Patent ID: 7630776

Claim:
A system for generating alerts at a number of geographically spaced apart light poles used to illuminate a street, boardwalk, or other pedestrian area comprising: a number of alerting devices affixed to a corresponding number of the light poles, the alerting devices being configured to output a message to a surrounding area depending on conditions sensed by the alerting devices for the surrounding area; a controller configured to communicate a control strategy to the alerting devices, the control strategy specifying the messages to be outputted from the alerting devices as a function of sensed conditions; wherein the control strategy requires a first one of the alerting devices outputting a first one of the messages to instruct at least a second one of the alerting devices to output the first one of the messages if the at least the second one of the altering devices fails to sense the conditions that prompted the first one of the alerting devices to output the first one of the messages; and wherein a source wirelessly communicates the control strategy to a first portion of the alerting devices within a communication range of the source and at least a second portion of the first portion of the alerting devices within the communication range of the source communicate the control strategy to a third portion of the alerting devices beyond the communication range of the source.