Patent ID: 7428002

Claim:
A visual surveillance system comprising: a. An emergency telephone at an emergency call location, the emergency call location being remote from a monitoring station, the emergency telephone being usable by an emergency user at the emergency call location to generate a signal; b. An interface connecting the emergency telephone to an IP network; c. A discrete surveillance camera separate from the emergency telephone, the surveillance camera being connected to the IP network and focused on the emergency user and the emergency telephone during use of the emergency telephone, the camera when activated being operable to provide to the network camera captured data, the camera captured data including at least one visual image of the emergency user and the emergency telephone; d. A control system connected to the IP network for receiving the signal, the control system activating the camera upon receiving the signal from the emergency telephone; e. the monitoring station being connected to the network for receiving the camera captured data, the monitoring station being operable to display a visual image to be viewed by personnel, the monitoring station upon receiving the camera captured data displaying the at least one visual image of the emergency user and the emergency telephone.