Systems and methods for providing event notifications

• US 10,269,229 B2
• Filed: 10/17/2016
• Issued: 04/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Time Warner Cable Enterprises LLC (Charter Communications Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Time Warner Cable Enterprises LLC (Charter Communications Incorporated)
• Inventors: Stern, Peter, Ramsdell, Scott, Mayer, Adam, Roudi, Mike, Williams, Chris
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Phung
• Application Number:
  US15/295,810
• Publication Number:
  US 20170032652A1
• Time in Patent Office: 918 Days
• Field of Search: 3405391, 340517, 3406911, 340506, 34053928
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/10 responsive to calamitous events, e.g. tornados or earthquakes
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/005 with transmission via computer network
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/006 with transmission via telephone network
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/008 with transmission via TV or radio broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/454 Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/485 End-user interface for client configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4882 for displaying messages, e.g. warnings, reminders arrangements for providing short real-time information to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1895
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for providing indications of received emergency alert messages to devices within a consumer premises are disclosed. In one embodiment, a consumer premise equipment (CPE) receiving one or more emergency alert messages from a content provider or managed network determines one or more alert responses for one or more devices of the consumer premise network. In one implementation, the responses are based at least in part on the received emergency alert messages themselves. The CPE issues one or more commands to one or more devices present within the consumer premises (which may be for example a home automation system), to indicate the one or more determined alert indication responses, such as auditory alert and visual alert by the one or more devices. Thus, users in the consumer premises may be made aware of an alert message outside of the typical means in which an alert is displayed, such as via a television.

Claims

1. A computerized method for providing indications of an event to a user via one or more computerized devices associated with a consumer premises network, the computerized method comprising:

receiving, from a source outside the consumer premises network, data representative of one or more messages, the one or more messages indicative of the event;

based at least on the received one or more messages, accessing one or more respective application programming interfaces (APIs) associated with the one or more computerized devices, the accessing to at least determine capabilities of the one or more computerized devices;

based at least on the determined capabilities, selecting at least one of the one or more computerized devices;

causing execution of one or more tasks by the at least one selected computerized device based at least in part on the one or more messages; and

disabling an ability of the user to configure the one or more tasks, the disabling based on a priority level associated with the one or more messages.

2. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the causing execution of the one or more tasks comprises causing download of at least one application configured to run on the at least one selected computerized device.

3. The computerized method of claim 2, further comprising causing, via the at least one application, the at least one selected computerized device to access a particular data stream.

4. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the priority level associated with the one or more messages; and

comparing the priority level against a priority level threshold;

wherein the one or more tasks are performed only when the priority level at least meets the priority level threshold.

5. The computerized method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing at least the accessing, the selecting and the causing by computerized logic operative to run on a home automation system, wherein at least a portion of the consumer premises network comprises a network associated to the home automation system; and

activating, by the causing execution of the one or more tasks, one or more functionalities of the at least one selected computerized device, the activated one or more functionalities related to at least one aspect of the event reflected in the one or more received messages.

6. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein:

the receiving, from the source outside the consumer premises network, the one or more messages comprises receiving the one or more messages at a premises automation controller apparatus within the consumer premises network; and

the accessing comprises accessing of one or more other computerized devices,

the one or more other computerized devices in data communication with respective ones of the one or more computerized devices, yet not in direct communication with the premises automation controller apparatus.

7. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein:

the causing execution of the one or more tasks by the at least one selected computerized device is based at least in part on the one or more messages comprises issuing one or more commands; and

the consumer premises network comprises at least two heterogeneous network technologies; and

the computerized method further comprises formatting the one or more commands based at least in part on a respective network technology type of the at least one selected computerized device.

8. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein:

at least one of the one or more received messages is configured to indicate a first location to which the event pertains;

the one or more computerized devices comprise at least one first computerized device within a prescribed radius of the first location, and at least one second computerized device outside the prescribed radius;

and the causing execution of the one or more tasks comprises;

transmitting a command of a first type to the at least one first computerized device, thereby causing execution of at least one first type of the one or more tasks at the at least one first computerized device, and

transmitting a command of a second type to the at least one second computerized device, thereby causing execution of at least one second type of the one or more tasks at the at least one second computerized device.

9. The computerized method of claim 8, further comprising transmitting, via a server, each of the commands of the first and second types to the respective at least one first and second computerized devices over an interposed Internet Protocol (IP) distribution network.

10. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein:

the priority level comprises a first priority level, the first priority level comprising a priority level higher than that of a second priority level; and

the disabling of the ability of the user to configure the one or more tasks comprises restricting, via a software process, an ability of the user to modify at least one of a auditory and visual alert on the at least one selected computerized device.

