Remote alarm hushing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016371967-A1
Application number	US-201615183659-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 15, 2016
Priority date	Jun 16, 2015
Publication date	Dec 22, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Methods and devices may be used to remotely hushing alarms by receiving an indication of an alarm event occurring at a remote device and presenting a visual indicator of the alarm event including a hush option to alter an audible and/or visual alarm notification of the remote device. A user selection of the hush option is received. In response to receiving the user selection of the hush option, communicating, from the electronic device to the remote device via a point-to-point low power wireless connection between the electronic device and the remote device, a hush request requests that the remote device alter its audible and/or visual alarm notification and causes an adjustment of the visual indicator to reflect a status of the hush request.

First claim

1 . A non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, are configured to cause the electronic device to:
receive an indication of an alarm event occurring at a remote device; present a visual indicator of the alarm event including a hush option to alter an audible and/or visual alarm notification of the remote device; receive a user selection of the hush option; and in response to receiving the user selection of the hush option:
communicate, from the electronic device to the remote device via a point-to-point low power wireless connection between the electronic device and the remote device, a hush request requesting that the remote device alter its audible and/or visual alarm notification; and
adjust the visual indicator to reflect a status of the hush request.

2 . The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the visual indicator comprises a circular shape or a rounded shape.

3 . The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein adjusting the visual indicator comprises changing an appearance on a portion of a perimeter of the visual indicator corresponding to a status of the hush request, wherein the appearance includes a color, or a degree of continuity of the perimeter, or a combination thereof.

4 . The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein:
the wireless connection comprises a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connection type; and the instructions, when executed, are configured to cause the one or more processors to cause an advertisement for a BLE pairing to be transmitted to connect to the remote device.

5 . The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, are configured to cause the one or more processors to:
determine whether an advertisement packet is received within a proximity threshold of the remote device; and if the advertisement is not received within the proximity threshold of the remote device, suppress the hush option from the visual indicator of the alarm event.

6 . The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 5 , wherein suppressing the hush option comprises:
greying out a button corresponding to the hush option in the visual indicator of the alarm event; preventing display of the button corresponding to the hush option in the visual indicator of the alarm event; or presenting an error after the button corresponding to the hush option in the visual indicator of the alarm event has been selected.

7 . The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 5 , wherein the instructions, when executed, are configured to cause the one or more processors to cause a display to present instructions to move closer to the remote device before attempting to hush the alarm event if the advertisement packet is not received in the proximity threshold.

8 . The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 5 , wherein the instructions, when executed, are configured to cause the one or more processors to cause a display to present instructions to go to a specific location where the alarm event has been detected.

9 . The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 5 , wherein the instructions, when executed, are configured to cause the one or more processors to send the hush request to the remote device with the key to authenticate the hush request to the remote device if within the proximity threshold.

10 . The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 5 , wherein the instructions, when executed, are configured to cause the one or more processors to:
receive an alarm challenge configured to verify that the advertisement is received within a proximity threshold of the remote device; and include the alarm challenge in the hush request to verify proximity.

11 . The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein receiving the alarm challenge comprises receiving a sonic signal or a visual signal.

12 . The non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions, when executed, are configured to cause the processor to:
generate a signature by signing the alarm challenge using the key; and include the signature in the hush request to verify proximity.

13 . An electronic device comprising:
one or more processors; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, are configured to cause the one or more processors to:
receive an indication of an alarm event occurring at a remote device;
present a visual indicator of the alarm event including a hush option to alter an audible and/or visual alarm notification of the remote device;
receive a user selection of the hush option; and
in response to receiving the user selection of the hush option:
communicate, from the electronic device to the remote device via a point-to-point low power wireless connection between the electronic device and the remote device, a hush request requesting that the remote device alter its audible and/or visual alarm notification; and
adjust the visual indicator to reflect a status of the hush request.

14 . The electronic device of claim 13 , wherein the instructions are configured to cause the processor to receive a hush response from the remote device indicating whether the remote device has altered its audible and/or visual alarm notification.

15 . The electronic device of claim 14 , wherein the instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to:
determine from the hush response whether the remote device has altered its audible and/or visual alarm notification; and if the hush response indicates that the remote device has altered its audible and/or visual alarm notification, close the point-to-point low power wireless connection to the remote device.

16 . The electronic device of claim 14 , wherein the instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to:
if the hush response indicates that the remote device has altered its audible and/or visual alarm notification, indicate via the display that the remote device has altered its audible and/or visual alarm notification; and if the hush response indicates that the remote device has altered its audible and/or visual alarm notification, indicate via the display that the alarm event has not been hushed.

17 . A method for hushing an alarm comprising:
receiving an indication of an alarm event occurring at a remote device; presenting a visual indicator of the alarm event including a hush option to alter an audible and/or visual alarm notification of the remote device; receiving a user selection of the hush option; and in response to receiving the user selection of the hush option:
communicating with the remote device via a point-to-point low power wireless connection, a hush request requesting that the remote device alter its audible and/or visual alarm notification; and
adjusting the visual indicator to reflect a status of the hush request.

18 . The method of claim 17 , comprising, in response to receiving the user selection:
requesting a hush confirmation as a button press confirmation, a gesture confirmation, an audio confirmation, or any combination thereof; and receiving the hush confirmation.

19 . The method of claim 17 , comprising receiving an additional advertisement

Assignees

• Google Inc

Inventors

• Narang Smriti
• Ramachandran Prashanth
• Wang Liang-Yun
• Stebbins Andrew William
• Logue Jay D

Classifications

• H04W84/18

  Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks · CPC title

• H04L12/2803

  Home automation networks · CPC title

• G08B29/18 Primary

  Prevention or correction of operating errors (G08B29/02, G08B29/12 take precedence) · CPC title

• H04W8/005 Primary

  Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals · CPC title

• G08B21/182

  Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold · CPC title