Security monitoring installation, system and methods

Abstract

Provided is a security monitoring installation at premises protected by a security monitoring system, the premises having a plurality of rooms, the security monitoring installation having: a plurality of sensing or monitoring nodes, at least two of the plurality of rooms each being served by one or more of the plurality of nodes, the security monitoring system including a monitoring station remote from the premises, and a controller for the installation, the controller being programmed to handle alerts received from the nodes of the system, report alarm events to the monitoring station and apply alarm logic to alerts received from nodes of the installation in accordance with an arm state of the installation; the system further including a tool arranged to display a user interface, the user interface providing a user with access to a stored floorplan of the protected premises and details of the installed locations of the nodes of the installation, the user interface being configured to provide the user with an option to define, on a representation of the floorplan, a common zone corresponding to a first part of the floorplan that is distinct from and non-overlapping with a second part of the floorplan, the common zone comprising two or more rooms or enclosures to which a common alarm logic can be applied, each of the two or more rooms or enclosures of the common zone having a respective sensing or monitoring node of the plurality of nodes; the user interface further providing the user with an option to supply details of the common zone to the controller so that the controller can apply, as required, a common alarm logic to the respective sensing or monitoring nodes of the common zone while a different alarm logic is applied to at least one room, zone or area of the premises that does not form part of the common zone. Corresponding methods are also provided.

Description

Technical field

[0001] The present invention relates to a security monitoring installation, security monitoring systems including such installations, and to methods of configuring security monitoring installation and systems.Background

[0002] Security monitoring installations, which may constitute or form part of security monitoring systems for monitoring premises, often referred to as alarm systems, typically provide a means for detecting the presence and / or actions of people at the premises and reacting to detected events. Commonly such installations make use of sensors to detect the opening and closing of doors and windows (more generally the status of doors and / or windows), to provide a secure perimeter to the premises, thereby creating one or more protected interior spaces, movement detectors to monitor spaces (both within and outside buildings) for signs of movement or presence, microphones to detect sounds such as breaking glass, and image sensors to capture still or moving images of monitored zones. Such systems may be self-contained, with alarm indicators such as sirens and flashing lights that may be activated in the event of an alarm condition being detected. Such installations typically include a control unit (which may also be termed a controller or a central unit), generally mains powered, that is coupled to the sensors, detectors, cameras, etc. ("nodes"), which processes received notifications and determines a response, and which manages the alarm state (fully armed, partially armed, and disarmed) of the system. The controller may be linked to the various nodes by wires, but increasingly is instead linked wirelessly, rather than by wires, since this facilitates installation and may also provide some safeguards against sensors / detectors effectively being disabled by disconnecting them from the central unit. Similarly, for ease of installation and to improve security, some or all of the nodes of such systems each typically include an autonomous power source, such as a battery power supply, rather than relying on mains power (although some "power hungry" nodes, such as video cameras may be mains powered with battery backup).

[0003] As an alternative to self-contained systems, a security monitoring system may include an installation at a premises, domestic or commercial, that is linked to a remote central monitoring station (CMS) where, typically, human operators manage the responses required by different alarm and notification types. The link to such a central monitoring station may be direct, or indirect via a system back end. In such centrally monitored systems, the controller of the premises installation is typically arranged to process notifications received from the nodes in the installation and, depending upon the arm state of the installation, to notify the central monitoring station of only some of these, depending upon the settings of the system (notably the arm state) and the nature of the detected events. In such a configuration, the controller of the installation effectively acts as a gateway between the nodes and the central monitoring station. Again, in such installations the controller may be linked by wires, or wirelessly, to the various nodes of the installation, and these nodes will typically be battery rather than mains powered.

[0004] Such security monitoring systems contribute to the safety and wellbeing of occupants of the protected premises, as well as safeguarding articles within the protected perimeter - which may of course not simply be limited to a house or dwelling but may also extend to the grounds of the house, protected by a boundary fence and gate, for example.

[0005] Such security monitoring systems are typically configured (e.g. programmed) to have at least two arm states, including at least a disarmed mode and an armed mode. In the disarmed mode the opening and closing of external doors and windows, and the triggering of internal motion sensors, does not give rise to an alarm event - and which, in monitored systems does not result in an alarm event being reported to the monitoring service. There may be more than one armed mode: a fully armed mode (also known as "armed away" mode, because it is typically chosen as the arming mode when the monitored premises are going to be vacated) in which any triggering of a sensing or monitoring node that provides a protected perimeter to the monitored premises, and any triggering of a sensing or monitoring node within the protected perimeter, is likely to give rise to an alarm event and which, in monitored systems does not result in an alarm event being reported to the monitoring service; and a semi-armed, "armed at home" or "nocturnal" mode in which the triggering of a sensing or monitoring node that provides a protected perimeter to the monitored premises will give rise to an alarm event and which, in monitored systems does not result in an alarm event being reported to the monitoring service, but in which at the triggering of any sensing or monitoring nodes within at least part of the protected space within the protected perimeter (e.g. the sleeping quarters, which may equate to one or more upper floors of a multi-storey premises) does not constitute an alarm event and which is typically not reported to any monitoring service. Such an armed at home mode means that, for example, in premises where the sleeping quarters are upstairs and the living quarters on the ground floor, the premises can be protected against burglary (burglars tend to enter houses on the ground floor rather than at an elevated level - to avoid the likely conspicuous reliance on ladders) while the occupants are free to move around in and between bedrooms and bathrooms on the upper floor(s) without risk of triggering the security monitoring installation. In single storey premises and those where there may be both living and sleeping accommodation on the same floor, especially when this is a ground (or other relatively accessible) floor, it can be difficult to find a convenient demarcation within the premises between spaces which should be monitored and those that should not be monitored in such a partially armed (e.g. armed at home) mode, and it is not generally possible for a user to change such a demarcation - for example to take account of temporary changes of circumstances (such as a need to accommodate temporary guests - e.g. couch surfers - within what is generally purely living accommodation).

[0006] It should be noted that there may be some node types whose triggering will typically give rise to an alarm event and which, in monitored systems, does result to an alarm event being reported to the monitoring service, irrespective of whether the monitoring system is armed or not - for example, nodes that include a fire and / or smoke detection function, and SOS nodes (portable or installed) of the type which may be used by the elderly, infirm, or those such as celebrities, public figures, politicians potentially at higher risk of attack, assault, kidnap, or those having high value artworks, jewellery, or other valuables at high risk of theft.

