Granted Patent B1

US 10,756,919 · App. 15/824,695 · Granted Aug 25, 2020

Inventors: Daniel Todd Kerzner (McLean, VA); Stephen Scott Trundle (Falls Church, VA)

Assignee: Alarm.com Incorporated

H04L12/2816B25J11/008B64C39/024G05D1/0088H04L12/2812H04L12/2825H04L12/2827B64C2201/126

Abstract

Claims (58)

1. A monitoring system, comprising:

a plurality of sensors installed at a property;

a robotic device;

a first device that is located at the property and that has an operating state controlled by manipulation of a manual control; and

a monitoring unit, wherein the monitoring unit includes:

a network interface;

one or more processors; and

one or more storage devices that include instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more processors, to cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

obtaining sensor data collected by the plurality of sensors, wherein the sensor data indicates whether the first device is using electricity or gas;

determining an operating state of the first device based on the sensor data;

determining a state of the monitoring system;

determining, based on (i) the operating state of the first device and (ii) the state of the monitoring system, whether to alter the operating state of the first device by manipulating the manual control; and

in response to determining, based on the operating state of the first device and the state of the monitoring system, to alter the operating state of the first device by manipulating the manual control, transmitting one or more instructions to the robotic device that instruct the robotic device to (i) navigate to the first device and (ii) manipulate the manual control.

2. The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein determining the state of the monitoring system comprises:

determining a number of moving objects at the property; and

determining whether the number of moving objects at the property satisfies a predetermined threshold.

3. The monitoring system of claim 2 , the operations further comprising:

determining whether to alter the operating state of the first device based on the determination that the number of moving objects at the property satisfies a predetermined threshold; and

in response to determining that the operating state of the first device should be altered based on the determination that the number of moving objects at the property satisfies a predetermined threshold, transmitting one or more instructions to the robotic device that instruct the robotic device to (i) navigate to the first device and (ii) manipulate the manual control.

4. The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein determining the state of the monitoring system includes determining that movement has not been detected at the property for more than a threshold period of time.

5. The monitoring system of claim 4 , the operations further comprising:

determining whether to alter the operating state of the first device based on the determination that movement of one or more objects has not been detected at the property for more than a threshold period of time; and

in response to determining that the operating state of the first device should be altered based on the determination that movement of one or more objects has not been detected at the property for more than a threshold period of time, transmitting one or more instructions to the robotic device that instruct the robotic device to (i) navigate to the first device and (ii) manipulate the manual control.

6. The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor data indicates whether the first device is opened or closed.

7. The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor data indicates whether light is detected in a portion of the property.

8. The monitoring system of claim 7 ,

wherein the first device includes a lighting unit and the manual control includes a light switch, and

wherein the operating state includes the lighting unit being powered on and an altered operating state includes the lighting unit being powered off.

9. The monitoring system of claim 7 ,

wherein the first device includes a garage door and the manual control includes a garage door opener, and

wherein the operating state includes the garage door being opened and an altered operating state includes the garage door being closed.

10. The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein determining the state of the monitoring system includes determining that a temperature a portion of the property has exceeded a predetermined temperature range.

11. The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor data indicates a first temperature setting of a thermostat.

12. The monitoring system of claim 11 ,

wherein the first device includes a thermostat,

wherein the manual control includes one or more of a rotatable dial, one or more physical buttons, one or more graphical buttons on a graphical user interface, or a combination thereof; and

wherein the operating state includes the thermostat being set to the first temperature setting and an altered operating state includes the thermostat being set to a second temperature setting that is different than the first temperature setting.

13. The monitoring system of claim 1 ,

wherein the first device includes an oven,

wherein the manual control includes a dial that controls a supply of gas or electricity to one or more portions of the oven, and

wherein the operating state includes a heating element that is on and generating heat and an altered operating state includes a heating element that is off and no longer generating heat.

14. The monitoring system of claim 1 , the operations further comprising;

obtaining a location of the first device; and

wherein transmitting the instruction to the robotic device includes transmitting the location of the first device to the robotic device.

15. The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the robotic device includes a flying quadcopter drone.

16. The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the monitoring unit includes a server that resides in a location that is remote from the property.

17. A method comprising:

obtaining sensor data collected by a plurality of sensors installed at a property, wherein the sensor data indicates whether a first device is using electricity or gas;

determining an operating state of the first device based on the sensor data;

determining a state of a monitoring system;

determining, based on (i) the operating state of the first device and (ii) the state of the monitoring system, whether to alter the operating state of the first device by manipulating a manual control associated with the first device; and

in response to determining, based on the operating state of the first device and the state of the monitoring system, to alter the operating state of the first device by manipulating the manual control, transmitting one or more instructions to a robotic device that instruct the robotic device to (i) navigate to the first device and (ii) manipulate the manual control.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device having stored thereon instructions, which, when executed by a data processing apparatus, cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

obtaining sensor data collected by a plurality of sensors installed at a property, wherein the sensor data indicates whether a first device is using electricity or gas;

determining an operating state of the first device based on the sensor data;

determining a state of a monitoring system;

determining, based on (i) the operating state of the first device and (ii) the state of the monitoring system, whether to alter the operating state of the first device by manipulating a manual control associated with the first device; and

in response to determining, based on the operating state of the first device and the state of the monitoring system, to alter the operating state of the first device by manipulating the manual control, transmitting one or more instructions to a robotic device that instruct the robotic device to (i) navigate to the first device and (ii) manipulate the manual control.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

Cited By (11)

US 12,328,465 US 12,346,128 US 12,348,807 US 12,368,913 US 12,456,363 US 12,488,673 US 12,542,941 US 12,567,323 US 12,610,097 US 12,610,098 US 12,610,099