Patent ID: 7535348

Claim:
A surveillance system comprising a plurality of surveillance terminals and a surveillance center, the plurality of surveillance terminals being connected to the surveillance center by a network, wherein one of said surveillance terminals detects a hazard and sends a hazard information signal reporting what hazard has just been detected to said surveillance center, said surveillance center receives said hazard information signal, identifies a type of the hazard source and the surveillance terminal that sent the hazard information signal, and selects one surveillance mode that depends on the identified type of hazard source and its locality, and wherein said selected surveillance mode is to be sent to each surveillance terminal, and said selected surveillance mode is selected from among surveillance modes whereby a surveillance terminal sends video data of a view captured by its surveillance camera to the surveillance center, said surveillance center sends a command indicating the one surveillance mode selected to the each surveillance terminal, and wherein said surveillance center sends said hazard information signal to the selected ones of said plurality of surveillance terminals and a plurality of mobile terminals related to the selected surveillance terminals to alert over said network.