Patent Issued for System And Methods For Analyzing Sensor Data To Detect Property Intrusion Events (USPTO 10,741,033)

2020 AUG 26 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Jordan, II, Jackie O. (Bloomington, IL); Donovan, John (Bloomington, IL); Turrentine, David (Bloomington, IL); Wollenschlager, Torri (Bloomington, IL); Nussbaum, Bryan R. (Bloomington, IL); Stockweather, Deanna (Normal, IL); Stoiber, Jeffrey W. (Bloomington, IL); Markwardt, Kerstin (Phoenix, AZ); Carlson, Gail L. (Bloomington, IL); Schiebel, Kyle C. (Bloomington, IL); Winslow, Troy (Bloomington, IL); Harr, Joseph P. (Bloomington, IL); Wagner, Ellakate (Bloomington, IL); Harris, Jr., Michael (Normal, IL); Sun, Jennylind (Bloomington, IL), filed on June 19, 2019, was published online on August 24, 2020.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 10,741,033 is State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “With the proliferation of the ‘internet of things,’ more household devices and items are gaining communication and network connectivity capabilities. The new capabilities are enabling easier data detection and more accurate information and metrics. However, the ability to detect certain conditions associated with devices and items may be limited. Additionally, the channels to control and maintain devices and items as a response to certain conditions may also be limited.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The present embodiments may, inter alia, access certain device data to detect certain conditions within a property, and determine actions or commands to perform to address the conditions. Further, the present embodiments may effectively and efficiently communicate relevant information associated with the conditions and enable users to facilitate the actions or commands. One particular functionality relates to analyzing device data to detect property intrusion events, and then performing actions to mitigate the property intrusion events and/or notifying individuals of the property intrusion events.

“Generally, the present embodiments may relate to (1) home control and/or automation, as well as (2) loss prevention, reduction, and/or mitigation through proactively identifying attempted property intrusion events, notifying an individual of property intrusion events, and/or facilitating commands or actions to mitigate the property intrusion events. The foregoing functionality may also be used by an insurance provider to generate, update, or adjust insurance policies, premiums, rates, discounts, points, and/or rewards, and/or make recommendations to an insured individual.

“According to one embodiment, a computer-implemented method of detecting property intrusion within a property may be provided. The property may be populated with a hardware controller in communication with a plurality of sensors disposed within the property. The computer-implemented method may include (1) receiving, by the hardware controller, sensor data from at least one sensor of the plurality of sensors, and/or (2) accessing baseline sensor data corresponding to a set of default intrusion attempts. The computer-implemented method may further include (3) comparing, by one or more processors, the received sensor data to the baseline sensor data including: determining a level of similarity between the received sensor data and the baseline sensor data, and/or determining that the level of similarity meets a threshold value. Additionally, the computer-implemented method may include (4) responsive to the comparing, generating a notification that indicates a property intrusion event indicated in the received sensor data, and/or (5) communicating the notification to an electronic device of an individual associated with the property to facilitate remotely issuing commands or otherwise mitigating damage associated with, or caused by, the property intrusion event. The method may include additional, less, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“According to another embodiment, a hardware controller for detecting property intrusion within a property may be provided. The hardware controller may be in communication with a set of devices populated within the property. The hardware controller may include a communication module adapted to interface with the set of devices populated within the property, a memory adapted to store non-transitory computer executable instructions, and/or a processor adapted to interface with the communication module. The processor may configured to execute the non-transitory computer executable instructions to cause the processor to receive, via the communication module, sensor data from at least one device of the set of devices, and/or access baseline sensor data corresponding to a set of default intrusion attempts. The processor may further be configured to compare the received sensor data to the baseline sensor data including: determine a level of similarity between the received sensor data and the baseline sensor data, and/or determine that the level of similarity meets a threshold value. Additionally, the processor may be configured to, responsive to the comparing, generate a notification that indicates a property intrusion event indicated in the received sensor data, and transmit, via the communication module, the notification to an electronic device of an individual associated with the property. The electronic device may allow the individual to select various commands to facilitate mitigation of damage caused by the property intrusion event. The hardware controller and/or processor may be configured to include additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

“Advantages will become more apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description of the preferred embodiments which have been shown and described by way of illustration. As will be realized, the present embodiments may be capable of other and different embodiments, and their details are capable of modification in various respects. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed:

