Patent ID: 7561038

Claim:
A telemetry system including: one or more supervision terminals; one or more remote terminals associated with at least one of the one or more supervision terminals; a data network linking the one or more supervision terminals and the one or more remote terminals via an always-on IP or UDP connection through the data network via a path between the one or more supervision terminals and the one or more remote terminals; wherein; the one or more supervision terminals is in communication with one or more corresponding associated remote terminals across the data network using network facilities of the data network for carriage and switching or routing of messages; wherein messages from the one or more remote terminals to the one or more supervision terminals are transmitted across the network, the message content being passed transparently across the network between the one or more remote terminals to the one or more supervision terminals; wherein the one or more supervision terminals monitor the integrity of the path between the one or more remote terminals according to a fixed or programmable routine; and wherein the one or more supervision terminals monitor poll responses from the one or more remote terminals to determine path integrity.