Verified access to a monitored property

• US 10,360,744 B1
• Filed: 11/15/2017
• Issued: 07/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alarm.com Inc. (Alarm.com Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Alarm.com Inc. (Alarm.com Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kerzner, Daniel Todd
• Primary Examiner(s): Foxx, Chico A
• Application Number:
  US15/814,297
• Time in Patent Office: 615 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/163 Real estate management
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/10 Human or animal bodies, e.g. vehicle occupants or pedestrians; Body parts, e.g. hands
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/172 Classification, e.g. identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/197 Matching; Classification
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00563 using personal physical data of the operator, e.g. finger prints, retinal images, voicepatterns
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/21 having a variable access code
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/23 by means of a password
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/257 electronically G07C9/26 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/26 using a biometric sensor integrated in the pass
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/27 with central registration
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/37 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/196 using television cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/185 from a mobile camera, e.g. for remote control

Abstract

A method includes receiving, by a monitoring system that is configured to monitor a property and from a visitor to the property, a personally identifying code and a biometric identifier, determining that the personally identifying code corresponds to a stored personally identifying code, receiving, by the monitoring system, location information that corresponds to locations of the visitor during a time period before visiting the property, comparing the biometric identifier to a stored biometric identifier, based on determining that the personally identifying code corresponds to a stored personally identifying code, comparing the biometric identifier to the stored biometric identifier, and the location information, determining a confidence score that reflects a likelihood that the visitor is authorized to access the property, based on the confidence score that reflects the likelihood that the visitor is authorized to access the property, selecting, from among multiple monitoring system actions, a monitoring system action, and performing the monitoring system action.

Claims

1. A monitoring system comprising:

one or more sensors that are located throughout a property, at least one of the one or more sensors being configured to detect a biometric identifier of a visitor to the property;

an input device that is configured to detect a personally identifying code;

a monitoring control unit that is configured to;

receive, from the at least one of the one or more sensors, the biometric identifier of the visitor to the property;

receive, from the input device, the personally identifying code; and

determine that the personally identifying code corresponds to a stored personally identifying code; and

a monitoring server that is configured to;

based on the personally identifying code corresponding to the stored personally identifying code, receive location information that corresponds to locations of the visitor during a time period before visiting the property; and

compare the biometric identifier to a stored biometric identifier,

wherein the monitoring control unit is further configured to;

based on the personally identifying code corresponding to the stored personally identifying code, comparing the biometric identifier to the stored biometric identifier, and the location information, determine a confidence score that reflects a likelihood that the visitor is authorized to access the property;

based on the confidence score that reflects the likelihood that the visitor is authorized to access the property, select, from among multiple monitoring system actions, a monitoring system action; and

perform the monitoring system action.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring server is configured to:

receive a sample biometric identifier from the visitor;

store the sample biometric identifier as the stored biometric identifier in association with a personally identifying code specific to the visitor;

receive a request to schedule a visit by the visitor to the property; and

in response to receiving the request to schedule the visit by the visitor to the property, provide the personally identifying code to the visitor.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring control unit is configured to disarm the monitoring system and grant the visitor access to the property.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein:

the monitoring system further comprises;

one or more cameras located throughout the property, and

the monitoring control unit is further configured to;

receive image data from the one or more cameras located throughout the property; and

in response to granting the visitor access to the property, monitor the visitor by analyzing the image data received from the one or more cameras located throughout the property.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the monitoring server is configured to:

determine, based on the image data of the one or more cameras, that the visitor entered an area of the property identified, by a resident of the property, as restricted to the visitor; and

in response to determining that the visitor entered the area of the property identified as restricted to the visitor, transmit, to a computing device of the resident of the property, an alert notification indicating that the visitor entered the area of the property identified as restricted to the visitor.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the monitoring server is configured to:

in response to the monitoring control unit granting the visitor access to the property, monitor the visitor using a body camera worn by the visitor.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein:

the monitoring server is configured to;

determine, based on data received from the body camera worn by the visitor, that the visitor entered an area of the property identified, by a resident of the property, as restricted to the visitor, and

