Patent ID: 7671729

Claim:
A system for remote monitoring a plurality of security systems coupled to the Internet, said security systems being assigned dynamic IP addresses, each of said security systems comprising a remote monitoring server module, the system comprising: a central alarm monitoring service coupled to the Internet for periodically communicating with said plurality of security systems and determining a status thereof to generate an alarm signal as a function of said status, said alarm monitoring service storing a current IP address of said plurality of security systems in an IP address database; a remote monitoring gateway providing authenticated or unauthenticated dynamic domain name service (DDNS) server functionality to couple a given remote monitoring client to a desired one of said security systems, said gateway being coupled to said IP address database and to the Internet; and an account database coupled to said gateway for verifying an account status of said remote monitoring client, said gateway taking a decision whether or not to couple said remote monitoring client to said desired one of said security systems as a function of said account status.