Systems and methods for smart home automation using a multifunction status and entry point icon

• US 10,133,443 B2
• Filed: 06/14/2015
• Issued: 11/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Von Dehsen, Lauren, Kennedy, Zachery Webster, Boda, Ted, Ketterman, Jason, Boettcher, Jesse, Mizono, Michael, Brennessl, Tomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Casillas, Roland J
• Application Number:
  US14/738,928
• Publication Number:
  US 20160364114A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,255 Days
• Field of Search: 715835
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2613 Household appliance in general
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2807 Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2816 Controlling appliance services of a home automation network by calling their functionalities 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

Abstract

A computing device is associated with one or more electronic devices in a smart home environment, the smart home environment having a plurality of environment statuses. A current environment status of the plurality of environment statuses is identified for the smart home environment. Based on the current environment status of the smart home environment, one of a plurality of different feature sets is determined for a smart home application executable on the computing device for interacting with the smart home environment. The determined feature set includes selectable commands for performing device functions associated with the current environment status. The determined feature set is provided to an instance of the smart home application, thereby enabling the instance to offer user interactions consistent with the selectable commands.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

at a computing device having one or more processors and memory storing instructions for execution by the one or more processors, wherein the computing device is associated with a plurality of electronic devices in a smart home environment, the plurality of electronic devices together composing the smart home environment at least in part, and the smart home environment having a plurality of environment statuses, each of the plurality of environment statuses corresponding to an alert level in a hierarchy of three or more alert levels defined to indicate a relative measure of criticality, severity, urgency, or significance of a status of the smart home environment, the three or more alert levels including at least a non-critical alert level, a heightened alert level, and an emergency alert level concerning the status of the smart home environment;

identifying, for each of at least some of the plurality of electronic devices, a device state of the electronic device;

determining a current environment status from the hierarchy of three or more alert levels of the plurality of environment statuses for the smart home environment based on a combination of the plurality of identified device states, wherein the current environment status for the smart home environment is separate from and in addition to the plurality of identified device states for the plurality of electronic devices;

concurrently displaying, in a display area of the computing device, an environment status indicator that indicates the current environment status of the smart home environment and a plurality of device state icons corresponding to respective device states of at least some of the plurality of electronic devices, wherein at least one of the respective device states corresponds to a device state alert level in a second hierarchy of three or more second alert levels defined to indicate a relative measure of criticality, severity, urgency, or significance of a device state of a first one of the plurality of electronic devices, the three or more second alert levels including at least a non-critical alert level, a heightened alert level, and an emergency alert level concerning the at least one of the respective device states;

in response to a determination of the current environment status, determining one of a plurality of different feature sets for a smart home application executable on the computing device for interacting with the smart home environment, wherein the determined feature set comprises selectable commands for performing device functions associated with the current environment status; and

providing the determined feature set to an instance of the smart home application, thereby enabling the instance to offer user interactions consistent with the selectable commands;

wherein the plurality of electronic devices include a hazard detector device having two or more threshold levels, and each of the three or more alert levels of the plurality of environment statuses is at least partially defined based on the two or more threshold levels of the hazard detector device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the current environment status is a second environment status of the plurality of environment statuses and the determined feature set is a second feature set of the plurality of different feature sets, the second environment status corresponding to the heightened alert level in the hierarchy of alert levels that is higher than the non-critical alert level.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein a second one of the plurality of electronic devices is a hazard detector device, and the second environment status corresponds to one of:

the detection of smoke levels satisfying a first predefined smoke threshold, the detection of temperature satisfying a first predefined temperature threshold, and the detection of carbon monoxide levels satisfying a first predefined monoxide threshold.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the second feature set includes a selectable command for suppressing the current environment status.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the second environment status corresponds to detection of motion of a predefined category, motion in a predefined region, or motion that occurs at a predefined time frame by a camera device.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein:

the plurality of electronic devices include one or more camera devices; and

the second feature set includes a selectable command for accessing a video stream of at least one of the one or more camera devices.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the current environment status is based on a respective device state of a first one of the plurality of electronic devices;

the one or more camera devices includes two or more camera devices; and

accessing the video stream comprises;

determining a first camera device of the two or more camera devices that is closest in proximity to the first electronic device; and

accessing the first camera device.

9. The method of claim 3, wherein the second feature set includes a selectable command for contacting an emergency contact.

10. The method of claim 3, wherein the current environment status is a third environment status of the plurality of environment statuses and the determined feature set is a third feature set of the plurality of different feature sets, the third environment status corresponding to the emergency alert level in the hierarchy of alert levels that is higher than the non-critical alert level and the heightened alert level, and wherein the third feature set excludes a selectable command for suppressing the current environment status.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein a second one of the plurality of electronic devices is a camera device, and displaying the plurality of device state icons comprises displaying at least one image from a live video feed of the camera device in a first one of the plurality of device state icons.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein a third one of the plurality of electronic devices is a thermostat, and displaying the plurality of device state icons comprises displaying at least an operational mode, a current temperature reading and a current device setting of the thermostat in a second one of the plurality of device state icons.

2. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium, storing one or more programs for execution by one or more processors of a computing device associated with a plurality of electronic devices in a smart home environment, the plurality of electronic devices together composing the smart home environment at least in part, and the smart home environment having a plurality of environment statuses, the one or more programs including instructions for:

identifying, for each of at least some of the plurality of electronic devices, a device state of the electronic device;

determining a current environment status from the hierarchy of three or more alert levels of the plurality of environment statuses for the smart home environment based on a combination of the plurality of identified device states, wherein;

the current environment status for the smart home environment is separate from and in addition to the plurality of identified device states for the plurality of electronic devices;

each of the plurality of environment statuses corresponding to an alert level in a hierarchy of three or more alert levels defined to indicate a relative measure of criticality, severity, urgency, or significance of a status of the smart home environment; and

the three or more alert levels includes at least a non-critical alert level, a heightened alert level, and an emergency alert level concerning the status of the smart home environment;

concurrently displaying, in a display area of the computing device, an environment status indicator that indicates the current environment status of the smart home environment and a plurality of device state icons corresponding to respective device states of at least some of the plurality of electronic devices, wherein at least one of the respective device states corresponds to a device state alert level in a second hierarchy of three or more second alert levels defined to indicate a relative measure of criticality, severity, urgency, or significance of a device state of a first one of the plurality of electronic devices, the three or more second alert levels including at least a non-critical alert level, a heightened alert level, and an emergency alert level concerning the at least one of the respective device states;

in response to a determination of the current environment status, determining one of a plurality of different feature sets for a smart home application executable on the computing device for interacting with the smart home environment, wherein the determined feature set comprises selectable commands for performing device functions associated with the current environment status; and

providing the determined feature set to an instance of the smart home application, thereby enabling the instance to offer user interactions consistent with the selectable commands;

wherein the plurality of electronic devices include a hazard detector device having two or more threshold levels, and each of the three or more alert levels of the plurality of environment statuses is at least partially defined based on the two or more threshold levels of the hazard detector device.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein:

the plurality of electronic devices comprise two or more electronic devices having respective device states; and

the current environment status is based on a first one of the plurality of identified device states corresponding to the emergency alert level of the hierarchy of alert levels for the two or more electronic devices.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 2, further comprising instructions for displaying an alert notification indicating the current environment status for the smart home environment.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 2, further comprising instructions for:

detecting a user input indicating selection of the displayed environment status indicator; and

providing the determined feature set to the instance of the smart home application in response to detecting the user input indicating selection of the displayed environment status indicator.

13. A computing device associated with a plurality of electronic devices in a smart home environment, the plurality of electronic devices together composing the smart home environment at least in part, and the smart home environment having a plurality of environment statuses, the computing device comprising:

a processor; and

memory for storing one or more programs for execution by the processor, the one or more programs including instructions for;

identifying, for each of at least some of the plurality of electronic devices, a device state of the electronic device;

determining a current environment status from the hierarchy of three or more alert levels of the plurality of environment statuses for the smart home environment based on a combination of the plurality of identified device states, wherein;

the current environment status for the smart home environment is separate from and in addition to the plurality of identified device states for the plurality of electronic devices;

each of the plurality of environment statuses corresponding to an alert level in a hierarchy of three or more alert levels defined to indicate a relative measure of criticality, severity, urgency, or significance of a status of the smart home environment; and

the three or more alert levels includes at least a non-critical alert level, a heightened alert level, and an emergency alert level concerning the status of the smart home environment;

concurrently displaying, in a display area of the computing device, an environment status indicator that indicates the current environment status of the smart home environment and a plurality of device state icons corresponding to respective device states of at least some of the plurality of electronic devices, wherein at least one of the respective device states corresponds to a device state alert level in a second hierarchy of three or more second alert levels defined to indicate a relative measure of criticality, severity, urgency, or significance of a device state of a first one of the plurality of electronic devices, the three or more second alert levels including at least a non-critical alert level, a heightened alert level, and an emergency alert level concerning the at least one of the respective device states;

in response to a determination of the current environment status, determining one of a plurality of different feature sets for a smart home application executable on the computing device for interacting with the smart home environment, wherein the determined feature set comprises selectable commands for performing device functions associated with the current environment status; and

providing the determined feature set to an instance of the smart home application, thereby enabling the instance to offer user interactions consistent with the selectable commands;

wherein the plurality of electronic devices include a hazard detector device having two or more threshold levels, and each of the three or more alert levels of the plurality of environment statuses is at least partially defined based on the two or more threshold levels of the hazard detector device.

14. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the environment status indicator is an environment status graphic, and the environment status graphic switches between distinct visual modes each corresponding to a distinct environment status of the plurality of environment statuses.

15. The computing device of claim 14, wherein the device state graphics switch between distinct visual modes each corresponding to a distinct device state of a respective plurality of device states, and wherein displaying the plurality of device state graphics is performed concurrently with and separately from displaying the environment status indicator.

16. The computing device of claim 13, comprising instructions for displaying a video feed of a camera device in a respective location of the display area.

17. The computing device of claim 13, comprising instructions for receiving an indication of the current environment status from a remote server distinct from the computing device.