Hybrid mesh network monitoring signaling environment

• US 10,153,966 B1
• Filed: 03/14/2016
• Issued: 12/11/2018
• 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: Trundle, Stephen Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Dollinger, Tonia L
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dabipi, Dixon F
• Application Number:
  US15/069,100
• Time in Patent Office: 1,002 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/004 Alarm propagated along alternative communication path or using alternative communication medium according to a hierarchy of available ways to communicate, e.g. if Wi-Fi not available use GSM
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/008 Alarm setting and unsetting, i.e. arming or disarming of the security system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0695 the faulty arrangement being the maintenance, administration or management system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/70 Routing based on monitoring results

Abstract

Techniques are described to improve the robustness of communication of critical life safety data when broadband networks are used as uphaul networks. Monitoring systems are examples of critical monitoring appliances, but the techniques described throughout this disclosure may be applied to any type of critical monitoring appliances, such as fife-support devices, fire detectors, smoke detectors, and the like.

Claims

1. An electronic system comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one computer-readable medium coupled to the at least one processor having instructions stored therein which, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving, by a monitoring server and through a first communication pathway between the monitoring server and a first communication device associated with a first monitoring system of a first property, one or more data transmissions related to detection of events at the first property by the first monitoring system;

measuring, by the monitoring server, one or more performance parameters of the one or more data transmissions, wherein the performance parameters comprise at least one of a signal latency, a data transfer rate, a measure of network integrity, or a measure of network reliability;

accessing, by the monitoring server and from electronic storage, one or more transmission standards defined for transmission of monitoring system data by the first monitoring system of the first property;

evaluating, by the monitoring server, the first communication pathway against the one or more transmission standards based on the one or more performance parameters of the one or more data transmissions;

based on the evaluation of the first communication pathway against the one or more transmission standards, determining, by the monitoring server, that the first communication pathway does not presently satisfy the one or more transmission standards;

based on the determination that the first communication pathway does not presently satisfy the one or more transmission standards, identifying a second communication device that is configured to exchange data transmissions with the monitoring server through a second communication pathway and that is configured to exchange data transmissions with the first communication device through a peer communication pathway, the second communication device being associated with a second monitoring system of a second property that is distinct from the first property; and

reconfiguring, by the monitoring server, the first communication device to transmit monitoring system data detected by the first monitoring system at the first property through the peer communication pathway to the second communication device associated with the second monitoring system of the second property, the second communication device being configured to relay monitoring system data received through the peer communication pathway to the monitoring server through the second communication pathway.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations comprise:

generating, by the monitoring server, an encryption code for the monitoring system data detected by the first monitoring system at the first property; and

transmitting, by the monitoring server, an instruction to the first communication device, to encrypt the monitoring system data detected by the first monitoring system at the first property based on the generated encrypted code;

wherein the encrypted monitoring system data detected by the first monitoring system at the first property is inaccessible to the second communication device associated with the second monitoring system of the second property when the second communication device relays the encrypted monitoring system data through the second communication pathway.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations comprise:

receiving, by the monitoring server and from the first communication device, first monitoring system data transmitted through the first communication pathway;

receiving, by the monitoring server and from the second communication device, second monitoring system data transmitted through the second communication pathway;

identifying, by the monitoring server, a portion of first monitoring system data that includes data that is substantially similar to a portion of the second monitoring system data;

processing, by the monitoring server, the first monitoring system data and the second monitoring system data to remove the respective portions of the first monitoring system data and the second monitoring system data that include data that is substantially similar; and

storing, by monitoring server, the processed first monitoring system data and the processed second monitoring system data.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first communication device is reconfigured to transmit monitoring system data to the second communication device based on a set of user-defined settings associated with the first monitoring system of the first property.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein determining that the first communication pathway does not presently satisfy the one or more transmission standards comprises at least one of:

determining that a cost associated with transmitting the monitoring system data detected by the first monitoring system at the first property through the first communication pathway is greater than a threshold cost for transmission, and

determining that a transmission latency associated with transmitting the monitoring system data detected by the first monitoring system at the first property through the first communication pathway is greater than a threshold transmission latency.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein identifying the second communication device that is configured to exchange data transmissions with the monitoring server through the second communication pathway comprises:

identifying, by the monitoring system, a plurality of communication devices that are configured to exchange data transmissions with the monitoring server through a plurality of communication pathways, the plurality of communication devices being associated with a plurality of properties that are predetermined to be nearby the first property and configured to exchange data transmissions with the first communication device through a plurality of peer communication pathways;

evaluating each of the plurality of peer communication pathways of the plurality of communication devices against the one or more transmission standards defined for transmission of monitoring system data by the first monitoring system of the first property; and

selecting a particular communication device from among the plurality of communication devices based on evaluating each of the plurality of peer communication pathways of the plurality of communication devices against the one or more transmission standards defined for transmission of monitoring system data by the first monitoring system of the first property.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more data transmissions related to detection of events at the first property by the first monitoring system comprise alarm data indicating detection of a critical alarm event at the first property.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more transmission standards comprise at least one of a maximum cost of data transmission, a user-defined privacy setting for data transmissions, or a maximum transmission latency of data transmission.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein measuring, by the monitoring server, one or more performance parameters of the one or more data transmissions comprises measuring, by the monitoring server, a data hash of the one or more data transmissions;

