Ad-hoc surveillance network

• US 9,198,225 B2
• Filed: 12/18/2009
• Issued: 11/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Bilcu, Radu, Ojala, Pasi
• Primary Examiner(s): Gidado, Rasheed
• Application Number:
  US13/516,171
• Publication Number:
  US 20120250581A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,167 Days
• Field of Search: 370/254, 370/256, 370/328, 370/255, 370/252, 370/338, 709/223, 709/224
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/009 Signalling of the alarm condition to a substation whose identity is signalled to a central station, e.g. relaying alarm signals in order to extend communication range
• 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: H04W 40/24 Connectivity information management, e.g. connectivity discovery or connectivity update
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A method and related apparatuses, the method comprising: setting up a network of a plurality of mobile devices (208); obtaining sensory data from at least one mobile device of the network (210); analyzing the obtained sensory data in order to detect at least one predetermined event (212); and in response to detecting at least one predetermined event (214), providing an indication about the detected event to at least one mobile terminal of the network.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a selected connection type indication;

determining, by a mobile device, candidate devices suitable for establishing a network from among a group of detected devices such that one or more of the detected devices are determined to be suitable for establishing the network and one or more of the detected devices are determined to not be suitable for establishing the network, wherein the first mobile device is a portable computing device, and wherein determining suitable devices is based on hardware capabilities of respective devices including sensor type, sensor quality, device processing power, or memory size;

setting up the network of a plurality of mobile devices based on the determination of suitable candidate devices and the selected connection type;

obtaining sensory data from at least one mobile device of the network;

analysing, by the mobile device, the obtained sensory data in order to detect at least one predetermined event, wherein analysing the obtained sensory data comprises identifying a predetermined event in an instance in which the sensory data is classifiable into a predetermined classification pattern associated with at least one predetermined event and identifying another predetermined event in an instance in which a sensor parameter of the sensory data exceeds of a threshold value; and

in response to detecting at least one predetermined event, providing an indication about the detected event to at least one mobile terminal of the network, wherein the indication comprises location information associated with the mobile device.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein setting up the network comprises:

requesting one or more candidate devices to be included in the network; and

establishing data transfer connections at least between said first mobile device and each of the candidate devices accepting the request.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein determining candidate devices suitable for establishing the network comprises:

detecting mobile devices within a predetermined geographical area; and

selecting, from the group of detected mobile devices, candidate devices suitable for establishing the network.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein

the predetermined geographical area is determined by a distance relative to the first mobile device or by positioning data relative to a geographical area.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein the devices are selected at least partly based on the type of the detected devices.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein determining candidate devices suitable for establishing the network comprises selecting one or more predetermined candidate devices.

7. The method according to claim 2, the method further comprising:

managing, by the first mobile device, the network on the basis of the detected events, mobile devices disconnecting from the network and/or interruptions in the data transfer connections.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein setting up the network comprises:

receiving information about one or more devices in the network; and

establishing data transfer connection to at least one of said one or more devices in the network.

9. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:

receive a selected connection type indication;

determine, by a mobile device, candidate devices suitable for establishing a network from among a group of detected devices such that one or more of the detected devices are determined to be suitable for establishing the network and one or more of the detected devices are determined to not be suitable for establishing the network, wherein the first mobile device is a portable computing device, and wherein determining suitable devices is based on hardware capabilities of respective devices including sensor type, sensor quality, device processing power, or memory size;

set up the network of a plurality of mobile devices based on the determination of suitable candidate devices and the selected connection type;

obtain sensory data from at least one mobile device of the network;

analyse, by the mobile device, the obtained sensory data in order to detect at least one predetermined event, wherein

analyse the obtained sensory data further comprises identifying a predetermined event in an instance in which the sensory data is classifiable into a predetermined classification pattern associated with at least one predetermined event and identifying another predetermined event in an instance in which a sensor parameter of the sensory data exceeds of a threshold value, and

in response to detecting at least one predetermined event, the apparatus provides an indication about the detected event to at least one mobile terminal of the network.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the apparatus is further arranged to

request one or more candidate devices to be included in the network;

and

establish data transfer connections to each of the candidate devices accepting the request.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the apparatus is further arranged to

detect mobile devices within a predetermined geographical area;

and

select, from the group of detected mobile devices, candidate devices suitable for establishing the network.

12. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein

the predetermined geographical area is determined by a distance relative to the first mobile device or by positioning data relative to a geographical area.

13. The apparatus according claim 10, wherein the devices are selected at least partly based on the type of the detected devices.

14. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the apparatus is further arranged to, when determining candidate devices suitable for establishing the network, select one or more predetermined candidate devices.

15. The apparatus according to claim 10, said apparatus being arranged to

manage the network on the basis of the detected events, mobile devices disconnecting from the network and/or interruptions in the data transfer connections.

16. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the apparatus is further arranged to, when setting up the network, to

receive information about one or more devices in the network;

and

establish data transfer connection to at least one of said one or more devices in the network.

17. The apparatus according to claim 9, said apparatus being arranged to receive sensory data from one or more mobile devices.

18. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the sensory data comprises location information associated with the sensory data.

19. A computer program product, stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium and executable in a data processing device, for processing sensory data, the computer program product comprising a computer program code section for:

receiving a selected connection type indication;

determining candidate devices suitable for establishing a network from among a group of detected devices such that one or more of the detected devices are determined to be suitable for establishing the network and one or more of the detected devices are determined to not be suitable for establishing the network, wherein the first mobile device is a portable computing device, and wherein determining suitable devices is based on hardware capabilities of respective devices including sensor type, sensor quality, device processing power, or memory size;

controlling setting up the network of a plurality of mobile devices based on the determination of suitable candidate devices and the selected connection type;

obtaining sensory data from at least one mobile device of the network;

analysing the obtained sensory data in order to detect at least one predetermined event wherein analysing the obtained sensory data comprises identifying a predetermined event in an instance in which the sensory data is classifiable into a predetermined classification pattern associated with at least one predetermined event and identifying another predetermined event in an instance in which a sensor parameter of the sensory data exceeds of a threshold value; and

providing, in response to detecting at least one predetermined event, an indication about the detected event to at least one mobile terminal of the network.

20. A computer program product, stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium and executable in a data processing device, for processing sensory data, the computer program product comprising a computer program code section for:

receiving of a request for the data processing device to be included in a network of a plurality of mobile devices comprising a selected connection type, wherein the request is received in response to a mobile device determining that the data processing device is a suitable candidate for establishing the network from among a group of detected devices such that one or more of the detected devices are determined to be suitable for establishing the network and one or more of the detected devices are determined to not be suitable for establishing the network, wherein the mobile device is a portable computing device, and wherein determining suitable devices is based on hardware capabilities of respective devices including sensor type, sensor quality, device processing power, or memory size;

accepting said request;

establishing a data transfer connection to at least the mobile device sending said request based on the selected connection type;

obtaining sensory data from one or more sensors of the data processing device about the surroundings of the device;

analysing the obtained sensory data in order to detect at least one predetermined event, wherein analysing the obtained sensory data comprises identifying a predetermined event in an instance in which the sensory data is classifiable into a predetermined classification pattern associated with at least one predetermined event and identifying another predetermined event in an instance in which a sensor parameter of the sensory data exceeds of a threshold value; and

causing the transmission of the at least one predetermined event with location information associated with the mobile device to at least one mobile device in said network.