[0007] Embodiments of the present invention seek to provide enhanced security monitoring systems, and corresponding apps, methods and other implementations that improve the scope of security monitoring systems to address aspects of various problems, as well as providing new functionality and methods.Summary

[0008] According to a first aspect there is provided a security monitoring installation at premises protected by a security monitoring system, the premises having a plurality of rooms, the security monitoring installation having: a plurality of sensing or monitoring nodes, at least two of the plurality of rooms each being served by one or more of the plurality of nodes, the security monitoring system including a controller for the installation, the controller being programmed to handle alerts received from the nodes of the system, and to apply alarm logic to alerts received from nodes of the installation in accordance with an arm state of the installation; the system further including a tool arranged to display a user interface, the user interface providing a user with access to a stored floorplan of the protected premises and details of the installed locations of the nodes of the installation, the user interface being configured to provide the user with an option to define, on a representation of the floorplan, a common zone corresponding to a first part of the floorplan that is distinct from and non-overlapping with a second part of the floorplan, the common zone comprising two or more rooms or enclosures to which a common alarm logic can be applied, each of the two or more rooms or enclosures of the common zone having a respective sensing or monitoring node of the plurality of nodes; the user interface further providing the user with an option to supply details of the common zone to the controller so that the controller can apply, as required, a common alarm logic to the respective sensing or monitoring nodes of the common zone while a different alarm logic is applied to at least one room, zone or area of the premises that does not form part of the common zone.

[0009] The floorplan could be stored on the installation controller or central unit, in a system back end, cloud-based storage, at a remote monitoring centre. In some embodiments the floorplan may only be stored locally - e.g. on a user device.

[0010] The zoning information may be stored on the floorplan, or as an overlay of the floorplan , or could be stored entirely separately.

[0011] Such a security monitoring installation provides an intuitive and convenient way for a user to adapt a security monitoring installation to changed circumstances without the need to arrange a visit from a service engineer, while also making it much easier for a service engineer to make any necessary adjustments for those unwilling or unable to perform their own adjustments, for example upon the initial commissioning of a security monitoring installation. Importantly, such installations may also permit ready adjustment of settings without significantly increasing the incidence of false alarms.

[0012] In an installation according to the first aspect the user interface may be provided by a software application running on a user device, such as a smart phone or tablet computer. Such a device may be used by an owner or occupier of the protected premises or by an installer or service engineer. Such an arrangement may enhance convenience for users and for service engineers who have to configure premises installations.

[0013] In an installation according to the first aspect the controller may be a control unit located at the premises. Such a configuration may find greater user acceptance than configurations where the controller is remote - e.g. network based. Such a configuration may also be less susceptible to loss of contact between the controller and nodes of the installation - either as the result of network outages or deliberate jamming.

[0014] In an installation according to the first aspect the controller may be remote from the premises, for example the controller may be a network based device accessible via the Internet. Substituting a network-based controller for a premises-based controller may enhance security by eliminating the risk that a burglar may destroy the controller to prevent subsequent video surveillance, other monitoring, and possibly the triggering of intervention devices such as smoke generators.

[0015] In an installation according to the first aspect the user interface may be configured to permit the user to link a particular video camera to a defined common area, so that in the event that an alert is triggered in respect of the common zone the controller will activate the particular video camera, if the camera has not already been activated in connection with the alert. By linking a specific video camera, which may be outside the common area or within the common area, notifications of events reported in respect of the common area (or the particular common area where more than one common area is defined) can include or be accompanied by relevant video captures - which can reduce response times by providing immediate verification of incidents (or permitting speedy identification of false alarms) - something which is particularly useful when the notification is being handled by an official monitoring service able to report events to the emergency services, but which is also useful even when the notification is to a user / user device.

[0016] A particular video camera may also be linked to a particular detection node of an installation, the video camera and linked node may both be within a defined common area, or the node may be in a defined common area and the camera outside this common area.

[0017] In an installation according to the first aspect the user interface may also be configured to communicate with a system back end remote from the premises, the system back end being configured to provide the user interface with access to the floorplan for the premises.

[0018] According to a second aspect there is provided a security monitoring system including a security monitoring installation according to any variant of the first aspect and a monitoring station remote from the premises, the monitoring station having access to a database storing the floorplan of the installation.

[0019] In a system according to the second aspect in which the user interface is configured to communicate with a system back end remote from the premises, the system back end being configured to provide the user interface with access to the floorplan for the premises, the system back end may serve multiple security monitoring installations installed at multiple different premises, the system back end having access to a database storing a floorplan for each of the multiple installations.

[0020] According to a third aspect there is provided a method of configuring a security monitoring installation at premises protected by a security monitoring system, the premises comprising a plurality of rooms, the security monitoring installation having a plurality of sensing or monitoring nodes, at least two of the plurality of rooms each being served by one or more of the plurality of nodes, the security monitoring system including a monitoring station remote from the premises, and a controller for the installation, the controller being configured (e.g. programmed) to handle alerts received from the nodes of the system, report alarm events to the monitoring station and apply alarm logic to alerts received from nodes of the installation in accordance with an arm state of the installation; the system further including a tool arranged to display a user interface, the user interface providing a user with access to a stored floorplan of the protected premises and details of the installed locations of the nodes of the installation, the user interface being configured to provide the user with an option to define, on a representation of the floorplan, a common zone corresponding to a first part of the floorplan that is distinct from and non-overlapping with a second part of the floorplan, the common zone comprising two or more rooms or enclosures to which a common alarm logic can be applied, each of the two or more rooms or enclosures of the common zone having a respective sensing or monitoring node of the plurality of nodes; the method comprising: in consequence of a user input at the user interface, receiving at the controller the details of the common zone, and storing the details of the common zone so that subsequently the controller can apply, as required, a common alarm logic to the common zone, while applying a different alarm logic to at least one room, zone or area of the premises that does not form part of the common zone.

[0021] Such a method also provides an intuitive and convenient way for a user to adapt the installation to changed circumstances without the need to arrange a visit from a service engineer, while also making it much easier for a service engineer to make any necessary adjustments for those unwilling or unable to perform their own adjustments. Importantly, such methods also permit ready adjustment of settings without significantly increasing the incidence of false alarms.

[0022] According to a fourth aspect there is provided a controller for a security monitoring installation, the controller applying zoning information defined on a representation of a floorplan of the premises at which the installation is installed, the zoning information including a common zone corresponding to a first part of the floorplan that is distinct from and non-overlapping with a second part of the floorplan, the common zone comprising two or more rooms or enclosures to which a common alarm logic can be applied, each of the two or more rooms or enclosures of the common zone having a respective sensing or monitoring node of the plurality of nodes, the controller being configured to apply, as required, a common alarm logic to the respective sensing or monitoring nodes of the common zone while a different alarm logic is applied to at least one room, zone or area of the premises that does not form part of the common zone.

