Smart-home automation system that suggests or autmatically implements selected household policies based on sensed observations

• US 10,114,351 B2
• Filed: 03/05/2015
• Issued: 10/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Fadell, Anthony M., Matsuoka, Yoky, Sloo, David, Veron, Maxime
• Primary Examiner(s): Elamin, Abdelmoniem
• Application Number:
  US14/639,750
• Publication Number:
  US 20160259308A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,335 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2823 Reporting information sensed by appliance or service execution status of appliance services in a home automation network device-related reporting H04L43/065; arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

Embodiments provided herein relate to: suggesting, automatically implementing, or both suggesting and automatically implementing, one or more household policies to be implemented within a household environment. The household policies include one or more input criteria that is derivable from at least one smart device within the household environment, the one or more input criteria relating to a characteristic of the household environment, a characteristic of one or more occupants of the household, or both. The household policies also include one or more outputs to be provided based upon the one or more input criteria.

Claims

1. A tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium, comprising machine-readable instructions configured to:

suggest, automatically implement, or both suggest and automatically implement, one or more household policies to be implemented within a household environment;

determine monitoring capabilities, enforcement capabilities, or both of an inventory of smart devices within the household environment, and

suggest the one or more household policies based upon the monitoring capabilities, the enforcement capabilities, or a combination thereof of the inventory of smart devices, wherein the machine-readable instructions configured to determine the monitoring capabilities, the enforcement capabilities, or both comprises;

access a list of the monitoring capabilities, the enforcement capabilities, or both for each smart device in the inventory; and

aggregate the list of the monitoring capabilities, the enforcement capabilities, or both for each smart device in the inventory into an overall list of the monitoring capabilities, the enforcement capabilities, or both for all smart devices in the inventory; and

wherein the household policies comprise;

one or more input criteria that is derivable from at least one smart device within the household environment, the one or more input criteria relating to a characteristic of the household environment, a characteristic of one or more occupants of the household, or both; and

one or more outputs to be provided to at least one of the smart devices within the inventory of smart devices within the household environment based upon the one or more input criteria such that the at least one of the smart devices within the inventory of smart devices within the household environment operates in accordance with the one or more outputs.

2. The tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 1, comprising machine-readable instructions configured to determine the monitoring capabilities, the enforcement capabilities, or both by:

broadcasting a capabilities poll to the smart devices within the household environment; and

receiving a response from one or more of the smart devices within the household, the response comprising an indication of one or more monitoring capabilities, enforcement capabilities, or both of the one or more smart devices providing the response.

3. The tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 1, comprising machine-readable instructions configured to:

determine a demographic profile of the household environment; and

suggest the one or more household policies based upon the demographic profile of the household environment.

4. The tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 3, comprising machine-readable instructions configured to:

determine the demographic profile of the household environment by;

providing a graphical user interface comprising a demographic survey; and

receiving one or more responses to the demographic survey, the responses comprising an indication of at least one demographic variable of the household environment.

5. A tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium comprising machine-readable instructions configured to:

suggest, automatically implement, or both suggest and automatically implement, one or more household policies to be implemented within a household environment;

determine a demographic profile of the household environment by;

attributing at least one input received by the at least one smart device within the household environment to at least one demographic variable; and

defining the demographic profile based upon the at least one demographic variable;

suggest the one or more household policies based upon the demographic profile of the household environment; and

wherein the household policies comprise;

one or more input criteria that is derivable from at least one smart device within the household environment, the one or more input criteria relating to a characteristic of the household environment, a characteristic of one or more occupants of the household, or both; and

one or more outputs to be provided to at least one of the smart devices within the within the household environment based upon the one or more input criteria such that the at least one of the smart devices within the household environment operates in accordance with the one or more outputs.

6. The tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the at least one input comprises an audio signal and the at least one demographic variable comprises a type of household member associated with the audio signal, the type comprising:

a male, a female, a child, an adult, or any combination thereof.

7. The tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the at least one input comprises an audio signal and the at least one demographic variable comprises an identity of a household member associated with the audio signal.

8. A tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium, comprising machine-readable instructions configured to:

determine one or more behaviors within a household;

determine monitoring capabilities, enforcement capabilities, or both of an inventory of smart devices within the household by;

accessing a list of the monitoring capabilities, the enforcement capabilities, or both for each smart device in the inventory; and

aggregating the list of the monitoring capabilities, the enforcement capabilities, or both for each smart device in the inventory into an overall list of the monitoring capabilities, the enforcement capabilities, or both for all smart devices in the inventory; and

suggest or automatically implement one or more household policies based on the one or more behaviors within the household, the monitoring capabilities, the enforcement capabilities, or a combination thereof of the inventory of smart devices;

wherein the household policies comprise one or more outputs to be provided to at least one of the smart devices within the within the household based upon the one or more input criteria such that the at least one of the smart devices within the household operates in accordance with the one or more outputs.

9. The tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the behaviors comprise one or more activity patterns of a member of the household.

10. The tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the one or more activity patterns comprise repeatedly missing an indicated goal.

11. The tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the indicated goal is an estimated time of arrival to the one or more household policies comprises providing a reminder to leave at a time needed of an on-time arrival.

12. The tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 11, comprising instructions to provide the reminder as an alarm, a text message, or both an electronic device associated with the member of the household.

13. The tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 10, comprising instructions configured to discern the indicated goal from a text message, voice call, audio monitoring, video monitoring, or any combination thereof.

14. A tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium, comprising machine-readable instructions configured to:

determine one or more goals of a household;

determine monitoring capabilities, enforcement capabilities, or both of an inventory of smart devices within the household by;

accessing a list of the monitoring capabilities, the enforcement capabilities, or both for each smart device in the inventory; and

aggregating the list of the monitoring capabilities, the enforcement capabilities, or both for each smart device in the inventory into an overall list of the monitoring capabilities, the enforcement capabilities, or both for all smart devices in the inventory; and

suggest or automatically implement one or more household policies based on the one or more goals, the monitoring capabilities, the enforcement capabilities, or a combination thereof of the inventory of smart devices;

wherein the household policies comprise one or more outputs to be provided to at least one of the smart devices within the within the household based upon the one or more input criteria such that the at least one of the smart devices within the household operates in accordance with the one or more outputs.

15. The tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 14, comprising instructions configured to determine the one or more goals by providing a household goal survey via a graphical user interface.

16. The tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 14, comprising instructions configured to determine the one or more goals by providing one or more goal suggestions based upon one or more behaviors of the household, one or more observations obtained from one or more smart devices within the household, or both.

17. The tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the household goal comprises reducing consumption of a utility, the utility comprising water, natural gas, electricity, or a combination thereof.