Device for Receiving and Transmitting an Alarm The concern of the invention is a device for receiving and transmitting an alarm, such as for example, a fire alarm or a burglar alarm, via a transmission network. The system of the so-called TeleNachbar (TeleNeighbour) is state of the art technology. The TeleNeighbour system constitutes a system where a commercial sensor is provided, which registers an undesirable occurrence, e.g. in a private residence. Furthermore, a destination key on a telephone is activated, which dials a pre-arranged telephone number of a TeleNeighbour. The neighbour recognises the telephone number of his calling neighbour, is alerted to something unusual happening by a signal tone when he lifts the handset, and can "listen into" his neighbour's residence by means of the telephone microphone simultaneously switched on at the signal-releasing subscriber's location. The implementation can be activated easily with an ISDN telephone. A commercially available sensor is connected via a V.24 interface. It is activated by means of a few menu driven commands. In principle, this scenario can also be implemented without ISDN. To guarantee an increased security of monitoring, an image transmission can also be included. For this purpose, an object camera or any other camera is installed at the neighbour to be monitored, which is in turn connected with the monitoring neighbour by means of a telephone and the public network. When an alarm is released, the neighbour can see into the house to be monitored and determine directly, what the reason for the alarm was and which agency, e.g. police, or fire brigade, needs to be called.
The disadvantage with this state of the art system is that an alarm cannot-be released when the line to the neighbour is busy. A new call could of course be made to alert the monitoring neighbour, but this also has its limitations. It can also happen, that the monitoring neighbour is not at home and is therefore not able to receive an alarm directly. Very complex monitoring systems involving some form of a centre are common knowledge. A building or a site is monitored by means of cameras from a centre. Such a system incurs very high costs. It is the task of the present invention to create a device for receiving and transmitting an alarm which can be implemented at reasonable cost and which guarantees that an alarm is sent as quickly as possible, and which makes it easy to establish the reason or cause for the alarm. This is solved according to the invention by the instructions of patent claim 1. The advantage with this method is, that an alarm-releasing signal is sent in different formats via a transmission network to a predetermined or non-predetermined recipient. The recipient can immediately start a counter measure, in accordance with the device available at his premises. It is a further advantage that with such a device for receiving and transmitting an alarm, a reasonably priced device has been created, which is within the financial scope of everyone and which allows the monitoring of rooms, houses or buildings. There is no need for complicated installation work nor expensive additional equipment. ZPL/S-Mo/L8 110319 08.07.96 Further advantageous configurations can be taken from subclaims 2 to 6. A particular advantage is given under claim 2, where information about the date and time, as well as about the location or duration and type of the recognised, recorded alarm are added to the alarm signal. With this addition, the recipient of the alarm is informed very precisely about the alarm and is therefore able to initiate counter measures in good time. Another advantage stated in the subclaims is that, e.g. an alarm signal can be received via a pager or via a cordless telephone, or via a standard data processing terminal. This enables a user of the device according to the invention, to, e.g., receive an alarm from his own home and, if necessary, to initiate counter measures himself. In the following, the invention is explained in greater detail by means of a practical example and with the help of the figures. The figures show the following: Figure (1): schematic display of a device according to the invention Figure (2): schematic display of an alarm system. In the following, the invention is explained in greater detail with the help of Figure 1 and a practical example. A device 1 for receiving and for transmitting an alarm via a transmission network N comprises an interface SS for the connection of means SEN, to recognise and receive the alarm. A recognised alarm is converted into an alarm signal by means of this interface SS. Furthermore, the device 1 comprises means CL, DT, LOC to add information to the alarm signal. A means for adding information can ZPL/S-Mo/L8 110319 08.07.96 be, for example, a clock CL. The exact time of the recognised alarm is recorded by means of this clock, it is added to the alarm signal and is transmitted together with it. A further possibility of the means for adding information is, e.g., an additional date input DT, or the addition of a detailed specification of the location where the alarm was detected. This can be added, for example, with the additional means LOC, which contain information on the location of the device. Furthermore, device 1 for receiving and transmitting an alarm comprises means SYN, REC for converting the alarm signal