Patent Issued for Personal health monitoring using smart home devices (USPTO 11156378): Johnson Controls Tyco IP Holdings LLP

2021 NOV 15 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventors Ambelang, Scott (Milwaukee, WI, US), Bykowski, Ryan J. (South Milwaukee, WI, US), Gottschalk, Daniel R. (Racine, WI, US), Mackey, Eric (Milwaukee, WI, US), filed on January 22, 2020, was published online on October 26, 2021, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 11156378 is assigned to Johnson Controls Tyco IP Holdings LLP (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “The present disclosure relates generally to smart home devices. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for determining health metrics using a smart home device.

“A smart home system may include a variety of different smart home devices and equipment located within a building. The smart home devices may be configured to monitor and/or control environmental conditions within the building. In some implementations, smart home devices include space controllers, which may be used to generate control decisions and operate, based on the control decisions, at least one piece of building equipment. For example, the smart home device may include a thermostat used to monitor and control the temperature within the building based on sensor data from a temperature sensor. These smart home devices may also include other onboard sensors to monitor different environmental conditions besides temperature.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “One embodiment of the present disclosure is a sensor unit. The sensor unit includes an air quality sensor configured to generate air quality data that includes a value for volatile organic compounds. The sensor unit is configured to determine a first health metric indicative of a condition within a space in which the sensor unit is located based on the value in a first mode of operation, to determine a second health metric indicative of a person’s health based on the value in a second mode of operation, and to generate a notification indicating at least one of the first health metric or the second health metric.

“In some embodiments, the sensor unit is part of a thermostat that includes a temperature sensor configured to measure a temperature. The thermostat may further include a user interface configured to receive input from the user and to operate a controlled device based on the input. The input may include a temperature preference.

“In some embodiments, in the first mode of operation, the sensor unit is configured to continuously generate air quality data while the sensor unit is powered on.

“In some embodiments, in the second mode of operation, the sensor unit is configured to generate air quality data from air flowing over the air quality sensor over a predefined time interval. For example, the second health metric may be a blood alcohol content and the notification may be indicative of whether the blood alcohol content exceeds a legal blood alcohol limit.

“In some embodiments, the sensor unit further includes a proximity sensor. The sensor unit may be configured to switch to the second mode based on sensor data from the proximity sensor indicating a person is within a predefined range of the sensor unit.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A sensor unit, comprising: an air quality sensor configured to generate air quality data, the air quality data comprising a value for volatile organic compounds, the sensor unit forming part of a space controller disposed within a building and configured to operate HVAC equipment based on user inputs, the sensor unit configured to: determine a first health metric indicative of an air quality within a space in which the sensor unit is located based on the value in a first mode of operation; switch from the first mode of operation to a second mode of operation in which the air quality sensor is configured to receive a sample of air from a person’s breath over a predefined time interval; determine a second health metric indicative of a person’s health based on the value in the second mode of operation, wherein the second health metric is associated with the sample of air from the person’s breath; and generate a notification indicating at least one of the first health metric or the second health metric.

“2. The sensor unit of claim 1, wherein the sensor unit is part of a thermostat comprising a temperature sensor configured to measure a temperature, wherein the thermostat further comprises a user interface configured to receive input from a user, wherein the input comprises a temperature preference, and wherein the thermostat is configured to operate a controlled device based on the temperature preference.

“3. The sensor unit of claim 1, wherein in the first mode of operation the sensor unit is configured to continuously generate the air quality data while the sensor unit is powered on.

“4. The sensor unit of claim 1, wherein in the second mode of operation the sensor unit is configured to generate the air quality data from air flowing over the air quality sensor over another predefined time interval.

“5. The sensor unit of claim 4, wherein the second health metric is a blood alcohol content, and wherein the notification is indicative of whether the blood alcohol content exceeds a legal blood alcohol limit.

“6. The sensor unit of claim 1, further comprising a proximity sensor, wherein the sensor unit is configured to switch to the second mode based on sensor data from the proximity sensor indicating a person is within a predefined range of the sensor unit.

