HANDLING SECURITY SERVICES VISITOR AT A SMART-HOME

• US 20150127712A1
• Filed: 12/31/2014
• Published: 05/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Fadell, Anthony Michael, Rogers, Matthew Lee, Matsuoka, Yoky, Sloo, David, Honjo, Shigefumi, McGaraghan, Scott A., Plitkins, Michael, Veron, Maxime, Guenette, Isabel
• Granted Patent: US 10,735,216 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 19/005 combined burglary and fire alarm systems
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/002 Generating a prealarm to the central station
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/008 Alarm setting and unsetting, i.e. arming or disarming of the security system
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 27/003 Signalling to neighbouring houses
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 29/185 Signal analysis techniques for reducing or preventing false alarms or for enhancing the reliability of the system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2807 Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/283 Processing of data at an internetworking point of a home automation network

Abstract

This patent specification relates to apparatus, systems, methods, and related computer program products for providing home security/smart home objectives. More particularly, this patent specification relates to a plurality of devices, including intelligent, multi-sensing, network-connected devices, that communicate with each other and/or with a central server or a cloud-computing system to provide any of a variety of useful home security/smart home objectives.

Claims

1. A method of handling an agent of a service-provider entity that comprises a service computing system at a smart environment that comprises at least one smart device, the method comprising:

sharing unique invitation identification information associated with the service-provider entity between the service computing system and an environment computing system;

receiving responsibility information at the environment computing system, wherein the responsibility information is indicative of a characteristic of a plurality of environments that the service-provider entity services, and wherein the plurality of environments comprises the smart environment; and

based on the sharing and the receiving, automatically defining, using the environment computing system, at least a portion of a mode setting that is associated with the shared unique invitation identification information and the smart environment and that comprises at least one platform action.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after the defining, obtaining, at the environment computing system from the smart environment, invitation identification data detected by the at least one smart device from the agent, wherein the received invitation identification data comprises the unique invitation identification information;

analyzing, using the environment computing system, the unique invitation identification information of the received invitation identification data from the smart environment to identify the defined mode setting associated with the unique invitation identification information and the smart environment; and

automatically carrying out, using the environment computing system, the at least one platform action of the identified defined mode setting based on the analyzing.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the at least one smart device comprises a smart doorbell device positioned proximate to a door at an entry point to a portion of the smart environment; and

the smart doorbell device comprises;

a doorbell component operative to be interacted with by a user for generating a request to contact an occupant of the smart environment; and

at least one sensing component operative to detect the invitation identification data.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the carrying out the at least one platform action comprises enabling accessibility to a portion of the smart environment.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein the carrying out the at least one platform action comprises conveying a message to the agent via the at least one smart device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the message comprises information indicative of at least one of the following:

the current occupancy of the smart environment;

a map of the smart environment; and

a hazard condition detected by a hazard detector smart device of the smart environment.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the message comprises information indicative of the current occupancy of the smart environment;

the defining comprises defining at least one condition associated with the at least one platform action;

the method further comprises, after the obtaining but prior to the carrying out, determining, using the environment computing system, that the at least one condition is satisfied;

the carrying out comprises carrying out the at least one platform action of the identified defined mode setting based on the analyzing and based on the determining; and

the at least one condition is based on a hazard condition detected by a hazard detector smart device of the smart environment.

14. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the defining comprises defining a first condition associated with a first platform action of the at least one platform action and a second condition associated with a second platform action of the at least one platform action;

the method further comprises, after the obtaining but prior to the carrying out, determining, using the environment computing system, whether at least one of the first condition and the second condition is satisfied; and

the carrying out comprises at least one of the following;

carrying out the first action of the identified defined mode setting based on the analyzing and based on the determining when the first condition is determined to be satisfied; and

carrying out the second action of the identified defined mode setting based on the analyzing and based on the determining when the second condition is determined to be satisfied.

17. The method of claim 2, wherein the carrying out the at least one platform action comprises conveying a message to a user of the smart environment.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

prior to the sharing, generating the unique invitation identification information using the environment computing system; and

the sharing comprises sharing the generated unique invitation identification information with the service computing system using the environment computing system.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

prior to the sharing, generating the unique invitation identification information using the service computing system; and

the sharing comprises sharing the generated unique invitation identification information with the environment computing system using the service computing system.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein

the plurality of environments further comprises another smart environment;

and

the method further comprises, based on the sharing and the receiving, automatically defining, using the environment computing system, at least a portion of another mode setting that is associated with the shared unique invitation identification information and the other smart environment and that comprises at least one other platform action.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving comprises receiving the responsibility information at the environment computing system from the service computing system.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristic is a geographical characteristic common to each environment of the plurality of environments.

24. The method of claim 1, further comprising, after the receiving and prior to the defining, analyzing, using the environment computing system, the received responsibility information to determine that the plurality of environments comprises the smart environment.

5. The method of claim 5, wherein:

the at least one smart device comprises a smart doorknob device for a door to a secure area of the smart environment; and

the carrying out the at least one platform action comprises unlocking the door with the smart doorknob device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein:

the defining comprises defining at least one condition associated with the at least one platform action;

the method further comprises, after the obtaining but prior to the carrying out, determining, using the environment computing system, that the at least one condition is satisfied; and

the carrying out comprises carrying out the at least one platform action of the identified defined mode setting based on the analyzing and based on the determining.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one condition is based on the current occupancy of the smart environment.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one condition is based on the current occupant availability at the smart environment.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one condition is based on a hazard condition detected by a hazard detector smart device of the smart environment.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one condition is based on:

the current occupancy of the smart environment; and

a hazard condition detected by a hazard detector smart device of the smart environment.

15. (canceled)

16. (canceled)

23. (canceled)

25. A service computing system of a service-provider entity for enhancing handling of an agent of the service-provider entity at a first smart environment that comprises a first smart device and at a second smart environment comprising a second smart device, the service computing system comprising:

a communication interface; and

a processor operative to;

share unique invitation identification information with an environment computing system via a first portion of the communication interface; and

provide responsibility information to the environment computing system via a second portion of the communication interface for the purpose of enabling the environment computing system to define at least a portion of a first mode setting that is associated with the unique invitation identification information and the first smart environment and at least a portion of a second mode setting that is associated with the unique invitation identification information and the second smart environment, wherein;

the responsibility information is indicative of a characteristic of a plurality of environments that the service-provider entity services, and

the plurality of environments comprises the first smart environment and the second smart environment.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the processor is further operative to provide the unique invitation identification information to the agent for presentation at the first smart environment.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the characteristic is a geographical characteristic common to each environment of the plurality of environments.

29. The system of claim 25, wherein the service-provider entity comprises an emergency response entity.

28. (canceled)

30. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer readable instructions recorded thereon for:

sharing, using an environment computing system, unique invitation identification information with a service-provider entity;

receiving responsibility information, at the environment computing system, wherein;

the responsibility information is indicative of a characteristic of a plurality of environments that the service-provider entity services; and

the plurality of environments comprises a first smart environment and a second smart environment; and

based on the sharing and the receiving, defining, using the environment computing system, at least a portion of a first mode setting that is associated with the shared unique invitation identification information and the first smart environment and at least a portion of a second mode setting that is associated with the shared unique invitation identification information and the second smart environment.