Drone-augmented emergency response services

• US 10,467,885 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2016
• Issued: 11/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2015
• 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, Slavin, Alison Jane
• Primary Examiner(s): Shafi, Muhammad
• Application Number:
  US15/283,264
• Publication Number:
  US 20170092109A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,131 Days
• Field of Search: 701 2
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2200/10 Air crafts
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2200/20 Vehicles specially adapted for children, e.g. toy vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/72 Charging station selection relying on external data
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/305 Communication interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/36 by positioning the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/12 responding to state of charge [SoC]
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 47/04 the lighting devices being primarily intended to illuminate the way ahead
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 47/08 Arrangements of cameras
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/13 Flying platforms
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/14 with four distinct rotor axes, e.g. quadcopters
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/30 for imaging, photography or videography
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/31 for surveillance
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0011 associated with a remote control arrangement
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/104 involving a plurality of aircrafts, e.g. formation flying traffic control systems for aircraft G08G5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1965 the vehicle being an aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 15/00 Identifying, scaring or incapacitating burglars, thieves or intruders, e.g. by explosives
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0423 detecting deviation from an expected pattern of behaviour or schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/006 Alarm destination chosen according to type of event, e.g. in case of fire phone the fire service, in case of medical emergency phone the ambulance
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0069 specially adapted for an unmanned aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 : for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18504 : Aircraft used as relay or high altitude atmospheric platform
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 : Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 : Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 : Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 : Electric energy management in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 : Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 : Plug-in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/16 : Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/167 : Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for supporting the interoperability of electric or hybrid vehicles, i.e. smartgrids as interface for battery charging of electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 30/14 : Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on storage devices, for drone-augmented emergency response services. In one aspect, a monitoring system, comprising: a plurality of monitoring control units, and a monitoring application server, wherein the monitoring application server includes a network interface, one or more processors, and one or more storage devices that include instructions to perform operations. The operations include receiving an emergency event notification from a first monitoring control unit of the plurality of monitoring control units, determining a type of emergency event, and a location associated with the emergency event notification, identifying one or more drones that can be deployed to the location associated with the emergency event, and transmitting an instruction to a monitoring station server associated with a drone base station to deploy the one or more identified drones to the location associated with the emergency event.

Claims

1. A monitoring system, comprising:

a plurality of monitoring control units, wherein each respective monitoring control unit is (i) associated with a particular property, and (ii) configured to detect an emergency event based on data received from one or more of a plurality of sensors located throughout the particular property;

a monitoring application server, wherein the monitoring application server includes;

a network interface;

one or more processors; and

one or more storage devices that include instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more processors, to cause the one or more processors to;

receive an emergency event notification from a first monitoring control unit of the plurality of monitoring control units that is located at a first property, wherein the emergency event notification was generated by the first monitoring control unit based on sensor data generated by one or more first sensors located at the first property;

determine, based on the received emergency event notification that was generated by the first monitoring control unit based on sensor data generated by one or more first sensors located at the first property, (i) a type of emergency event and (ii) a location of the first property that is associated with the emergency event notification;

identify, based on (i) the type of emergency event, and (ii) the location of the first property that is associated with the emergency event, at least one drone for deployment to the location of the first property that is associated with the emergency event; and

transmit an instruction to a monitoring station server associated with a drone base station that houses one or more drones, wherein the instruction identifies the at least one drone for deployment to the location of the emergency event and is configured to automatically instruct the monitoring station server to deploy the identified at least one drone, without user interaction, to the location of the first property associated with the emergency event;

a monitoring station server, wherein the monitoring station server includes;

a second network interface;

one or more second processors; and

one or more second storage devices that include instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more second processors, to cause the one or more second processors to;

receive the instruction from the monitoring application server; and

based on the instruction received from the monitoring application server, transmit a second instruction to the at least one drone identified for deployment by the received instruction that instructs the at least one drone to deploy to the location of the emergency event; and

at least one drone, wherein the at least one drone includes;

a third network interface;

one or more third processors; and

one or more third storage devices that include instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more third processors, to cause the one or more third processors to;

deploy to the location of the emergency event based on the second instruction from the monitoring station server; and

perform one or more operations configured as a response to the emergency event.

2. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of drones includes a quad-copter drone.

3. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to identify, based on (i) the type of emergency event, and (ii) the location associated with the emergency event, one or more drones that can be deployed to the location associated with the emergency event comprise:

instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to determine one or more drone capabilities that are related to the type of emergency event.

