Electronic Monitoring, Security, and Communication Device Assembly

• US 20180014093A1
• Filed: 07/06/2017
• Published: 01/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPH Engineering LLC
• Original Assignee: RPH Engineering LLC
• Inventors: Hyde, Ryan P.
• Granted Patent: US 10,531,167 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/40 using a wireless architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/43 using wireless personal area networks [WPAN], e.g. 802.15, 802.15.1, 802.15.4, Bluetooth or ZigBee
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/883 where the sensing device enters an active or inactive mode
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A method, system, and apparatus for security and monitoring are disclosed. In one embodiment, a small device with five sensors (temperature, light, motion, accelerometer, sound) includes a processor, local data storage, and WiFi and Bluetooth communication capabilities. The device may collect data through its sensors and may store such data on its local storage and/or may transmit such data to a remote monitoring server over WiFi (to a local router first over WiFi) and may also transmit data to a mobile device over Bluetooth. The mobile device and remote monitoring server may also configure the device. The device includes a power management scheme including heartbeats and minimized sampling rates.

Claims

1. A battery-powered monitoring device, comprising:

a processor;

instructions executable on the processor;

a rechargeable battery;

local data storage;

one or more sensors;

a wireless communication system;

2. The device of claim 1, comprising at least two sensors from a motion sensor;

light sensor, sound sensor, accelerometer, and temperature sensor.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication system includes Bluetooth.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication system includes WiFi.

5. The device of claim 1, further comprising a wired port for data input and output and for battery charging, wherein the wired port for data input is configured to receive an extension device.

6. The claim 5, wherein the extension device includes at least one of a sensor or an interface element.

7. The device of claim 1, further comprising a switch interface.

8. The device of claim 5, wherein the extension device includes one or more switch interfaces.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the instructions executable on the processor activate the one or more sensors for data collection according to a power conservation scheme.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the instructions executable on the processor de-activate the wireless communication system when not sending or receiving.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the instructions executable on the processor cause the wireless communication system to send a periodic heartbeat to a server.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein the device'"'"'s volume is less than 1.5 cubic inches.

13. A monitoring system, comprising:

at least two battery-powered monitoring devices;

a monitoring server; and

wherein;

the at least two battery-powered monitoring devices are configured to communicate directly with the monitoring server;

the monitoring server is configured to communicate directly with the at least two battery-powered monitoring devices.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein each of the at least two battery-powered monitoring devices comprises;

a processor;

instructions executable on the processor;

a rechargeable battery;

local data storage;

one or more sensors; and

a wireless communication system;

15. The system of claim 13, wherein each of the at least two battery-powered monitoring devices includes a Bluetooth system for configuration.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the monitoring server is configured to receive configuration information for the at least two battery-powered monitoring devices and to transmit such configuration information to the at least two battery-powered monitoring devices.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the monitoring server is configured to receive a notification from one of the at least two battery-powered monitoring devices.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein at least one of the battery-powered monitoring devices is configured to transmit a heartbeat to request data.

19. A method for monitoring on a monitoring device, comprising:

sampling on one sensor and storing collected data on local data storage;

transmitting at least some of collected data to a mobile device over Bluetooth;

receiving configuration information from a mobile device over Bluetooth.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising sending a periodic heartbeat to a remote server.