Patent ID: 8542126

Claim:
A low battery-voltage warning system comprising: a plurality of voltage monitoring devices, each device configured to monitor voltage of a different one of a like plurality of batteries used as back-up power supplies, each battery operatively coupled via a different one of a like plurality of power busses directly to a different one of a like plurality of optical network terminals (ONTs), to supply back-up power directly, and thereby bypass any power supplies ordinarily supplying power to said ONT's, each said ONT installed on a different one of a like plurality of customer premises, each of said customer premises including a local client operatively connected to its respective device, wherein the voltage monitoring devices provide an indication of degree of discharge of said batteries; a battery monitoring facility located remotely from each one of said customer premises and communicatively connected to said plurality of voltage monitoring devices over a network, wherein the battery monitoring facility receives said indication as input information, stores said input information in a database associated with said battery monitoring facility and processes said input information into output information suitable for immediate communication to said customer; and a remote client operatively connected with said battery monitoring facility; wherein said local client obtains ongoing battery voltage measurements of its respective battery and sends an alert notification directly to its respective customer based on said measurements indicating a battery fault; and wherein said remote client transmits said output information reflecting said battery fault as another alert notification to said respective customer where, if said alert notification and said another alert notification are identical in kind, the first to arrive notification is effective but if said alert notification and said another alert notification are different in kind, then both notifications are made.