Team monitoring

Abstract

A solution for providing premises monitoring whereby monitoring devices (cameras, e.g.) are connected to a network and, upon detecting motion within their field of view, send a notification to a smartphone app. The smartphone app provides indications of a location of a particular monitoring device triggering the event notification, a time/date of the event, and a type of event. A user of the smartphone app may receive a real-time video stream from the monitoring device, and may interact with a person who triggered the event using the smartphone's speaker and microphone in conjunction with a speaker and/or a microphone integrated with the monitoring device. A button of the smartphone app enables an event to be escalated to a monitoring center, and if an event is not reviewed by a user within a certain time threshold the event may be configured to be automatically escalated to the monitoring center.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A smartphone app user interface, comprising:
 a section configured for rendering event notifications needing attention; and   a section configured for rendering event notifications having been viewed.   
     
     
         2 . The smartphone app user interface of  claim 1 , wherein an event notification includes at least an indication of a premise where a video event was triggered. 
     
     
         3 . The smartphone app user interface of  claim 1 , wherein an event notification includes at least a description of a type of video event that was triggered. 
     
     
         4 . The smartphone app user interface of  claim 1 , wherein an event notification includes at least a time at which a video event was triggered. 
     
     
         5 . The smartphone app user interface of  claim 1 , wherein an event notification includes at least a thumbnail image associated with a video event that was triggered. 
     
     
         6 . The smartphone app user interface of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a bar indicating a display of the smartphone app user interface which is currently selected and configured for enabling a user to switch displays.   
     
     
         7 . The smartphone app user interface of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a control enabling a user to toggle between a live stream and a video recording of a video event that was triggered.   
     
     
         8 . The smartphone app user interface of  claim 7 , wherein the control enabling the user to toggle between a live stream and a video recording activates RTSP for a camera associated with the premise when the live stream is selected by the user. 
     
     
         9 . The smartphone app user interface of  claim 7 , wherein the control enabling the user to toggle between a live stream and a video recording renders a video clip of an occurrence which triggered the video event. 
     
     
         10 . The smartphone app user interface of  claim 9 , wherein the video clip of the occurrence which triggered the video event is renderable with an embedded button which, when tapped, switches to the live stream. 
     
     
         11 . The smartphone app user interface of  claim 7 , wherein at least one of a speaker or a microphone of a smartphone on which the smartphone app user interface is running may be activated during the live stream. 
     
     
         12 . The smartphone app user interface of  claim 11 , wherein activating the at least one of a speaker or a microphone of the smartphone enables a user to speak to a target triggering the video event via at least one of a speaker or a microphone of a monitoring device originating the video event. 
     
     
         13 . The smartphone app user interface of  claim 1 , wherein a video event begins a countdown of an amount of time before a video event is escalated to a monitoring center. 
     
     
         14 . The smartphone app user interface of  claim 13 , wherein a notification associated with the video event is transmitted to the monitoring center when the countdown of the amount of time reaches zero. 
     
     
         15 . The smartphone app user interface of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 an input screen for a user of the smartphone app user interface to participate in a conferencing session related to a video event with one or more members of a team of monitors.   
     
     
         16 . The smartphone app user interface of  claim 15 , wherein the conferencing session may be at least one of a chat room, an audio conference, or a video conference with the one or more members of the team of monitors. 
     
     
         17 . The smartphone app user interface of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 a button which, when activated, causes a video event to be escalated immediately to a monitoring center.   
     
     
         18 . A smartphone app user interface, of  claim 16 , wherein at least one of (a) the monitoring center or (b) the one or more members of the team of monitors may be one or more mobile monitoring agents. 
     
     
         19 . A smartphone app user interface, comprising:
 a section configured for rendering event notifications needing attention; and   a section configured for rendering event notifications having been viewed,   wherein an event notification includes at least:
 an indication of a premise where a video event was triggered; 
 a description of a type of the video event that was triggered; 
 a time at which the video event was triggered; and 
 a thumbnail image associated with the video event that was triggered; 
   a bar indicating a display of the smartphone app user interface which is currently selected and configured for enabling a user to switch displays;   a control enabling a user to toggle between a live stream and a video recording of a video event that was triggered,   wherein the control enabling the user to toggle between a live stream and a video recording activates RTSP for a camera associated with the premise when the live stream is selected by the user,   wherein the control enabling the user to toggle between a live stream and a video recording renders a video clip of an occurrence which triggered the video event, wherein the video clip of the occurrence which triggered the video event is renderable with an embedded button which, when tapped, switches to the live stream,   wherein at least one of a speaker or a microphone of a smartphone on which the smartphone app user interface is running may be activated during the live stream, wherein activating the at least one of a speaker or a microphone of the smartphone enables a user to speak to a target triggering the video event via at least one of a speaker or a microphone of a monitoring device originating the video event,   wherein a video event begins a countdown of an amount of time before a video event is escalated to a monitoring center, wherein a notification associated with the video event is transmitted to the monitoring center when the countdown of the amount of time reaches zero; and   an input screen for a user of the smartphone app user interface to participate in a conferencing session related to a video event with one or more members of a team of monitors, wherein the conferencing session may be at least one of a chat room, an audio conference, or a video conference with the one or more members of the team of monitors, and a button which, when activated, causes a video event to be escalated immediately to a monitoring center, wherein at least one of (a) the monitoring center or (b) the one or more members of the team of monitors may be one or more mobile monitoring agents.   
     
     
         20 . An arrangement, comprising:
 a smartphone including at least the smartphone app user interface of  claim 19 ;   one or more monitoring devices in electronic communication with the smartphone, the one or more monitoring devices capable of triggering one or more video events renderable via the smartphone app user interface; and   at least one network connection between the smartphone and the monitoring center capable of transmitting an escalation of a video event upon the countdown of the amount of time before the video event is escalated.