Automated, remotely-verified alarm system with intrusion and video surveillance and digital video recording
View Patent ↗An automated self-monitored alarm verification solution including at least a premises portion, a server portion, and an end user device portion. Alarm verification includes capturing by an image capture device at least one image in response to a detection event, and transmitting a first data signal including the image to a local signal processing device. The signal processing device transmits a second signal including at least a portion of the image to a remote hosted server according to at least a first set of predetermined parameters. After receiving the second signal, the server transmits a third signal including at least a portion of the image from the hosted server to a user device. Using the user device, a user views the image and indicates a validity status of the alarm based at least in part on the content of the image. Based at least upon either the validation status indicated by the user, or upon a failure to receive a message including a validation status from the user within a predetermined duration of time, the server portion may send an alarm signal to an emergency response service.
1. A system, comprising:
an image capture module configured to capture image data based on receiving a signal associated with an alarm event detected by a sensor distinct from the image capture module;
an image analysis module configured to receive a signal including the image data from the image capture module, the image analysis module configured to automatically analyze the image data according to a set of configuration parameters to determine if at least one criterion is satisfied; and
a transmission module configured to transmit a signal including the image data according to a set of transmission parameters in response to the image analysis module determining that the at least one criterion is satisfied.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the image analysis module is configured to automatically analyze the image data according to the set of configuration parameters to determine a presence of a human within the image data.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the image analysis module is configured to receive a signal from a user device configured to alter the set of configuration parameters.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the transmission module is configured to transmit the signal to an emergency response service in response to the image analysis module determining that the at least one criterion is satisfied and in accordance with the set of transmission parameters.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the transmission module is configured to transmit the signal to a user device in response to the image analysis module determining that the at least one criterion is satisfied and in accordance with the set of transmission parameters.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the transmission module is configured to receive, from a user device, a signal configured to alter the set of transmission parameters.
7. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a recording module configured to store a digital video recording of the image data.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the set of configuration parameters is a first set of configuration parameters, the image capture module configured to capture image data based on a second set of configuration parameters, the image capture module configured to modify the second set of configuration parameters in response to receiving a signal from a key fob.
9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the transmission module is configured to transmit the signal to a first device in response to the image analysis module determining that the at least one criterion is satisfied, the transmission module configured to transmit the signal to a second device in response to the first device being unable to receive the signal.
10. An apparatus, comprising:
an image analysis module configured to analyze at least one image according to a set of configuration parameters to detect a valid alarm event, the at least one image being associated with an event at a monitored premise; and
a signal transmission module configured to send the at least one image to a user device when the at least one image does not satisfy a criterion of the set of configuration parameters such that a user of the user device can verify an alarm status using the at least one image.
11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the signal transmission module is configured to transmit the at least one image to an emergency response service when the at least one image satisfies the criterion.
12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the image analysis module is configured to analyze the at least one image according to the set of configuration parameters to determine a presence of a human within the at least one image.
13. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the event is an alarm event detected by a sensor distinct from the image analysis module.
14. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the signal transmission module is configured to send the at least one image to the user device based on a set of transmission parameters, the signal transmission module configured to modify the set of transmission parameters in response to receiving a signal from the user device.
15. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising:
a recording module configured to store a digital video recording of the at least one image.
16. A non-transitory processor-readable medium storing code representing instructions to be executed by a processor, the code comprising code to cause the processor to:
receive, from a sensor, a signal indicating an event occurred at a monitored premise;
receive, from an image capture device, an image associated with the event;
send, to a user device remote from the monitored premise, the image associated with the event such that a user of the user device can verify an alarm status of the event;
receive, from the user device and in response to the image associated with the event, a request for a current image from the image capture device; and
send, to the image capture device, an instruction to capture the current image.
17. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 16 , further comprising code to cause the processor to:
receive a signal from the user device configured to alter at least one parameter associated with the image capture device.
18. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 16 , further comprising code to cause the processor to:
receive a signal from the user device to remotely control the image capture device located at the monitored premise.
19. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 16 , further comprising code to cause the processor to:
receive, from the user device, a signal verifying the alarm status; and
send, in response to the signal verifying the alarm status, a signal to an emergency response service.
20. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 16 , further comprising code to cause the processor to:
store a digital video recording including the image associated with the event.
21. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the code to cause the processor to send the image associated with the event includes code to cause the processor to send the image associated with the event to the user device based on a set of transmission parameters.