[0023] More generally, in a fifth aspect there is provided a controller for a security monitoring installation according to the first aspect.Brief description of Figures

[0024] Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying Figures, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic illustrating a premises monitoring system according to an aspect of the invention; Figures 2A and 2B show example partial floorplans for premises protected by n installation according to an aspect of the invention; Figures 2C and 2D show the same partial floorplans as figures 2A and 2B after a user has defined a common zone to provide a common alarm logic to the rooms and areas within the common zone, using a method according to an aspect of the invention; for premises protected by an installation according to an aspect of the invention; Figures 3A and 3B show schematically a tool displaying a representation of a floorplan or partial floorplan, respectively before and after a user's definition of a common zone; Specific description

[0025] Figure 1 is a schematic part plan view of a premises 100 protected by security monitoring system according to an aspect of the invention. The premises 100 are provided with an installation of "nodes" which form part of the system. Each of these nodes may include one or more of: a sensor to detect the state of doors and windows, a motion sensor, a shock sensor, a microphone, a camera (e.g. one or more video cameras), and the nodes may be arranged to communicate with a controller or central unit, which may in turn communicate with one or more user interfaces (another type of node) at the premises and with a system back end and / or a remote monitoring station. Alternatively, the nodes and user interface(s) of the installation may communicate with the system back end and / or remote monitoring station without recourse to a local central unit - for example using an internal RF transceiver and one or more of the internet of things communications protocols to report to a remote installation controller or the system back end and / or remote monitoring station. The installation may also include one or more nodes in the form of intervention devices, for example devices arranged to release vision inhibiting substances such as smoke, gases or vapours, and / or devices to generate high intensity sounds (e.g. 110dB or more).

[0026] Figure 1 illustrates some of the elements of the ground floor accommodation of the premises, omitting for example bathrooms, stairs and many other details present in real life. A front door 102 leads into the protected interior space of the premises, and in this case into an entrance hall 104 which forms part of the protected interior space of the premises. Each of the windows 106, the front door 102 and the rear door 108 is fitted with a node containing a sensor 110 to detect whether the relevant portal is open or closed, and hence detect the opening / closing of the relevant portal. Doors and / or windows may also be fitted with shock sensors (which may be nodes in their own right or which may be integrated into a door / window sensing node 110). Likewise, windows may be fitted with nodes in the form of glass-break detectors. Each of the nodes 110 may include a radio transceiver to report events to a controller, such as a central unit, 112 of the security monitoring system. If one of the nodes 110 is triggered, a signal is sent to the controller 112 which, depending upon the arm state of the system may in turn signal an alarm event to a remote central monitoring station 114 and / or another monitoring service / entity (such as a nominated person - such as a carer, relative or companion) via a user device such as electronic device 126. The controller 112 may be connected to the remote central monitoring station 114 via the Internet 116, either via a wired or a wireless connection, or both. The controller 112 may connect directly with the remote monitoring station 114, or via a system backend 118. The controller 112 may be located at the monitored premises, as shown, but may equally be located remotely from the monitored premises. The door and window sensing nodes 110 are examples of the many varieties of sensing or monitoring nodes used in installations according to aspects of the invention.

[0027] The installation may further include at least one node in the form of a user interface device 119, typically located quite close to the main entrance door to the premises, for example, in the entrance hall into which the front door 102 opens, and optionally another may also be provided within the rear space of the premises, e.g. close to the back door 108.

[0028] It will be appreciated that the premises may include one or more rooms that are not supported by any node of the installation: for example, a cloakroom or washroom that has neither a window nor an external door will typically not be provided with any node of the installation.

[0029] The installation will typically also include other sensing or monitoring nodes within the protected interior space, such as one or more interior video cameras 120, 121 and associated motion sensor 122 (which again may be integral with the camera 120 / 121 or separate), freestanding motion sensors (such as a PIR sensor or a Thermal MOS sensor) 122 not associated with a camera, and each of the interior doors 105 may also be provided with a sensor 110 to detect the opening / closing of the door. There may also be one or more nodes in the form of external video cameras, for example one 125 adjacent the main entrance 102 to the premises, with an integral or associated motion sensor 122, to provide a view of the approach 127 to the main entrance. The installation may also include one or more microphones, either as independent nodes or incorporated into or associated with nodes that also have another purpose - such as user interface devices 119, cameras 120, 121, 125, and video doorbell 129.

[0030] The installation may further include (inside and / or outside the premises) one or more nodes that include a radar (or other ranging) functionality to detect human presence, movement, and location. Additionally, or alternatively, the installation may include a Wi-Fi sensing functionality which provides the ability to detect human presence and location by means of disturbance of the propagation of Wi-Fi radio signals and which may use channel state information and / or other parameters of RF signals.

[0031] The nodes may be coupled to the controller 112 wirelessly. For example, particularly if the controller is located at the premises, using transceivers operating in one of the industrial scientific and medical (ISM) bandwidths, for example a sub-gigahertz bandwidth such as 868 MHz. Alternatively, if the controller 112 is located remotely from the premises 100, the nodes and the controller may communicate using one or more suitable RF protocols - such as an LTE M and / or NB IoT protocol.

[0032] The communications between the controller and the nodes, and vice versa, are preferably encrypted, for example using shared secret keys.

[0033] Also shown in figure 1 are a user electronic device 126 (which may for example be a smartphone, tablet, computer, or smart watch, or the like), preferably loaded with an appropriate app - as will be described later, and a public land mobile network (PLMN) 128 by means of which the central monitoring station 114, and the controller 112, may communicate with each other and with the user device 126. Operation of the security monitoring system may be controlled by one or more of: the controller 112, the user interface device 119, the remote monitoring station 114, and a security monitoring app installed on the user device 126. The installation controller 112 may be installed within the premises 100, as shown, or may be located remote from the premises for example with the nodes and the controller communication using one or more suitable RF protocols - such as an LTE M and / or NB IoT protocol.

[0034] It will be appreciated that typically many domestic premises have many more rooms or distinct living spaces than are shown in figure 1, and in such multi-room premises it may be desirable to have multiple video cameras to provide image captures of various spaces / rooms which are likely to be of interest to burglars / intruders and / or into / through which any villain is likely to enter / pass. Likewise, each significant room / space may be provided with its own motion sensor (e.g. a PIR sensor, thermal MOS sensor, or radar arrangement) to increase the chance of detecting the presence of any intruder. Figure 1 can however be taken as an example of an open plan living arrangement: doors 105 lead from the entrance hall 104 into linked spaces or zones 134, 144, and 154. The zone marked as 144 may contain a kitchen, with adjoining space 134 serving as a dining area to provide an open plan kitchen / dining area. The right hand hall door 105 leads to a living space 154, perhaps accommodating a television and more comfortable seating such as sofas and armchairs. The living space extends as far as the kitchen zone 144. Thus, even though the space beyond the hall 104 is continuous it is possible to identify distinct zones or areas 134, 144, and 154, each corresponding to different activities and / or different styles of furnishing. In open plan spaces, such as those illustrated in figure 1, it may often be useful or interesting to apply different arm states - and hence different logic, to different regions of the open plan space. For example, a different logic could be applied to one or both of zones 134 and 154 to the logic applied to zone 144.

