messaging communication link comprises a device sending a signal to a server via a remote Wi-Fi communication network. The server generates an SMS text message and subsequently transmits the SMS text message to an intended recipient via a cellular communication network. While effective under normal operating conditions, this first type of SMS text messaging communication link requires access to the Internet, which often requires a powered router or Wi-Fi hotspot. However, in the event of a disaster, it is not uncommon for disruptions to occur in electrical transmission lines as well as to Internet service itself. While backup power supplies may be provided to power a server and router in the event of a loss of power, the relatively large power consumption of these devices may severely limit their operational service life while relying upon a backup power supply. This may be further compounded for a facility having multiple types of monitoring devices communicating with different servers dedicated to the operation of each specific type of monitoring device, e.g., smoke detection, water detection, gas leak detection, etc.

Another type of SMS text messaging communication link involves a device transmitting a signal to a server via a cellular communication network. As before, the server generates an SMS text message and transmits it to an intended recipient via the same cellular communication. As will be appreciated, this type of SMS text messaging communication link requires considerable additional bandwidth of the cellular communication network which the device signals and the SMS text messages are being transmitted. Again, while effective under normal conditions, in the event of a disaster increase reliance upon cellular communication networks may because this type of SMS text messaging communication link to be unreliable, perhaps for long periods of time. Also, and as before, this may be further compounded for a facility having multiple types of monitoring devices communicating with different servers dedicated to the operation of each specific type of monitoring device, thereby further increasing the bandwidth requirements for operation of such systems.

Lastly, an SMS text messaging communication link consist of a device which directly generates an SMS text message and transmits the SMS text message via a cellular communication network. As will be appreciated, this form of an SMS text messaging communication link requires the least amount of bandwidth, thereby increasing the likelihood of transmittal of an SMS text message, even while the cellular communication network is experiencing high-volume usage, such as would be expected in the event of some form of disaster. It is further to be appreciated that this form of an SMS text messaging communication link is likely the last to fail as well as the first to recover in the event of a disruption due to some type of disaster.

Accordingly, there is an established need for a solution to one or more of the aforementioned shortcomings in currently available monitoring systems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed generally to a self-contained disaster condition monitoring system. More in particular, in at least one embodiment the present invention is directed to a self-contained disaster condition monitoring system dimensioned and configured for rapid deployment and activation prior to evacuation of a location to alert a user of one or more disaster conditions at the location via a personal electronic device.

In a first implementation of the invention, a self-contained disaster condition monitoring system dimensioned and configured for rapid deployment and activation prior to evacuation of a location to alert a user of one or more disaster conditions at the location via a personal electronic device may have: a self-contained housing assembly including a housing unit; the self-contained housing assembly equipped with a self-contained monitoring assembly comprising at least one of a disaster condition sensor or a disaster condition detector, a user interface assembly operable to configure at least one of the disaster condition sensor or the disaster condition detector of the self-contained monitoring assembly; a communication assembly including an SMS communication module configured to transmit a direct SMS alarm message to the personal electronic device upon detection of at least one disaster condition; and, a power supply assembly disposed to provide power to the self-contained monitoring assembly, the user interface assembly and the communication assembly.

In a second aspect, the self-contained disaster condition monitoring system can include a self-contained monitoring assembly having a trace water detector.

In another aspect, the self-contained disaster condition monitoring system may have a self-contained monitoring assembly including at least one water level sensor to determine a presence of water proximate a self-contained housing assembly.

In a further aspect, the self-contained disaster condition monitoring system can include a self-contained monitoring assembly having a plurality of water level sensors to determine a presence of water proximate a self-contained housing assembly.

In one other aspect, the self-contained disaster condition monitoring system may have a self-contained monitoring assembly including a temperature sensor.

In yet another aspect, the self-contained disaster condition monitoring system can include a self-contained monitoring assembly having at least one hazardous gas detector.

In still one further aspect, the self-contained disaster condition monitoring system may have a self-contained monitoring assembly including a plurality of hazardous gas detectors.

In yet one other aspect, the self-contained disaster condition monitoring system can include a self-contained monitoring assembly having a seismic activity detector.

