Event communication apparatus and method

1. An event communication module, comprising:

a connection interface for receiving event information from a base station, the event information comprising an event code indicative of a condition occurring at a premises where the base station is located;

a memory for storing processor-executable instructions and criteria for determining a communication method used to transmit information;

a processor for executing the processor-executable instructions that cause the event communication module to:

decode the event code from the event information;

select a first transmission method from two or more transmission methods based on the event code and the criteria; and

encode the event code into a format suitable for transmission in conformance with the first transmission method selected by the processor; and

a first communication module, configured to transmit the encoded event code using the first transmission method.

2. The alarm event communication module of claim 1 , wherein the processor-executable instructions further comprise instructions that causes the alarm event communication module to:

prior to encoding the event code into a format suitable for transmission, re-encode the decoded event code in a format compatible with the base station.

3. The event communication module of claim 1 , wherein the processor-executable instructions for retrieving the event code from the event information further comprise instructions that cause the event communication module to decode the event information in accordance with an alarm reporting protocol.

4. The event communication module of claim 1 , wherein the criteria comprises the two or more communication methods available to the event communication module in a preferential order.

5. The event communication module of claim 4 , wherein the processor-executable instructions further comprise instructions that causes the event communication module to:

determine that the first transmission method has failed; and

transmit the encoded event code using the second communication module.

6. The event communication module of claim 1 , wherein the criteria comprises a stored urgency level associated with one or more event codes and the processor-executable instructions for selecting a first transmission method comprises instructions that cause the event communication module to:

determine an urgency level associated with the received event code; and

determine a transmission method from the memory associated with the urgency level;

wherein transmitting the encoded event code using the first transmission method comprises transmitting the encoded event code using the transmission method associated with the urgency level.

7. The event communication module of claim 6 , wherein the urgency level represents an emergency condition and the first transmission method comprises the most reliable transmission method available to the event communication module.

8. The event communication module of claim 6 , wherein the urgency level represents a non-urgent condition and the first transmission method comprises the least costly transmission method available to the event communication module.

9. The event communication module of claim 6 , wherein the processor-executable instructions further comprise instructions that causes the event communication module to:

determine that the first transmission method has failed;

determine a second transmission method associated with the urgency level; and

transmit the encoded event code using the second transmission method associated with the urgency level.

10. The event communication module of claim 1 , wherein the memory further stores contact information of a person to be notified when an urgent event is received from the base station, and the processor-executable instructions further comprise instructions that causes the event communication module to:

transmit an alert to the person indicative of a condition associated with the event code using the contact information stored in the memory.

11. The event communication module of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to provide an acknowledgement to the base station via the connection interface indicative of whether the event code was successfully received by the event communication module.

12. The event communication module of claim 1 , further comprising:

a speaker;

a microphone; and

audio circuitry coupled to the processor;

wherein the processor-executable instructions further comprise instructions that causes the event communication module to provide at least a one-way voice communication between the location of the base station and a remote location.

13. The event communication module of claim 12 , wherein the audio circuitry is activated when a pre-determined event code is transmitted to the remote location.

14. The event communication module of claim 1 , further comprising:

a second communication module, configured to transmit the encoded event code using a second transmission method.

15. The event communication module of claim 1 , wherein the first communication module is configured to transmit the event code using either the first communication method or a second communication method.

16. The event communication module of claim 1 , wherein the processor-executable instructions further comprise instructions that causes the event communication module to:

receive a subsequent event code, via the connection interface, indicative of a desire to establish an audio communication;

establish an audio communication with a remote location using the first communication module;

establish an audio communication with the base station; and

encode audio information received via the connection interface for transmission to the remote location using the first communication module.

17. The event communication module of claim 16 , wherein the first event code is transmitted using the first communication method and the subsequent event code is transmitted using a second communication method.

18. A method for relaying event codes from a base station to a remote location by an event communication module, executed by an event communication module, comprising:

receiving an encoded event code from a base station over an interface connection;

selecting a first transmission method from two or more communication methods based on the received event code by a processor;

encoding the event code based on the first communication method by the processor; and

transmitting the encoded event code to remote location by a communication module configured to communicate using the first communication method.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:

determining, by the processor, an urgency level associated with the received event code; and

determining, by the processor, a preferred communication method stored in a memory based on the urgency level;

wherein selecting a first transmission method comprises the processor selecting the preferred transmission method associated with the urgency level.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein determining an urgency level associated with the received event code comprises:

determining whether the received event code is present in a list of event codes stored in the memory; and

retrieving a stored urgency level associated with the stored event code.