Abstract: A wide variety of devices generate alarms when a particular condition is met. For example, a smoke detector generates an alarm upon detecting smoke whilst a motion detector generates an alarm upon detecting motion when the system to which the motion detector is connected is set or armed. However, in each instance the alarm is the same when the specific condition, e.g. smoke, motion; is met. Accordingly, it would be beneficial to provide users with an alarm which is generated in dependence upon an overall context within which the alarm is established and the resulting alarm generated varies in dependence upon the established context.