similar serial port infrared data association irda compatible port for example a pc link port is a four pin serial port u2014 of which two pins are grounded pins 2 3 and one pin pin 1 acts as a transmit pin while the remaining pin pin 4 acts as a receive pin at a conventional alarm panel u2014 such as a dsc u00ae 1832 1864 or the like to this end communication port 12 may take the form of a standard 4 pin pc link connector for interconnection with the pc link connector of alarm panel 18 removable memory 14 may take the form of a universal serial bus u201c usb u201d flash memory key interconnected with an interface 16 in the form of a memory port u2014 specifically a usb port forming part of alarm update tool 10 usb ports as well as the communications protocol used to read and write from usb memory are well known in alternate embodiments memory 14 could take the form of a flash memory card such as a compact flash memory card secure digital memory card memory stick or the like a block diagram of update tool 10 is depicted in fig2 a an example physical embodiment of update tool 10 is depicted in fig2 b as illustrated update tool 10 includes port 12 and interface 16 in communication with a processor u2014 in the form of programmable microcontroller 20 in the depicted update tool 10 programmable microcontroller 20 may be a microcontroller having an integrated.