[0035] The electronic user device 126, which may be a smart phone, or a tablet such as an Apple iPad, or any other suitable device, may also be used to perform an optical scan of the interior of the premises, to capture details of the configuration of the premises. The details of the configuration may include the position of doors (external and internal), windows, and other openings such as doorways and arches, the layout of individual rooms, corridors, stairways, spaces, etc. Such a scan may also be performed, of course, using a device other than a user device 126 - i.e. a device that does not include or host a security monitoring app for the system.

[0036] If the user device includes a lidar capability, as do later generation Apple iPhones, image captures generally in the form of video captures may be used in association with the lidar functionality to acquire information about the distance between the device and features of the premises. Tools exist for the generation of floorplans even without lidar data, and these tools may often have sufficient accuracy to be useful. But if lidar data are available, it makes sense to use these data. The captured images / video, plus any associated information (such as, for example, lidar data if available) may be transmitted to (or otherwise shared with) a remote facility 150 for the generation of a floorplan of the premises. For example, the remote facility may be an enterprise or back end function that optionally uses AI and other technologies to generate floorplans (and optionally 3D models and renders and the like). Alternatively, the user device (e.g. device 126) used to perform the optical scans may have a software application installed to enable it to generate a floorplan - such as the Magic Plan app, Planner 5D, Canvas Lite, etc. As an alternative, the captured information may be shared with another processing device (local or remote) for that device to generate a floorplan. Of course, an optical scan of the premises may be performed using a device that includes camera functionality but may not include all the features of a smartphone or tablet, for example an optical scan may be performed with a suitable camera, such as a Matterport Pro camera, or a dedicated device for performing captures for the generation of floorplans, and the captured videos (and / or other optical data) may then be suitably processed to generate the floorplan.

[0037] Optical scanning of the premises may be performed before installation of any of the nodes of an intended installation, and a resulting floorplan used in planning an initial disposition of various nodes of the installation - either as a result of human consideration (e.g. from a suitably trained salesperson or engineer) or as the result of an automated process in which design and placement rules for producing an optimised security monitoring installation may be applied in order to generate one or more suitable installation plans. For example, in either case plans may be prepared for what might be considered a minimum viable product (MVP), or for a maximalist solution (e.g. for the customer who wants to know that they have the best available system), and one or more designs for intermediate level solutions to bridge the gap between the two extreme solutions. For example, an MVP solution should provide an acceptable minimum level of security - perhaps restricted to providing a secured perimeter with motion sensing only in a small subset of the premises' rooms or interior spaces, while a maximalist design may include multiple internal video cameras, one or more external video cameras, shock sensors on all windows and external doors, plus optionally radar or Wi-Fi sensing as an alternative (or in addition) to PIR or thermal MOS motion sensors. Intermediate solutions can be considered as alternatives to the MVP solution for initial installation but may also be considered in terms of future upgrades.

[0038] Once an acceptable solution is agreed by the customer, the relevant nodes may be installed according to the agreed plan - although it is not unusual for problems to arise during installation, requiring the repositioning of a node away from a planned place of installation (e.g. because a wall turns out to be friable and unsuited to the mounting of a device such as a video camera), or because a customer decides that the proposed location of a node is visually intrusive or otherwise aesthetically unacceptable wall, or a customer may object to the proposed location of a video camera for fear of a loss of privacy.

[0039] Once the nodes have been installed a second optical scan of the premises may be performed, the installed locations of the nodes captured, and the relevant data may then be passed to the floorplan generating function (optionally within the device being used to perform the optical scans, but more usually an external device or system) so that the node locations (and such other details as are required, e.g. type, node identity, etc.) can be added to the floorplan - optionally as an overlay, or associated with the floorplan - e.g. kept as a separate list that may be stored with the floorplan or otherwise stored to be accessible (e.g. by a controller of the installation) when required. In order to facilitate capture of the node locations and types, the nodes may carry an external optically readable visual indicator (optionally a code, e.g. a bar or other code, such as a QR code) that can readily be detected in video captures of the relevant parts of the premises. Optionally, the code or other identifier carried by each node may include an identifier unique (at least within the installation) to that particular node - so that as well as identifying a node-type within a video frame or captured image, it is possible to identify particular nodes of any type, so that the floorplan can include such identifiers - something which may be helpful in the subsequent handling of events reported by nodes of the installation.

[0040] The floorplan and the node locations (which may be incorporated in the floorplan or as an overlay to the floorplan or, less favourably, as an associated schedule of installation locations) may be subject to a further review (human or automated) to determine whether the installation that has been created satisfies all relevant requirements / standards, or whether some modification of node type and / or placement is required or is advisable. The need for any such modifications that are required may be communicated to the installation engineer, for example by communicating with the device that was used to perform the optical scans. The changes may, for example, relate to repositioning cameras and / or motion sensors in order to avoid restricted or obstructed fields of view. Any required changes may then be made by the engineer before departing the premises, and a further optical scan performed to capture at least any changes of node position and / or installed node type. The floorplan is then further updated, as before, and then stored in the system back end 118 or otherwise made available to the remote monitoring centre 114.

[0041] Advantageously, given that it would be preferable to have up to date floorplans for all the (potentially hundreds, or even thousands of) premises supported by the monitoring centre 114 (of which there may be several), the visual scans of premises are conducted in a standardised manner. For example, scanning of premises may always be conducted using a clockwise (when viewed from above) path around the premises starting at the main entrance, and with each floor completed before the next floor is scanned. In multi-storied premises the standardised approach may involve scanning the floor of the main entrance first, then dealing with any lower floors in turn, and then dealing with floors above the level of the main entrance (or vice versa). If the main entrance opens to a landing the standardised approach may involve scanning while moving to the next lowest floor, and so on, before continuing with a sequential scan of the floors at levels above the main entrance. Depending upon the approach required by the floorplan generating entity, it may be preferred to carry out a single continuous optical scan of the premises (which may anyway be the standard approach for single-storey premises with a small room count), or to perform a separate optical scan of each floor in turn. It may also be required to perform an optical scan of areas (e.g. stairways and landings) linking different floors, to enable separate optical scans to be given appropriate context - so that the relationship between the different floors can be understood and a floorplan corresponding to the actual premises produced.