and

wherein evaluating, by the monitoring server, the first communication pathway against the one or more transmission standards based on the one or more performance parameters of the one or more data transmissions comprises evaluating, by the monitoring server, the first communication pathway against the one or more transmission standards based on comparing the data hash of the one or more data transmissions to a data hash of an original signal.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein measuring, by the monitoring server, one or more performance parameters of the one or more data transmissions comprises measuring, by the monitoring server, a cyclic redundancy check of the one or more data transmissions;

and

wherein determining, by the monitoring server, that the first communication pathway does not presently satisfy the one or more transmission standards comprises determining that the cyclic redundancy check does not satisfy the one or more transmission standards.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein:

measuring, by the monitoring server, one or more performance parameters of the one or more data transmissions comprises measuring, by the monitoring server, a signal latency;

accessing, by the monitoring server and from electronic storage, one or more transmission standards defined for transmission of monitoring system data by the first monitoring system of the first property comprises accessing, by the monitoring server and from electronic storage, a threshold latency value; and

determining, by the monitoring server, that the first communication pathway does not presently satisfy the one or more transmission standards comprises determining, by the monitoring server, that the signal latency does not satisfy the threshold latency value.

19. The system of claim 2, wherein generating, by the monitoring server, an encryption code for the monitoring system data detected by the first monitoring system at the first property comprises generating, by the monitoring server, an encryption code based on a minimum encryption level designated by a user of the first monitoring system at the first property.

20. The system of claim 4, wherein the set of user-defined settings associated with the first monitoring system of the first property comprise a prioritization of two or more transmission standards.

8. A method performed by one or more computers, the method comprising:

receiving, by a monitoring server and through a first communication pathway between the monitoring server and a first communication device associated with a first monitoring system of a first property, one or more data transmissions related to detection of events at the first property by the first monitoring system;

measuring, by the monitoring server, one or more performance parameters of the one or more data transmissions, wherein the performance parameters comprise at least one of a signal latency, a data transfer rate, a measure of network integrity, or a measure of network reliability;

accessing, by the monitoring server and from electronic storage, one or more transmission standards defined for transmission of monitoring system data by the first monitoring system of the first property;

evaluating, by the monitoring server, the first communication pathway against the one or more transmission standards based on the one or more performance parameters of the one or more data transmissions;

based on the evaluation of the first communication pathway against the one or more transmission standards, determining, by the monitoring server, that the first communication pathway does not presently satisfy the one or more transmission standards;

based on the determination that the first communication pathway does not presently satisfy the one or more transmission standards, identifying a second communication device that is configured to exchange data transmissions with the monitoring server through a second communication pathway and that is configured to exchange data transmissions with the first communication device through a peer communication pathway, the second communication device being associated with a second monitoring system of a second property that is distinct from the first property; and

reconfiguring, by the monitoring server, the first communication device to transmit monitoring system data detected by the first monitoring system at the first property through the peer communication pathway to the second communication device associated with the second monitoring system of the second property, the second communication device being configured to relay monitoring system data received through the peer communication pathway to the monitoring server through the second communication pathway.

9. The method of claim 8, comprising:

generating, by the monitoring server, an encryption code for the monitoring system data detected by the first monitoring system at the first property; and

transmitting, by the monitoring server, an instruction to the first communication device, to encrypt the monitoring system data detected by the first monitoring system at the first property based on the generated encrypted code;

wherein the encrypted monitoring system data detected by the first monitoring system at the first property is inaccessible to the second communication device associated with the second monitoring system of the second property when the second communication device relays the encrypted monitoring system data through the second communication pathway.

10. The method of claim 8, comprising:

receiving, by the monitoring server and from the first communication device, first monitoring system data transmitted through the first communication pathway;

receiving, by the monitoring server and from the second communication device, second monitoring system data transmitted through the second communication pathway;

identifying, by the monitoring server, a portion of first monitoring system data that includes data that is substantially similar to a portion of the second monitoring system data;

processing, by the monitoring server, the first monitoring system data and the second monitoring system data to remove the respective portions of the first monitoring system data and the second monitoring system data that include data that is substantially similar; and

storing, by monitoring server, the processed first monitoring system data and the processed second monitoring system data.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the first communication device is reconfigured to transmit monitoring system data to the second communication device based on a set of user-defined settings associated with the first monitoring system of the first property.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein determining that the first communication pathway does not presently satisfy the one or more transmission standards comprises at least one of:

determining that a cost associated with transmitting the monitoring system data detected by the first monitoring system at the first property through the first communication pathway is greater than a threshold cost for transmission, and

determining that a transmission latency associated with transmitting the monitoring system data detected by the first monitoring system at the first property through the first communication pathway is greater than a threshold transmission latency.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein identifying the second communication device that is configured to exchange data transmissions with the monitoring server through the second communication pathway comprises:

identifying, by the monitoring system, a plurality of communication devices that are configured to exchange data transmissions with the monitoring server through a plurality of communication pathways, the plurality of communication devices being associated with a plurality of properties that are predetermined to be nearby the first property and configured to exchange data transmissions with the first communication device through a plurality of peer communication pathways;

evaluating each of the plurality of peer communication pathways of the plurality of communication devices against the one or more transmission standards defined for transmission of monitoring system data by the first monitoring system of the first property; and

selecting a particular communication device from among the plurality of communication devices based on evaluating each of the plurality of peer communication pathways of the plurality of communication devices against the one or more transmission standards defined for transmission of monitoring system data by the first monitoring system of the first property.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more data transmissions related to detection of events at the first property by the first monitoring system comprise alarm data indicating detection of a critical alarm event at the first property.