U.S. patent application number 15/132838 was filed with the patent office on 2017-10-19 for system and method for passive building information discovery.
The applicant listed for this patent is SIEMENS INDUSTRY, INC.. Invention is credited to Benjamin Collar, Robert L. Welton.
Application Number | 20170303094 15/132838 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 58579256 |
Filed Date | 2017-10-19 |
United States Patent
Application |
20170303094 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Collar; Benjamin ; et
al. |
October 19, 2017 |
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PASSIVE BUILDING INFORMATION DISCOVERY
Abstract
A system and method is provided that facilitates passive
building information discovery. The system may include a processor
configured to track positions in a building of portable devices
over time and based thereon determine characteristics of the
building including locations in the building where at least some of
the portable device are unauthorized, based on communications
received from radio-frequency (RF) sensors mounted in spaced-apart
relation across the building. Such communications may include
information detected by the RF sensors from RF signals from the
portable devices that uniquely identify each portable device. The
processor may be configured to determine when at least one of the
portable devices is detected via a communication from at least one
of the RF sensors at a determined unauthorized location in the
building, and responsive thereto provide at least one notification
that indicates that the at least one portable device was detected
at the unauthorized location.
Inventors: |
Collar; Benjamin; (Lawrence
Township, NJ) ; Welton; Robert L.; (Clayton,
NC) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
SIEMENS INDUSTRY, INC. |
Alpharetta |
GA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
58579256 |
Appl. No.: |
15/132838 |
Filed: |
April 19, 2016 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G07C 9/00174 20130101;
G07C 2009/00769 20130101; G07C 9/00571 20130101; H04W 4/80
20180201; H04W 4/33 20180201; H04W 12/06 20130101; G07C 9/28
20200101; H04L 61/6022 20130101; H04W 12/08 20130101; H04L 41/069
20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04W 4/04 20090101
H04W004/04; H04W 4/00 20090101 H04W004/00; H04L 12/24 20060101
H04L012/24; H04L 29/12 20060101 H04L029/12; H04W 12/08 20090101
H04W012/08; H04W 12/06 20090101 H04W012/06 |
Claims
1. A system for passive building information discovery comprising:
at least one processor configured to: receive communications from a
plurality of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) sensors mounted in
spaced-apart relation across a building, which communications
include information detected by the BLE sensors from BLE signals
from a plurality of portable devices that uniquely identify each
portable device; track positions in the building of the portable
devices over time based on the received communications; based on
the tracked positions, determine a first place in the building at
which portable devices are not previously detected; based on the
tracked positions, determine a second place in the building where
portable devices are detected during a first time period and are
not detected during a second time period during the day; determine
when at least one of the portable devices is positioned in an
unauthorized location in the building corresponding to the second
place when the at least one processor detects that the at least one
portable device remains stationary in the first place during the
first time period and moves to the second place during the second
time period, and responsive thereto provide at least one
notification regarding the determination about the unauthorized
location.
2. The system according to claim 1, further comprising the BLE
sensors mounted in spaced-apart relation in the building in
communication with the at least one processor, wherein the at least
one processor is configured to provide the at least one
notification to at least one of an alarm system, a display screen,
a data base, a second at least one processor, or any combination
thereof.
3. A system for passive building information discovery comprising:
at least one processor configured to: receive communications from a
plurality of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) sensors mounted in
spaced-apart relation across a building, which communications
include information detected by the BLE sensors from BLE signals
from a plurality of portable devices that uniquely identify each
portable device; track positions in the building of the portable
devices over time based on the received communications; determine a
first rate corresponding to how many of at least some of the
portable devices pass a first location in the building in an amount
of time based on the BLE signals; determine a second rate
corresponding to how many of further of the portable devices pass
the first location in the building in the amount of time based on
the BLE signals; determine that the further portable devices are
positioned in an unauthorized location in the building based at
least in part on the second rate being higher than the first rate,
and responsive thereto provide at least one notification regarding
the determination about the unauthorized location.
4. The system according to claim 3, wherein the first location
corresponds to an entrance to a room that is configured with a door
that automatically unlocks responsive to an authentication of a
user, whereby the first rate corresponds to an upper threshold of
authenticated users capable of passing through the entrance in the
amount of time.
5. A system for passive building information discovery comprising:
at least one processor configured to: receive communications from a
plurality of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) sensors mounted in
spaced-apart relation across a building, which communications
include information detected by the BLE sensors from BLE signals
from a plurality of portable devices that uniquely identify each
portable device; track positions in the building of the portable
devices over time based on the received communications; track
positions of a plurality of further devices over time based on
information acquired from at least one further sensor in the
building other than via BLE signals, which information uniquely
identifies each further device; determine correlations between
respective portable devices and respective further devices based on
determinations that the respective portable devices and respective
further devices are detected at common positions and times in the
building; and determine when at least one of the portable devices
is positioned in an unauthorized location in the building based at
least in part on the determined correlations, and responsive
thereto provide at least one notification regarding the
determination about the unauthorized location.
