Smart Hazard Detector Location Profiles to Reduce False Alarms

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing hazard detectors in smart home environments lack efficient configuration and adaptation to specific installation locations, leading to potential false alarms and reduced effectiveness in detecting hazardous substances like carbon monoxide and smoke.

Innovation Solution

A smart hazard detector that allows users to input their installation location, enabling or disabling features based on the location, and adjusts alarm settings over time based on historical data to optimize detection and minimize false alarms.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If hazard detectors use fixed configuration profiles with all features enabled by default, then comprehensive hazard detection coverage is achieved, but false alarms increase and user experience deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvehazard detection accuracyVSAvoidfalse alarms

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies local quality by configuring hazard detector features based on installation location. Different locations (kitchen, bedroom, garage, basement) receive customized feature profiles that enable only location-appropriate detection capabilities. For example, kitchen detectors enable smoke and heat detection while disabling CO detection to avoid false alarms from cooking appliances, whereas bedroom detectors enable CO detection but may adjust smoke sensitivity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The system dynamically adapts detector configuration based on location input and historical alarm data. The configuration is not static but adjusts over time - the system learns from false alarm patterns and modifies feature enabling/disabling decisions accordingly. This dynamic adaptation allows the system to maintain high detection reliability while minimizing false alarms through continuous optimization.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

2Reliability

If hazard detectors enable all features regardless of location, then detection coverage is maximized, but device complexity and configuration difficulty increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedetection coverageVSAvoidconfiguration simplicity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary configuration actions by automatically selecting and applying appropriate feature profiles based on the installation location provided by the user. Instead of requiring users to manually configure each feature, the system pre-configures the detector with location-appropriate settings before deployment. This preliminary action simplifies installation while ensuring comprehensive detection coverage for the specific location type.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent implements universality through standardized configuration profiles that can be applied across different detector models and locations. A single universal profile system handles multiple location types (kitchen, bedroom, garage, basement) and multiple hazard types (smoke, CO, heat), allowing the same detector hardware to be optimally configured for any location through software profiles rather than requiring location-specific hardware variants.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

3Object-affected harmful factors

If hazard detectors use location-specific feature configuration, then false alarms are reduced, but initial setup complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvefalse alarm reductionVSAvoidconfiguration process

Core Design Contradiction:

Object-affected harmful factorsVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system enables self-service by allowing the detector to automatically adjust its configuration based on location input and historical performance data. Once the user provides the installation location, the system autonomously enables or disables features without requiring user expertise in detector configuration. The system also self-optimizes over time by learning from alarm patterns and automatically adjusting feature sensitivity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Data Source

PatentUS9235976B2Smart-home multi-functional hazard detector providing location-specific feature configuration

Publication Date: 2016.01.12 GOOGLE LLC

AI summary

A particular smart hazard detector may itself function as a guide during a process of installation of the same at an installation location. Additionally, the installation location of the particular smart hazard detector may play a central role in how various settings of the smart hazard detector are defined and adjusted over time.