[0042] Optically scanning the premises may involve capturing video of the ceilings of the premises, rather than of the premises' floors, as this may better enable the layout of the premises to be determined since it can avoid the masking effects of furniture and features that conceal the floor. Likewise, optical scanning may include scanning both ceilings and floors (optionally choosing one or the other depending upon the condition, configuration, and / or other property of the room or space being scanned).

[0043] In performing optical scans of premises care should be taken to capture the location of windows and doors (both external and internal), as well as radiators and ventilation outlets - since each of these may need to be taken into account when considering the placement of motion sensors and cameras, particularly those that use thermal sensors (such as PIR or T-MOS) to detect motion. The aspect of windows, that is the compass direction that a window faces, and in particular whether the window is substantially exposed to the sun at any time during the day, may also usefully be captured - given the likely impact on thermal sensors of solar exposure.

[0044] Floorplans of security monitoring installations according to aspects of the invention may usefully be made available to a monitoring entity, such as an agent at the remote monitoring centre 114 or a user of a user device such as device 126. Having access to floorplans of monitored premises may enable a monitoring entity to improve intervention performance - for example to escalate incidents more quickly to emergency services, and / or to take other action (such as sending commands to nodes of the security monitoring installation to cause an action to be performed at the monitored premises - such as video capture, or activation of an intervention device such as a smoke dispenser).

[0045] Thus, once the floorplan, populated with node locations, has been completed it may be stored, along with the floorplans of other premises protected by the system, in memory at the system back end 118 (which may itself be distributed), or elsewhere (e.g. at a location of the remote monitoring centre 114 or at a networked memory at a location other than the monitoring centre), the memory being accessible by operatives and systems in the remote monitoring centre 114, and / or the floorplans may be stored in memory at the remote monitoring centre 114. A copy of the floorplan may also be stored on the installation controller, or on a memory accessible by the installation controller.

[0046] Subsequently, when an alert is received from a monitored installation at the remote monitoring centre 114, following the triggering of a node at the installation, an operative (or smart agent) dealing with the reported alert can access a stored floorplan of the premises, the floorplan including details of the installation locations of the plurality of nodes, and determine, based on the reported event and the locations of the nodes, an action to be performed - for example an action to be performed by a particular installed node of the premises. For example, the operative or smart agent may, based on the location of the triggered node, determine that it is appropriate to activate a particular camera at the premises or to activate a particular intervention device (e.g. a vision impairing device, such as a smoke or fog generator). As a result of such a determination the operative may then transmit an instruction to the relevant installation, e.g. to the controller 112 of that installation (whether local or remote from the installation) to activate the relevant installed node to cause it to perform the determined action. For example, the premises in respect of which an event is reported may contain multiple video cameras and multiple intervention devices (e.g. smoke or fog generators), and the reported event may include the triggering of just one of the video cameras. An operative at the monitoring station 114 may determine based on consideration of images received from the triggered video camera, and the location of the triggered camera as shown on the relevant floorplan, that activation of a particular intervention device or of a particular different video camera is appropriate. Based on that determination, the operative may issue an instruction for the relevant node (camera or intervention device) which is then transmitted to the installation (either the control unit 112, if present, or directly to the relevant node if such direct communication is possible).

[0047] Figures 2A to 2D show schematically floorplans for a ground and first floor of premises 200, protected by a security monitoring installation according to an aspect of the invention, which together make up the floorplan for the premises 200. The ground floor 202, shown in figures 2A and 2C, includes an entrance hall 204, stairs 207 leading to an upper floor, cloakroom 208, lounge 201, gallery 212, and kitchen 214. Opening off the kitchen 214 is a pantry and wine cellar 216. The upper floor 220, shown in figures 2B and 2D, is accessed by the stairs 207 which lead to the first floor landing 250. The landing 250 leads to a bathroom 252, bedrooms 254, 256, and 258, and office 260. As with figure 1, the external doors (205 and 215) and windows (206) of these premises are each fitted with appropriate contact sensors (optionally based on detecting the presence of a magnetic field from an installed permanent magnet, optionally combined with or additional too a shock sensor possibly including an accelerometer, although such nodes are not shown in the figure. The first floor office is provided with extra security in the form of a motion sensor 263, and a door contact node 272. In the illustrated installation a local installation controller 112 is provided in gallery 212. As with figure 1, this controller is able to communicate wirelessly or via a wired network, or a combination of both, with a remote monitoring station 114, backend 150, remote storage 118, and with a user electronic device 126. Unusually, the first floor landing is also protected by a video camera 271.

[0048] In addition, as with Figure 1, nodes in the form of motion sensors may be provided in various rooms / spaces within the premises. In this example, such nodes are shown on the ground floor as 223, 233, and 243, and on the upper floor as 263. Camera nodes, e.g. video camera nodes 220, 221 (with integral or associated motion or presence sensors such as TMOS, PIR, or radar, etc.) are also provided in selected rooms on the ground floor - here the kitchen 214 and the hall 204 - chosen as these are both served by external doors 205 and 215

[0049] In known security monitoring installations if the installation is armed in an "armed at home", or "nocturnal" mode (also known as a partially armed or secure perimeter mode) the installation will typically be arranged to provide a secure perimeter, so that opening either of the external doors 205 and 215, or any of the windows 206, with the installation in this arm state would lead the controller 112 to consider the signal received from the relevant node as being an alarm event to be reported to the monitoring service (e.g. monitoring centre 114). In addition, typically in this arm state, triggering of any of the other nodes on the ground floor - e.g., motion sensors such as 223, 233, and 243, cameras 220, 221, internal door contact sensors 209, 211, 222, 227, 232, 242, would be treated by the controller 112 as an alarm event to be reported to the monitoring service 114. Conversely, in this nocturnal armed state, triggering of any of the nodes of the upper floor concerned with internal activities - such as motion sensors (263), internal door contact sensors (272), cameras (271), would typically not be treated by the controller 112 as an alarm event - meaning that occupants of the bedrooms would not trigger an alarm event if they were to visit another bedroom, the bathroom, or even the office 260. That is, with conventional security monitoring systems armed at home modes typically provide a protected perimeter, and protection in respect of a first part of the inner space (that is, within the protected perimeter) but a second part of the inner space is not protected - meaning that the installation controller will not signal an alarm event when a node responsive to activities in the second part signals an alert. Frequently, in multi-story houses the second part will be the floors of the house that contain the main sleeping quarters / bedrooms, while the monitored first part will typically be the living accommodation - generally including the ground floor. In single storey dwellings the demarcation between the first and second parts will again generally map to the demarcation between sleeping accommodation and living accommodation.

