Systems and methods for learning and controlling area zones

• US 10,306,401 B2
• Filed: 12/21/2015
• Issued: 05/28/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Malhotra, Mark Rajan, Purohit, Aveek Ravishekhar, Dixon, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Barnes-Bullock, Crystal J
• Application Number:
  US14/976,985
• Publication Number:
  US 20170177013A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,254 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2614 HVAC, heating, ventillation, climate control
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1393 characterised by the use of electric means
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/008 Alarm setting and unsetting, i.e. arming or disarming of the security system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• 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 12/2823 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: H04L 12/2832 Interconnection of the control functionalities between home networks single bridge functionality H04L12/4625
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/105 in response to determined parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/115 by determining the presence or movement of objects or living beings
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/175 by remote control

Abstract

A method includes capturing data with a plurality of network connected sensors installed in or around a premises, storing at least a sampling of the data in an electronic storage device, analyzing the stored data with a processor to automatically identify one or more types of trends or patterns, creating, based on the analysis, a zone definition for a first zone that corresponds to an area of the premises from which data was captured by one or more sensors selected from among the plurality of sensors, and configuring at least one system operating in or around the premises automatically based on the first zone definition.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a plurality of sensors installed at a premises to capture data from an environment in or around the premises;

a memory configured to store the captured data; and

a processor configured to;

determine information about the premises based on the stored data,

create one or more zone definitions that define one or more zones based on the information, each zone definition including a designation of one or more sensors from among the plurality of sensors, and

control an operation of at least one other system at the premises based on the one or more defined zones,

wherein the one or more zones are defined by one or more zoning rules, a first zoning rule being to search for data sets that indicate two or more sensors have captured events simultaneously or within a predetermined time window.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more zones corresponds to a contiguous area in or around the premises.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one other system includes a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (“

HVAC”

) system.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein a temperature setting of the HVAC system is automatically set in at least one section of the premises that corresponds to a first zone based on a first zone definition stored in the storage device.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a storage device to store one or more zone definitions.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein each zone corresponds to an area in or around the premises from which data was captured by the designated one or more sensors.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein at least one zone definition includes one or more trait value components that indicate one or more traits of the zone.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein at least one of the one or more trait values indicates an occupancy level of the corresponding zone.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein at least one of the one or more trait values indicates a traffic level of the corresponding zone.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein at least one of the one or more traits indicates a type of occupant that frequents the corresponding zone.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the processor is configured to determine the one or more traits based on a set of one or more rules applied to the stored data.

12. The system of claim 5, further comprising an interface configured to provide a user with access to the storage device to modify or create zone definitions.

13. The system of claim 5, wherein the at least one other system includes a security system.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein a security mode of the security system is automatically set in at least one section of the premises that corresponds to a first zone based on a first zone definition stored in the storage device.

15. The system of claim 1, further comprising a buffer to store data captured by the plurality of sensors,

wherein the memory is configured to extract a portion of data from the buffer based on one or more predetermined rules.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more predetermined rules include at least one rule in which a size of the portion is based at least in part on a total amount of memory available in the system.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the first zoning rule further comprises defining an area as a first zone when two more sensors detect events within the predetermined time window at least a first threshold number of times within the area.

18. A method comprising:

capturing data with a plurality of network connected sensors installed in or around a premises;

storing at least a sampling of the data in an electronic storage device;

analyzing the stored data with a processor to automatically identify one or more types of trends or patterns;

creating, based on the analysis, a zone definition for a first zone that corresponds to an area of the premises from which data was captured by one or more sensors selected from among the plurality of sensors, each zone definition including a designation of one or more sensors from among the plurality of sensors; and

controlling at least one system operating in or around the premises automatically based on the first zone definition,

wherein the first zone is defined by one or more zoning rules, a first zoning rule being to search for data sets that indicate two or more sensors have captured events simultaneously or within a predetermined time window.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein at least one zone definition includes one or more trait value components that indicate one or more traits of the zone.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein at least one of the one or more trait values indicates an occupancy level of the corresponding zone.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein at least one of the one or more trait values indicates a traffic level of the corresponding zone.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the at least one other system includes a security system.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein a security mode of the security system is automatically set in at least one section of the premises that corresponds to a first zone based on a first zone definition stored in the storage device.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein the at least one other system includes a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (“

HVAC”

) system.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein a temperature setting of the HVAC system is automatically set in at least one section of the premises that corresponds to a first zone based on a first zone definition stored in the storage device.

26. The method of claim 18, wherein the first zoning rule further comprises defining an area as a first zone when two more sensors detect events within the predetermined time window at least a first threshold number of times within the area.