Method And Apparatus For Remote Monitoring Of A Residence

• US 20140306832A1
• Filed: 12/16/2013
• Published: 10/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Jonathan Goose
• Original Assignee: Jonathan Goose
• Inventors: Goose, Jonathan
• Application Number:
  US14/107,810
• Publication Number:
  US 20140306832A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/870.09
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom

Abstract

Embodiments disclosed herein relate to remote monitoring of at least one residence to determine whether or not the at least one residence has power. Embodiments disclosed herein enable a homeowner of the at least one residence or a third party to be notified of power loss of the at least one residence as well as restoration of the power. By providing residential power loss detection and enabling homeowners or third parties to be aware of the power loss detected, a homeowner or third party can react to the power loss in a timely manner, thereby preventing damage to the residence or to contents of thereof.

Claims

1. A method for remotely monitoring a residence, the method comprising:

monitoring an operational state of at least one network device via a network, the at least one network device operatively coupled to a power source of the residence for power;

determining a status of the power source based on the operational state of the at least one network device; and

generating a notification that provides an indication of the status of the power source of the residence.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the notification includes a “

power lost”

indication or a “

power restored”

indication, the notification being automatically generated responsive to detection of a change of the operational state of the at least one network device.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the operational state includes monitoring communications from the at least one network device.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the communications monitored are bi-directional or uni-directional communications and further wherein:

the bi-directional communications include request messages being sent to the at least one network device and response messages being sent from the at least one network device in response to the request messages;

the unidirectional communications include status messages sent from the at least one network device; and

the notification generated is a power loss notification based on a loss of one or more response messages or one or more status messages.

5. The method of claim 1 further including suppressing the notification generated based on a fault condition of the network or determining an alternative network via which to transmit the notification based on the fault condition of the network.

6. The method of claim 1 further including enabling a user to select a presentation type for the notification generated, the presentation type including a list of at least one of:

text type notification, e-mail type notification, voicemail type notification, registered service type notification, or a third-party type notification.

7. The method of claim 1 further including employing an application on a user device operatively coupled to the at least one network device via the network, the application being configured to perform the monitoring, determining, and generating.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the application employed enables a user to select the residence among a plurality of residences available to be remotely monitored.

9. The method of claim 8 further including presenting notifications generated for multiple residences selected by the user, wherein the notifications for the multiple residences are selectively presented in a synchronous or asynchronous manner as defined by the user.

10. The method of claim 7 further including storing the application on a server operatively coupled to the network and downloading the application from the server, wherein the application is configured to provide automatic configuration for each effectuating communications with the at least one network device based on the user device being operatively coupled to the network via a connection to a Wi-Fi or local wireless network of the residence.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the automatic configuration includes an Internet Protocol (IP) network and use of a subnet mask.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein if the user device is connected to a network connection of the residence, the application is further configured to detect a network configuration of the at least one network device and automatically configured to enable later communications between the at least one network device and the user device.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the monitoring is performed for the at least one network device for each of multiple residences, and wherein the monitoring includes causing communications to occur with the at least one network device in every residence in a daisychained manner, and further wherein determining the operational state of the power sources of the residences is based on receipt of a communication'"'"'s indicating that each at least one network device in the daisychain participated in the communications.

14. A method for remotely monitoring at least one residence, the method comprising:

enabling a user to associate contact information of a personal communications device with contact information of at least one network device of at least one residence, the at least one network device being powered by a power source of the respective residence;

observing the at least one network device via a network in determining a status of the power source based on an operational status of the at least one network device; and

notifying the user via the user device of a status of the power source based on results of the observing.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the observing includes one or more ping requests and the state of power is determined to be a power loss based on a timeout of one or more responses to the at least one ping request.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the personal communications device is a smart phone and further comprising transmitting an application to the smart phone via the network or providing information to the smart phone to enable a user to initiate downloading of the application.

17. The method of claim 14 further including enabling the user to associate a third party responsible for providing power to at least one residence and further including notifying the third-party based on a change in the status of the power loss determined.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein the at least one network device is located at a location external from at least one of the plurality of residences.

19. The method of claim 14 wherein the observing and notifying are done on a subscription service basis, one-time basis, on-demand basis, or no fee on-going basis.

20. An apparatus for remotely monitoring a residence, the apparatus comprising:

a processor operatively coupled to a network interface and a power source of a residence; and

a non-transitory computer-readable medium coupled to the processor, the non-transitory computer-readable medium having encoded thereon a sequence of instructions which, when loaded and executed by a processor, causes the processor to send messages or responses to messages to a power loss monitoring device via a network operatively coupled to the processor via the network interface.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the sequence of instructions further causes the processor to send the messages or responses to messages at a rate based on a messaging rate configuration setting received via the network interface from the power loss monitoring device over the network.

22. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the sequence of instructions further causes the processor to send the messages or responses to messages in response to a request message received via the network interface from the power loss monitoring device over the network.

23. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein the request message is a ping and the message sent in response to the ping is a ping response.

24. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the processor is operatively coupled to the power source of the residence by electrically coupling the processor to the power source via a power outlet of the residence.

25. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the processor is operatively coupled to the power source of the residence by electrically coupling the processor to a connector of the at least one network device in the residence.

26. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the network interface is a wired or wireless connection.