Home Sensor Alerts for Unattended Unsafe Conditions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Residents often fail to detect unsafe or unhealthy conditions developing in their home environment, especially when they are not physically present, leading to delayed or ineffective mitigation efforts.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method and system that monitors and analyzes sensor data from home and vehicle environments to identify unsafe or unhealthy conditions, determines the presence of residents, and generates alerts for them, even when they are away, using a network of processors, sensors, and wearable devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If residents monitor home conditions manually, then they can detect unsafe conditions, but they may be absent or unaware when conditions develop
Solution Approach 1:
The home monitoring system operates autonomously without requiring resident presence or manual intervention. Sensors continuously monitor environmental parameters (temperature, humidity, water leakage, air quality) and the system automatically detects unsafe conditions, generates alerts, and notifies residents remotely, enabling the system to serve itself in detecting and reporting hazards.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous feedback loops where sensors monitor home conditions in real-time, the processing unit analyzes sensor data to detect unsafe patterns, and immediate feedback is provided to residents through notifications and alerts. This closed-loop feedback mechanism ensures residents are promptly informed of developing conditions regardless of their physical presence.
2Ease of operation
If residents are not physically present at home, then they have mobility freedom, but they cannot take immediate mitigating steps when hazards develop
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring system acts as an intermediary between the home environment and remote residents. When unsafe conditions are detected, the system generates detailed alerts with location and nature of hazards, enabling residents to take appropriate mitigating actions remotely or prepare for safe return. The system bridges the physical absence gap by providing information that enables effective remote response.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary detection and alerting actions before conditions become severe or irreversible. By continuously monitoring and identifying early signs of unsafe conditions (water leakage before flooding, temperature changes before damage), the system enables residents to take preventive measures or arrange for professional intervention before problems escalate.
3Device complexity
If conventional monitoring methods are used, then simple conditions can be detected, but complex or developing unsafe conditions are missed
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring system is segmented into multiple specialized sensors (temperature, humidity, water leakage, air quality, motion detectors) distributed throughout the home. Each sensor monitors specific parameters independently, and the central processing unit integrates data from all segments to detect complex patterns and developing conditions that single-point monitoring would miss.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from simple binary detection (safe/unsafe) to multi-dimensional monitoring by tracking multiple environmental parameters simultaneously over time. This dimensional expansion allows detection of complex developing conditions through pattern recognition across temperature, humidity, air quality, and other dimensions, enabling identification of unsafe trends before they become critical.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques for generating alerts related to unsafe/unhealthy home conditions may include monitoring sensor data associated with a home environment over a period of time; analyzing the sensor data associated over the period in order to identify an unsafe/unhealthy condition associated with the home environment over the period; obtaining sensor data associated with a resident of the home environment over the period; determining that the resident of the home environment is not physically present at the home environment over the period; upon identifying an unsafe/unhealthy condition associated with the home environment over the period and determining that the resident of the home environment is not physically present at the home environment over the period, generating an alert indicating the identified unsafe or unhealthy condition associated with the home environment over the period; and transmitting the alert to a computing device associated with the resident of the home environment.