MONITORING & SECURITY SYSTEMS AND METHODS WITH LEARNING CAPABILITIES

1 . In a system for monitoring a location, wherein the system comprises a plurality of sensors at the monitored location, at least one computer-based processing device, a computer-based memory, and one or more computer-based user devices, a method comprising:

receiving, at the at least one computer-based processing device, data from the plurality of sensors that relates to the monitored location;

determining, with the computer-based processing device, whether the data meets a criterion; and

sending a first notification to one or more of the computer-based user devices if the criterion is met.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining whether the data meets the criterion involves considering additional data that previously was received from the plurality of sensors at the monitored location.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each party associated with the one or more computer-based user devices is a primary user of the system, a backup for the primary user, a call center personnel, a police department personnel, an ambulance personnel, or a fire department personnel.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

storing, in the computer-based memory, at least some of the collected data from one or more of the plurality of sensors;

analyzing the stored data, with the at least one computer-based processing device, to derive at least one pattern related to at least one of the characteristics of the location, over a time period, and

determining, with the at least one computer-based processing device, whether to send the notification by determining whether later received data related to one or more of the characteristics of the location deviates from any of the derived patterns; and

if there is a deviation, sending the first notification.

5 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

receiving, at the at least one computer-based processing device, from a first one of the computer-based user devices, an instruction to send or to not send to the first one of the computer-based user devices any notifications that relate to a corresponding one of the deviations if the corresponding deviation is determined to be the same as a previous one of the-deviations;

storing, in the computer-based memory, the instruction;

determining, with the at least one computer-based processing device, if a particular one of the deviations is the same as any of one or more previous deviations;

check the stored instruction; and

sending or not sending a corresponding notification that relates to the particular one of the deviations to the first one of the computer-based user devices based on the stored instruction.

6 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the at least one processing system is configured to:

receiving, at the at least one computer-based processing device, from a first one of the computer-based user devices, an instruction to send a backup user a notification that relates to a corresponding one of the deviations if the corresponding deviation is determined to be the same as a previous one of the deviations and a primary user associated with the first one of the computer-based user devices has not responded to the first notification;

storing the instruction in the computer-based memory;

determining, with the at least one computer-based processing device, if a particular one of the deviations is the same as any of the previous deviations;

checking, with the at least one computer-based processing device, the stored instruction; and

sending the notification of the corresponding deviation to the backup user based on the stored instruction.

7 . The method of claim 4 , wherein at least one of the patterns is based on a single characteristic detected by a single one of the sensors at the monitored location.

8 . The method of claim 4 , wherein:

at least one of the patterns is based on a plurality of characteristics detected by a plurality of the sensors at the location.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each one of the plurality of sensors is physically supported by a housing of a single device.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processing device is configured to:

receiving, at the at least one processing device, data collected from a plurality of other sensors at a different location; and

deriving at least one pattern related to at least one characteristic of the location based on the data collected by the plurality of other sensors at the different location.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the at least one characteristic of the location relates to activity in the location.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the at least one characteristic is selected from the group consisting of temperature, heat, humidity, air quality, ambient light level, movement, carbon dioxide level, and carbon monoxide level.

13 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

presenting questions for a user at a particular one of the computer-based user devices about the monitored location;

storing answers to the questions in the computer-based memory; and

deriving at least one pattern related to at least one characteristic of the location based on the data received from the plurality of sensors at the monitored location and the answers to the questions stored in the computer-based memory.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

deriving, with the at least one computer-based processing device, at least one threshold associated with a particular one of the characteristics based on the derived pattern related to the particular one of the characteristics.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

providing the at least one threshold from the at least one processing device to a monitoring device that includes the plurality of sensors at the monitored location;

storing the at least one threshold at a computer-based memory in the monitoring device;

comparing data collected by the plurality of sensors in the monitoring device to the at least one threshold stored in the computer-based memory, and

if a parameter represented by the data collected by the plurality of sensors in the monitoring device exceeds the at least one threshold, sending a message from the monitoring device, over a communications network, to the at least one processing device.

16 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

accessing, with the at least one computer-based processing device, third party information, via a communications network; and

deriving or modifying a previously derived pattern, with the at least one computer-based processing device, based, at least in part, on the third party information.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the third party information comprises information about weather or crime near the monitored location.

