Patent ID: 7382249

Claim:
A method of integrating an alarm system and a surveillance system comprising the steps of: connecting an electric circuit to the alarm system and to the surveillance system such that the circuit receives a first signal from the alarm system in a first form and communicates the first signal to the surveillance system in a second form compatible with the surveillance system, and receives a second signal from the surveillance system in the second form and communicates the second signal to the alarm system in the first form compatible with the alarm system, wherein signals in the first form are incompatible with the surveillance system and signals in the second form are incompatible with the alarm system; configuring the surveillance system to communicate an electronic notification in response to motion detected by a camera of the surveillance system if the first signal indicates that the alarm system is armed; configuring the alarm system to deactivate an alarm in response to the second signal; configuring the alarm system to communicate alarm status information via the first signal; configuring the surveillance system to communicate alarm control information via the second signal; configuring the surveillance system to associate a disturbance reported by the alarm system via the first signal with a camera of the surveillance system and to present video data generated by the camera to a user via a surveillance system monitor; configuring the surveillance system to receive an alarm system reset signal from the user and generate the second signal in response to receiving the alarm system reset signal; and configuring the surveillance system to communicate video data to a remote computer and to receive an alarm system reset signal from the remote computer.