Central monitoring station with method to process call based on call source identification information

Abstract

A system and a method for processing an incoming telephone call to an alarm system central monitoring station using call source identification data such as caller ID. The alarm system central monitoring station can use the caller ID information transmitted by the telephone company to make decisions as to how to process a call prior to the central monitoring station receiver answering the call. The central monitoring station will process the call by checking if the caller ID information matches caller ID information stored in memory and it will check status information associated with the caller ID information to determine if the call should be disconnected, transferred, or connected. In order to accomplish this the central monitoring station comprises receiving circuits for detecting an incoming telephone call on the telephone line and reading caller ID information associated with the call, switching circuits coupled to the receiving circuitry for transferring the call if necessary, memory for storing status information comprising the caller ID information, and processing circuitry for determining if caller ID information has been stored in the memory, and if it has, then accessing the status information and processing the call as a function of the status information. The central monitoring station may process the call by