4. The monitoring system of claim 3, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to identify, based on (i) the type of emergency event, and (ii) the location associated with the emergency event, one or more drones that can be deployed to the location associated with the emergency event comprise:

instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to identify one or more drones that are equipped with the one or more determined drone capabilities that are related to the emergency event.

5. The monitoring system of claim 4, wherein at least one of the identified drones is a drone that is currently deployed.

6. The monitoring system of claim 4, wherein at least one of the identified drones is a drone that is currently housed by the drone base station.

7. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to identify, based on (i) the type of emergency event, and (ii) the location associated with the emergency event, at least one drone that can be deployed to the location associated with the emergency event comprise:

instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to identify, based on the location associated with the emergency event, one or more drones that are within a threshold distance of the location associated with the emergency event.

8. The monitoring system of claim 1, the instructions further comprising instructions, that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

identify one or more drones that can be deployed based on the state of the monitoring system.

9. The monitoring system of claim 8, wherein the state of the monitoring system is based on (i) the number of emergency event notifications received from the particular property and (ii) the number of emergency event notifications received from properties within a threshold distance from the particular property.

10. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the one or more first sensors include one or more of power sensors, contact sensors, glass break sensors, motion sensors, carbon monoxide sensors, smoke sensors, temperature sensors, or water sensors.

11. The monitoring system of claim 1, the instructions further comprising instructions, that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

receive a request to deploy an additional drone from one or more deployed drones; and

instruct the monitoring station server to deploy one or more additional drones currently based at the drone base station.

12. The monitoring system of claim 1, the instructions further comprising instructions, that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

receive a request to deploy an additional drone from one or more deployed drones; and

instruct one or more currently deployed drones to re-deploy to the location associated with the emergency event in response to receiving a request to deploy an additional drone from the one or more deployed drones.

13. The monitoring system of claim 1, the instructions further comprising instructions, that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

receive a second emergency event notification from a second monitoring control unit of the plurality of monitoring control units that is located at a second property, wherein the second emergency event notification was generated by the second monitoring control unit based on sensor data generated by one or more second sensors located at the second property;

receive a third emergency event notification from a third monitoring control unit of the plurality of monitoring control units that is located at a third property, wherein the third emergency event notification was generated by the third monitoring control unit based on sensor data generated by one or more third sensors located at the third property;

determine, based on the received second emergency event notification that was generated by the second monitoring control unit located at the second property, (i) a second type of emergency event, and (ii) a location of the second property that is associated with the second emergency event notification;

determine, based on the received third emergency event notification that was generated by the third monitoring control unit located at the third property, (i) a third type of emergency event, and (ii) a location of the third property that is associated with the third emergency event notification,

wherein the location associated with the second emergency event is different than the location associated with the third emergency event.

14. The monitoring system of claim 13, the instructions further comprising instructions, that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

identify, based on (i) the second type of emergency event, and (ii) the location of the second property that is associated with the second emergency event, a second set of one or more drones that can be deployed to the location of the second property that is associated with the second emergency event; and

transmit an instruction to the monitoring station server that instructs the monitoring station server to deploy the second set of one or more identified drones to the location of the second property that is associated with the second emergency event.

15. The monitoring system of claim 13, the instructions further comprising instructions, that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

identify, based on (i) the third type of emergency event, and (ii) the location of the third property that is associated with the third emergency event, a third set of one or more drones that can be deployed to the location of the third property that is associated with the third emergency event; and

transmit an instruction to the monitoring station server that instructs the monitoring station server to deploy the third set of one or more identified drones to the location of the third property that is associated with the third emergency event.

16. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the at least one drone includes a plurality of drones.

17. The monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the at least one charging station for charging the at least one drone is deployable to a location that is different than a location of the drone base station.

18. The monitoring system of claim 1,

wherein the monitoring station server is configured, prior to deployment of the at least one deployed drone, to:

obtain information related to prior deployment paths of one or more drones housed by the base station, and

determine, based on the obtained information, an optimal route between the drone base station and one or more particular locations in a community monitored by the monitoring system, and

wherein the monitoring station server is further configured, responsive to receipt of the instruction to deploy one or more drones from the monitoring application server, to instruct the one or more drones to deploy using at least one of the optimal routes determined by the monitoring station server.

19. The monitoring system of claim 18, wherein the optimal route includes (i) a fastest route to each particular location of the one or more particular locations or (ii) an energy-efficient route that is determined to use the least amount of drone battery power to navigate to each particular location of the one or more particular locations.

20. The system of claim 1,

wherein the at least one deployed drone comprises two or more drones,

wherein the two or more drones are configured to coordinate their respective movements after being instructed to deploy.