Patent ID: 7529350

Claim:
A system for obtaining the status of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment over a network comprising: a telephone status file connected to a telephone status monitor for receiving the telephone status from the telephone, wherein the telephone status is indicative of the on-hook and off-hook status of the telephone and wherein the telephone is connected to the first network; an HVAC alarm sensor, wherein the HVAC alarm sensor is adapted to provide status data indicative of the status of an HVAC device; an HVAC device status file for receiving the status data from the HVAC alarm sensor; a processor connected to the first network and to the telephone status file and the HVAC alarm sensor status file via a second network, wherein the processor comprises instructions for, prior to sending the HVAC alarm sensor's status to the telephone over the first network: reading the HVAC alarm sensor status file; if the status data of the HVAC alarm sensor have changed, reading the telephone status file; if the telephone status is off-hook, then reading the telephone status file; and if the telephone status is on-hook, then sending the status data to the telephone over the first network.