6. The system according to claim 5, wherein the at least one
processor is configured to determine that the at least one portable
device is positioned in the unauthorized location in the building
based at least in part on a determination that the at least one
portable device is correlated to a further device associated with
at least one first attribute, and based on a determination that
prior detected portable devices in the unauthorized location were
not previously correlated to further devices associated with the at
least one first attribute.
7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the at least one
further sensor corresponds to a card reader, wherein the further
devices correspond to identification cards.
8. The system according to claim 5, wherein the at least one
processor is configured to determine that the at least one portable
device is positioned in the unauthorized location in the building
based at least in part on a determination that the at least one
portable device has become correlated with a further device that
was previously correlated with at least one different portable
device and the at least one portable device was not previously
determined to have been positioned at the unauthorized
location.
9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the at least one
further sensor corresponds to a card reader, wherein the further
devices correspond to identification cards, wherein the card reader
is configured to unlock a door to the unauthorized location in the
building.
10. The system according to claim 5, further comprising the BLE
sensors mounted in spaced-apart relation in the building in
communication with the at least one processor, wherein the at least
one processor is configured to provide the at least one
notification to at least one of an alarm system, a display screen,
a data base, a second at least one processor, or any combination
thereof.
11. A method for passive building information discovery comprising:
through operation of at least one processor: receiving
communications from a plurality of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
sensors mounted in spaced-apart relation across a building, which
communications include information detected by the BLE sensors from
BLE signals from a plurality of portable devices that uniquely
identify each portable device; tracking positions in the building
of the portable devices over time based on the received
communications; based on the tracked positions, determining a first
place in the building at which portable devices are not previously
detected; based on the tracked positions, determining a second
place in the building where portable devices are detected during a
first time period and are not detected during a second time period
during the day; detecting that at last one of the portable devices
remains stationary in the first place during the first time period
and moves to the second place during the second time period and
responsive thereto determining that the at least one portable
device is positioned in an unauthorized location in the building
corresponding to the second place; and providing at least one
notification regarding the determination about the unauthorized
location.
12. A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with
executable instructions that when executed, cause at least one
processor to carry out a method according to claim 13.
13. A method for passive building information discovery comprising:
through operation of at least one processor: receiving
communications from a plurality of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
sensors mounted in spaced-apart relation across a building, which
communications include information detected by the BLE sensors from
BLE signals from a plurality of portable devices that uniquely
identify each portable device; tracking positions in the building
of the portable devices over time based on the received
communications; determining a first rate corresponding to how many
of at least some of the portable devices pass a first location in
the building in an amount of time based on the BLE signals;
determining a second rate corresponding to how many of further of
the portable devices pass the first location in the building in the
amount of time based on the BLE signals; determining that the
further portable devices are positioned in an unauthorized location
in the building based on the second rate being higher than the
first rate; and providing at least one notification regarding the
determination about the unauthorized location.
14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the first location
corresponds to an entrance to a room that is configured with a door
that automatically unlocks responsive to an authentication of a
user, whereby the first rate corresponds to an upper threshold of
authenticated users capable of passing through the entrance in the
amount of time.
15. A method for passive building information discovery comprising:
through operation of the at least one processor: receiving
communications from a plurality of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
sensors mounted in spaced-apart relation across a building, which
communications include information detected by the BLE sensors from
BLE signals from a plurality of portable devices that uniquely
identify each portable device; tracking positions in the building
of the portable devices over time based on the received
communications; tracking positions of a plurality of further
devices over time based on information acquired from at least one
further sensor in the building other than via BLE signals, which
information uniquely identifies each further device; determining
correlations between respective portable devices and respective
further devices based on determinations that the respective
portable devices and respective further devices are detected at
common positions and times in the building; determining that at
least one of the portable devices is positioned in an unauthorized
location in the building based at least in part on the determined
correlations; and providing at least one notification regarding the
determination about the unauthorized location.
16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the at least one
further sensor corresponds to a card reader, wherein the further
devices correspond to identification cards, wherein determining
that the at least one portable device is positioned in the
unauthorized location in the building is based at least in part on:
determining that the at least one portable device is correlated to
a further device associated with at least one first attribute; and
determining that prior detected portable devices in the
unauthorized location were not previously correlated to further
devices associated with the at least one first attribute.
