Smart barrier alarm device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10497230-B2
Application number	US-201815946511-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 5, 2018
Priority date	Feb 23, 2015
Publication date	Dec 3, 2019
Grant date	Dec 3, 2019

Abstract

A barrier alarm device for reducing the number of false alarms that may occur in a home security system. In one embodiment, a barrier alarm device, such as a door or window sensor, determines whether a barrier, such as a door or a window, has been opened, determines whether a human being is in proximity to the door or window inside a monitored premises. If a human being is inside the monitored premises when the door or window is opened, it indicates that the human being is authorized to be inside the monitored premises, and an alarm signal is not transmitted to a central security panel, thus reducing false alarms.

First claim

We claim:

1. A barrier alarm device, comprising:
a barrier status detection device for detecting whether a barrier monitored by the barrier alarm device has been opened;
a human detection device for determining whether a human being is outside a monitored premises in proximity to the barrier;
a transmitter for transmitting an alarm signal to a receiver;
a memory having processor-executable instructions stored thereon; and
a processor coupled to the barrier status detection device, the human detection device, the transmitter, and the memory for executing the processor-executable instructions that cause the barrier alarm device to:
generate, by the processor, the alarm signal when the processor determines that the barrier has been opened based on the barrier status detection device and that a human being is outside the monitored premises in proximity to the barrier.

2. The barrier alarm of claim 1 , wherein the processor-executable instructions that cause the processor to generate the alarm signal comprises further instructions that cause the barrier alarm device to:
determine that the barrier has been opened;
determine that a human being is outside the premises and in proximity to the barrier;
in response to determining that the barrier has been opened and that a human being is outside the premises and in proximity to the barrier, generate a bypass signal by the processor; the bypass signal for instructing the receiver to ignore future alarm signals from the barrier alarm device; and
transmit the bypass signal to the receiver.

3. The barrier alarm device of claim 1 , wherein the processor-executable instructions further comprise instructions that cause the barrier alarm to:
determine that the barrier has been placed into a closed position;
in response to determining that the barrier has been placed into the closed position, transmit a signal to the receiver indicating that the barrier is in the closed position;
in response to receiving the signal by the receiver from the barrier alarm device that the barrier is in the closed position, providing a remote alarm signal to a remote monitoring station by the receiver when a future alarm signal is received by the receiver from the barrier alarm device.

4. The barrier alarm device of claim 1 , wherein the human detection device comprises an ultrasonic transducer and an ultrasonic receiver, wherein the processor-executable instructions for determining whether a human being is in proximity to the barrier comprise instructions for the barrier alarm device to:
transmit ultrasonic pings by the ultrasonic transducer at predetermined time periods;
determine that a human being is outside the premises and in proximity to the barrier when an ultrasonic return signal is received by the ultrasonic receiver.

5. The barrier alarm device of claim 1 , wherein the human detection device operates in a default quiescent state, wherein the processor-executable instructions for generating an alarm signal comprise instructions for the barrier alarm device to:
in response to determining that the barrier has been opened, energize, by the processor, the human detection device;
generate, by the processor, a signal by the human detection device indicative of whether a human being is in proximity to the barrier or not and provide the signal to the processor;
determine that a human being is outside the premises and in proximity to the barrier, by the processor, using the signal from the human detection device; and
return, by the processor, the human detection device back to the quiescent state.

6. The barrier alarm device of claim 5 , wherein the human detection device comprises an ultrasonic transducer and an ultrasonic receiver, wherein the processor-executable instructions for detecting whether a human being is outside the premises or not and in proximity to the barrier comprise instructions for causing the barrier alarm device to:
transmit at least one ultrasonic ping by the ultrasonic transducer; and
determine that a human being is not outside the premises and in proximity to the barrier if an ultrasonic return signal is not received by the ultrasonic receiver.

7. The barrier alarm device of claim 5 , wherein the human detection device comprises a capacitance sensor, wherein the processor-executable instructions for determining whether a human being is inside the monitored premises in proximity to the barrier or not comprise instructions for the barrier alarm device to:
detect a change in capacitance by the capacitance detector;
generate a signal indicative of the capacitance and provide the signal to the processor; and
determine that a human being is in proximity to the barrier if the signal from the change in capacitance exceeds a predetermined threshold.

8. A system for monitoring a barrier of a premises, comprising:
a barrier alarm device installed proximate to the barrier, comprising:
a barrier status detection device for detecting whether the barrier monitored by the barrier alarm device has been opened;
a human detection device for determining whether a human being is outside the premises in proximity to the monitored barrier or not;
a transmitter for transmitting status signals to a receiver;
a memory having processor-executable instructions stored thereon; and
a processor coupled to the barrier status detection device, the human detection device, the transmitter, and the memory for executing the processor-executable instructions that cause the barrier alarm device to:
determine a barrier status as being open or closed using signals provided by the barrier status detection device;
determine a human being status as being outside the premises in proximity to the monitored barrier or not using signals from the human detection device;
transmit a barrier status signal to the receiver; and
transmit a human status signal to the receiver;

the receiver for receiving the barrier status signal and the human status signal and for generating an alarm signal if the receiver determines that the barrier has been opened from the barrier status signal, and that a human being is outside the monitored premises in proximity to the barrier from the human status signal.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the receiver is further configured to send the alarm signal to a remote monitoring station.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the human detection device operates in a default quiescent state, wherein the processor-executable instructions for determining whether a human being is outside the monitored premises in proximity to the barrier or not comprise instructions for the barrier alarm device to:
in response to determining that the barrier has been opened, energize the human detection device;
generate a signal by the human detection device indicative of whether a human being is outside the monitored premises in proximity to the barrier or not and provide the signal to the processor;
determine that a human being is not outside the premises in proximity to the barrier by the processor using the signal from the human detection device; and
return the human detection device back to the quiescent state.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the human detection device comprises an ultrasonic transducer and an ultrasonic receiver, wherein the processor-executable instructions for detecting whether a human being is outside the premises and in proximity to the barrier or not comprise instructions for causing the barrier alarm device to:
transmit at least one ultrasonic ping by the ultrasonic transducer; and
determine that a human being is not in outside the premises in proximity to the barrier if an ultrasonic return signal is not received by t

Assignees

• Ecolink Intelligent Technology Inc

Inventors

• Lamb Michael
• Bailey Michael
• Thibault Thomas
• Seelman George
• Petrucci Carlo Q

Classifications

• G08B25/008

  Alarm setting and unsetting, i.e. arming or disarming of the security system · CPC title

• G08B13/08 Primary

  by opening, e.g. of door, of window, of drawer, of shutter, of curtain, of blind · CPC title

• G08B21/0469

  Presence detectors to detect unsafe condition, e.g. infrared sensor, microphone (G08B21/0476 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G08B13/1618

  using ultrasonic detection means · CPC title

• G08B21/0415

  detecting absence of activity per se · CPC title