Methods and systems for mindful home automation

• US 10,181,959 B2
• Filed: 07/23/2016
• Issued: 01/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Koeninger, R Kent
• Primary Examiner(s): Lo, Kenneth M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Huntley, Michael J
• Application Number:
  US15/217,986
• Publication Number:
  US 20170033942A1
• Time in Patent Office: 906 Days
• Field of Search: 324124
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2807 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 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2827 Reporting to a device within the home network; wherein the reception of the information reported automatically triggers the execution of a home appliance functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2829 involving user profiles according to which the execution of a home appliance functionality is automatically triggered
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2834 Switching of information between an external network and a home network access arrangements H04L12/2856

Abstract

A set of assumptions about scheduled settings in a home automation system which control devices in a home is provided. An input from a sensor coupled to the home automation system is received. The input indicates that activity has occurred in the home. Suggestions in the user interface are presented for changing a first assumption of the set of assumptions based on the input. The first assumption is for controlling a device separate from the sensor which produced the input.

Claims

1. A home automation system comprising:

a memory to store a set of assumptions about scheduled settings in the home automation system which control a set of devices in a home;

a processor to control the set of devices according to the set of assumptions;

a set of sensors coupled to the home automation system, the set of sensors for detecting input indicating activity in the home, at least one of the set of sensors being a smarter plug sensor assigned to control a first device in the set of devices;

wherein the smarter plug sensor comprises;

a controller which stores logic for operating the smarter plug sensor; and

three A-D op-amps respectively paired with three resistors having different values forming three different op-amp voltage meters;

wherein the three different op-amp voltage meters respectively report a first sensor-voltage slope with a higher sensitivity and a lower range, a second sensor-voltage slope with a lower sensitivity and a higher range and a third sensor-voltage slope with a range and a sensitivity intermediate between these ranges; and

a computer driven user interface for presenting suggestions for changing a first assumption of the set of assumptions based on a detected input.

2. The home automation system as recited in claim 1, wherein the smarter plug sensor comprises a smarter motion detector configured to sense motion in a vicinity of the motion detector;

and wherein the detected motion is used to present a changed assumption relating to a change in schedule of a user.

3. The home automation system as recited in claim 1, wherein the smarter plug sensor comprises a smarter sound detector configured to sense a sound in a vicinity of the sound detector;

and

wherein the detected motion is used to present a changed assumption relating to a change in schedule of a user.

4. The home automation system as recited in claim 1, wherein the smarter plug sensor comprises a smarter pressure sensor configured to sense a change in pressure exerted on a piece of furniture in a home;

and wherein the detected motion is used to present a changed assumption relating to a change in schedule of a user.

5. The home automation system as recited in claim 1, wherein the system is responsive to an input from the user interface to change the first assumption according to the suggestion.

6. The home automation system as recited in claim 1, wherein the input from the sensor includes at least one of:

a change in a reading of a sensor that indicates the inhabitant has risen, thus indicating an actual value of the rising time; and

detecting an arrival of the inhabitant indicating an actual arrival time.

7. The home automation system as recited in claim 1 wherein each of the set of assumptions is associated with one of an Asleep state in which the user is asleep in the home, an Awake state in which the user is awake in the home or an Away state in which the user is away from the home.

8. The home automation system as recited in claim 1, wherein a change in schedule for a first device controlled by the home automation system results in a change to an assumption which controls a second device controlled by the home automation system.

9. The home automation system as recited in claim 1, wherein a detected input from a smarter plug sensor which controls a first device, the detected input indicates a change in state of the first device results in a change to an assumption which controls a second device controlled by the home automation system.

10. A method for home automation comprising:

storing a set of assumptions about scheduled settings in a home automation system which control a set of devices in a home, the set of assumptions stored in a computer memory;

receiving a first input from a sensor coupled to a first device controlled by the home automation system, the input indicating activity in the home, wherein the sensor is a smarter plug sensor assigned to control the first device;

wherein the smarter plug sensor comprises;

a controller which stores logic for operating the smarter plug sensor; and

three A-D op-amps respectively paired with three resistors having different values forming three different op-amp voltage meters;

wherein the three different op-amp voltage meters respectively report a first sensor-voltage slope with a higher sensitivity and a lower range, a second sensor-voltage slope with a lower sensitivity and a higher range and a third sensor-voltage slope with a range and a sensitivity intermediate between these ranges; and

presenting suggestions in the user interface for changing a first assumption of the set of assumptions based on the first input.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

receiving a second input from a user interface to change the at least one of the assumption according to the suggestion; and

changing the at least one of the assumptions according to the suggestion.

12. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the settings include a least one of:

a rising time at which an inhabitant of the house rises;

an arrival time in the day at which an inhabitant arrives from work; and

a thermostat setting for a desired temperature of the house.

13. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the second input from the user interface includes a least one of:

changing the thermostat setting related the desired temperature of the house;

programming an alarm determining the rising time; and

programming a device start time related to the rising time.

14. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the first input from the sensor includes at least one of:

a change in a reading of a sensor that indicates the inhabitant has risen, thus indicating an actual value of the rising time; and

detecting an arrival of the inhabitant indicating an actual arrival time.

15. The method as recited in claim 10 wherein each of the set of assumptions is associated with one of an Asleep state in which the user is asleep in the home, an Awake state in which the user is awake in the home or an Away state in which the user is away from the home.

16. The method as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

detecting a change in schedule for a first device controlled by the home automation system;

responsive to the change in schedule for the first device, changing an assumption which controls a second device controlled by the home automation system; and

controlling the second device according to the changed assumption.

17. The method as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

detecting an input from a smarter plug sensor, wherein the smarter plug sensor controls a first device, and the input indicates a change in state of the first device;

responsive to the change in state of the first device, changing an assumption which controls a second device controlled by the home automation system; and

controlling the second device according to the changed assumption.

18. A computer program product in a non-transitory computer readable medium for use in a home automation system, the computer program product holding computer program instructions executed by the data processing system for performing home automation, the computer program instructions comprising:

program code, operative to store and modify a set of assumptions about scheduled settings in the home automation system which control a set of devices in a home;

program code, operative to control the set of devices according to the set of assumptions;

program code, operative to receive input from a set of sensors coupled to the home automation system, the input from the set of sensors for detecting input indicating activity in the home, at least one of the set of sensors being a smarter plug sensor assigned to control a first device in the set of devices;

wherein the smarter plug sensor comprises;

a controller which stores logic for operating the smarter plug sensor; and

three A-D op-amps respectively paired with three resistors having different values forming three different op-amp voltage meters;

wherein the three different op-amp voltage meters respectively report a first sensor-voltage slope with a higher sensitivity and a lower range, a second sensor-voltage slope with a lower sensitivity and a higher range and a third sensor-voltage slope with a range and a sensitivity intermediate between these ranges; and

program code for presenting a user interface for presenting suggestions for changing a first assumption of the set of assumptions based on a detected input.