Smart Home Controller Failure Detection and Repair Scheduling
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Home equipment failures often go undetected or misdiagnosed, leading to unnecessary repairs or overlooked issues, as property owners may not recognize problems in a timely manner, and existing detection methods require manual intervention and extensive diagnostic processes.
Innovation Solution
A system of sensors and a smart home controller that continuously monitor home equipment, analyze sensor data to detect failures, and autonomously schedule repair services by communicating with repair providers, including pre-authorization for access and payment, thereby streamlining the repair process without direct owner involvement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manual detection and scheduling methods are used, then property owners can control the repair process, but the detection accuracy and response time deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables automatic detection of equipment failures through sensors and automated scheduling of repairs without requiring property owner intervention. The smart home controller autonomously monitors equipment status, identifies failures, and coordinates with repair service providers, allowing the system to serve itself rather than requiring manual detection and scheduling.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors equipment status through sensors and uses this feedback to automatically determine when repairs are needed. The feedback loop includes real-time data collection from sensors, analysis by the smart home controller to detect failures, and automatic initiation of repair scheduling based on the detected conditions, creating a closed-loop automated system.
2Loss of time
If automated detection systems are implemented, then response time improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The automated system is segmented into distinct functional modules: sensors for data collection, smart home controller for analysis and decision-making, and communication interfaces for coordinating with repair providers. This segmentation allows the complex automated detection and scheduling function to be broken down into manageable components that can operate independently but cooperatively.
Solution Approach 2:
The smart home controller acts as an intermediary between the sensors that detect equipment status and the repair service providers that perform repairs. It processes sensor data, determines when failures occur, and automatically coordinates with external repair services, simplifying the overall system architecture by providing a centralized coordination point.
3Productivity
If pre-authorization for repairs is implemented, then repair speed improves, but loss of information regarding owner approval increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system obtains property owner authorization in advance before equipment failures occur. Owners pre-approve the automated detection system and repair scheduling process, allowing repairs to be executed immediately when failures are detected without requiring real-time owner intervention. This preliminary authorization resolves the conflict between fast repair execution and maintaining owner control.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system may automatically detect failures and schedule repairs for home equipment in a smart home environment when the property owner is away from the property. A smart home controller may receive sensor data from each of several pieces of smart home equipment to detect whether any failures have occurred. If the smart home controller detects a failure in one of the pieces of smart home equipment based on the sensor data, the smart home controller may determine that a first piece of smart home equipment needs to be repaired based on a collective analysis of first and second sets of sensor data from the first piece of smart home equipment and a second piece of smart home equipment, respectively. Then the smart home controller may provide a control signal to the first piece of smart home equipment to shut down or limit operation.