In still another aspect, the self-contained disaster condition monitoring system may have a self-contained monitoring assembly including a radiation detector, such as a Geiger counter.

In yet one further aspect, the self-contained disaster condition monitoring system can include a communication assembly having an SMS antenna mounted to a housing unit to transmit a direct SMS alarm message to a personal electronic device upon detection of at least one disaster condition.

In still one other aspect, the self-contained disaster condition monitoring system may have a user interface assembly including a selection button operable by a user to select from a plurality of configuration parameters.

In yet another aspect, the self-contained disaster condition monitoring system can include a user interface further having an LED status indicator having a plurality of LED lights operable in a plurality of lighting arrays each indicative of a different one of the plurality of configuration parameters.

In still one further aspect, the self-contained disaster condition monitoring system may have a communication assembly including a Wi-Fi communication module to connect to the Internet.

In yet one other aspect, the self-contained disaster condition monitoring system can include a power supply assembly having an external power supply interconnect.

In still another aspect, the self-contained disaster condition monitoring system may have a power supply assembly including a backup power supply.

In yet one further aspect, a self-contained disaster condition monitoring system dimensioned and configured for rapid deployment and activation prior to evacuation of a location to alert a user of one or more disaster conditions at a location via a personal electronic device can include: a self-contained housing assembly having a housing unit with a base unit mounted to a portion thereof to maintain the housing unit in an operative monitoring orientation; the self-contained housing assembly equipped with a self-contained monitoring assembly comprising at least one disaster condition sensor and at least one disaster condition detector; a user interface assembly comprising a selection button and an LED status indicator, the user interface assembly operable to configure the at least one disaster condition sensor of the self-contained monitoring assembly with at least one disaster condition alarm limit; the user interface assembly operable to configure the at least one disaster condition detector of the self-contained monitoring assembly with at least one other disaster condition alarm limit; a communication assembly including an SMS communication module and an SMS antenna cooperatively configured to transmit a direct SMS alarm message to the personal electronic device upon detection of at least one disaster condition; and, a power supply assembly disposed to provide power to the self-contained monitoring assembly, the user interface assembly and the communication assembly.

In still one other aspect, the self-contained disaster condition monitoring system may have a communication assembly including a Wi-Fi communications module to connect to the Internet and download system software upgrades.

In yet another aspect, the self-contained disaster condition monitoring system can include a communication assembly having a short-range wireless communication module to permit configuration of the self-contained monitoring assembly via the portable electronic device.

In still one further aspect, the self-contained disaster condition monitoring system may have a communication assembly further comprises a global positioning satellite module to permit the location of the self-contained housing assembly to be determined.

In still one further aspect, the self-contained disaster condition monitoring system may have a self-contained disaster condition monitoring system dimensioned and configured for rapid deployment and activation prior to evacuation of a location to alert a user of one or more disaster conditions at a location via a personal electronic device can include: a self-contained housing assembly having a housing unit with a base unit including a plurality of self-leveling support legs mounted to a portion thereof to maintain the housing unit in an operative monitoring orientation; the self-contained housing assembly equipped with a self-contained monitoring assembly comprising one or more of a trace water detector, a water level sensor, a temperature sensor, a hazardous gas detector and a radiation detector; a user interface assembly comprising a selection button and an LED status indicator, the user interface assembly operable to configure each of the water trace detector, the water level sensor, the temperature sensor, the hazardous gas detector and the radiation detector of the self-contained monitoring assembly with at least one corresponding disaster condition alarm limit; a controller assembly comprising a processor disposed in communication with the self-contained monitoring assembly to receive one or more disaster condition alarm signals from the self-contained monitoring assembly; a communication assembly including an SMS communication module and an SMS antenna cooperatively configured to transmit a direct SMS alarm message to the personal electronic device; the processor further configured to communicate with the communication assembly upon receipt of one or more disaster condition alarm signals from the self-contained monitoring assembly and to instruct the communication assembly to transmit to the direct SMS alarm message; and, a power supply assembly disposed to provide power to the self-contained sensor assembly, the user interface assembly, the communication assembly and the controller assembly.

These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the attached drawings and the detailed description of the embodiments, which follow.

