Smart Home Visitor Response Using Context-Aware Entryway Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Home monitoring systems face challenges in accurately identifying and categorizing visitors at entryways, leading to unnecessary alerts and limited response options for users, as they often cannot distinguish between welcome guests, unwelcome visitors, and passersby, and lack intuitive methods for initiating relevant actions based on contextual information.
Innovation Solution
A method that includes determining a visitor's approach to an entryway, initiating facial recognition, and obtaining context information from sensors before the visitor reaches the entryway, allowing for timely and appropriate responses such as communication or security actions based on the visitor's identity and actions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a general alert is initiated upon detecting a person in the field of view of a security camera, then the security monitoring coverage is improved, but the accuracy of visitor identification deteriorates and unnecessary alerts increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the detection process into multiple stages: initial motion detection triggers an observation window, during which contextual information is gathered through facial recognition and sensor data. This segmented approach allows the system to maintain broad monitoring coverage while achieving accurate visitor identification through progressive information gathering rather than immediate general alerts.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by initiating an observation window and gathering contextual information (facial recognition, sensor data) before the visitor reaches the entryway. This preliminary information gathering enables the system to distinguish between different visitor types in advance, allowing for targeted responses rather than blanket alerts, thereby improving identification accuracy while maintaining monitoring coverage.
2Loss of time
If contextual information is gathered before the visitor reaches the entryway, then the response time is improved, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary information gathering during an observation window initiated when a visitor is detected approaching the entryway. Facial recognition, motion detection, and other sensor data are collected in advance, enabling the system to prepare appropriate responses before the visitor arrives. This preliminary action reduces response time while the added complexity is managed through automated processing and predefined response protocols.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs automated facial recognition and sensor data processing to self-gather contextual information without requiring manual intervention. The automated nature of these processes minimizes the operational complexity burden on users, allowing the system to perform complex information gathering and analysis independently while maintaining user-friendly operation.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple response options are provided to users, then the adaptability to different visitor types is improved, but the ease of operation deteriorates due to overwhelming choices
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies local quality by tailoring the set of response options presented to users based on the specific visitor type identified through contextual information gathering. Different visitor categories (e.g., known residents, delivery personnel, unrecognized visitors) receive customized action sets relevant to their specific case. This targeted approach maintains adaptability across different scenarios while keeping each user interface instance simple and focused, avoiding the overwhelming effect of presenting all possible actions simultaneously.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method of presenting appropriate actions for responding to a visitor to a smart home environment via an electronic greeting system of the smart home environment, including detecting a visitor of the smart home environment; obtaining context information from the smart home environment regarding the visitor; based on the context information, identifying a plurality of appropriate actions available to a user of a client device for interacting with the visitor via the electronic greeting system; and causing the identified actions to be presented to the user of the client device.