Video on demand for audio/video recording and communication devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9930300-B2
Application number	US-201615380403-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 15, 2016
Priority date	Dec 15, 2015
Publication date	Mar 27, 2018
Grant date	Mar 27, 2018

Abstract

In an A/V recording and communication device, the power configuration of the device is considered when determining a setting for a keep-alive interval of the device. If the device is connected to a reliable and continuous source of power, such as AC mains, then the keep-alive interval may be set to a very short duration, thereby reducing or eliminating any latency that the user might experience when attempting to remotely access the camera of the device. By contrast, if the device relies solely on a rechargeable battery for power, then the keep-alive interval may be set to a longer duration, thereby reducing the rate at which the rechargeable battery will be discharged. And, if the device is connected to an intermittent source of power, such as a solar panel, then the keep-alive interval may be set to a moderate duration to balance the competing interests of reducing latency and conserving battery life.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory machine-readable medium of a network-connected device storing a program for increasing battery life of an audio/video (A/V) recording and communication device that communicates with a client device, the program executable by at least one processing unit of the network-connected device, the program comprising sets of instructions for:
receiving, from a communication module of the A/V recording and communication device, a signal indicating a current charge level in a battery of the A/V recording and communication device;
determining, by a processor of the network-connected device, whether the current charge level in the battery is below a threshold value;
sending, from a communication module of the network-connected device, a first command to the A/V recording and communication device, the first command for setting a length of transition intervals between a low power mode and an active mode of a processor of the A/V recording and communication device to a first value when the current charge level in the battery is above the threshold value; and
sending, from the communication module of the network-connected device, a second command to the A/V recording and communication device, the second command for setting the length of transition intervals between the low power mode and the active mode of the processor of the A/V recording and communication device to a second value, greater than the first value, when the current charge level in the battery is below the first threshold value, wherein increasing the length of the processor's transition intervals increases the battery life of the A/V recording and communication device.

2. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the threshold value equals 75% of a maximum capacity of the battery.

3. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1 , the program further comprising a set of instructions for receiving a signal from the communication module of the A/V recording and communication device each time the processor of the A/V recording and communication device transitions from the low-power mode to the active mode, the signal for inquiring whether the network-connected device has received a request from the client device to access a camera of the A/V recording and communication device.

4. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the set of instructions for sending the first command further comprises a set of instructions for determining that the current charge level in the battery is greater than a previous charge level in the battery received in a previous signal from the A/V recording and communication device.

5. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the set of instructions for sending the second command further comprises a set of instructions for determining whether that the length of the keep-alive intervals between the low-power mode and the active mode of the processor of the A/V recording and communication device was not changed after the a previous indicator signal indicating a previous charge level was received from the A/V recording and communication device.

6. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the threshold value is a first threshold value, the program further comprising a set of instructions for determining that the current charge level is below the first threshold value, but above a second threshold value, before sending the second command.

7. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 6 , the program further comprising sets of instructions for:
determining that the current charge level in the battery is below the second threshold value; and
determining whether the current charge level in the battery is above a third threshold value.

8. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 7 , wherein the second threshold value equals 50% of a maximum capacity of the battery and the third threshold value equals 25% of the maximum capacity of the battery.

9. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 7 , the program further comprising, when the current charge level in the battery is above the third threshold value, sets of instructions for:
determining that the length of the transition intervals between the low-power mode and the active mode of the processor of the A/V recording and communication device was not changed after a previous signal indicating a previous charge level was received from the A/V recording and communication device; and
sending a third command to the A/V recording and communication device to set the length of the transition intervals between the low-power mode and the active mode of the processor of the A/V recording and communication device to a third value, greater than the second value.

10. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 7 , the program further comprising a set of instructions for, when the current charge level in the battery is not above the third threshold value, sending a disable command to the A/V recording and communication device to disable a video-on-demand feature.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein when the video-on-demand feature is disabled, the A/V recording and communication device does not transition from the low-power mode to the active mode until the current charge level in the battery is above the third threshold value.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein each of the first and second values for the transition intervals indicates every specific amount of time at which the processor of the A/V recording and communication device transitions from the low-power mode to the active mode to send a signal to the network-connected device.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the A/V recording and communication device is a doorbell, and wherein the network-connected device is a backend server.

14. A network-connected device comprising:
at least one processing unit; and
a non-transitory machine-readable medium storing a program that, when executed by the at least one processing unit, increases battery life of an audio/video (A/V) recording and communication device that communicates with a client device, the program comprising sets of instructions for:
receiving, from a communication module of the A/V recording and communication device, a signal indicating a current charge level in a battery of the A/V recording and communication device;
determining, by a processor of the network-connected device, whether the current charge level in the battery is below a threshold value;
sending, from a communication module of the network-connected device, a first command to the A/V recording and communication device, the first command for setting a length of transition intervals between a low power mode and an active mode of a processor of the A/V recording and communication device to a first value when the current charge level in the battery is above the threshold value; and
sending, from the communication module of the network-connected device, a second command to the A/V recording and communication device, the second command for setting the length of transition intervals between the low power mode and the active mode of the processor of the A/V recording and communication device to a second value, greater than the first value, when the current charge level in the battery is below the threshold value, wherein increasing the length of the processor's transition intervals increases the battery life of the A/V recording and communication device.

15. The network-connected device

Assignees

• Bot Home Automation Inc

Inventors

• Modestine John
• Roth Joshua

Classifications

• G08B13/19669

  Event triggers storage or change of storage policy · CPC title

• H04M1/0291

  Door telephones · CPC title

• H04L67/10

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• H04N21/41407

  embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop (constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57) · CPC title

• Y04S40/18

  Network protocols supporting networked applications, e.g. including control of end-device applications over a network · CPC title