[0050] In some known systems more than one partially armed mode is supported, one such mode typically being a nocturnal mode as just described, but another partially armed node may allow free movement around part of the living space (e.g. part of the ground floor of a house) as well as sleeping accommodation, effectively monitoring only part of the living accommodation. Yet another part armed mode (useful for homes where the sleeping accommodation is unlikely to be used or visited during the day) may invert the previously described nocturnal mode so that the sleeping accommodation (e.g. the upper floor(s) of a house) is monitored but at least some of the living accommodation (e.g. on the ground floor) is not monitored. The distinction between "monitored parts" and "non-monitored parts" is really a description of the behaviour of the installation controller rather than of the nodes (e.g. sensors and detectors, such as motion sensors and door contact sensors) - since typically at least such nodes of security monitoring systems are unaware of the arm state of the installation: rather, it is down to the controller, which is aware of the arm state of the installation, to take appropriate action. Thus, the controller's behaviour and handling of an alert received from a monitoring / sensing node of an installation typically depends on the arm state: if the installation is armed in respect of the relevant node, then the controller will typically be programmed to alert the monitoring service 114, whereas if the installation is not armed in respect of the relevant node (e.g. if the node is a motion sensor in the previously described second part rather than the first part) then the controller will typically be programmed not to alert the monitoring service 114. It is however worth pointing out that this is generally not true if the node is a fire, smoke, flood, SOS node, nor if the node is a user interface device such as 119 - because under such circumstances the controller 112 is likely to be programmed to report an incident to the monitoring station irrespective of the arm state of the installation.

[0051] However, because the installation shown in figure 2 is an installation according to an aspect of the invention, a user is able to determine at will which rooms and / or spaces to include in the first part (that part of the interior space which is monitored when the installation is in the part-armed state) and which rooms and / or spaces will be in the second part (not monitored when the installation is in the part-armed state) The user is enabled to make such a selection using a tool such as that illustrated schematically in Figure 3A and 3B.

[0052] Figure 3A shows schematically a tool 300, here in the form of a smartphone device, which provides a user interface, on the display 302 of the device. This device 300 may be the device shown as 126 in figure 1. By means of the user interface a user can define on the representation of the floorplan 304 (shown with a rectangular outline within the area of the display) a common zone corresponding to a first part of the floorplan that is distinct from and non-overlapping with a second part of the floorplan. Here the stylised floorplan represents a single floor of premises, although the tool may if necessary be arranged to display multiple floors in a common view, although a multi-page viewing option may also be supported - allowing the use of a larger viewing scale (which some users may find preferable especially on devices with smaller screens), with the possibility to link rooms, spaces, areas, etc. across different screens and thereby to add floorplan elements from different pages to form a common zone that extend across multiple floors (or conceivably across multiple buildings).

[0053] The common zone comprises two or more rooms or enclosures to which a common alarm logic can be applied. The common zone is here represented as shaded part within the rectangular boundary of the floorplan, and includes the room numbers 2,3,4, and 6 that the user has selected on the representation of the floorplan visible on the display of the device. Thus, rooms 2, 3, 4, and 6 constitute the previously mentioned first part of the floorplan As the device illustrated is a smartphone, the user may select the areas to be included in the common zone by interacting with the touch sensitive display of the device - although the user interface could also offer the option of drop down menus for the selection of rooms by type (e.g. offering the option to select all bedrooms) or by location (e.g. by floor, region, part), and also offer the option to choose a previously selected common area and also to start with a previously selected common area which can then be modified through the interface.

[0054] The other rooms and areas shown on the floorplan, rooms 1 and 5, and corridor or landing 0, constitute the previously mentioned second part of the floorplan which will not be monitored in the (or at least one) part armed state.

[0055] In the illustrated example the tool is a portable electronic device, such as a smartphone, with a touch sensitive display, but it could equally well be a desk top computer or other static device with a WIMP (windows, icon, mouse, pointer) interface and / or with a voice-driven interface (e.g. enabling the selection or deselection of rooms / areas using voiced commands) with or without a touch sensitive display. In either case, a user may select rooms, areas, and spaces to be included in a common zone to which a common alarm logic can be applied by selection, by touching or pointing at the relevant part of a floorplan displayed on the tool's display. The user interface could provide a user with options to define the common area additively - by selecting on the rendering of the floorplan rooms, etc. to be added to the common zone, or provide the user with the option to select instead rooms, areas, etc. to be included in the second zone - effectively a subtractive approach. Such flexibility enables a user to define a common area with relatively fewer operations in those cases where only a few rooms or areas, of the many rooms and areas represented on a floorplan, are either to be included in or excluded from the common area (first part) or from the second part

[0056] Turning now to figures 2C and 2D, which respectively show floorplan portions corresponding to the ground and first floors of premises protected by a monitoring system according to an aspect of the invention, these may be displayed simultaneously (to enable the complete floorplan to be seen at one time) or on separate "pages" to be viewed sequentially, as previously described. A user may thus be given the option to choose between these alternative display modes rather than the choice being dictated by the size of the display screen - it has been found to be easier for some users to manage room selections that extend across two or more partial floorplans, e.g. representing different floors or parts of different buildings (e.g. main residence, granny flat, pool room, guest bungalow, etc.) if the partial floorplans are displayed simultaneously rather than the user having to switch between display instances in order to be able to see the complete floorplan.

[0057] Consider the scenario that a parent occupier of the premises is hosting a party for teenage offspring - the child's friends and school mates will be attending the party. The parent wants to make some areas "out of bounds" for the duration of the party, and therefore wants to create a common zone made up of these rooms and spaces - on the ground floor the gallery 212 (which houses artworks and other delicate and valuable items), the pantry and wine cellar 216 (which contains quantities of wine and spirits); on the first floor the office 260 and the bedrooms 254, 2556, and 258. Free movement will be allowed through the entrance hall 204, cloakroom 208, lounge 210, and kitchen 214 on the ground floor, and the landing 250 and bathroom 252 on the first floor, all being in the aforementioned second part. Of course the parent may not want an alarm signalled to the "official" remote monitoring station 114 in the event that one of the guests does enter one of the rooms of the common zone, but the installation can provide the flexibility for system to run an arm state in which alerts in respect of breaches of a common zone are reported to a user device (e.g. 126 of figure 1 or device 300 of figure 3) rather than to an official monitoring service such as 114. The parent can inform the teenage offspring that the property will be being monitored, that the rooms of the common zone are going to be out of bounds for the duration of the party, and that the parent will be notified immediately if there is any breach of the out of bounds areas. The system / installation may also offer the option of sharing image captures or video captures from any cameras of the system, or at least of those likely to have a view of an entry into or exit from any part of the common zone - something that is as relevant to the parent as monitoring entity as it is to an official agent in a monitoring centre 114. With the illustrated set up, any entrance into the pantry and wine cellar 216, which would be detected by door sensor node 222 and / or motion sensor node 223, can lead to images and optionally audio from video camera node 220 being shared to the parent's user device 126 / 300, as well as being stored on the controller 112 or on another memory under the control of the controller 112 - in case any further action needs to be taken. Similarly, images and or audio from the camera node 271 may be supplied by the controller 112 to the parent's device 126 / 300 in the event of any breach of that part of the common zone on the first floor.

