METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR INTERACTIVE HOME MONITORING

• US 20120028589A1
• Filed: 08/02/2010
• Published: 02/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Fan, James W., Kuo, Richard, Lam, Jennifer K.
• Granted Patent: US 8,744,523 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/90.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/025 Door telephones adapted for television H04N7/186
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4131 home appliance, e.g. lighting, air conditioning system, metering devices home automation data switching networks exchanging configuration information on appliance services H04L12/2807
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6181 involving transmission via a mobile phone network arrangements for providing broadcast or conference services to substation in data switching networks in combination with wireless systems H04L12/189; wireless uplink channel access H04W74/004
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64322 IP
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/10 Push-to-Talk [PTT] or Push-On-Call services

Abstract

A method and system for interactive home monitoring includes detecting a visitor arriving at a premises of a multimedia content distribution network (MCDN) client by an intercom unit installed at the premises. The intercom unit may be coupled to the MCDN client, which may be configured to wirelessly communicate with a user of the MCDN client. A captured image of the visitor may be used to determine if an identity of the visitor is known or unknown. Based on the identity, a communication channel between the visitor and the user may be established at the intercom unit. The intercom unit may further be configured to provide further information to the visitor based on the visitor identity.

Claims

1. A method for providing interactive monitoring at a client premises of a multimedia content distribution network (MCDN), comprising:

receiving, by an MCDN multimedia handling device (MHD), an arrival indication from an intercom unit indicating a visitor in proximity to the intercom unit at the client premises;

based on a captured image of the visitor, determining an identity of the visitor;

based on the identity of the visitor, establishing with a wireless interface of the MHD, a wireless bidirectional audio communication channel between the MHD and a mobile user device associated with an MCDN user of the client premises; and

extending the communication channel via the intercom link from the MHD to the intercom unit.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile user device is configured to receive the communication channel at a remote location from the client premises, and wherein the mobile user device is at least one of:

a cellular telephone, a smart phone, a portable computer, and a personal computer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication channel between the MHD and the mobile user device is a push-to-talk connection, and further comprising:

recording an audio message from the visitor; and

associating the recorded audio message with the identity of the visitor.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining the identity comprises matching at least a portion of the captured image with a previously stored image.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said matching is a result of a biometric analysis of a facial image of the visitor.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the identity of the visitor is determined to be a new identity, and further comprising:

storing at least a portion of the captured image of the visitor.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request from the MCDN user for a visitor report for a specified period of time;

sending the visitor report to the MCDN user, said visitor report including arrival indications for visitors over the specified period of time; and

providing the MCDN user access to stored images of the visitors.

8. A multimedia handling device (MHD) for interactively monitoring a client premises of a multimedia content distribution network (MCDN) the MHD, comprising:

a processor coupled to memory media;

a wireless telemetry interface accessible to the processor; and

wherein the memory media include processor instructions executable to;

detect a visitor in proximity of the client premises based on an image received from an intercom unit in communication with the MHD via an intercom link;

receive, via the intercom unit, an arrival indication initiated by the visitor;

determine an identity of the visitor based on the received image; and

based on the identity of the visitor, enable an MCDN user to communicate with the visitor via the wireless telemetry interface,

wherein the MHD is further configured to use the wireless telemetry interface as a backup network interface when the MCDN is unavailable.

9. The MHD of claim 8, wherein the wireless telemetry interface includes a cellular telephony interface.

10. The MHD of claim 9, wherein the cellular telephony interface is provided by a cellular telephone device coupled to the processor.

11. The MHD of claim 8, wherein the intercom link includes at least one of:

a wireless link, an optical link, and a wireline link.

12. The MHD of claim 8, further comprising:

a network connection to a home security monitor,

wherein the memory media further include processor instructions executable to;

receive, from the home security monitor, first status information for at least one security sensor installed at the client premises; and

forward the first status information to the MCDN user.

13. The MHD of claim 12, wherein the memory media further include processor instructions executable to:

receive control information from the MCDN user to control an actuator installed at the client premises;

forward the control information to the home security monitor;

receive, from the home security monitor, second status information indicating a state of the actuator; and

forward the second status information to the MCDN user.

14. Computer-readable memory media, including instructions for monitoring a client premises of a multimedia content distribution network (MCDN), said instructions executable to:

detect a visitor arriving at the client premises based on an image acquired by an intercom unit installed at the client premises;

based on a collection of stored visitor profiles and the acquired image, determine whether a visitor status for the visitor is known or unknown;

based on the visitor status, output a visitor prompt using the intercom unit, wherein, when the visitor status is known, the visitor prompt is specific to a known visitor identity; and

when the visitor is detected and based on the visitor status, establish a communication channel between the intercom unit and a network address associated with an MCDN user of the client premises.

15. The memory media of claim 14, further comprising instructions executable to:

receive, at the intercom unit, a request from the visitor for premises information; and

responsive to the request, output, via the intercom unit, premises information to the visitor based on the visitor status.

16. The memory media of claim 14, wherein the intercom unit is configured to output multimedia content, including at least one of:

audio content, video content, images, and text.

17. The memory media of claim 14, further comprising instructions executable to:

when the visitor status is unknown, add a new visitor profile, including the acquired image, for the visitor in the collection.

18. The memory media of claim 14, wherein the network address includes a cellular telephone number, and wherein the communication channel includes a wireless telemetry channel.

19. The memory media of claim 14, wherein the network address includes an Internet-protocol address, and wherein the communication channel is established at least in part via the Internet.

20. The memory media of claim 14, further comprising instructions executable to:

use the communication channel to perform at least one of;

notify the MCDN user that the visitor was detected;

send the image to the MCDN user;

send the visitor status to the MCDN user;

communicate bidirectionally between the visitor and the MCDN user;

communicate via audio;

communicate via video;

communicate via text; and

receive instructions from the MCDN user for interfacing with the visitor.