Detection of animal intrusions and control of a repellent mechanism for detected animal intrusions

1. An electronic apparatus, comprising:

circuitry communicatively coupled to a repellent mechanism, wherein the circuitry is configured to:

control an image-capture device to acquire an image of a house yard;

select a set of zones in the acquired image based on a user-specified setting;

detect, in the acquired image, an animal in a first zone of the set of zones;

detect a presence of a child or a known person in the first zone where the animal is detected; and

control the repellent mechanism to target the detected animal in a case where the detected animal moves to a second zone of the selected set of zones, wherein the first zone is different from the second zone.

2. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

control the image-capture device to acquire a preview image of a Field-of-View (FoV) region of the image-capture device;

control a user device to display the acquired preview image; and

determine a plurality of zones in the acquired preview image.

3. The electronic apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

generate a heatmap of the determined plurality of zones in the acquired preview image, wherein the heatmap indicates a frequency of historical animal intrusions in each zone of the determined plurality of zones;

control the user device to display a user-selectable recommendation comprising the set of zones to be protected from an animal intrusion based on the generated heatmap;

receive a user input via the user device over the displayed user-selectable recommendation;

select, from the determined plurality of zones, the set of zones which are to be protected from the animal intrusion based on the received user input; and

store the selection of the set of zones as the user-specified setting on the electronic apparatus.

4. The electronic apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

control the user device to display a plurality of user-selectable options onto the displayed preview image;

receive, via the user device, a user input over the displayed plurality of user-selectable options;

select, from the determined plurality of zones, the set of zones which are to be protected from an animal intrusion based on the user input; and

store the selection of the set of zones as the user-specified setting on the electronic apparatus.

5. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

detect, via a sensor installed in the house yard, a presence of the animal in the house yard or in vicinity of the house yard; and

control, based on the detected presence of the animal, the image-capture device to acquire the image of the house yard.

6. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the circuitry is further configured to share a notification with a user device based on the detection of the animal in the acquired image, and

the notification comprises the acquired image and a prompt that requests a user action on an animal intrusion.

7. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the repellent mechanism comprises one or more of: a water spray, a water jet, a sound alarm, a stink bomb, a chemical repellent spray, or a light flash.

8. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the repellent mechanism is a barricade setup installed in a compacted configuration, and

the circuitry is further configured to:

set the barricade setup to an uncompacted configuration in the first zone; and

adjust a z-height of the set barricade setup based on a height of the detected animal.

9. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

classify the detected animal as one of a user's pet animal or a stray animal; and

control the repellent mechanism further based on a determination that the detected animal is classified to be the stray animal, to target the detected animal.

10. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

determine a type of the detected animal; and

select a deterrence strategy of a set of deterrence strategies stored on the electronic apparatus based on the determined type of the detected animal; and

control the repellent mechanism further based on the selected deterrence strategy, to target the detected animal.

11. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

control the image-capture device to acquire a sequence of images;

track a path of the detected animal in a sequence of images; and

control the repellent mechanism to target the detected animal along the tracked path of the detected animal.

12. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

detect a valuable object in the first zone where the animal is detected; and

control the repellent mechanism to target the detected animal when the animal moves to the second zone of the selected set of zones.

13. A method, comprising:

in an electronic apparatus:

controlling an image-capture device to acquire an image of a house yard;

selecting a set of zones in the acquired image based on a user-specified setting;

detecting, the acquired image, an animal in a first zone of the set of zones;

detecting a presence of a child or a known person in the first zone where the animal is detected; and

controlling a repellent mechanism to target the detected animal in a case where the detected animal moves to a second zone of the selected set of zones.

14. The method according to claim 13 , further comprising:

controlling the image-capture device to acquire a preview image of a Field-of-View (FoV) region of the image-capture device;

controlling a user device to display the acquired preview image; and

determining a plurality of zones of the house yard in the acquired preview image.

15. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising:

controlling the user device to display a plurality of user-selectable options onto the displayed preview image;

receiving, via the user device, a user input over the displayed plurality of user-selectable options;

selecting, from the determined plurality of zones, the set of zones which are to be protected from an animal intrusion based on the user input; and

storing the selection of the set of zones as the user-specified setting on the electronic apparatus.

16. The method according to claim 13 , further comprising:

classifying the detected animal as one of: a user's pet animal or a stray animal; and

controlling the repellent mechanism further based on a determination that the detected animal is classified to be the stray animal, to target the detected animal.

17. The method according to claim 13 , further comprising:

controlling the image-capture device to acquire a sequence of images;

tracking a path of the detected animal in a sequence of images; and

controlling the repellent mechanism to target the detected animal along the tracked path of the detected animal.

18. An electronic apparatus, comprising:

circuitry configured to:

control an image-capture device to acquire a preview image of a Field-of-View (FoV) region of the image-capture device;

determine a plurality of zones in a house yard in the acquired preview image;

control a user device to display the acquired preview image;

control the user device to display a plurality of user-selectable options onto the displayed preview image;

receive, via the user device, a user input over the displayed plurality of user-selectable options;

select, from the determined plurality of zones, a set of zones which is to be protected from an animal intrusion based on the user input;

store the selection of the set of zones as a user-specified setting on the electronic apparatus;

control the image-capture device to acquire an image of the house yard;

detect, in the acquired image of the house yard, an animal in a first zone of the set of zones;

detect a presence of a child or a known person in the first zone where the animal is detected; and

control a repellent mechanism to target the detected animal in a case where the detected animal moves to a second zone of the set of zones.

19. An electronic apparatus, comprising:

circuitry communicatively coupled to a repellent mechanism, wherein the circuitry is configured to:

control an image-capture device to acquire a preview image of a Field-of-View (FoV) region of the image-capture device;

control a user device to display the acquired preview image;

determine a plurality of zones in the acquired preview image;

generate a heatmap of the determined plurality of zones in the acquired preview image, wherein the heatmap indicates a frequency of historical animal intrusions in each zone of the determined plurality of zones;

control, based on the generated heatmap, the user device to display a user-selectable recommendation comprising a set of zones of the determined plurality of zones to be protected from an animal intrusion;

receive a user input via the user device over the displayed user-selectable recommendation;

select, from the determined plurality of zones, the set of zones which are to be protected from the animal intrusion based on the received user input;

store the selection of the set of zones as a user-specified setting on the electronic apparatus;

control the image-capture device to acquire an image of a house yard;

select, based on the user-specified setting, the set of zones in the acquired image of the house yard;

detect an animal in the acquired image of the house yard; and

control the repellent mechanism based on a determination that the detected animal is in a zone which is among the selected set of zones, to target the detected animal.

20. An electronic apparatus, comprising:

circuitry communicatively coupled to a repellent mechanism, wherein the circuitry is configured to:

control an image-capture device to acquire an image of a house yard;

select a set of zones in the acquired image based on a user-specified setting;

detect an animal in the acquired image;

control the repellent mechanism based on a determination that the detected animal is in a zone which is among the selected set of zones, to target the detected animal, wherein the repellent mechanism is a barricade setup installed in a compacted configuration;

set the barricade setup to an uncompacted configuration in the zone; and

adjust a z-height of the set barricade setup based on a height of the detected animal.

21. An electronic apparatus, comprising:

circuitry communicatively coupled to a repellent mechanism, wherein the circuitry is configured to:

control an image-capture device to acquire an image of a house yard;

select a set of zones in the acquired image based on a user-specified setting;

detect, in the acquired image, an animal in a first zone of the set of zones;

detect a valuable object in the first zone where the animal is detected; and

control the repellent mechanism to target the detected animal in a case where the detected animal moves to a second zone of the selected set of zones, wherein the first zone is different from the second zone.