“7. The sensor unit of claim 1, further comprising a user interface configured to display the notification and receive user input, wherein the sensor unit is configured to operate in one of the first mode and the second mode based on the user input.

“8. The space controller of claim 1, wherein the sensor unit is further configured to: store air quality data from the air quality sensor over another predefined time interval; determine a third health metric based on the air quality data over the another predefined time interval; and generate a notification indicating the third health metric.

“9. A space controller disposed within a building and configured to operate a controlled device, the space controller comprising: a user interface configured to present information to a user; a sensor unit comprising an air quality sensor configured to generate air quality data, the air quality data comprising a value for volatile organic compounds, the sensor unit forming part of the space controller disposed within the building and configured to operate HVAC equipment comprising the controlled device based on user inputs; a processing circuit configured to: receive the air quality data from the air quality sensor; determine a first health metric indicative of an air quality within a space in which the sensor unit is located based on the value in a first mode of operation; switch from the first mode of operation to a second mode of operation in which the air quality sensor is configured to receive a sample of air from a person’s breath over a predefined time interval; determine a second health metric indicative of a person’s health based on the value in the second mode of operation, wherein the second health metric is associated with the sample of air from the person’s breath; generate a notification indicating at least one of the first health metric or the second health metric; and cause the user interface to display the notification.

“10. The space controller of claim 9, wherein the space controller is a thermostat comprising a temperature sensor configured to measure a temperature, wherein the user interface is further configured to receive input from the user, wherein the input comprises a temperature preference, and wherein the thermostat is configured to operate the controlled device based on the temperature preference.

“11. The space controller of claim 9, wherein in the first mode of operation the processing circuit is configured to continuously receive the air quality data from the air quality sensor while the space controller is powered on.

“12. The space controller of claim 9, wherein in the second mode of operation the processing circuit is configured to receive the air quality data from the air quality sensor over a predefined time interval.

“13. The space controller of claim 12, wherein the second health metric is a blood alcohol content, and wherein the processing circuit is further configured to operate the controlled device based on a determination that the blood alcohol content exceeds a legal blood alcohol limit.

“14. The space controller of claim 9, wherein the processing circuit is configured to operate the controlled device based on the second health metric to prevent the user from at least one of accessing the space within the building or operating the controlled device.

“15. The space controller of claim 14, wherein the controlled device is one of a door lock, a security system, a vehicle, or a garage door.

“16. The space controller of claim 9, further comprising a memory configured to store air quality data from the air quality sensor over another predefined time interval, wherein the processing circuit is configured to determine a third health metric based on the air quality data over the another predefined time interval, and wherein the processing circuit is configured to cause the user interface to display the third health metric.

“17. A method, comprising: receiving, from a sensor unit comprising an air quality sensor within a building, air quality data, the air quality data comprising a value for volatile organic compounds, the sensor unit forming part of a space controller disposed within the building and configured to operate HVAC equipment based on user inputs; determining a first health metric indicative of an air quality within a space in which the air quality sensor is located based on the value in a first mode of operation; switch from the first mode of operation to a second mode of operation in which the air quality sensor is configured to receive a sample of air from a person’s breath over a predefined time interval; determining a second health metric indicative of a person’s health based on the value in the second mode of operation, wherein the second health metric is associated with the sample of air from the person’s breath; generating a notification indicating at least one of the first health metric or the second health metric; and operating a controlled device based on a determination that the at least one of the first health metric or the second health metric exceeds a threshold value.

“18. The method of claim 17, wherein the controlled device is operated to prevent a user from at least one of accessing the space within the building or operating the controlled device.

“19. The method of claim 17, further comprising receiving, in the second mode of operation, the air quality data from the air quality sensor over another predefined time interval.

“20. The method of claim 17, wherein the controlled device is one of a door lock, a security system, a vehicle, or a garage door.”

URL and more information on this patent, see: Ambelang, Scott. Personal health monitoring using smart home devices. U.S. Patent Number 11156378, filed January 22, 2020, and published online on October 26, 2021. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=11156378.PN.&OS=PN/11156378RS=PN/11156378

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