18 . The method of claim 16 , wherein modifying the previously derived pattern is further based, at least in part, on subsequently received data from the plurality of sensors at the location.

19 . The method of claim 16 , wherein modifying the previously derived pattern is further based, at least in part, on input provided at one of the computer-based user devices.

20 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining, with the at least one computer-based processing device, whether to inform a user, through one of the computer-based user devices, of a deviation based, at least in part, on an operating mode of the system.

21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the operating mode of the system is either a home mode, an away mode, a nighttime mode, a privacy mode, or a vacation mode.

22 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

wherein the at least one processing device is configured to:

determining, with the at least one computer-based processing device, a degree of deviation from a pattern in data collected by the plurality of sensors at the monitored location; and

informing a user through one of the computer-based user devices of the degree of deviation.

23 . The method of claim 22 , further comprising:

assigning a score to the degree of deviation with the at least one computer-based processing device; and

informing the user of the assigned score through the one of the computer-based user devices.

24 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensors are in a monitoring device at a first location and the at least one computer-based processing device is at a second location remote from the first location, and wherein the monitoring device is configured to communicate with the computer-based processing device via a communications network.

25 . The method of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the sensors are security sensors.

26 . In a system for monitoring a location, wherein the system comprises at least one computer-based processing device; and a computer-based memory, a method comprising:

receiving at the at least one computer-based processing device data that was collected from a plurality of sensors at a plurality of locations;

analyzing the received data to:

define a threshold for a characteristic based, at least in part, on the data collected from the plurality of locations; and

determine whether subsequently received data related to the characteristic exceeds the threshold; and

if the subsequently received data exceeds the threshold, sending a first notification to one of a plurality of computer-based user devices over a communication network.

27 . The method of claim 26 , further comprising:

receiving an instruction at the least one computer-based processing device, from one of the computer-based user devices an instruction to send or to not send that computer-based user device a notification that relates to a future deviation if the future deviation is determined to be the same as a previous deviation;

storing the instruction in the computer-based memory;

determining if the future deviation is the same as the previous deviation;

checking the stored instruction; and

notifying or not notifying the user, via a corresponding one of the computer-based user devices, of the future deviation to the user based on the stored instruction.

28 . The method of claim 27 , further comprising:

receiving an instruction at the at least one processing device from one of the computer-based user devices to send a backup user a notification that relates to a future deviation if the future deviation is determined to be the same as a previous deviation, if the user does not respond to the first notification;

storing the instruction in the computer-based memory;

determining, with the at least one computer-based processing device, if the future deviation is the same as the previous deviation;

checking the stored instruction; and

sending or not sending the notification that relates to the future deviation to the backup user based on the stored instruction.

29 . The method of claim 26 , further comprising analyzing the data to determine a pattern related to the characteristic over a time period.

30 . In a system for monitoring a location, the system comprising at least one computer-based processing device, a computer-based memory, and a plurality of computer-based user devices, wherein the plurality of computer-based user devices are coupled to the computer-based processing device and computer-based memory over a communication network, a method comprising:

providing from the at least one computer-based processing device one or more questions about the location to one of the computer-based user devices;

storing answers to the one or more questions in the computer-based memory;

analyzing the stored answers to derive at least one pattern related to at least one characteristic of the location, over a time period;

receiving data about the location at the computer-based processing device, wherein the data about the location is from a plurality of sensors at the location;

determining whether the received data deviates from derived patterns, over the time period; and

if there is a deviation, sending a first notification to inform a user.

31 . The method of claim 30 , wherein providing the one or more questions to the one computer-based user device occurs via the communication network.

32 . The method of claim 30 , wherein a plurality of locations are associated with a particular user, the method comprising:

applying answers to questions related to one of the locations that is associated with the user, to another one of the locations that also is associated with the user.

33 . The method of claim 30 , further comprising:

monitoring the one location with a plurality of monitoring devices; and

applying the answers to the one or more questions to the plurality of monitoring devices that are configured to monitor the one location.

34 . The method of claim 30 , wherein the one or more questions relate to members of a household, pets, member's schedules, other household schedules, and/or household appliance and utility usage.

35 . The method of claim 30 , further comprising:

determining, with the at least one processing device, whether to inform a user of the deviation based, at least in part, on an operating mode of the system.

36 . The method of claim 35 , wherein the operating mode can be either a home mode, a nighttime mode, an away mode, a privacy mode, or a vacation mode.