[0058] Figures 2C and 2D show how the representation of the floorplan may appear to a user of device 300 once the common zone has been defined to match the parent's plan, with the parts corresponding to the common zone being partly greyed out - although it will be appreciated that on the display of the device 300 some other optical effect can be used, in particular one that makes use of colour to differentiate between the common zone and the second part of the floorplan.

[0059] Identifying areas as "out of bounds" and hence subject to common area monitoring but with breaches reported to an "official" monitoring service might be implemented by an owner / occupier of the premises under many circumstances: for example, a cleaner may be given access to the premises to clean while the occupants are at work or otherwise away from home. The office 260, gallery 212, and pantry / wine cellar 216 might be considered "sensitive" locations from which the cleaner should be excluded. By setting these as a common zone, and informing the cleaner accordingly, the owner can be confident that any intrusion into any part of the common zone while the cleaner is on the premises will be reported to the monitoring service 114. If the cleaner is to be given admittance to the premises while the occupants are away, the cleaner may be provided with a "dongle" or token for disarming the installation - which may be left in the fully armed state, the cleaner's token being effective to disarm from fully armed in to the relevant part armed state. The cleaner being required to re-arm the system back into the fully armed state on leaving the premises.

[0060] A similar demarcation between a common zone (first part) and a second part of a floorplan, and hence the categorisation of alerts from corresponding nodes in the actual premises being monitored, might be appropriate in the case that the owner has put the house up for sale and estate agents / realtors will be visiting the premises to show prospective purchasers around the premises. A common zone may be created in respect of all but one of the rooms and spaces in a monitored premises (a common one that covers all the rooms and spaces of monitored premises would typically equate to a fully armed state), but it is expected that users will typically define a common zone made up of multiple rooms and / or spaces, with multiple rooms and / or spaces excluded from the common zone.

[0061] A common zone can be considered to be a zone to which a common alarm logic is applied by the controller 112, even though the zone is made up of different rooms / spaces with multiple nodes serving each zone (and possibly each room or space of the zone having its own node).

[0062] A user may create multiple common zones for use under different circumstances and at different times. For example, during the day a user may decide that all the bedrooms, but not the first floor office, should be monitored - so that any presence in or entrance into a bedroom is treated by the controller 112 as a notifiable alarm event, while entry into and presence in the office can be disregarded. That same alarm logic might also treat the living space on the ground floor as an open zone in respect of which no alarm events are notified yet treat the gallery as being in the same zone as the office - so that entry into and presence in the gallery would count as notifiable events. The tool 300, or rather the software application that provides the floorplan management functionality, therefore preferably provides users with the option to label and store multiple common zones, so that these can be chosen and re-used at a later stage. The user interface may therefore provide a drop down menu to enable a user to select any previously defined zones - the software application performing a "sanity check" to ensure that any zones selected for use simultaneously do not clash - i.e. that when considering the zones to be applied simultaneously by the controller, no room or space appears within the first part of the floorplan for one applicable zone but in the second zone for any other applicable zone. Preferably the software application provides both a voiced warning of incompatibly and an on-screen warning that a requested combination cannot be activated. For example, "Sorry, I can't implement your request: the office is within an alarm zone for common zone A, but within a free zone for common zone D. Would you like to redefine a new alarm zone and associated free zone?". It will be appreciated that the label "within an alarm zone" can be used to label rooms and spaces in respect of which node activation is treated by the controller 112 as notifiable, while "within a free zone" can be used to label rooms and spaces in respect of which node activation is treated by the controller 112 as non-notifiable.

[0063] Defining common zones to which a particular alarm logic will be applied, as an optional partially armed state of a security monitoring installation according to an aspect of the invention, is something that can usefully be done not just as an alternative to a "nocturnal" mode or an "armed at home" mode, nor need the decision to apply the common zoning idea assume the maintenance of a secured perimeter. The tool 126 / 300 or the software application hosted thereon may therefore provide the option for a user to identify external doors to be opted out of a secure perimeter setting - for example, permitting doors opening onto an enclosed rear garden of premises might be selected to be "free" along with the rooms into which they open - so that the controller can ignore alerts from a door contact node, while doors opening into the street or other public places continue to be treated as "secure" so that any alerts received from the associated door contacts will be treated by the controller as notifiable.

[0064] Installations according to aspects of the invention may permit the monitoring of external spaces, such as gardens, paths, approaches, car ports, parking spaces, etc., and the premises floorplans created for use in the methods of aspects of the invention may include such exterior spaces, and such external spaces may be included in common zones defined using the tool 126 / 300 and / or the relevant user interface or software application.

[0065] In installations according to aspects of the invention the tool 126 / 300 or the software application hosted may be configured to permit the user to link a particular video camera to a defined common area, so that in the event that an alert is triggered in respect of the common zone the controller will activate the particular video camera, if the camera has not already been activated in connection with the alert. For example, if a common zone is defined as including pantry and wine cellar 216 then a user (or whoever is defining the common zone) may decide to link the kitchen camera 220 to the common area, whereas if the common area includes the office 260 and / or any of the bedrooms then the first floor camera 271 may be linked to the common area. Optionally, more than one camera (video or still) may be linked to a single common area - for example if a common area is defined to include the office 260 and the gallery 212 then each of the kitchen, hall, and first floor landing cameras 220, 221, and 271 may be linked to the common area. By linking a specific video camera, which may be outside the common area or within the common area, notifications of events reported in respect of the common area (or the particular common area where more than one common area is defined) can include or be accompanied by relevant video captures - which can reduce response times by providing immediate verification of incidents (or permitting speedy identification of false alarms) - something which is particularly useful when the notification is being handled by an official monitoring service able to report events to the emergency services, but which is also useful even when the notification is to a user / user device.

[0066] In installations according to aspects of the invention the tool 126 / 300 or the software application hosted may be configured to permit the user to link a particular video camera to one or more specific "detection nodes", that is nodes which sense or detect - such as door contact sensors, window contact sensors, shock sensors, motion detectors.

