Crowdsourced Event Detection via Sensor Network Merging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems for building and residential automation and security fail to provide timely and efficient notifications of detected events, such as flooding, to users without sensors, often relying on news reports or neighbor alerts, which can be delayed and unreliable.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method for crowdsourcing detected events using sensors within a geographic area to analyze data and send notifications to users, regardless of whether they have a sensor, through a messaging service or social network, based on the type and scope of the event, including an estimated path of the event.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If sensors are installed at every location to detect events, then detection coverage and reliability are improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple sensors located at different positions within a geographic area are merged into a unified monitoring system. The system combines data from sensors at various locations to detect events and determine their scope, achieving comprehensive coverage without requiring every individual location to have its own sensor.
Solution Approach 2:
The system serves multiple functions: it detects events at sensor locations, determines the scope of events by analyzing data from multiple sensors, generates notifications, and provides crowd-sourced event detection. This multi-functional approach replaces the need for separate specialized systems at each location.
2Loss of information
If notifications are sent only to users with sensors, then system complexity is reduced, but information coverage and user awareness decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The system acts as an intermediary that receives sensor data, processes it to determine event scope, and then distributes notifications to appropriate users. This intermediary function enables information to reach users without sensors while maintaining system manageability through centralized processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The notification system is segmented into distinct components: event detection by sensors, scope determination by the processing system, and targeted notification delivery to specific users based on their location and sensor ownership status. This segmentation allows comprehensive information coverage while keeping the system organized and manageable.
3Measurement precision
If event scope analysis is performed using data from multiple sensors, then event detection accuracy is improved, but processing time and computational resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously collects and pre-processes data from multiple sensors before an event occurs. When an event is detected, the pre-established network of sensors and pre-configured analysis protocols enable rapid scope determination, reducing the processing time required for accurate event characterization.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method for crowdsourcing detected events is described. In one embodiment, an event is detected via one or more sensors located at a first location within a predetermined geographic area. Data from the one or more sensors is analyzed to determine a scope of the event. Upon determining the scope of the event affects a second location within the predetermined geographic area, a notification is sent to a user associated with a location within the predetermined geographic area that does not include a sensor of a type that detects the event.