17. The method according to claim 15, wherein the at least one
further sensor corresponds to a card reader, wherein the further
devices correspond to identification cards, wherein the card reader
is configured to unlock a door to the unauthorized location in the
building, wherein determining that the at least one portable device
is positioned in the unauthorized location in the building based at
least in part on: determining that the at least one portable device
has become correlated with a further device that was previously
correlated with at least one different portable device and the at
least one portable device was not previously determined to have
been positioned at the unauthorized location.
18. A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with
executable instructions that when executed, cause at least one
processor to carry out a method according to claim 15.
19. The method according to claim 15, wherein the at least one
portable device includes a display screen and a strap or band
configured to mount the portable device to a wrist of a user,
wherein the at least one portable device includes a media access
control (MAC) address, wherein the detected information that
uniquely identifies the at least one portable device includes the
MAC address, further comprising through operation of the at least
one processor: determining information about the user of the at
least one portable device from at least one data store based on the
MAC address associated with the at least one portable device; and
communicating the determined information about the user in the at
least one notification.
20. A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with
executable instructions that when executed, cause at least one
processor to carry out a method comprising: receiving
communications from a plurality of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
sensors mounted in spaced-apart relation across a building, which
communications include information detected by the BLE sensors from
BLE signals from a plurality of portable devices that uniquely
identify each portable device; tracking positions in the building
of the portable devices over time based on the received
communications; based on the tracked positions, determining a first
place in the building at which portable devices are not previously
detected; based on the tracked positions, determining a second
place in the building where portable devices are detected during a
first time period and are not detected during a second time period
during the day; detecting that at least one of the portable devices
remains stationary in the first place during the first time period
and moves to the second place during the second time period and
responsive thereto determining that the at least one portable
device is positioned in an unauthorized location in the building
corresponding to the second place; and providing at least one
notification regarding the determination about the unauthorized
location.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present disclosure is directed, in general, to building
technology such as systems that control and monitor buildings, and
in particular to building security systems including access control
systems for electrically locked doors, surveillance systems, and
alarm systems (collectively referred to herein as building
systems).
BACKGROUND
[0002] Building systems may include surveillance systems capable of
monitoring the activates of people. Such building systems may
benefit from improvements.
SUMMARY
[0003] Variously disclosed embodiments include data processing
systems and methods that may be used to facilitate passive building
information discovery. In one example, a system may comprise at
least one processor configured to track positions in a building of
a plurality of portable devices over time and based thereon
determine characteristics of the building including locations in
the building where at least some of the portable device are
unauthorized, based on communications received from a plurality of
radio-frequency (RF) sensors mounted in spaced-apart relation
across the building, which communications include information
detected by the RF sensors from RF signals from the portable
devices that uniquely identify each portable device. In addition
the at least one processor may be configured to determine when at
least one of the portable devices is detected via a communication
from at least one of the RF sensors at a determined unauthorized
location in the building, and responsive thereto provide at least
one notification that indicates that the at least one portable
device was detected at the unauthorized location.
[0004] In another example, a method for passive building
information discovery may comprise carrying out a plurality of acts
through operation of at least one processor. Such acts may include
receiving communications from a plurality of radio-frequency (RF)
sensors mounted in spaced-apart relation across a building, which
communications include information detected by the RF sensors from
RF signals from a plurality of portable devices that uniquely
identify each portable device. In addition the acts may include
tracking positions in the building of the portable devices over
time, based on the received communications. Further the acts may
include determining characteristics of the building including
locations in the building where at least some of the portable
device are unauthorized, based on the tracked positions of the
portable devices. Also the acts may include determining that at
least one of the portable devices is detected via a communication
from at least one of the RF sensors at a determined unauthorized
location in the building. In addition, the acts may include
providing at least one notification that indicates that the at
least one portable device was detected at the unauthorized
location.
[0005] A further example may include non-transitory computer
readable medium encoded with executable instructions (such as a
software component on a storage device) that when executed, causes
at least one processor to carry out this described method.
[0006] The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the technical
features of the present disclosure so that those skilled in the art
may better understand the detailed description that follows.
Additional features and advantages of the disclosure will be
described hereinafter that form the subject of the claims. Those
skilled in the art will appreciate that they may readily use the
conception and the specific embodiments disclosed as a basis for
modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same
purposes of the present disclosure. Those skilled in the art will
also realize that such equivalent constructions do not depart from
the spirit and scope of the disclosure in its broadest form.
