Monitoring apparatus and system

Abstract

An individual signal unit; each said individual signal unit including;(a) a transceiver module,(b) a power supply,(c) a logic circuit,(d) at least one of a number of external event sensors,and wherein a signal from a said individual signal unit to a central control facility causes said central control facility to execute one or more predefined steps; at least some of said predefined steps configured or reconfigurable by an owner of said individual signal unit; at least some of the predefined steps provided by one or more independent parties; at least some predetermined steps configured or reconfigurable by said independent parties.

1 . A system for monitoring and control of external sensors and output devices, comprising:
 one or more servers, configured to:   communicate over a Wide Area Network with at least one local signaling device;   register said signaling device to utilize functions provided by one or more third party output devices or external event sensors coupled to, or operating on the same Local Area Network as, said local signaling device, said third party output devices or external event sensors selectable by a registering entity from a plurality of third party output devices or external event sensors,   said registration comprising configuring, at least in part, through user data entry into a web-based interface, a set of predefined steps to be taken by said one or more servers in connection with said third party-provided functions;   receive a signal from said signaling device; and   in response to receiving said signal, execute at least some of said predefined steps, wherein said execution includes communicating instructions to said one or more third party output devices.   
     
     
         2 . The system for monitoring and control of external sensors and output devices of  claim 1 , wherein said communicating instructions to said one or more third party output devices comprises instructions to perform at least one action. 
     
     
         3 . The system for monitoring and control of external sensors and output devices of  claim 1 , wherein said communicating instructions to said one or more third party output devices comprises instructions to activate at least one feature of said third party output device. 
     
     
         4 . The system for monitoring and control of external sensors and output devices of  claim 1 , wherein said communicating instructions to said one or more third party output devices comprises instructions to deactivate at least one feature of said third party output device. 
     
     
         5 . The system for monitoring and control of external sensors and output devices of  claim 1 , wherein said communicating instructions to said one or more third party output devices comprises instructions to cause audio signals to be emitted from said third party output device. 
     
     
         6 . The system for monitoring and control of external sensors and output devices of  claim 1 , wherein said communicating instructions to said one or more third party output devices comprises instructions to lock or unlock a device. 
     
     
         7 . The system for monitoring and control of external sensors and output devices of  claim 1 , wherein said communicating instructions to said one or more third party output devices comprises transmitting instructions through said individual signal unit. 
     
     
         8 . The system for monitoring and control of external sensors and output devices of  claim 1 , wherein said communicating instructions to said one or more third party output devices comprises transmitting instructions other than through said individual signal unit. 
     
     
         9 . A system for monitoring and control of external sensors and output devices, comprising:
 one or more servers, configured to:   communicate over a Wide Area Network with at least one local signaling device;   register said signaling device to utilize functions provided by one or more third party output devices or external event sensors coupled to, or operating on the same Local Area Network as, said local signaling device, said third party output devices or external event sensors selectable by a registering entity from a plurality of third party output devices or external event sensors,   said registration comprising configuring, at least in part, through user data entry into a web-based interface, a set of predefined steps to be taken by said one or more servers in connection with said third party-provided functions;   receive a signal from said signaling device; and   in response to receiving said signal, execute at least some of said predefined steps, wherein said execution includes communicating to one or more users, as configured by user data entry into said web based interface, in response to events sensed by any one of said external event sensors.   
     
     
         10 . The individual signal unit of  claim 1 , wherein said communicating to one or more users comprises sending an email to said one or more users. 
     
     
         11 . The individual signal unit of  claim 1 , wherein said communicating to one or more users comprises sending a push notification to a mobile device of said one or more users. 
     
     
         12 . The individual signal unit of  claim 1 , wherein said communicating to one or more users comprises sending a text message to a mobile device of said one or more users. 
     
     
         13 . The individual signal unit of  claim 1 , wherein said communicating to one or more users comprises a communication indicating the time of the event. 
     
     
         14 . The individual signal unit of  claim 1 , wherein said communicating to one or more users comprises a communication indicating the nature of a detected event. 
     
     
         15 . The individual signal unit of  claim 1 , wherein said communicating to one or more users comprises a communication indicating a status of an item or a system.