Remote alarm hushing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9635536-B2
Application number	US-201615183659-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 15, 2016
Priority date	Jun 16, 2015
Publication date	Apr 25, 2017
Grant date	Apr 25, 2017

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

The invention claimed is:

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;
determine whether the electronic device is within a proximity threshold of the remote device;
present a visual indicator of the alarm event, wherein the visual indicator comprises a hush option to alter an audible and/or visual alarm notification of the remote device when it is determined that the electronic device is within the proximity threshold of the remote device;
suppress the hush option from the visual indicator of the alarm event when it is determined that the electronic device is not within the proximity threshold of the remote device;
when the hush option is not suppressed, receive a user selection of the hush option; and
in response to the received user selection of the hush option:
communicate, from the electronic device to the remote device via a point-to-point 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 to adjust 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, and 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 point-to-point wireless connection comprises a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connection type; and
the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, are configured to cause the electronic device to transmit an advertisement for a BLE pairing to connect to the remote device.

5. The non-transitory, tangible, and computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein to suppress the hush option comprises to:
grey out a button corresponding to the hush option in the visual indicator of the alarm event;
prevent display of the button corresponding to the hush option in the visual indicator of the alarm event; or
present an error after the button corresponding to the hush option in the visual indicator of the alarm event has been selected.

6. The non-transitory, tangible, and computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, are configured to cause a display to present instructions to move closer to the remote device before attempting to hush the alarm event if an advertisement packet is not received within the proximity threshold.

7. The non-transitory, tangible, and computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, are configured to cause a display of instructions to go to a specific location where the alarm event has been detected.

8. The non-transitory, tangible, and computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, are configured to send the hush request to the remote device with a key to authenticate the hush request to the remote device if within the proximity threshold.

9. The non-transitory, tangible, and computer readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, are configured to cause the electronic device to:
receive an alarm challenge configured to verify that an advertisement is received within a proximity threshold of the remote device; and
include the alarm challenge in the hush request to verify proximity.

10. The non-transitory, tangible, and computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the received alarm challenge comprises receiving a sonic signal or a visual signal.

11. The non-transitory, tangible, and computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, are configured to cause the electronic device to:
generate a signature by signing the alarm challenge using a key; and
include the signature in the hush request to verify the proximity.

12. 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 electronic device to:
receive an indication of an alarm event occurring at a remote device;
determine whether the electronic device is within a proximity threshold of the remote device;
present a visual indicator of the alarm event, wherein the visual indicator comprises a hush option to alter an audible and/or visual alarm notification of the remote device when it is determined that the electronic device is within the proximity threshold of the remote device;
suppress the hush option from the visual indicator of the alarm event when it is determined that the electronic device is not within the proximity threshold of the remote device;
when the hush option is not suppressed, receive a user selection of the hush option; and
in response to the received user selection of the hush option:
communicate, from the electronic device to the remote device via a point-to-point 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.

13. The electronic device of claim 12 , wherein the instructions are configured to cause the electronic device to receive a hush response from the remote device indicating whether the remote device has altered its audible and/or visual alarm notification.

14. The electronic device of claim 13 , wherein the instructions are configured to cause the electronic device 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 wireless connection to the remote device.

15. The electronic device of claim 13 , wherein the instructions are configured to cause the electronic device 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 not altered is audible and/or visual alarm notifications, indicate via the display that the alarm event has not been hushed.

16. A method for hushing an alarm comprising:
receiving an indication of an alarm event occurring at a remote device;
determining whether the electronic device is within a proximity threshold of the remote device;
presenting a visual indicator of the alarm event, wherein the visual indicator comprises a hush option to alter an audible and/or visual alarm notification of the remote device when it is determined that the electronic device is within the proximity threshold of the remote device;
suppressing the hush option from the visual indicator of the alarm event when it is determined that th

Assignees

• Google Inc

Inventors

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

Classifications

• H04W52/0229

  where the received signal is a wanted signal · CPC title

• G08B25/08

  using communication transmission lines {(G08B13/19658, G08B21/0286, G08B25/016 take precedence)} · CPC title

• H04W4/06

  Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services · CPC title

• H04L2012/2841

  Wireless · CPC title

• G08B25/001

  Alarm cancelling procedures or alarm forwarding decisions, e.g. based on absence of alarm confirmation · CPC title