Water management sensing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9989397-B1
Application number	US-201715651786-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jul 17, 2017
Priority date	Apr 14, 2015
Publication date	Jun 5, 2018
Grant date	Jun 5, 2018

Abstract

In some implementations, a system obtains activity data for a sump pump associated with a property where the obtained activity data indicates a present operational status of the sump pump. The system obtains water level data associated with the property where the water level data indicates a level of water within the property, determines that the activity data indicates that the sump pump is operating and that the water level within the property satisfies a water level risk threshold, and, in response to the determination that the activity data indicates that the sump pump is operating and that the water level within the property satisfies a water level risk threshold, provides a notification that the property is at risk of suffering water damage.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
detecting an occurrence of an event that may impact performance of a sump pump associated with a property;
in response to detecting the occurrence of the event that may impact performance of the sump pump, providing a request to a sump pump sensor for activity data;
obtaining the activity data for the sump pump associated with the property in response to the request, the obtained activity data indicating a present operational status of the sump pump;
obtaining water level data associated with the property, the water level data indicating a level of water within the property;
determining that the activity data indicates that the sump pump is operating and that the water level within the property satisfies a water level risk threshold; and
in response to determining that the activity data indicates that the sump pump is operating and that the water level within the property satisfies a water level risk threshold, providing an instruction to the sump pump that causes the sump pump to increase a pump speed of the sump pump.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the activity data indicates that the sump pump is operating and that the water level within the property satisfies a water level risk threshold comprises:
determining that a utilization of the sump pump calculated from the water level data and the obtained activity data indicates that the efficiency of the sump pump in removing water is reduced,
wherein providing an instruction to the sump pump that causes the sump pump to increase a pump speed of the sump pump is in response to determining that a utilization of the sump pump calculated from the water level data and the obtained activity data indicates that the efficiency of the sump pump in removing water is reduced.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the activity data for the sump pump associated with a property comprises:
obtaining the activity data from the sump pump sensor that indicates whether the sump pump is currently pumping or not currently pumping.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining water level data associated with the property comprises:
obtaining water level data from a water level sensor that indicates whether water has reached the water level sensor.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the activity data indicates that the sump pump is operating and that the water level within the property satisfies a water level risk threshold comprises:
determining that the activity data indicates that the sump pump is pumping water and that the water level within the property is at or above the water level risk threshold.

6. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
obtaining weather data associated with the property; and
determining the water level risk threshold based on the weather data.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting an occurrence of an event that may impact performance of the sump pump comprises detecting an increase in precipitation associated with the property.

8. The method of claim 1 , comprising in response to determining that the activity data indicates that the sump pump is operating and that the water level within the property satisfies a water level risk threshold, providing an instruction to a lawn irrigation system to turn off.

9. A computer-implemented method comprising:
obtaining activity data for a sump pump associated with a property, the obtained activity data indicating a present operational status of the sump pump;
obtaining water level data associated with the property, the water level data indicating a level of water within the property;
obtaining weather data associated with the property;
determining that the weather data indicates an amount of rainfall during a period of time; and
reducing the water level risk threshold from a predetermined default threshold based on the amount of rainfall during the period of time;
determining that the activity data indicates that the sump pump is operating and that the water level within the property satisfies a water level risk threshold; and
in response to determining that the activity data indicates that the sump pump is operating and that the water level within the property satisfies a water level risk threshold, providing an instruction to the sump pump that causes the sump pump to increase a pump speed of the sump pump.

10. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
obtaining activity data for a sump pump associated with a property, the obtained activity data indicating a present operational status of the sump pump;
obtaining water level data associated with the property, the water level data indicating a level of water within the property;
obtaining irrigation system data associated with the property;
determining the water level risk threshold based on the irrigation system data;
determining that the activity data indicates that the sump pump is operating and that the water level within the property satisfies a water level risk threshold; and
in response to determining that the activity data indicates that the sump pump is operating and that the water level within the property satisfies a water level risk threshold, providing an instruction to the sump pump that causes the sump pump to increase a pump speed of the sump pump.

11. A system comprising:
one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
detecting an occurrence of an event that may impact performance of a sump pump associated with a property;
in response to detecting the occurrence of the event that may impact performance of the sump pump, providing a request to a sump pump sensor for activity data;
obtaining the activity data for the sump pump associated with the property in response to the request, the obtained activity data indicating a present operational status of the sump pump;
obtaining water level data associated with the property, the water level data indicating a level of water within the property;
determining that the activity data indicates that the sump pump is operating and that the water level within the property satisfies a water level risk threshold; and
in response to determining that the activity data indicates that the sump pump is operating and that the water level within the property satisfies a water level risk threshold, providing an instruction to the sump pump that causes the sump pump to increase a pump speed of the sump pump.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein determining that the activity data indicates that the sump pump is operating and that the water level within the property satisfies a water level risk threshold comprises:
determining that a utilization of the sump pump calculated from the water level data and the obtained activity data indicates that the efficiency of the sump pump in removing water is reduced,
wherein providing an instruction to the sump pump that causes the sump pump to increase a pump speed of the sump pump is in response to determining that a utilization of the sump pump calculated from the water level data and the obtained activity data indicates that the efficiency of the sump pump in removing water is reduced.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein obtaining the activity data for the sump pump associated with a property comprises:
obtaining the activity data from the sump pump sensor that indicates whether the sump pump is currently pumping or not currently pumping.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein obtaining water leve

Assignees

• Alarm Com Inc

Inventors

• Kinney Abraham Joseph
• Heffernan Craig Carl
• Williams Peter Richard
• Goodman Daniel
• Qin Bingying

Classifications

• E04B1/70

  Drying or keeping dry, e.g. by air vents ({using damp-proof courses E04B1/644; using sealings, e.g. sealing masses or foils, E04B1/66}; during erection E04G21/28) · CPC title

• E04H9/145

  Floods (protecting building openings E06B9/00) · CPC title

• E03F1/002

  with disposal into the ground, e.g. via dry wells · CPC title

• G01F23/00 Primary

  Indicating or measuring liquid level or level of fluent solid material, e.g. indicating in terms of volume or indicating by means of an alarm · CPC title

• G08B21/20 Primary

  responsive to moisture · CPC title