Apparatus and methods for video alarm verification

Abstract

A method for verification of alarms is disclosed. The method involves receiving an alarm signal trigger associated with an alarm signal, receiving video data from a premise associated with the alarm signal, rapidly analyzing the video data to test for the existence a significant event, and when a significant event exists, sending a representation of a segment of interest of the video data, the segment of interest being associated with the significant event, to a user.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A non-transitory processor-readable medium storing code representing instructions to be executed by a processor, the code comprising code to cause the processor to:
 receive from a sensor an indication of an event at a monitored premise having a predetermined zone;   analyze image data associated with the monitored premise (1) based on a user-defined profile to identify an object associated with the event, and (2) to identify the predetermined zone in which the object is located; and   send to a recipient an indication of an alarm event when the zone from which the object is located does not meet a zone authorization criterion assigned to the identity of the object and defined by the user-defined profile.   
     
     
         2 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , the code further comprising code to cause the processor to identify a time associated with the event,
 the code to cause the processor to send includes code to cause the processor to send to the recipient the indication of the alarm event when the time associated with the event does not meet a time authorization criterion assigned to the identity of the object and defined by the user-defined profile.   
     
     
         3 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the code to cause the processor to analyze the image data includes code to cause the processor to analyze the image data in response to the indication of the event. 
     
     
         4 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the object is a first object, the code further comprising code to cause the processor to send to the recipient the indication of the alarm event when a second object is identified from the image data. 
     
     
         5 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the object is a first object, the indication of the event is associated with a user-request for access to a portion of the monitored premise, the user-request generated during a first time period, the image data is first image data and is generated during the first time period, the code further comprising code to cause the processor to:
 analyze second image data associated with the monitored premise and generated during a second time period after the first time period, and   send a signal representing approval of the user-request for access when the second image data does not include an indication of a second object.   
     
     
         6 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the object is a person, the user-defined profile includes parameters associated with an authorization level of the person based at least in part on an event type, a schedule associated with an event, a time of a day, a day of a week, a day of a month, or a time period. 
     
     
         7 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor is at least one of a contact sensor, a biometric sensor, a magnetic sensor, an infrared sensor, an image sensor, or an audio sensor. 
     
     
         8 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the indication of the event is generated at the sensor based on a user input,
 the code to cause the processor to analyze including code to cause the processor to analyze the image data to match the identity of the object with the user input.   
     
     
         9 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , the code further comprising code to cause the processor to:
 send a signal representing instructions to engage or disengage a security mechanism at the monitored premise.   
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 ,
 the code further comprising code to cause the processor to:
 send, at a first time, a signal representing instructions to engage a security mechanism at the monitored premise; 
 receive at a second time after the first time instructions to disengage the security mechanism at the monitored premise; 
 send at a third time after the second time a signal representing instructions to disengage the security mechanism at the monitored premise in accordance with the instructions received at the second time. 
   
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor is a first sensor and the event is a first event, the code further comprising code to cause the processor to:
 receive from a second sensor an indication of a second event at the monitored premise;   send to the recipient the indication of the alarm event based on the indication of the first event and the indication of the second event.   
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , the code further comprising code to cause the processor to:
 analyze at least one of (1) the indication of the event, or (2) the image data, based on the user-defined profile, to determine an event type,   the code to cause the processor to analyze the image data includes code to cause the processor to analyze the image data at a first server when the event type matches a first event type,   the code to cause the processor to analyze the image data includes code to cause the processor to analyze the image data at a second server when the event type matches a second event type, the second server being different from the first server.   
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the sensor is a first sensor, the event is a first event, and the image data is first image data,
 the code to cause the processor to analyze includes code to cause the processor to analyze the first image data at a first server, the code further comprising code to cause the processor to:   receive from a second sensor an indication of a second event at the monitored premise;   analyze second image data (1) associated with the second sensor and the monitored premise, and (2) at a second server separate from the first server.   
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , the code further comprising code to cause the processor to:
 send a signal representing an audio message to a device when the predetermined zone in which the object is located does not meet the zone authorization criterion assigned to the identity of the object.   
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the code to cause the processor to send to the recipient the indication of the alarm event includes code to cause the processor to send to the recipient the indication of the alarm event when the identity of the object does not meet a predefined object authorization criterion. 
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory processor-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the alarm event is a first alarm event and the image data is first image data,
 the code to cause the processor to analyze the first image data includes code to cause the processor to analyze the first image data at a first time, the code further comprising code to cause the processor to:   analyze, at a second time after the first time, second image data associated with the monitored premise to identify the object and whether the object is located in the predetermined zone; and   send an indication of a second alarm event when according to the second image data the object is not located in the predetermined zone in which the object is located according to the first image data.   
     
     
         17 . A system, comprising:
 an analytics module implemented in at least one of a memory or a processor device, the analytics module configured to receive from a first sensor an indication of a first event, the first event associated with a predefined first zone at a monitored premise, the analytics module configured to receive from a second sensor an indication of a second event, the second event associated with a predefined second zone at the monitored premise, the second zone being different from the first zone; and   an alert module operatively coupled to the analytics module, the alert module configured to send an indication of an alarm event when the first event occurs before the second event.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the first sensor is the second sensor, the second sensor being an image capture device. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the analytics module is configured to analyze first image data associated with the first event to identify a first object, the analytics module configured to analyze second image data different from the first image data and associated with the second event to identify a second object,
 the alert module configured to send the indication of the alarm event when the first object matches the second object.