Method and apparatus for monitoring person and home

• US 10,504,352 B2
• Filed: 12/06/2018
• Issued: 12/10/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Inventors: Wilkinson, Bruce W., Mattingly, Todd D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wang, Jack K
• Application Number:
  US16/211,833
• Publication Number:
  US 20190114896A1
• Time in Patent Office: 369 Days
• Field of Search: 3405731
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0423 detecting deviation from an expected pattern of behaviour or schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0492 Sensor dual technology, i.e. two or more technologies collaborate to extract unsafe condition, e.g. video tracking and RFID tracking

Abstract

In some embodiments, apparatuses, systems, and methods are provided herein useful to detecting a deviation in a person'"'"'s activity. In some embodiments, an apparatus comprises one or more sensors, the one or more sensors configured to monitor parameters associated with a person and the person'"'"'s home, and a control circuit, the control circuit communicatively coupled to the one or more sensors and configured to receive, from the one or more sensors, values associated with the parameters, create, based on the values associated with the parameters, a spectral profile for the person, determine, based on the spectral profile and a routine base state for the person, that a combination of the values indicates a deviation, determine, based on the deviation, an alert, and cause transmission of the alert.

Claims

1. An apparatus for monitoring parameters associated with a person and the person'"'"'s home, the apparatus comprising:

one or more sensors, the one or more sensors configured to monitor the parameters associated with the person and the person'"'"'s home; and

a control circuit, the control circuit communicatively coupled to the one or more sensors and configured to;

receive, from the one or more sensors, values associated with the parameters;

create, based on the values associated with the parameters, a time-based activity profile for the person;

use a transform function to transform the time-based activity profile to a frequency-based spectral profile;

use the frequency-based spectral profile to identify at least one partiality for the person, wherein the partiality for the person is associated with a partiality vector that characterizes the person'"'"'s partiality for one or more of a product and a service.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the transform function comprises a Fourier transform function.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the control circuit is configured to use the frequency-based spectral profile to identify at least one partiality for the person by using the frequency-based spectral profile to identify a plurality of partialities for the person.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the control circuit is configured to use the frequency-based spectral profile to identify at least one partiality for the person by, at least in part, identifying a primary frequency.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the primary frequency represents the person'"'"'s greatest response to life in the monitored parameters.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein a sampling rate for at least one of the sensors is adjusted as a function of the primary frequency.

7. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the control circuit is further configured to use the frequency-based spectral profile to identify at least one further partiality for the person by, at least in part, identifying at least a first secondary frequency.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the control circuit is further configured to filter out at least some secondary frequencies for having too low a relative magnitude and to not use such filtered-out secondary frequencies when identifying secondary frequencies.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein a sampling rate for at least one of the sensors is adjusted as a function of the primary frequency and a sampling rate for at least another of the sensors is adjusted as a function of the at least one secondary frequency.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the partiality vector has at least one of a magnitude and an angle that corresponds to a magnitude of the person'"'"'s belief in an amount of good that comes from an order associated with the at least one partiality.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more of a product and a service have a vector, wherein the vector characterizes the one or more of a product and a service.