“1. A computer-implemented method of detecting property intrusion within a property, the property populated with a hardware controller in communication with a plurality of sensors disposed within the property, the method comprising: receiving, by the hardware controller, sensor data from at least one sensor of the plurality of sensors, wherein the sensor data (i) indicates a location of the at least one sensor within the property, and (ii) comprises digital image data; identifying, based on the location indicated in the sensor data, an area of the property corresponding to the received sensor data; analyzing the received digital image data to identify (i) a property intrusion event; determining, based on the received digital image data, that a type of the property intrusion event corresponds to an individual surveying the property for a point of entry; accessing, by the hardware controller, baseline digital image data indicative of a set of default intrusion attempts, including: sending a request to a back-end server to access a portion of the baseline digital image data corresponding to the type of the property intrusion event, and receiving, from the back-end server, the portion of the baseline digital image data; comparing, by one or more processors of the hardware controller, the received digital image data to the portion of the baseline digital image data received from the back-end server, including determining that the received digital image data is consistent with the property intrusion event; responsive to the comparing: generating a notification that indicates (i) the property intrusion event, and (ii) the area of the property corresponding to the received sensor data, and communicating the notification to an electronic device of an individual associated with the property.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, the method further comprising: receiving, from the electronic device, a request initiated by the individual to activate a set of lights associated with the area of the property.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, the method further comprising: in response to receiving the request from the electronic device, activating the set of lights associated with the area of the property.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: responsive to the comparing, activating an alarm within the property.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: responsive to the comparing, communicating the notification to a law enforcement entity.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein receiving the sensor data from the at least one sensor comprises: receiving the sensor data further comprising motion sensor data generated by a motion sensor disposed within the property.

“7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the digital image data is generated by an image sensor disposed within the property.

“8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein comparing the received digital image data to the portion of the baseline digital image data comprises: calculating a similarity percentage between the received digital image data and the portion of the baseline digital image data.

“9. A hardware controller for detecting property intrusion within a property, the hardware controller in communication with a set of devices populated within the property, comprising: a communication module interfacing with the set of devices populated within the property; a memory storing non-transitory computer executable instructions; and a processor interfacing with the communication module and the memory, wherein the processor is configured to execute the non-transitory computer executable instructions to cause the processor to: receive, via the communication module, sensor data from at least one device of the set of devices, wherein the sensor data (i) indicates a location of the at least one sensor within the property, and (ii) comprises digital image data, identify, based on the location indicated in the sensor data, an area of the property corresponding to the received sensor data, analyze the received digital image data to identify (i) a property intrusion event, determine, based on the received imaging data, that the type of property intrusion event corresponds to an individual surveying the property for a point of entry, access baseline digital image data indicative of a set of default intrusion attempts, including: send a request to a back-end server to access a portion of the baseline digital image data corresponding to the type of the property intrusion event, and receive, from the back-end server, the portion of the baseline digital image data, compare the received digital image data to the portion of the baseline digital image data received from the back-end server, including determining that the received digital image data is consistent with the property intrusion event, responsive to the comparing: generate a notification that indicates (i) the property intrusion event, and (ii) the area of the property corresponding to the received sensor data, and responsive to the comparing: transmit, via the communication module, the notification to an electronic device of an individual associated with the property.

“10. The hardware controller of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to: receive, from the electronic device via the communication module, a request initiated by the individual to activate a set of lights associated with the area of the property.

“11. The hardware controller of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to: in response to receiving the request from the electronic device, activate the set of lights associated with the area of the property.

“12. The hardware controller of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to: responsive to the comparing, activate an alarm within the property.

“13. The hardware controller of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to: responsive to the comparing, transmit the notification to a law enforcement entity via the communication module.

“14. The hardware controller of claim 9, wherein the sensor data further comprises motion sensor data generated by a motion sensor disposed within the property.

“15. The hardware controller of claim 9, wherein to compare the received digital image data to the portion of the baseline digital image data, the processor is configured to: calculate a similarity percentage between the received digital image data and the portion of the baseline digital image data.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Jordan, II, Jackie O.; Donovan, John; Turrentine, David; Wollenschlager, Torri; Nussbaum, Bryan R.; Stockweather, Deanna; Stoiber, Jeffrey W.; Markwardt, Kerstin; Carlson, Gail L.; Schiebel, Kyle C.; Winslow, Troy; Harr, Joseph P.; Wagner, Ellakate; Harris, Jr., Michael; Sun, Jennylind. System And Methods For Analyzing Sensor Data To Detect Property Intrusion Events. U.S. Patent Number 10,741,033, filed June 19, 2019, and published online on August 24, 2020. 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=10,741,033.PN.&OS=PN/10,741,033RS=PN/10,741,033

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