Patent ID: 7864983

Claim:
An alarm system for protecting a structure, comprising: at least one motion detector arranged to have a field of view external of the structure and including an area proximate the structure; at least one camera associated with and coupled to each of said at least one motion detector, each of said at least one camera being arranged relative to the associated one of said at least one motion detector such that said camera has a field of view encompassing at least part of the field of view of the associated one of said at least one motion detector, each of said at least one camera having a dormant state in which images are not obtained and an active state in which images are obtained and being activated into the active state when the associated one of said at least one motion detector detects motion; a processor coupled to said at least one camera and arranged to control said at least one camera and receive the image obtained by said at least one camera; a telecommunications module coupled to said processor, said telecommunications module being capable of communications over a telecommunications network; and a handheld telecommunications unit for transmitting commands for said processor via said telecommunications module to cause said processor to provide images to said telecommunications module to be transmitted to the telecommunications unit.