the monitoring control unit is configured to;

in response to the visitor entering the area of the property identified as restricted to the visitor, generate an alarm event.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring server is configured to:

receive location information that corresponds to locations of the visitor during a time period before visiting the property comprises receiving location information that identifies a path traveled by the visitor during the time period before visiting the property.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the monitoring server is configured to:

compare the path traveled by the visitor during the time period before visiting the property to an expected travel path;

determine that the path traveled by the visitor deviates from an expected travel path; and

based on determining that the path traveled by the visitor deviates from the expected travel path, decrease the confidence score that reflects the likelihood that the visitor is authorized to access the property.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the monitoring server is configured to:

compare the path traveled by the visitor during the time period before visiting the property to an expected travel path;

determine that the path traveled by the visitor deviates from an expected travel path;

determine that the visitor deviated from the expected travel path during a time of day when the visitor is authorized to deviate from the expected travel path; and

based on determining that the visitor deviated from the expected travel path during the time of day when the visitor is authorized to deviate from the expected travel path, increase the confidence score that reflects the likelihood that the visitor is authorized to access the property.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the monitoring server is configured to:

compare the path traveled by the visitor during the time period before visiting the property to an expected travel path;

determine that the path traveled by the visitor corresponds to an expected travel path; and

based on determining that the path traveled by the visitor corresponds to the expected travel path, increase the confidence score that reflects the likelihood that the visitor is authorized to access the property.

12. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by a monitoring system that is configured to monitor a property and from a visitor to the property, a personally identifying code and a biometric identifier;

determining that the personally identifying code corresponds to a stored personally identifying code;

based on determining that the personally identifying code corresponds to a stored personally identifying code, receiving, by the monitoring system, location information that corresponds to locations of the visitor during a time period before visiting the property;

comparing the biometric identifier to a stored biometric identifier;

based on determining that the personally identifying code corresponds to a stored personally identifying code, comparing the biometric identifier to the stored biometric identifier, and the location information, determining a confidence score that reflects a likelihood that the visitor is authorized to access the property;

based on the confidence score that reflects the likelihood that the visitor is authorized to access the property, selecting, from among multiple monitoring system actions, a monitoring system action; and

performing the monitoring system action.

13. The method of claim 12, comprising:

receiving a sample biometric identifier from the visitor;

storing the sample biometric identifier as the stored biometric identifier in association with a personally identifying code specific to the visitor;

receiving a request to schedule a visit by the visitor to the property; and

in response to receiving the request to schedule the visit by the visitor to the property, providing the personally identifying code to the visitor.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein:

performing the monitoring system action comprises disarming the monitoring system and granting the visitor access to the property.

15. The method of claim 14, comprising:

in response to granting the visitor access to the property, monitoring the visitor using one or more cameras located throughout the property.

16. The method of claim 15, comprising:

determining, based on data received from the one or more cameras, that the visitor entered an area of the property identified, by a resident of the property, as restricted to the visitor; and

in response to determining that the visitor entered the area of the property identified as restricted to the visitor, transmitting, to a computing device of the resident of the property, an alert notification indicating that the visitor entered the area of the property identified as restricted to the visitor.

17. The method of claim 14, comprising:

in response to granting the visitor access to the property, monitoring the visitor using a body camera worn by the visitor.

18. The method of claim 17, comprising:

determining, based on data received from the body camera worn by the visitor, that the visitor entered an area of the property identified, by a resident of the property, as restricted to the visitor; and

in response to determining that the visitor entered the area of the property identified as restricted to the visitor, generating, by the monitoring system, an alarm event.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein:

receiving, by the monitoring system, location information that corresponds to locations of the visitor during a time period before visiting the property comprises receiving location information that identifies a path traveled by the visitor during the time period before visiting the property.

20. The method of claim 19, comprising:

comparing the path traveled by the visitor during the time period before visiting the property to an expected travel path;

determining that the path traveled by the visitor deviates from an expected travel path; and

based on determining that the path traveled by the visitor deviates from the expected travel path, decreasing the confidence score that reflects the likelihood that the visitor is authorized to access the property.