with the additional information into a voice message or a text message. Here, the means SYN serves to generate a voice message and the other means REC, to generate a text message. In addition, the device 1 for receiving and transmitting an alarm comprises means A to output the voice or text message via the transmission network N to a recipient. Accordingly, both voice and text messages are available for output at means A. This means however, that messages of different formats must be output by device 1. For this purpose, the device 1 for receiving and transmitting an alarm furthermore comprises an interface S to match the device to the transmission network N. This interface S is used, e.g., to output voice messages. The front-end modem MOD is used in the case where a text message is to be transmitted to a recipient via the information transmission network N. In one configuration of the invention, both a voice message and a text message can be generated by the same alarm when the alarm is triggered, and they can be transmitted to different recipients. This means, for example, that one recipient is informed by means of, e.g., a pager, because a call is sent directly to the pager via the transmission ZPL/S-Mo/L8 110319 08.07.96 network N. Furthermore, a text message is generated which is sent, e.g., to a PC located in an office. This means that the probability of the recipient really receiving the alarm signal with the additional information, is much higher. The device 1 for receiving and transmitting an alarm furthermore comprises storage elements ROM. RAM, Mem. These memories are used, e.g., to supply a micro controller ptC with the main programs and, for example, storage element ROM is used for this purpose. A further memory, the Mem-memory is used to store recorded messages. These memories can also be used for intermediate storage, to output messages again at a later point of time. The already mentioned micro-controller ptC represents the logic of the device 1 for receiving and transmitting an alarm. The device 1 for receiving and transmitting an alarm via a transmission network N should furthermore be able to carry out traditional telephone functions. For this purpose, the device 1 for receiving and transmitting an alarm is equipped with a loudspeaker L and a microphone M. Preferably, this is implemented in the form of a telephone handset. To implement further functions into the device for receiving and transmitting an alarm, device 1 comprises a PCMCIA plug-in device. With this, a PCMCIA card can be inserted to load additional programs into the device 1 for receiving and transmitting an alarm. In a further configuration, the device 1 for receiving and transmitting an alarm is shown with a camera C. This camera is designed, for example, as an additional device and is connected with device 1 via a cable. The camera can, for example, be ZPL/S-Mo/L8 110319 08.07.96 set up in a house, switched into stand-by mode and can generate a signal, should a change occur in the image. The previously described means SEN for recognising and receiving an alarm can be, for example, traditional smoke detectors, or water detectors, or fire detectors, or movement detectors or any feasible type of sensor/detector, which is used to generate an alarm signal. The previously described text messages, which are transmitted via interface S to the information network and to a recipient, can be, for example, information in the form of emails. In the following the invention is described in greater detail with the help of Figure 2. Figure 2 shows a system for the reception of an alarm and for the generation of an alarm. The system for receiving an alarm and for the generation of an alarm comprises at least one device 1 of the previously described type. The device 1 for receiving and transmitting an alarm via a transmission network is used for the recognition and transmission of an alarm. In this practical example, such a device is also to be used for the reception of an alarm. This means, that data from the transmission network N arrive at the interface S for matching the device to the transmission network N. They are received according to their format. This means that a voice message or a text message is stored in the device and played back. For a text message this means that ZPL/S-Mo/L8 110319 08.07.96 this is displayed on a monitor MON (see Figure 1). The voice message is output via the already mentioned loudspeaker L. Preferably, the device 1 for receiving and transmitting an alarm should be designed so that when a received alarm is not picked up and answered immediately, it initiates the automatic diversion to a further recipient. The further recipient can be informed, e.g. via a line-connected telephone TEL, via a cordless telephone HTL, via a pager, or via email on a data processing terminal PC. In a further configuration of the system for receiving an alarm, an alarm can be generated by a device 1 for receiving and transmitting an alarm, forwarded to the transmission network N, transmitted by this and forwarded to a centre. This centre Z can be, for example, a centre within a police station. Corresponding measures will then be initiated from the centre. In a further configuration an alarm should be able to be transmitted to a traditional telecommunications terminal, and be recognised by it as such. ZPL/S-Mo/L8 110319 08.07.96