Home Device Vacation Mode Using Recorded Occupancy Patterns
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems fail to effectively simulate the presence of occupants in a home during vacations, which can make the residence vulnerable to break-ins.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that captures data on the usage patterns of controllable home devices and replicates these patterns during a vacation mode to create a lived-in simulation, using controlling devices to issue command communications to appliances.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If existing security systems use simple occupancy detection, then the system is easy to operate, but it fails to effectively simulate presence during vacations
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by capturing and storing usage patterns of home devices before the vacation period begins. This pre-captured data is then replayed during the vacation to simulate occupancy, resolving the contradiction by preparing the simulation data in advance rather than requiring complex real-time decision-making systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates copies of normal usage patterns by capturing historical device operation data and replaying it during vacation periods. This copying approach provides realistic occupancy simulation without requiring complex artificial intelligence, as the system simply reproduces typical usage behaviors that were recorded beforehand.
2Reliability
If the system captures and replays detailed usage patterns, then occupancy simulation effectiveness improves, but data processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs data processing in advance by capturing and storing usage patterns before the vacation period. This preliminary data capture and storage eliminates the need for complex real-time processing during the vacation, as the system simply replays pre-processed data to simulate occupancy.
3Reliability
If the system uses multiple controllable devices for simulation, then the realism of occupancy simulation improves, but the number of required devices increases
Solution Approach 1:
The controlling device is designed with multi-functionality, serving both as a normal controllable device and as a controller for other devices. This universal design allows the system to achieve realistic occupancy simulation using existing devices rather than requiring additional dedicated simulation devices, as the controlling device can manipulate multiple other devices to create the illusion of presence.
Data Source
AI summary
A controlling device periodically captures data indicative of a state of the controlling device for use in generating a vacation mode operational data. When the controlling device is subsequently placed into a vacation mode of operation, the controlling device uses the vacation mode operational data to replicate the periodically captured state of the controlling device and, thereby, the controlling device is caused to periodically issue command communications to a controllable device for the purpose of simulating the prior usage of at least the controllable device.