11. A computerized method for providing indications of one or more emergency alerts to a plurality of computerized devices, the computerized method comprising:

receiving data representative of one or more emergency alert messages associated with a first location;

uniquely identifying one or more first computerized devices of the plurality of computerized devices, the one or more first computerized devices being within a prescribed radius of the first location;

based at least in part on the one or more emergency alert messages, determining at least two types of alert indication responses for the one or more first computerized devices and one or more second computerized devices of the plurality of computerized devices, the one or more second computerized devices being outside the prescribed radius;

issuing one or more first commands to the one or more first computerized devices to implement one or more first types of the at least two types of determined alert indication responses; and

issuing one or more second commands to the one or more second computerized devices to implement one or more second types of the at least two types of determined alert indication responses.

12. The computerized method of claim 11, wherein the first type of command is of a first priority level, and the second type of command is of a second priority level lower than the first priority level.

13. The computerized method of claim 11, further comprising determining, via use of at least one respective application programming interface (API) of the one or more first computerized devices and the one or more second computerized devices, one or more respective capabilities of the one or more first computerized devices and the one or more second computerized devices;

wherein the one or more first types of the at least two types of determined alert indication responses is based at least on the one or more capabilities of the one or more first computerized devices, and the one or more second types of the at least two types of determined alert indication responses is based at least on the one or more capabilities of the one or more second computerized devices.

14. The computerized method of claim 11, further comprising:

converting a first format of the one or more emergency alert messages to a second format, the converting comprising converting an auditory announcement into a text format via a speech recognition process; and

analyzing the one or more emergency alert messages in the text format to determine an emergency event associated with the one or more emergency alert messages and a severity associated with the emergency event;

wherein at least one of the at least two types of determined alert indication responses comprises a display of digitally rendered content relating to the emergency event and the severity.

15. The computerized method of claim 11, wherein uniquely identifying the one or more first computerized devices of the plurality of computerized devices within the prescribed radius of the first location comprises identifying the one or more first computerized devices as having established an association with an access point (AP) associated with the first location.

16. A computerized apparatus configured to provide indication of an event to a user via one or more computerized devices associated with at least one network, the computerized apparatus comprising:

processor apparatus;

one or more data interfaces in data communication with the processor apparatus; and

storage apparatus in data communication with the processor apparatus, the storage apparatus comprising at least one computer program configured to, when executed on the processor apparatus;

receive one or more data messages relating to the event;

based at least in part on the one or more data messages, determine one or more particular types of alert indications for the one or more computerized devices, the determination also based at least in part on analysis of data indicative of;

(i) a proximity between a then-current location of at least one computerized mobile device of the one or more computerized devices and a location to which the event pertains, and (ii) a proximity between a location of at least one computerized premises device of the one or more computerized devices and the location to which the event pertains; and

transmit, via a first independent physical transport, one or more commands to the at least one computerized mobile device to implement a first type of alert indication of the one or more particular types of alert indications; and

transmit, via a second independent physical transport, one or more commands to the at least one computerized premises device to implement a second type of alert indication of the one or more particular types of alert indications.

17. The computerized apparatus of claim 16, wherein the analysis of the data indicative of the proximity of the location of the at least one computerized mobile device and the location to which the event pertains comprises an analysis of the data indicative of the location of the at least one computerized mobile device relative to at least one of:

(i) a prescribed radius around the location to which the event pertains; and

(ii) a distance between the location of the at least one computerized mobile device and the location to which the event pertains.

18. The computerized apparatus of claim 16, wherein the at least one computer program is further configured to, when executed on the processor apparatus:

based at least on the one or more data messages, access an application programming interface (API) associated with the at least one computerized mobile device to determine one or more capabilities of the at least one computerized mobile device;

wherein the determination of the one or more particular types of alert indications for at least one computerized mobile device is further based at least in part on the one or more determined capabilities.

19. The computerized apparatus of claim 16, wherein:

the event comprises an emergency event;

the one or more data messages comprise an emergency alert system (EAS) message; and

the transmission of the one or more commands to the at least one computerized premises device to implement the second type of alert indication comprises transmission of one or more commands that lack any information contained in the received EAS message.

20. The computerized apparatus of claim 19, wherein the one or more particular types of alert indications comprise at least one notification task prioritized based on a type of the emergency event associated with the EAS message, the at least one notification task comprising:

(i) an auditory alert; and

(ii) a visual alert.

21. The computerized apparatus of claim 16, wherein the first physical transport comprises a non-QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation channel)-based internetwork accessible via a third party service provider, and the second independent physical transport comprises a QAM-based hybrid fiber cable transport.