METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR AUTOMOBILE SECURITY MONITORING

• US 20120162423A1
• Filed: 12/22/2010
• Published: 06/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Moshrefi, Afshin, Wang, Dongchen, XIAO, Hong, Turner, Andre
• Granted Patent: US 8,970,699 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/148
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/08 involving special optical features, e.g. avoiding blind spots , e.g. convex mirrors; Side-by-side associations of rear-view and other mirrors B60R1/025, B60R1/10 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/305 using a camera
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/31 of human presence inside or outside the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing an automobile security monitoring service are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for monitoring the security of a plurality of automobiles includes monitoring, over a network, the security of the plurality of automobiles, receiving, from one of the plurality of automobiles over the network, a message indicating a potential security threat to the automobile, and sending, over a network to a terminal device associated with an owner of the automobile, an alert indicating the potential security threat to the automobile. The method further includes receiving, over the network from the terminal device and responsive to the alert, a request of the owner to stream video from a security camera onboard the automobile, issuing, to the automobile over the network and based on the request, a command to the automobile to stream video from the security camera onboard the automobile. The method further includes receiving, from the automobile over the network, video from the security camera onboard the automobile, and streaming received video over the network to the terminal device.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring the security of a plurality of automobiles, comprising:

monitoring, over a network, the security of the plurality of automobiles;

receiving, from one of the plurality of automobiles over the network, a message indicating a potential security threat to the automobile;

sending, over the network to a terminal device associated with an owner of the automobile, an alert indicating the potential security threat to the automobile;

receiving, over the network from the terminal device and responsive to the alert, a request of the owner to stream video from a security camera onboard the automobile;

issuing, to the automobile over the network and based on the request, a command to the automobile to stream video from the security camera onboard the automobile;

receiving, from the automobile over the network, video from the security camera onboard the automobile; and

streaming received video over the network to the terminal device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the network includes a packet-switched network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the message includes at least one of a location of the automobile and a type of the potential security threat.

4. The method of claim 1, further including:

receiving, from the terminal device over the network, a request of the owner to control a selected security camera onboard the automobile to pan, tilt, or zoom; and

issuing, to the automobile over the network and based on the request, a command to control the selected security camera to pan, tilt, or zoom.

5. The method of claim 1, further including:

receiving, from the terminal device over the network, a request of the owner to stream video from an external security camera near the automobile; and

identifying, based on the location of the automobile, an external security camera near the automobile among a plurality of external security cameras;

connecting to the identified external security camera to receive streaming video from the external security camera over the network; and

streaming, over the network, the received video to the terminal device.

6. The method of claim 1, further including:

receiving, from the terminal device over the network, a request of the owner to lock a power source of the automobile off or a request to activate an alarm device of the automobile; and

issuing, to the automobile over the network and based on the requests, a command to the automobile to lock the power source off or a command to activate the alarm device of the automobile.

7. The method of claim 1, further including:

receiving, from the terminal device over the network, a request of the owner to send an automobile security threat report to a law enforcement entity near the automobile;

receiving, over the network from the automobile, information regarding the location of the automobile;

identifying, based on the location of the automobile, a law enforcement entity near the automobile among a plurality of law enforcement entities;

receiving, over the network from the automobile, automobile threat log information regarding the potential security threat;

generating an automobile security threat report based on the received automobile threat log information; and

sending, over the network, the generated automobile security threat report to the identified law enforcement entity.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the request includes receiving input from the owner via an automobile security monitoring application executing on the terminal device, the application including at least one graphical user interface element corresponding to the request.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the request includes:

serving a web page containing an automobile security monitoring web application to the terminal device, the web page including at least one graphical user interface element corresponding to the request; and

receiving input from the owner via the automobile security monitoring application.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the terminal device includes a mobile device.

11. An automobile security monitoring method, comprising:

connecting the automobile to a mobile communication network;

monitoring signals from an automobile security sensor system onboard the automobile;

detecting, based on the signals, a potential security threat to the automobile;

sending, to a server over the mobile communication network, a message indicating the detected potential security threat to the automobile;

receiving, from the server over the mobile communication network, a command from an owner of the automobile to stream video from a security camera onboard the automobile; and

streaming video from the security camera over the mobile network to the server.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the mobile network includes a cellular communication network.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the automobile sensor system includes at least one of a motion detector, a door sensor, a trunk or hatch sensor, a shock sensor, and an operator input device.

14. The method of claim 11, further including:

receiving, from the server over the mobile communication network, a command from the owner of the automobile to pan, tilt, or zoom a selected security camera onboard the automobile; and

controlling the selected security camera to pan, tilt, or zoom based on the command.

