Carbon dioxide monitoring

• US 9,182,751 B1
• Filed: 07/16/2014
• Issued: 11/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alarm.com Inc. (Alarm.com Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Alarm.com Inc. (Alarm.com Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Reeder, Alexander Lawrence
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tai T
• Application Number:
  US14/332,682
• Time in Patent Office: 482 Days
• Field of Search: 340/632, 340/628, 340/506, 340/514, 340/541, 340/523, 340/12.53, 340/539.13, 340/539.17
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/004 CO or CO2
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/0063 using a threshold to release an alarm or displaying means
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/0075 for multiple spatially distributed sensors, e.g. for environmental monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/12 responsive to undesired emission of substances, e.g. pollution alarms
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/14 Toxic gas alarms G08B21/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/182 Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 50/20 Air quality improvement or preservation, e.g. vehicle emission control or emission reduction by using catalytic converters

Abstract

Carbon dioxide monitoring, in which carbon dioxide sensor data is processed in combination with additional sensor and automation control data. A system includes a monitoring system that monitors a fixed property and includes a carbon dioxide sensor, one or more additional sensors that are installed at the fixed property and that sense attributes of the fixed property, and one or more automation control components that control one or more appliances located at the fixed property. The system also includes a monitoring application server that receives data communications based on carbon dioxide sensor data, additional sensor data, and automation control data. The monitoring application server integrates the carbon dioxide sensor data with the additional sensor data and the automation control data, analyzes the integrated carbon dioxide sensor data, additional sensor data, and automation control data, and performs an operation related to the fixed property based on the analysis.

Claims

1. A system for processing carbon dioxide sensor data in combination with additional sensor and automation control data, the system comprising:

a monitoring system that is configured to monitor a fixed property, that includes a carbon dioxide sensor associated with the monitoring system, that includes one or more additional sensors that are installed at the fixed property and that are configured to sense attributes of the fixed property, and that includes one or more automation control components configured to control one or more appliances located at the fixed property; and

a monitoring application server that is configured to electronically receive, either directly or via a network communications module, data communications based on carbon dioxide sensor data captured by the carbon dioxide sensor, additional sensor data captured by the one or more additional sensors installed at the fixed property, and automation control data related to the one or more automation control components, the monitoring application server being configured to perform operations comprising;

integrating the carbon dioxide sensor data with the additional sensor data and the automation control data;

analyzing the integrated carbon dioxide sensor data, additional sensor data, and automation control data; and

performing an operation related to the fixed property based on the analysis of the integrated carbon dioxide sensor data, additional sensor data, and automation control data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein performing the operation related to the fixed property based on the analysis of the integrated carbon dioxide sensor data, additional sensor data, and automation control data comprises automatically, without human intervention, controlling at least one of the one or more automation control components to control an appliance located at the fixed property based on the analysis of the integrated carbon dioxide sensor data, additional sensor data, and automation control data.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein performing the operation related to the fixed property based on the analysis of the integrated carbon dioxide sensor data, additional sensor data, and automation control data comprises sending, to a mobile device of at least one user of the fixed property, a notification based on the analysis of the integrated carbon dioxide sensor data, additional sensor data, and automation control data.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein performing the operation related to the fixed property based on the analysis of the integrated carbon dioxide sensor data, additional sensor data, and automation control data comprises plotting, on a graph, a representation of the carbon dioxide sensor data over time in combination with corresponding sensor and automation control events reflected in the additional sensor data and the automation control data.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein performing the operation related to the fixed property based on the analysis of the integrated carbon dioxide sensor data, additional sensor data, and automation control data comprises determining an air flow model for the fixed property based on the analysis of the integrated carbon dioxide sensor data, additional sensor data, and automation control data.

6. The system of claim 1:

wherein analyzing the integrated carbon dioxide sensor data, additional sensor data, and automation control data comprises;

accessing, from electronic storage, a target carbon dioxide concentration level for the fixed property;

accessing, from electronic storage, a schedule of expected usage of the fixed property that includes expected appliance usage and expected occupancy of the fixed property; and

analyzing the integrated carbon dioxide sensor data, additional sensor data, and automation control data with respect to the target carbon dioxide concentration level and the schedule of expected usage of the fixed property;

wherein performing the operation related to the fixed property based on the analysis of the integrated carbon dioxide sensor data, additional sensor data, and automation control data comprises automatically, without human intervention, controlling at least one of the one or more automation control components to control an appliance located at the fixed property in a manner directed to reducing carbon dioxide concentration in the fixed property based on the analysis of the integrated carbon dioxide sensor data, additional sensor data, and automation control data with respect to the target carbon dioxide concentration level and the schedule of expected usage of the fixed property revealing that the target carbon dioxide concentration level is likely to be exceeded in view of the schedule of expected usage of the fixed property.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein performing the operation related to the fixed property based on the analysis of the integrated carbon dioxide sensor data, additional sensor data, and automation control data comprises detecting human activity within the fixed property based on a combination of the carbon dioxide sensor data and the additional sensor data suggesting human activity within the fixed property.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein detecting human activity within the fixed property based on a combination of the carbon dioxide sensor data and the additional sensor data suggesting human activity within the fixed property comprises determining a behavioral profile for one or more humans associated with the fixed property based on the detected human activity, the behavioral profile indicating sleep activity, eating activity, and exercising activity of the one or more humans inferred through a combination of the carbon dioxide sensor data, additional sensor data, and automation control data.

