Appliance for Monitoring Activity Within a Dwelling

Abstract

A network of motion sensors employs sensitive accelerometers to issue time-domain measurements of building movement from multiple locations within and between buildings and other structures. The time-domain measurements from the various motion sensors are synchronized and converted into frequency-domain measurements of building movement. Individual motion sensors can be equipped with the requisite processor and memory to synchronize and covert the time-domain measurements. The motions sensors can classify detected events into various event types, such as earthquakes, wind events, or bipedal locomotion. The sensors can also communicate with one another or other resources to calculate event probabilities. A motion sensor may, for example, receive an earthquake-verification signal responsive to an earthquake-verification request. The network of motion sensors can calculate local soil stiffness and financial loss estimations responsive to their individual or collective frequency-domain measurements.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . An appliance for monitoring activity within a dwelling, the appliance comprising:
 an accelerometer, physically coupled to the dwelling, the accelerometer to issue measurements of acceleration in response to movement of the dwelling; and   at least one processor coupled to the accelerometer to receive the measurements of acceleration, the at least one processor to:
 calculate at least one threshold from the measurements of acceleration; and 
 indicate anomalies in the dwelling based on the measurements of acceleration exceeding the at least one calculated threshold. 
   
     
     
         3 . The appliance of  claim 2 , the at least one processor to compare the anomalies with second anomalies in the dwelling indicated by another appliance elsewhere in the dwelling to classify a guided wave through the dwelling. 
     
     
         4 . The appliance of  claim 2 , the at least one processor to classify at least one of the anomalies as human activity. 
     
     
         5 . The appliance of  claim 4 , the at least one processor to calculate a probability of the human activity in the dwelling. 
     
     
         6 . The appliance of  claim 2 , further comprising a memory to store event signatures, the at least one processor to correlate the anomalies to the event signatures. 
     
     
         7 . The appliance of  claim 6 , wherein the event signatures include a bipedal-locomotion signature. 
     
     
         8 . The appliance of  claim 7 , the at least one processor to further classify the bipedal-locomotion signature by gait. 
     
     
         9 . The appliance of  claim 8 , the memory to store an authorized-resident characteristic correlated with the bipedal-locomotion signature. 
     
     
         10 . An appliance for monitoring events within a dwelling, the appliance comprising:
 memory to store occupancy parameters;   a receiver to receive external indicia of occupancy;   an accelerometer, physically coupled to the dwelling, to issue measurements of acceleration in response to movement of the dwelling; and   at least one processor coupled to the accelerometer to receive the measurements of acceleration, the at least one processor to calculate probabilities of human states responsive to the measurements of acceleration and the occupancy parameters;   the processor to adjust the occupancy parameters responsive to the external indicia of occupancy.   
     
     
         11 . The appliance of  claim 10 , wherein the at least one processor comprises an artificial neural network. 
     
     
         12 . The appliance of  claim 10 , wherein the external indicia of occupancy comprises cellular-phone location. 
     
     
         13 . The appliance of  claim 10 , wherein the external indicia of occupancy comprises a connection of a cellular phone to a private wireless network in the dwelling. 
     
     
         14 . A system for detecting an event within a building, the system comprising:
 a first accelerometer to issue first measurements of acceleration at a first location responsive to guided waves caused by the event;   a second accelerometer to issue second measurements of acceleration at a second location responsive to the guided waves caused by the event; and   at least one processor coupled to the first and second accelerometers to receive the first and second measurements of acceleration, the at least one processor to characterize the event based on the first measurements of acceleration and second measurements of acceleration.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , the guided waves including symmetric and asymmetric guided waves, the at least one processor to compare the symmetric and asymmetric guided waves caused by the event in the building to characterize the event. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 14 , the at least one processor further to:
 calculate a horizontal to vertical spectral ratio of the guided waves at at least one of the first and second locations; and   exclude non-stationary events from the horizontal to vertical spectral ratio.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 14 , the at least one processor to detect footsteps on a floor of the building using a time-frequency analysis of the first and second measurements of acceleration. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , the at least one processor to detect the footsteps by detecting a response of the floor. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 17 , the at least one processor to detect the footsteps using a continuous wavelet transform. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , the at least one processor to measure a delay between peaks of the continuous wavelet transform. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 20 , further comprising comparing the delay with a footstep tempo.