15. The method of claim 11, further including:

receiving, from the server over the mobile communication network, a command from the owner of the automobile to lock a power source of the automobile off or a command to activate an alarm device of the automobile; and

locking the power source off or activating the alarm device based on the command.

16. The method of claim 11, further including:

receiving, from the server over the mobile communication network, a command from the owner of the automobile to send an automobile security threat report to a law enforcement entity near the automobile;

retrieving threat information regarding the detected potential security threat from a threat log stored on the automobile; and

sending the retrieved threat log information to the server over the mobile network.

17. A method for monitoring the security of an automobile using a mobile device, comprising:

connecting the mobile device to a mobile network;

receiving, from a server over the mobile network, an alert message indicating a potential security threat to the automobile;

launching an automobile security monitoring application on the mobile device, the automobile security monitoring application including a first user interface (UI) element for requesting the server to issue a command to stream video from a security camera onboard the automobile over a network;

receiving a selection of the first UI element of the automobile security monitoring application;

in response to the selection of the first UI element, sending a request to the server to issue a command to the automobile to stream video from the security camera onboard the automobile over a network;

receiving, over the mobile network from the server, a video stream of the security camera onboard the automobile; and

displaying the received video stream on a display device associated with the mobile device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the alert message includes at least one of a location of the automobile and a type of the potential security threat.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the automobile security monitoring application further includes a second UI element for requesting the server to issue a command to control the security camera onboard the automobile to pan, tilt, or zoom, and the method further includes:

receiving a selection of the second UI element of the automobile security monitoring application;

in response to the selection of the second UI element, sending a request to the server to issue a command to control the security camera onboard the automobile to pant, tilt, or zoom.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the automobile security monitoring application further includes a second UI element for requesting the server to stream video from an external security camera near the automobile over a network, and the method further includes:

receiving a selection of the second UI element of the automobile security monitoring application;

responsive to the selection of the second UI element, sending a request to the server to receive streaming video from the external security camera;

receiving, from the server over the mobile network, streaming video of the external security camera; and

displaying the streaming video on the display device associated with the mobile device.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the automobile security monitoring application further includes a second UI element for requesting the server to issue a command to lock a power source of the automobile off and a third UI element for requesting the server to issue a command to activate an alarm device of the automobile, and the method further includes:

receiving a selection of the second UI element of the automobile security monitoring application;

responsive to the selection of the second UI element, sending, to the server over the mobile network, a request to issue a command to the automobile to lock the power source off;

receiving a selection of the third UI element of the automobile security monitoring application; and

responsive to the selection of the third UI element, sending, to the server over the mobile network, a request to issue a command to the automobile to activate the alarm device.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the automobile security monitoring application further includes a second UI element for requesting the server to send an automobile security threat report to a law enforcement entity near the automobile, and the method further includes:

receiving a selection of the second UI element of the automobile security monitoring application;

responsive to the selection of the second UI element, sending, to the server over the mobile network, a request to send an automobile security threat report to a law enforcement entity near the automobile.

23. An automobile security monitoring system, comprising:

a communication module configured to connect the automobile to a server over a mobile communication network;

an automobile security sensor system including at least one sensor and at least one security camera onboard the automobile;

a security control module configured to;

monitor signals from the at least one sensor;

detect, based on the signals, a potential security threat to the automobile;

send, to the server over the mobile communication network, a message indicating the detected potential security threat to the automobile;

receive, from the server over the mobile communication network, and responsive to the message, a command to stream video of the security camera over the mobile network; and

in response to the command, stream video of the security camera over the mobile network via the communication module.

24. A method for monitoring the security of a plurality of automobiles, comprising:

monitoring, over a network, the security of the plurality of automobiles;

receiving, from one of the plurality of automobiles over the network, a message indicating a potential security threat to the automobile;

responsive to the potential security threat;

sending, over the network to a terminal device associated with an owner of the automobile, an alert indicating the potential security threat to the automobile;

receiving video data from a security camera onboard the automobile; and

streaming the received video data to the terminal device over the network.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising, responsive to the potential security threat:

receiving video data from an external security camera in the vicinity of the automobile;

streaming the received video data from the external security camera to the terminal device over the network;

sending a command to the automobile over the network to activate an alarm device onboard the automobile; and

sending a command to the automobile over the network to lock a power source of the automobile off.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

determining whether a threshold amount of time has elapsed without receiving a command request from the automobile owner; and

when it is determined that the threshold amount of time has elapsed, sending a security threat report to a law enforcement system.