9. The system of claim 1:

wherein analyzing the integrated carbon dioxide sensor data, additional sensor data, and automation control data comprises detecting an abnormality in the carbon dioxide sensor data; and

wherein performing the operation related to the fixed property based on the analysis of the integrated carbon dioxide sensor data, additional sensor data, and automation control data comprises performing an operation related to the fixed property based on the detection of the abnormality in the carbon dioxide sensor data.

10. The system of claim 1:

wherein analyzing the integrated carbon dioxide sensor data, additional sensor data, and automation control data comprises;

detecting an event based on the additional sensor data, and

confirming the detected event by determining that the carbon dioxide sensor data is consistent with the detected event; and

wherein performing the operation related to the fixed property based on the analysis of the integrated carbon dioxide sensor data, additional sensor data, and automation control data comprises performing an operation related to the fixed property based on the confirmation of the detected event.

11. The system of claim 1:

wherein analyzing the integrated carbon dioxide sensor data, additional sensor data, and automation control data comprises assessing whether the carbon dioxide sensor data aligns with what would have been expected given usage of the one or more appliances indicated by the automation control data; and

wherein performing the operation related to the fixed property based on the analysis of the integrated carbon dioxide sensor data, additional sensor data, and automation control data comprises performing an operation related to the fixed property based on the assessment of whether the carbon dioxide sensor data aligns with what would have been expected given usage of the one or more appliances indicated by the automation control data.

12. The system of claim 11:

wherein assessing whether the carbon dioxide sensor data aligns with what would have been expected given usage of the one or more appliances indicated by the automation control data comprises determining that the carbon dioxide sensor data does not align with what would have been expected given usage of the one or more appliances indicated by the automation control data; and

wherein performing the operation related to the fixed property based on the assessment of whether the carbon dioxide sensor data aligns with what would have been expected given usage of the one or more appliances indicated by the automation control data comprises providing a notification that at least one of the one or more appliances is malfunctioning based on the determination that the carbon dioxide sensor data does not align with what would have been expected given usage of the one or more appliances indicated by the automation control data.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more automation control components are configured to control one or more of a range, an oven, and a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system located at the fixed property.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring system is a security system installed in a building, the security system being configured to detect an alarm event based on the additional sensor data.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more additional sensors include at least one of a contact sensor, a motion sensor, a glass breaker sensor, a temperature sensor, a smoke sensor, or a panic button sensor.

16. A method comprising

accessing, by at least one processor, a carbon dioxide sample measured by a carbon dioxide sensor located in a fixed property;

comparing, by the at least one processor, the carbon dioxide sample to one or more prior samples measured by the carbon dioxide sensor located in the fixed property;

determining, by the at least one processor, that carbon dioxide concentration in the fixed property has increased by at least a first threshold amount;

based on the determination that the carbon dioxide concentration in the fixed property has increased by at least the first threshold amount, starting a timer;

determining that the timer has reached a first threshold period of time without detection of a decrease in the carbon dioxide concentration in the fixed property; and

based on the determination that the timer has reached the first threshold period of time without detection of a decrease in the carbon dioxide concentration in the fixed property, presenting an alarm using an output device located in the fixed property and logging, in electronic storage, an increased carbon dioxide event in a history of carbon dioxide events.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

determining that the timer has reached a second threshold period of time without detection of a decrease in the carbon dioxide concentration in the fixed property, the second threshold period of time being greater than the first threshold period of time; and

based on the determination that the timer has reached the second threshold period of time without detection of a decrease in the carbon dioxide concentration in the fixed property, sending, to a mobile device of at least one user of the fixed property, a notification indicating increased carbon dioxide concentration in the fixed property.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining that the timer has reached a third threshold period of time without detection of a decrease in the carbon dioxide concentration in the fixed property, the third threshold period of time being greater than the second threshold period of time; and

based on the determination that the timer has reached the third threshold period of time without detection of a decrease in the carbon dioxide concentration in the fixed property, alerting an appropriate emergency services authority to the increased carbon dioxide concentration in the fixed property.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

determining, by the at least one processor, that carbon dioxide concentration in the fixed property has decreased by at least a second threshold amount; and

based on the determination that the carbon dioxide concentration in the fixed property has decreased by at least the second threshold amount, stopping the timer and logging, in electronic storage, a decreased carbon dioxide event in the history of carbon dioxide events.

20. The method of claim 19:

wherein logging the increased carbon dioxide event in the history of carbon dioxide events comprises logging first data that indicates a first carbon dioxide level associated with the increased carbon dioxide event and a first time of the increased carbon dioxide event; and

wherein logging the decreased carbon dioxide event in the history of carbon dioxide events comprises logging second data that indicates a second carbon dioxide level associated with the decreased carbon dioxide event and a second time of the decreased carbon dioxide event.