Alarm probability

• US 9,224,285 B1
• Filed: 04/20/2015
• Issued: 12/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alarm.com Inc. (Alarm.com Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Alarm.com Inc. (Alarm.com Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Trundle, Stephen Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Previl, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US14/691,398
• Time in Patent Office: 253 Days
• Field of Search: 340/501, 340/506, 340/517, 340/521, 340/565, 340/566, 340/541, 340/539.11, 340/539.1, 340/531, 340/527, 340/529, 340/522
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/00 Burglar, theft or intruder alarms
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/001 Alarm cancelling procedures or alarm forwarding decisions, e.g. based on absence of alarm confirmation
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 29/02 Monitoring continuously signalling or alarm systems
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 29/188 Data fusion; cooperative systems, e.g. voting among different detectors

Abstract

Alarm system technology, in which an alarm event is detected at a property monitored by an alarm system when the alarm system was set in an armed state. Based on detection of the alarm event, an alarm probability score that indicates a likelihood of the alarm event being an emergency situation is determined and the alarm event is handled based on the determined alarm probability score.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting an event at a property monitored by a monitoring system;

based on detecting the event, performing heuristics on available data relevant to the event to assess the likelihood of the event being associated with an emergency situation by;

accessing contemporaneous sensor data collected by the monitoring system, the contemporaneous sensor data being sensor data captured within a threshold period of time before or after the event,

accessing historical usage data defined based on historical sensor data collected by the monitoring system,

evaluating whether the contemporaneous sensor data and the historical usage data suggests that the event is associated with an emergency situation, and

estimating the likelihood of the event being associated with an emergency situation based on the evaluation of whether the contemporaneous sensor data and the historical usage data suggests that the event is associated with an emergency situation; and

handling the event based on the estimated likelihood of the event being associated with an emergency situation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein accessing contemporaneous sensor data collected by the monitoring system comprises accessing contemporaneous sensor data collected by the monitoring system within a threshold period of time before the event and within a threshold period of time after the event.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein accessing historical usage data defined based on historical sensor data collected by the monitoring system comprises accessing historical usage data defined based on historical sensor data captured by the monitoring system during past time periods that are similar to a time frame of the event.

4. The method of claim 1:

wherein estimating the likelihood of the event being associated with an emergency situation comprises determining an alarm probability score that indicates a likelihood of the event being associated with an emergency situation; and

wherein handling the event based on the estimated likelihood of the event being associated with an emergency situation comprises handling the event based on the determined alarm probability score.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein performing heuristics on available data relevant to the event to assess the likelihood of the event being associated with an emergency situation further comprises:

accessing external data that is relevant to the event and captured by a system other than the monitoring system;

evaluating whether the contemporaneous sensor data, the historical usage data, and the external data suggests that the event is associated with an emergency situation; and

estimating the likelihood of the event being associated with an emergency situation based on the evaluation of whether the contemporaneous sensor data, the historical usage data, and the external data suggests that the event is associated with an emergency situation.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein accessing external data that is relevant to the event and captured by a system other than the monitoring system comprises accessing weather data that describes weather conditions at the property monitored by the monitoring system at a time associated with the event.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein evaluating whether the contemporaneous sensor data, the historical usage data, and the external data suggests that the event is associated with an emergency situation comprises evaluating whether the weather data suggests that the event could have been caused by weather conditions.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein accessing external data that is relevant to the event and captured by a system other than the monitoring system comprises accessing crime data that describes crime activity in a region of the property monitored by the monitoring system.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein evaluating whether the contemporaneous sensor data, the historical usage data, and the external data suggests that the event is associated with an emergency situation comprises evaluating whether the crime data suggests that the event matches crime activity reported in the region of the property monitored by the monitoring system.

10. The method of claim 5:

wherein accessing external data that is relevant to the event and captured by a system other than the monitoring system comprises accessing locale data defined based on sensor data collected by other monitoring systems located in a region of the property monitored by the monitoring system; and

wherein evaluating whether the contemporaneous sensor data, the historical usage data, and the external data suggests that the event is associated with an emergency situation comprises evaluating whether the locale data suggests that the event is similar to other events detected by the other monitoring systems located in the region of the property monitored by the monitoring system.

11. An electronic system comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one computer-readable storage medium coupled to the at least one processor, the at least one computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to perform operations comprising;

detecting an event at a property monitored by a monitoring system;

based on detecting the event, performing heuristics on available data relevant to the event to assess the likelihood of the event being associated with an emergency situation by;

accessing contemporaneous sensor data collected by the monitoring system, the contemporaneous sensor data being sensor data captured within a threshold period of time before or after the event,

accessing historical usage data defined based on historical sensor data collected by the monitoring system,

evaluating whether the contemporaneous sensor data and the historical usage data suggests that the event is associated with an emergency situation, and

estimating the likelihood of the event being associated with an emergency situation based on the evaluation of whether the contemporaneous sensor data and the historical usage data suggests that the event is associated with an emergency situation; and

handling the event based on the estimated likelihood of the event being associated with an emergency situation.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein accessing contemporaneous sensor data collected by the monitoring system comprises accessing contemporaneous sensor data collected by the monitoring system within a threshold period of time before the event and within a threshold period of time after the event.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein accessing historical usage data defined based on historical sensor data collected by the monitoring system comprises accessing historical usage data defined based on historical sensor data captured by the monitoring system during past time periods that are similar to a time frame of the event.

14. The system of claim 11:

wherein estimating the likelihood of the event being associated with an emergency situation comprises determining an alarm probability score that indicates a likelihood of the event being associated with an emergency situation; and

wherein handling the event based on the estimated likelihood of the event being associated with an emergency situation comprises handling the event based on the determined alarm probability score.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein performing heuristics on available data relevant to the event to assess the likelihood of the event being associated with an emergency situation further comprises:

accessing external data that is relevant to the event and captured by a system other than the monitoring system;

evaluating whether the contemporaneous sensor data, the historical usage data, and the external data suggests that the event is associated with an emergency situation; and

estimating the likelihood of the event being associated with an emergency situation based on the evaluation of whether the contemporaneous sensor data, the historical usage data, and the external data suggests that the event is associated with an emergency situation.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein accessing external data that is relevant to the event and captured by a system other than the monitoring system comprises accessing weather data that describes weather conditions at the property monitored by the monitoring system at a time associated with the event.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein evaluating whether the contemporaneous sensor data, the historical usage data, and the external data suggests that the event is associated with an emergency situation comprises evaluating whether the weather data suggests that the event could have been caused by weather conditions.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein accessing external data that is relevant to the event and captured by a system other than the monitoring system comprises accessing crime data that describes crime activity in a region of the property monitored by the monitoring system.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein evaluating whether the contemporaneous sensor data, the historical usage data, and the external data suggests that the event is associated with an emergency situation comprises evaluating whether the crime data suggests that the event matches crime activity reported in the region of the property monitored by the monitoring system.

20. The system of claim 15:

wherein accessing external data that is relevant to the event and captured by a system other than the monitoring system comprises accessing locale data defined based on sensor data collected by other monitoring systems located in a region of the property monitored by the monitoring system; and

wherein evaluating whether the contemporaneous sensor data, the historical usage data, and the external data suggests that the event is associated with an emergency situation comprises evaluating whether the locale data suggests that the event is similar to other events detected by the other monitoring systems located in the region of the property monitored by the monitoring system.