Patent ID: 7460020

Claim:
A computer-enabled rapid alert propagation and management system for initiating audio and/or visual alarms relating to emergency events that can threaten the safety of occupants in places of public, private and governmental facilities comprising in operative combination: a) a secure network between a central administrative office of a public, private or governmental facility and a plurality of remote, related occupant space sites associated with said facility; b) a plurality of multi-tone audio alarms disposed associated with at least some of said occupant space sites connected to said network, said alarms being selected from tone alarms and voice message delivery devices; c) at least one computer including functionality of an application server for providing an alarm data signal to said network, said application server including a rapid alert initiation, management and archiving application program as an individual application or as part of an Operating System program suite; d) at least one connectivity device functioning as a client computer linked to said network including a CPU, a data entry device, a display device, an operating program, and a client user interface for an authorized user to access said application server via said network to interact with said rapid alert application program to trigger user-selected ones of said alarms propagated on said network in response to user command inputs to said application program via said client computer, said user commands including inputs: for selecting sites from among a plurality of occupant space sites in said facility; for selecting and confirming alert alarms from a plurality of types of alerts, including at least two of: lockdown; evacuate, shelter in place, all clear; and for selecting termination of an alarm from an alarm- off button; and e) whereby said system provides authorized user-configured and selected rapid alerts to user-selected occupants or sites of said facility of impending or in-progress dangerous or threatening events from anywhere on the network in one or more of levels of directed action to be taken by occupants, and permitting viewing of the status of the alerts by responding personnel during the course of the event, and archiving data about the event including user-initiator of the alert, level of the alert, date and time of alert activation, and change in alert status to an all clear status at the termination of the event.