Patent ID: 8525099

Claim:
A method comprising: sampling an output signal of a passive infrared motion sensor; conducting a repetitive increment of a counter value in response to a first trigger event in the output signal, the first trigger event including a rising edge transition which corresponds to motion detected by the passive infrared motion sensor, and wherein the repetitive increment is conducted in accordance with a clock timer; discontinuing the repetitive increment in response to a second trigger event in the output signal, the second trigger event including an expiration of a first idleness period after a falling edge transition, wherein the falling edge transition corresponds to a lack of motion detected by the passive infrared motion sensor; adding the counter value to a cumulative value in response to the second trigger event, wherein the cumulative value indicates an amount of time the passive infrared motion sensor is triggered; activating a wireless interface; transmitting the cumulative value via the wireless interface; and deactivating the wireless interface in response to receiving an acknowledgement of the transmission of the cumulative value.