Method and system for optical user recognition

• US 9,984,519 B2
• Filed: 04/10/2015
• Issued: 05/29/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Herman, Kenneth Louis, Rabb, Laura, Dixon, Michael, Colaco, Andrea, Kirmani, Ghulam A., Davis, Casey Mills, Villaran, Luis, Modi, Yash, Lee, Jeffery Theodore, Sloo, David Hendler
• Primary Examiner(s): AHMED, SAMIR ANWAR
• Application Number:
  US14/683,243
• Publication Number:
  US 20160307382A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,145 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/25 Recognition of walking or running movements, e.g. gait recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 3/00 Registering or indicating the condition or the working of machines or other apparatus, other than vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/37 using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voice recognition

Abstract

A method and system for optically detecting a user. A sequence of patterns of radiation reflected from an object in a room may be captured by a device. The patterns of radiation may be infrared radiation emitted from the device. A sequence of variations between the captured sequence of patterns of radiation and the emitted sequence of patterns of radiation may be determined and object characteristics of an object may be determined based upon the sequence of variations. The object characteristics may be a sequence of dimensions of the object and a sequence of locations of the object. The method may determine the first is a user based upon the determined object characteristics and a room profile. The room profile may include a plurality of object characteristics of one or more objects in the room.

Claims

1. A method for operating a premises management system, the method comprising:

capturing, at two or more different sensors communicatively coupled to a device, a sequence of patterns of radiation reflected from a first object in a room over a first period of time, wherein the two or more different sensors are selected from the group consisting of;

red-green-blue (RGB) imaging cameras, RGB depth (RGB-D) cameras, complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors, and infrared imaging sensors;

determining, at a processor communicatively coupled to the device, a sequence of variations between the sequence of patterns of radiation captured by the two or more different sensors and a sequence of patterns of radiation emitted by the device;

determining, at the processor, a first series of object characteristics of the first object over the first period of time based upon the sequence of variations, the first series of object characteristics comprising a sequence of dimensions of the first object, the sequence of locations of the first object, and depth information of the first object;

determining, at the processor, the first object is a user based upon comparing the depth information of the first object, the sequence of dimensions of the first object, and a sequence of locations of the first object to a previously captured second series of a second object characteristics comprising depth information of the second object, a sequence of dimensions of the second object and a sequence of locations of the second object stored in a room profile of the room; and

controlling, at the processor, the premises management system to change a security setting based on the determination that the first object is the user based on the sequence of the dimensions and the sequence of locations of the first object being consistent with the change of the security setting, so that the user can enter the room without the premises management system outputting an alarm.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the sequence of patterns of radiation reflected from the first object comprises:

no more than one pattern of radiation reflected from the first object, and

no more than one instance of the pattern.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein radiation comprises infrared radiation.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the first series of object characteristics of the first object comprises at least one of the group consisting of:

an area of the first object, a shape of the first object, a volume of the first object, a color of the first object, a luminosity of the first object, a time of capture of the first series of object characteristics of the first object, a velocity of the first object, and an acceleration of the first object.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the room profile comprises:

a sequence of dimensions of an object associated with the user; and

a sequence of locations of the object associated with the user.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the room profile comprises a gesture associated with the user.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the room profile comprises a gait associated with the user.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the room profile comprises:

a sequence of dimensions of an object associated with the user, and

a sequence of locations of the object associated with the user; and

wherein the determining the first object is the user comprises comparing the determined first series of object characteristics of the first object to the sequence of dimensions of the object associated with the user and to the sequence of locations of the object associated with the user.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the room profile comprises:

a three dimensional map of the room generated based on the first and second series of object characteristics determined from one or more captured patterns of radiation emitted from the device and reflected from at least the first and second objects in the room.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining the first object is the user is further based upon a user data.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the user data comprises at least one of the group consisting of:

a geofence boundary indicator data, a global positioning system location data, a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) signal data, a near field communication (NFC) signal data, a cellular signal data, an online status data, a profile status data, a schedule data, a calendar data, a health monitoring data, a biometric voice recognition pattern data, and an audible user password data.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining the first object is the user is further based upon a sequence comprising the determined first series of object characteristics of the first object and a user data.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining the first object is the user is further based upon a premises data.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the premises data comprises at least one of the group consisting of:

an open/close sensor data, a locked/unlocked sensor data, a hazard detection sensor data, a door knob sensor data, and an entry detector sensor data.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining the first object is the user is further based upon a sequence comprising the determined first series of object characteristics of the first object, a user data, and a premises data.

16. The method of claim 1, comprising adjusting a status of the device based upon the user.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the adjusting the status comprises at least one of the group consisting of:

activating a light indicator, enabling access to a user interface, activating a user interface, restricting access to the device, changing a temperature setting, changing a lighting setting, changing a security setting, increasing a time period, and disabling an alarm.

18. The method of claim 1, comprising:

determining a condition of the user based upon the determined first series of object characteristics of the first object and the room profile; and

adjusting a status of the device based upon the determined condition of the user.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the determined condition of the user comprises at least one of the group consisting of:

the user is limping, the user is carrying another object with two hands, the user is traveling slower than normal;

the user is using crutches;

the user is in a wheel chair, the user has collapsed, and the user is asleep.

20. The method of claim 1 comprising updating the room profile to comprise the determined first series of object characteristics of the first object.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a third series of object characteristics of a third object over the first period of time based upon the sequence of variations;

comparing the third series of object characteristics to a fourth series of object characteristics stored in the room profile for the room, the fourth series of object characteristics determined of a fourth object in the room over a second period of time, wherein;

the second period of time is prior to the first period of time, and

the determination that the first object is the user is further based on the comparison of the third series of object characteristics of the third object to the fourth series object characteristics of the fourth object.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the second series of object characteristics of the second object and the fourth series of object characteristics of the fourth object are components of a set of object characteristics associated with the user.