Monitoring user position to determine a time for providing a specified state at a user premises
View Patent ↗An embodiment directed to a method for providing a specified state at a premises to which a user travels. Comprises determining a time of operation needed by a device located at the premises to provide the specified state, after device activation. One or more positions of the user are detected when the user is within a boundary, the boundary being determined in part by the time of operation. Detected user positions are used to determine a time of arrival of the user at the premises. A time to activate the device is computed from the arrival time and time of operation, collectively, wherein activating the device at the computed time causes the specified state to be provided at a time that coincides with arrival of the user at the premises.
1. In association with a premises, comprising a specified building or building portion, selectively, to which a user is disposed to travel, a computer implemented method for providing a specified state at the premises comprising the steps of:
determining a time of operation needed by a device located at the premises to provide the specified state, after the device has been activated;
the computer detecting one or more positions of the user when the user is within a boundary, wherein the boundary is determined at least in part by the time of operation needed by the device located at the premises to provide the specified state after the device has been activated;
the computer using one or more detected positions of the user to determine a time of arrival of the user at the premises;
the computer computing a time to activate the device from the determined time of arrival and time of operation, collectively; and
activating the device at the computed time to provide the specified state at a specified time.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the specified time coincides with arrival of the user at the premises, to within a prespecified limit.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
multiple different devices are located at the premises, wherein each device provides its corresponding state after being activated, and a single server is operated to activate each of said multiple devices, to cause each of said devices to provide its corresponding state at said specified time.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
a single server is operated to carry out said determining, detecting, using and computing steps for each one of multiple users, wherein two or more of said users share the same premises, or each user has a different premise, selectively.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
user related data collected over time, including user position data within the boundary, is stored for use to learn routes traveled by the user to the premises, and to learn travel times associated with said routes.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein:
the stored user related data is used to determine whether a route currently being traveled by the user corresponds to one of said learned routes.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein:
responsive to determining that the currently traveled route corresponds to a given one of said learned routes, information pertaining to the given learned route is used to determine the time of the arrival of the user at the premises, for the currently traveled route.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein:
responsive to determining that the route currently being traveled does not correspond to any of said learned routes, one or more positions of the user detected during the currently traveled route are used to determine the time of arrival of the user at the premises, for the currently traveled route.
9. The method of claim 5 , wherein:
the stored user related data is used to identify a particular user of multiple users, which are each disposed to travel to the premises.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the time of operation is determined at the premises.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the time to activate the device is computed by a server that is located remotely from the premises.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein:
the device is activated to provide the specified state by a signal sent over a specified network connection, from the server that is located remotely from the premises.
13. The method of claim 11 , wherein:
user related data collected over time, including user position data within the boundary, is stored for use by the remotely located server.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the specified state comprises a specified ambient temperature of an enclosed air space within the premises, and the device comprises a heating appliance or cooling appliance, selectively, which is activated to establish the specified ambient temperature.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
positions of the user are detected using a specified Global Positioning System (GPS) device.
16. In association with a premises, comprising a specified building or building portion, selectively, to which a user is disposed to travel, a computer program product comprising a non-transitory recordable storage medium encoded with program instructions configured for providing a specified state at the premises, said program instructions comprising:
instructions for determining a time of operation needed by a device located at the premises to provide the specified state, after the device has been activated;
instructions for detecting one or more positions of the user when the user is within a boundary, wherein the boundary is determined at least in part by the time of operation needed by the device located at the premises to provide the specified state after the device has been activated;
instructions for using one or more detected positions of the user to determine a time of arrival of the user at the premises;
instructions for computing a time to activate the device from the determined time of arrival and time of operation, collectively; and
instructions for activating the device at the computed time to provide the specified state at a specified time.
17. The computer program product of claim 16 , wherein:
user related data collected over time, including user position data within the boundary, is stored for use to learn routes traveled by the user to the premises, and to learn travel times associated with said routes.
18. The computer program product of claim 17 , wherein:
responsive to determining that the currently traveled route corresponds to a given one of said learned routes, information pertaining to the given learned route is used to determine the time of the arrival of the user at the premises, for the currently traveled route.
19. In association with a premises, comprising a specified building or building portion, selectively, to which a user is disposed to travel, a computer system for providing a specified state at the premises comprising:
a bus;
a memory connected to the bus, wherein program code is stored on the memory; and
a processor connected to the bus, wherein the processor unit executes the program code to determine a time of operation needed by a device located at the premises to provide the specified state, after the device has been activated; detect one or more positions of the user when the user is within a boundary, wherein the boundary is determined at least in part by the time of operation needed by the device located at the premises to provide the specified state after the device has been activated; use one or more detected positions of the user to determine a time of arrival of the user at the premises; and compute a time to activate the device from the determined time of arrival and time of operation, collectively, wherein activating the device at the computed time causes the specified state to be provided at a time that coincides with arrival of the user at the premises, to within a prespecified limit.
20. The system of claim 19 , wherein:
user related data collected over time, including user position data within the boundary, is stored for use to learn routes traveled by the user to the premises, and to learn travel times associated with said routes.