Robotic assistance in security monitoring

• US 10,088,841 B2
• Filed: 11/10/2016
• Issued: 10/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alarm.com Inc. (Alarm.com Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Alarm.com Inc. (Alarm.com Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kerzner, Daniel
• Primary Examiner(s): Marc-Coleman, Marthe Y
• Application Number:
  US15/348,309
• Publication Number:
  US 20170052539A1
• Time in Patent Office: 691 Days
• Field of Search: 701 2, 901 1
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0022 characterised by the communication link data switching networks in general H04L12/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/104 involving a plurality of aircrafts, e.g. formation flying traffic control systems for aircraft G08G5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19645 Multiple cameras, each having view on one of a plurality of scenes, e.g. multiple cameras for multi-room surveillance or for tracking an object by view hand-over
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19697 Arrangements wherein non-video detectors generate an alarm themselves
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/22 Electrical actuation
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 15/00 Identifying, scaring or incapacitating burglars, thieves or intruders, e.g. by explosives
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 15/002 with occupancy simulation
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 15/005 by electric shock
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 19/00 Alarms responsive to two or more different undesired or abnormal conditions, e.g. burglary and fire, abnormal temperature and abnormal rate of flow
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/10 using wireless transmission systems G08B25/009 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on storage devices, for monitoring, security, and surveillance of a property. In one aspect, a system includes multiple robotic devices, multiple sensors, wherein the multiple sensors includes a first sensor, multiple charging stations, and a monitor control unit. The monitor control unit may include a network interface, one or more processors, and one or more storage devices that include instructions to cause the one or more processors to perform operations. The operations may include receiving data from the first sensor that is indicative of an alarm event, accessing information describing the capabilities of the each of the robotic devices, selecting a subset of robotic devices from the multiple robotic devices, and transmitting a command to each robotic device in the subset of robotic devices that instructs each respective robotic device to deploy to the location of the first sensor.

Claims

1. A monitoring system, comprising:

a monitor control unit that is configured to detect sensor data that is generated by one or more sensors of a plurality of sensors located at different locations throughout a property; and

a robotic device that includes a network interface, one or more processors, and one or more storage devices that include instructions that are operable, when executed by the one more processors, to cause the robotic device to perform operations comprising;

receiving one or more instructions from the monitor control unit, wherein the one or more instructions include (i) a location associated with an event, and (ii) an initial security strategy;

navigating to the location associated with the event;

determining whether a potential threat is present within a vicinity of the location associated with the event, wherein determining whether a potential threat is present within a vicinity of the location associated with the event comprises;

using a camera mounted to the robotic device to obtain one or more images associated with the location, and

determining whether the one or more images depict a human body that is present in the vicinity of the location associated with the event; and

in response to determining that a human body is present in the vicinity of the location associated with the event, selecting a different security strategy that can be used to address the potential threat.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the initial security strategy includes a deterrent strategy and the different security strategy includes a confrontation strategy.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the deterrent strategy includes the robotic device performing actions that include one or more of obtaining a real-time video feed, obtaining biometric readings of an entity, performing facial recognition identification of an entity, or displaying a hologram.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the confrontation strategy includes the robotic device performing actions that include outputting audio sounds near an entity, shining a light near an entity, navigating in random patterns around an entity, or tasing an entity.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the initial security strategy includes a confrontation strategy and the different security strategy includes a deterrent strategy.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the robotic device stores a data model describing attributes of the property in the one or more of storage devices.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein navigating to the location associated with the event includes:

accessing the data model describing attributes of the property in the one or storage devices;

establishing a reference location within the data model that is indicative of the robotic device'"'"'s current location in the property; and

traveling from the reference location to the location associated with the event by measuring the movement of the robotic device with respect to the reference location.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein determining whether a potential threat is present within a vicinity of the location includes:

determining whether the human body is moving; and

in response to determining that the human body is moving, (i) locking-on to the human body and tracking the human body'"'"'s movement in the property, (ii) obtaining a real-time video feed of the human body, and (iii) providing the real-time video feed for output on a user device.

9. A monitoring system, comprising:

a monitor control unit that is configured to detect sensor data that is generated by one or more sensors of a plurality of sensors located at different locations throughout a property; and

a robotic device that includes a network interface, one or more processors, and one or more storage devices that include instructions that are operable, when executed by the one more processors, to cause the robotic device to perform operations comprising;

receiving one or more instructions from the monitor control unit, wherein the one or more instructions include (i) a location associated with an event, and (ii) an initial security strategy;

navigating to the location associated with the event;

determining that a human body is present in the vicinity of the location associated with the event, wherein determining that a human body is present in the vicinity of the location associated with the event comprises;

using a camera mounted to the robotic device to obtain one or more images associated with the location, and

determining that the one or more images depict a human body that is present in the vicinity of the location associated with the event; and

determining whether the human body is associated with a lawful occupant of the property; and

in response to determining that the human body is not associated with a lawful occupant of the property, (i) locking-on to the human body and tracking the human body'"'"'s movement in the property, (ii) obtaining a real-time video feed of the human body, and (iii) providing the real-time video feed for output on a user device.

10. The system of claim 9, the operations further comprising:

in response to determining that the human body is associated with a lawful occupant of the property, discontinue tracking of the human body.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the robotic device stores (i) one or more images of a face of each lawful occupant of the property, (ii) one or more voiceprints of each lawful occupant of the property, or (iii) biometric data of each lawful occupant of the property.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein determining whether the human body is associated with a lawful occupant of the property includes:

comparing the obtained one or more images with the one or more images of the face of each lawful occupant of the property that are stored by the robotic device; and

determining that the obtained one or more images are indicative of depict a person who is not a lawful occupant of the property.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein determining whether the human body is associated with a lawful occupant of the property includes:

comparing the obtained one or more images with the one or more images of the face of each lawful occupant of the property that are stored by the robotic device; and

determining that the obtained one or more images are indicative of depict a person who is a lawful occupant of the property.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein determining whether the human body is associated with a lawful occupant of the property includes:

obtaining one or more audio recordings of an utterance uttered by a person depicted as the human body in the obtained one or more images;

comparing the obtained one or more audio recordings with the one or more voiceprints of each lawful occupant of the property that are stored by the robotic device; and

determining that the obtained one or more audio recordings do not correspond to at least one of the one or more voiceprints of each lawful occupant of the property.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein determining whether the human body is associated with a lawful occupant of the property includes:

obtaining one or more audio recordings of an utterance uttered by a person depicted as the human body in the obtained one or more images;

comparing the obtained one or more audio recordings with the one or more voiceprints of each lawful occupant of the property that are stored by the robotic device; and

determining that the obtained one or more audio recordings correspond to at least one of the one or more voiceprints of each lawful occupant of the property.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein determining whether the human body is associated with a lawful occupant of the property includes:

obtaining one or more biometric samples from a person depicted as the human body in the obtained one or more images;

comparing the obtained one or more biometric samples with the biometric data of each lawful occupant of the property that is stored by the robotic device; and

determining that the obtained one or more biometric samples do not correspond to at least a portion of the biometric data of one or more lawful occupants of the property that is stored by the robotic device.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein determining whether the human body is associated with a lawful occupant of the property includes:

obtaining one or more biometric samples from a person depicted as the human body in the obtained one or more images;

comparing the obtained one or more biometric samples with the biometric data of each lawful occupant of the property that is stored by the robotic device; and

determining that the obtained one or more biometric samples correspond to at least a portion of the biometric data of one or more lawful occupants of the property that is stored by the robotic device.