The gateway can directly (or indirectly through the Simon XT panel) control two-way devices on the network. For example, the gateway can direct a GE Security Thermostat to change its setting to ‘Cool’ from ‘Off’, as well as request an update on the current temperature of the room. The gateway performs these functions using the existing GE Dialog protocols, with little to no impact on the network; a gateway device control or data request takes only a few dozen bytes of data in a network that can support 19 Kbps.
By enrolling with the Simon XT as a wireless keypad, as described herein, the gateway includes data or information of all alarm events, as well as state changes relevant to the security panel. This information is transferred to the gateway as encrypted packets in the same way that the information is transferred to all other wireless keypads on the network.
Because of its status as an authorized keypad, the gateway can also initiate the same panel commands that a keypad can initiate. For example, the gateway can arm or disarm the panel using the standard Dialog protocol for this activity. Other than the monitoring of standard alarm events like other network keypads, the only incremental data traffic on the network as a result of the gateway is the infrequent remote arm/disarm events that the gateway initiates, or infrequent queries on the state of the panel.
The gateway is enrolled into the Simon XT panel as a ‘slave’ device which, in an embodiment, is a wireless keypad. This enables the gateway for all necessary functionality for operating the Simon XT system remotely, as well as combining the actions and information of non-security devices such as lighting or door locks with GE Security devices. The only resource taken up by the gateway in this scenario is one wireless zone (sensor ID).