Patent ID: 7760081

Claim:
A fire detection network comprising: at least two fire detection units; control circuitry associated with the first of the at least two fire detection units; control circuitry associated with the second of the at least two fire detection units; configuration data associated with the first of the at least two fire detection units, the configuration data associated with the first of the at least two fire detection units stored in the control circuitry associated with the first of the at least two fire detection units; configuration data associated with the second of the at least two fire detection units, the configuration data associated with the second of the at least two fire detection units stored in the control circuitry associated with the second of the at least two fire detection units; and communication media coupling the at least two fire detection units together, wherein the control circuitry of the second of the at least two fire detection units transfers a backup copy of the configuration data associated with the second of the at least two fire detection units to the first of the at least two fire detection units and the control circuitry of the first of the at least two fire detection units stores the backup copy of the configuration data associated with the second of the at least two fire detection units, and wherein the control circuitry of the first of the at least two fire detection units transfers a backup copy of the configuration data associated with the first of the at least two fire detection units to the second of the at least two fire detection units and the control circuitry of the second of the at least two fire detection units stores the backup copy of the configuration data associated with the first of the at least two fire detection units.