Patent Application
20180063567
An occupied home is less likely to be broken into by an intruder than an unoccupied home. Therefore, to dissuade potential intruders from breaking into an unoccupied home, the home should appear to be occupied even when the home is unoccupied. One way in which a home appears to be occupied from outside of the home is to have a television within the home turned on. When a potential intruder sees a television within the home turned on, the potential intruder is less likely to break into the home since they will assume the home is occupied.
In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific examples in which the disclosure may be practiced. It is to be understood that other examples may be utilized and structural or logical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The following detailed description, therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims. It is to be understood that features of the various examples described herein may be combined, in part or whole, with each other, unless specifically noted otherwise.
By using system 100, an unoccupied home will appear to be occupied by someone watching television without having an actual television turned on. System 100 consumes much less energy than an actual television making the simulated television a more cost effective solution for making a home appear to be occupied than turning on an actual television. In addition, by controlling color capable light bulb 108 based on stored television show viewing information, a more realistic simulation of an actual television show may be achieved.
Control device 102 may be a dedicated standalone device or part of a smart home system used to control lighting, thermostats, security systems, locks, home entertainment systems, and/or other suitable devices within a home. Control device 102 monitors the television show viewing habits of the occupants and stores the television show viewing information. For example, television show viewing information 104 may include the names of televisions shows and the days of the week and the times the television shows were watched. In another example, television show viewing information 104 may include the type of television show (e.g., sports such as football, baseball, basketball, golf, etc.; drama; action; science fiction; etc.) and the days of the week and the times the television shows were watched. In yet another embodiment, television show viewing information 104 may include the channels watched and the days of the week and the times the channels were watched.
Control device 102 includes at least two modes, including a “home” mode, in which control device 102 may control color capable light bulb 108 to provide a desired color and brightness of light and an “away” mode, in which control device 102 may control color capable light bulb 108 to mimic a television display. In other examples, control device 102 may include additional modes for controlling color capable light bulb 108. The different modes of control device 102 may be manually selected by a user or automatically selected based on a previously defined program or rule.
Based on the television show viewing information, control device 102, when switched to a proper mode (e.g., “away”), controls color capable light bulb 108 to mimic a television display. For example, if the day is a Monday and the time is 9PM, control device 102 may control color capable light bulb 108 to mimic the television show that was last watched or most frequency watched at 9PM on a Monday (e.g., football). Control device 102 controls color capable light bulb 108 by sending commands to the light bulb to vary the color, brightness, transitions, and flicker of the light bulb to simulate a television display. The commands may include commands to mimic both a particular television show or type of television show and the commercial breaks within the television show.
Color capable light bulb 108 is any light bulb capable of providing a plurality of colors and brightness levels based on commands received by the bulb from control device 102. Examples of suitable color capable light bulbs 108 include, but are not limited to, Phillips Hue™ bulbs, Flux™ bulbs, Lümen™ bulbs, Samsung™ bulbs, and LG™ bulbs. In one example, color capable light bulb 108 is a multi-color LED, screw terminal light bulb including a wired or wireless interface to receive commands for varying the color, brightness, transitions, and flicker of the light bulb.
Control device 202 includes a learning module 204, a rule creation module 206, a storage module 208, and a user interface 210. Control device 202 receives sensor data from sensors 2121 to 212N. Sensors 2121 to 212N may include light sensors, power sensors, switch sensors, sound sensors, and/or other suitable sensors. In one example, learning module 204 uses the sensor data to learn the television viewing habits of the occupants. The television viewing habits may be stored as television show viewing information in storage module 208.
Rule creation module 206 may be used to create rules for controlling color capable light bulb 216 and speaker 220 based on user inputs, day, time, sensor data, and/or other suitable inputs. The rules may be stored in storage module 208. A rule may be activated in response to the various conditions of the rule being satisfied to control color capable light bulb 216 and/or speaker 220 in the manner defined by the rule. For example, a rule may be programmed to control color capable light bulb 216 to mimic a particular television show in response to the current day and time indicating that the particular television show is normally watched during that time.
User interface 210 enables a user to configure sensors, color capable light bulbs, and speakers connected to system 200; create and/or modify rules; place control device 202 into different, modes, such as “home” or “away;” and directly control color capable light bulb 216 and speaker 220. User interface 210 may be implemented via a remote control, a wall mounted control panel, a personal computer, a tablet computer, a smartphone, or another suitable device communicatively coupled to or integrated within control device 202.
Color capable light bulb 216 is any light bulb capable of providing a plurality of colors and brightness levels based on commands received by the bulb from control device 202. Speaker 220 is any device capable of producing sound based on an audio signal received from control device 202 to mimic television sounds. Speaker 220 may be a standalone speaker dedicated to system 200 or part of a home entertainment system communicatively coupled to system 200. In one example, speaker 220 and color capable light bulb 216 are integrated into a single device. Speaker 220 may receive an audio signal of an actual television show or an audio signal that drives speaker 220 to generate simulated or muffled sounds to mimic a television show.
Cloud service 224 may transmit live television show information to control device 202 to control color capable light bulb 216. In this way, color capable light bulb 216 is controlled by control device 202 to mimic a live television show. The live television show to be mimicked may be selected based on the television show viewing information stored in storage module 208. For example, if the day is a Wednesday and the time is 6PM, control device 202 may control color capable light bulb 216 to mimic the type of show that was last watched or most frequency watched at 6PM on a Wednesday (e.g., live news). In one example, cloud service 224 provides the commands to control device 202, which control device 202 forwards to color capable light bulb 216 to control color capable light bulb 216. In another example, control device 202 selects or generates the commands to send to color capable light bulb 216 based on the live television show information received from cloud service 224, such as live television show names or types.
Processor 302 includes one or more Central Processing Units (CPUs), microprocessors, and/or other suitable hardware devices for retrieval and execution of instructions stored in machine-readable storage medium 306. Processor 302 may fetch, decode, and execute instructions 308 to learn television show viewing information and instructions 310 to control a color capable light bulb to mimic a television display based on the learned television show viewing information. As an alternative or in addition to retrieving and executing instructions, processor 302 may include one or more electronic circuits comprising a number of electronic components for performing the functionality of one or more of the instructions in machine-readable storage medium 306. With respect to the executable instruction representations (e.g., boxes) described and illustrated herein, it should be understood that part or all of the executable instructions and/or electronic circuits included within one box may, in alternate examples, be included in a different box illustrated in the figures or in a different box not shown.
Machine-readable storage medium 306 is a non-transitory storage medium and may be any suitable electronic, magnetic, optical, or other physical storage device that stores executable instructions. Thus, machine-readable storage medium 306 may be, for example, Random Access Memory (RAM), an Electrically-Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), a storage drive, an optical disc, and the like. Machine-readable storage medium 306 may be disposed within system 300, as illustrated in
Machine-readable storage medium 306 stores instructions to be executed by a processor (e.g., processor 302) including instructions 308 and 310 to operate system 100 or 200 as previously described with reference to
In one example, processor 302 may also execute instructions to control a speaker (e.g., speaker 220 previously described and illustrated with reference to
Although specific examples have been illustrated and described herein, a variety of alternate and/or equivalent implementations may be substituted for the specific examples shown and described without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the specific examples discussed herein. Therefore, it is intended that this disclosure be limited only by the claims and the equivalents thereof.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US2015/030962 | 5/15/2015 | WO | 00 |
