Asset monitoring system and portable security system therefor

Abstract

A portable security system for monitoring an asset has one or more alarm sensors and a wireless transmitter/receiver that communicates via wireless communication with a host system. The portable security system is switchable between a disabled (partially powered) state and an enabled (fully powered state) in response to commands received from the host system. In an aspect, the portable security system has a plurality of alarm sensors which a user can separately activate and deactivate via the host system. In an aspect, the portable security system includes a base unit and an auxiliary unit. The base unit includes one or more of the alarm sensors that serves a dual purpose depending on whether the base unit is mated with the auxiliary unit. In an aspect, the host system can be utilized by multiple users to manage portable security systems associated with the respective users, including management by group. In an aspect, the host system notifies a user(s) of an alarm condition(s).

1 . A method of managing a portable security system having a base unit having a housing in which a controller, a wireless transmitter/receiver receiver are disposed, the wireless transmitter/receiver coupled to the controller, the portable security system having a plurality of alarm sensors coupled to the controller, the method comprising:
 accessing a host system and setting settings in the host system for which alarm sensors of the portable security system are to be active and which are to be inactive;   sending a configuration message from the host system to the portable security system via wireless communication that includes the set settings to configure the portable security system to set as active the alarm sensors that were set to be active and to set as inactive the alarm sensors that were set to be inactive;   setting with the controller in response to the configuration message the alarm sensors as active that were set to be active and setting the alarm sensors as inactive that were set to be inactive;   responding with the controller only to an alarm sensor that was set as active to generate with the controller an alarm message upon that alarm sensor sensing an alarm condition and providing an alarm signal to the controller and generating an alarm message with the controller in response thereto; and   sending with the wireless transmitter/receiver the alarm message via wireless communication to the host system.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  including accessing the host system and setting parameters for those alarm sensors that require parameters and including the set parameters in the configuration message sent to the portable security system. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  including accessing the host system and setting an arm/disarm status for the portable security system and sending an arm message from the host system to the portable security system via wireless communication to arm the portable security system when the arm/disarm status is set to arm and sending a disarm message from the host system to the portable security system via wireless communication to disarm the portable security system when the arm/disarm status is set to disarm. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  including setting in the host system an arm time and a disarm time for the security system and at the arm time sending the arm message from the host system to the portable security system and at the disarm time sending the disarm message from the host system to the portable security system. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  including accessing the host system and initiating a locate by setting a request locate for the portable security system and sending a locate request message from the host system to the portable security system via wireless communication when the request locate is set, obtaining location information via a global position sensor module and sending the location information via wireless communication with the wireless transmitter/receiver to the host system. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  including managing a plurality of security systems by accessing the host system and setting settings for each of the portable security systems to be configured to set which alarm sensors of each such security system are to be active and which are to be inactive and sending configuration messages to each such security system. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  including accessing the host system and setting parameters for those alarm sensors of each of the portable security systems that require parameters and including the settings for the parameters in the configuration message sent to the portable security system. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6  including accessing the host system and setting an arm/disarm status for each of the portable security systems to be armed/disarmed and sending an arm message to each portable security system to be armed via wireless communication to arm that portable security system when the arm/disarm status for that portable security system is set to arm and sending a disarm message to the portable security system via wireless communication to disarm the portable security system when the arm/disarm status is set to disarm. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 6  including assigning in the host system two or more of the portable security systems to one or more groups and accessing the host system and setting settings for one or more of the groups group to set the settings for each portable security system assigned to each such group and sending configuration messages from the host system to each portable security system assigned to each such group. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  including accessing the host system and setting parameters for those alarm sensors that require parameters for one or more of the groups and including the settings for the parameters in the configuration messages sent to the portable security systems assigned to each such group. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 6  including assigning in the host system two or more of the portable security systems to one or more groups and accessing the host system and setting arm/disarm statuses for one or more of the groups group to set the arm/disarm status and sending an arm message to each portable security system assigned to each such group when the arm/disarm status for that group is set to arm and sending a disarm message to each portable security system assigned to each such group when the arm/disarm status for that group is set to disarm. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1  including setting in the host system contact information for a plurality of contacts for the host system to contact upon receipt of the alarm message, the contact information including prioritization information, the host system sending a notification message to one or more of the contacts based on the prioritization information. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  wherein the host system sends the notification messages to the contacts based on priority order with the host system sending the notification message to the next lower priority contact only if the host system receives no response from the contact to which it sent the notification message. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12  wherein the alarm message is one of a plurality of different types of alarm messages, the method including setting in the host system contact information for a plurality of contacts for the host system to contact upon receipt of the alarm message wherein different contacts are associated with different ones of the different types of alarm messages, and the host system sending a notification message upon receipt of the alarm message to the contact associated with the type of alarm message that corresponds to the received alarm message. 
     
     
         15 . A method of managing a plurality of portable security systems, each portable security system having a base unit having a housing in which a controller, a wireless transmitter and a wireless receiver are disposed, the wireless transmitter and the wireless receiver coupled to the controller, the portable security system having a plurality of alarm sensors coupled to the controller, the method comprising:
 assigning in a host system two or more portable security systems to one or more groups,   setting settings in the host system for one or more of the groups group to set settings for each portable security system assigned to each such group and sending configuration messages from the host system to each portable security system assigned to each such group;   sending a configuration message from the host system to each portable security system assigned to each such group via wireless communication that includes the set settings to configure each portable security system assigned to each such group;   the controller of each portable security system receiving the configuration message configuring its portable security system according to the set settings in the configuration message.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the alarm sensors include a plurality of types of alarm sensors and setting the settings includes setting an active/inactive status for at least one of the types of alarm sensors. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the setting the settings include setting an arm/disarm status. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15  wherein setting the settings include setting an arm time and a disarm time. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15  wherein assigning the portable security systems to one or more groups includes assigning portable security systems associated with a first user to one or more groups associated with that first user and assigning portable security systems associated with a second user to one or more groups associated with that second user.