[0067] With monitored security installations it is important to reduce the incidence of false alarms, so that the emergency services are notified or summoned only for real alarm events. Typically, this means that monitoring services seek to verify alarm events before involving the emergency services, and that is where verification nodes such as cameras and microphones (and possibly radar and Wi-Fi sensing) become important as they enable the monitoring service or monitoring entity to verify that an alert received from a detection node is associated with other activity at the premises that suggests the presence of intruders or some other security-related incident.

[0068] The window / door contact sensors 110, shock sensors, glass break detectors, and the motion sensors 122 are examples of detection nodes which when triggered issue an alert which is received by the installation controller 112. Depending upon the arm state of the installation (at least in respect of the relevant node), the installation controller 112 may be configured to communicate an alert in respect of a potential alarm event to the remote monitoring centre 114. But such detection nodes tend to binary in their behaviour: the node is either triggered or not and their output is effectively either a zero or a one (although some detection nodes, e.g., shock sensors and thermal motion sensors may provide an output that varies according to the size of the stimulus received). Conversely, verification nodes such as cameras, microphones, Wi-Fi sensing controllers, and radar device, tend to provide much richer data from which it is possible to infer or determine human presence and possibly activity - improving the ability to discriminate between real and false alarms.

[0069] To facilitate prompt and accurate verification of potential security events notified following the triggering of a particular detection node it is useful to associate an appropriately located verification node from which further information can be gathered to determine whether triggering of a detection node is actually associated with a security event or is likely to be a false alarm. To this end the tool may be configured to provide the user (or installation engineer or the like) with an option to associate at least one particular verification node with a particular detection node. There may be a one to one mapping but given that there are typically many more detection nodes than verification nodes it will often be appropriate to associate multiple detection nodes with a single verification node.

[0070] In aspects of the invention an installation controller such as controller 112 may be supplied with floorplan information and provided with some basic logic such as if room=bedroom, put it in a first monitoring state, if room = living room, put it in a second monitoring state, if room = kitchen, put in a third monitoring state, etc. Where the first state is an armed mode (can be disarmed by user), second state is a disarmed state (can be re-armed by user e.g. upon leaving the house) and the third state is a semi-armed state which can be bumped up to fully armed or down to disarmed by the user.

[0071] The user may be able to alter those states by interacting with a node such as a keypad or button interface (e.g. user interface 119) rather than an app on a user device.

Claims

1. A security monitoring installation at premises protected by a security monitoring system, the premises having a plurality of rooms, the security monitoring installation having: a plurality of sensing or monitoring nodes, at least two of the plurality of rooms each being served by one or more of the plurality of nodes, the security monitoring system including a controller for the installation, the controller being programmed to handle alerts received from the nodes of the system, and apply alarm logic to alerts received from nodes of the installation in accordance with an arm state of the installation; the system further including a tool arranged to display a user interface, the user interface providing a user with access to a stored floorplan of the protected premises and details of the installed locations of the nodes of the installation, the user interface being configured to provide the user with an option to define, on a representation of the floorplan, a common zone corresponding to a first part of the floorplan that is distinct from and non-overlapping with a second part of the floorplan, the common zone comprising two or more rooms or enclosures to which a common alarm logic can be applied, each of the two or more rooms or enclosures of the common zone having a respective sensing or monitoring node of the plurality of nodes; the user interface further providing the user with an option to supply details of the common zone to the controller so that the controller can apply, as required, a common alarm logic to the respective sensing or monitoring nodes of the common zone while a different alarm logic is applied to at least one room, zone or area of the premises that does not form part of the common zone.

2. A security monitoring installation as claimed in any claim 1, wherein the user interface is provided by a software application running on a user device.

3. A security monitoring installation as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the user interface is configured to permit the user to link a particular video camera, the video camera being a node of the installation, to a defined common area, so that in the event that an alert is triggered in respect of the common zone the controller will activate the particular video camera, if the camera has not already been activated in connection with the alert.

4. A security monitoring installation as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the controller is a control unit located at the premises.

5. A security monitoring installation as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the controller is remote from the premises.

6. A security monitoring installation as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the user interface is also configured to communicate with a system back end remote from the premises, the system back end being configured to provide the user interface with access to the floorplan for the premises.

7. A security monitoring installation as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the controller stores, or has access to a memory storing, the floorplan of the premises8. A security monitoring installation as claimed in claim 2 or any of claims 3 to 5 as dependent on claim 2, wherein the user device stores, or controls a memory storing, the floorplan of the premises9. A security monitoring system including a security monitoring installation according to any one of the claims 1 to 7, and a monitoring station remote from the premises, the monitoring station having access to a database storing the floorplan of the installation.

10. A system as claimed in claim 8 as dependent on 6, wherein the system back end serves multiple security monitoring installations installed at multiple different premises, the system back end having access to a database storing a floorplan for each of the multiple installations.

11. A method of configuring a security monitoring installation at premises protected by a security monitoring system, the premises comprising a plurality of rooms, the security monitoring installation having a plurality of sensing or monitoring nodes, at least two of the plurality of rooms each being served by one or more of the plurality of nodes; the security monitoring system including a monitoring station remote from the premises, and a controller for the installation, the controller being configured (e.g. programmed) to handle alerts received from the nodes of the system, report alarm events to the monitoring station and apply alarm logic to alerts received from nodes of the installation in accordance with an arm state of the installation; the system further including a tool arranged to display a user interface, the user interface providing a user with access to a stored floorplan of the protected premises and details of the installed locations of the nodes of the installation, the user interface being configured to provide the user with an option to define, on a representation of the floorplan, a common zone corresponding to a first part of the floorplan that is distinct from and non-overlapping with a second part of the floorplan, the common zone comprising two or more rooms or enclosures to which a common alarm logic can be applied, each of the two or more rooms or enclosures of the common zone having a respective sensing or monitoring node of the plurality of nodes; the method comprising: in consequence of a user input at the user interface, receiving at the controller the details of the common zone, and storing the details of the common zone so that subsequently the controller can apply, as required, a common alarm logic to the common zone, while applying a different alarm logic to at least one room, zone or area of the premises that does not form part of the common zone.

12. A method as claimed in claim 11, the method further comprising receiving at the tool the floorplan of the protected premises from the controller.

13. A method as claimed in claim 11 or claim 12, wherein the tool is a portable electronic device, the portable electronic device storing the floorplan of the protected premises.

14. A method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the user interface is provided by a software application on an electronic user device, the application being configured to display the user interface on a display of the electronic user device and to accept user input through speech and / or through a touch-sensitive input of the device.

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