[0007] Also, before undertaking the Detailed Description below, it
should be understood that various definitions for certain words and
phrases are provided throughout this patent document, and those of
ordinary skill in the art will understand that such definitions
apply in many, if not most, instances to prior as well as future
uses of such defined words and phrases. While some terms may
include a wide variety of embodiments, the appended claims may
expressly limit these terms to specific embodiments.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] FIG. 1 illustrates a functional block diagram of an example
system that facilitates passive building information discovery.
[0009] FIGS. 2-5 schematically illustrate several example sceneries
by which the described system may be configured to dynamically
determine locations in a building where at least some portable
device are unauthorized.
[0010] FIG. 6 illustrates a flow diagram of an example methodology
that facilitates passive building information discovery.
[0011] FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of a data processing
system in which an embodiment may be implemented.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0012] Various technologies that pertain to systems and methods
that facilitate passive building information discovery will now be
described with reference to the drawings, where like reference
numerals represent like elements throughout. The drawings discussed
below, and the various embodiments used to describe the principles
of the present disclosure in this patent document are by way of
illustration only and should not be construed in any way to limit
the scope of the disclosure. Those skilled in the art will
understand that the principles of the present disclosure may be
implemented in any suitably arranged apparatus. It is to be
understood that functionality that is described as being carried
out by certain system elements may be performed by multiple
elements. Similarly, for instance, an element may be configured to
perform functionality that is described as being carried out by
multiple elements. The numerous innovative teachings of the present
application will be described with reference to exemplary
non-limiting embodiments.
[0013] With reference to FIG. 1, an example data processing system
100 is illustrated that facilitates passive building information
discovery. The system 100 may include at least one processor 102
that is configured to execute at least one application software
component 106 from a memory 104 accessed by the processor. The
application software component may be configured (i.e., programmed)
to cause the processor to carry out various acts and functions
described herein. For example, the described application software
component 106 may include and/or correspond to one or more
components of a surveillance software application that is
configured to dynamically determine information regarding a
building and store the building information in a data store 108
such as a database, hard drive, SSD, memory card or other type of
device that stores non-volatile data.
[0014] The system may also include at least one input device 110
(e.g., keyboard, mouse, touch screen) and at least one display
device 112 (e.g., display screen, monitor, touch screen). The input
device may facilitate interaction with a graphical user interface
(GUI) 114 displayed by the display device. Such a GUI may provide
menus, buttons, a workspace, edit boxes, and/or any other user
interface that is manipulated with inputs through the input device
for use with configuring the application software component
described herein. In an example embodiment, the application
software component may be configured to display information through
the GUI 114 regarding a building that is being monitored by the
system. Such information, for example, may include a visual
representation 126 of the building 128 as well as information
determined by the system regarding the building.
[0015] It should be understood that as used herein, a building
corresponds to any structure capable of including people therein
and may correspond to a/an office building, school, factory,
hospital, mall, airport terminal, stadium, or dormitory (which are
typically built on land), as well as structures such as a cruise
ship, oil platform, or naval vessel (which are supported by water),
or any other type of structure in which people move around inside
or thereon.
[0016] In an example embodiment, the system may include a plurality
of radio frequency (RF) sensors 116. Such sensors may be placed in
spaced-apart locations across the building and may be configured to
detect one or more types of RF signals and communicate the
detection of such RF signals to the processor 102. The RF sensors
may have a form factor that includes an antenna 118 capable of
receiving RF signals as well as a communication interface 120
capable of communicating the detection of RF signals to the
processor 102 through wires or wirelessly (e.g., via RF signals as
well). It should be appreciated that such RF sensors may include a
controller circuit 122 that enables the detected RF signals to be
communicated via the communication interface as well as a battery
124 and/or an external power input.
[0017] Example RF sensors may be configured to detect Bluetooth
signals (e.g., compliant with IEEE 802.15.1 standards), WiFi
signals (e.g., compliant with IEEE 802.11 standards), or any other
type of RF signals that may be outputted by electronic portable
devices carried by people in a building. Examples of portable
devices that may output RF signals capable of being detected by the
RF sensors 116 may include: mobile phones, tablets, media players,
laptops, headsets, headphones, earbuds, glasses, watches, activity
trackers, or any other wireless-enabled wearable or portable
technology devices.
[0018] A particular example of RF signals that may be detected by
the RF sensors may include Bluetooth low energy (BLE) signals
generated by activity trackers, for example, (e.g., the Fitbit
Tacker produced by Fitbit Inc. of San Francisco, Calif.). Activity
trackers are wearable devices that may measure a number of steps
walked, heart rate, calories burned, temperature, or other
information about the body or activity of the person wearing the
device. Activity trackers may include a processor, a display
screen, and various sensors that are mounted to a strap and/or band
capable of being worn around the wrist of a human. However,
activity trackers may have other form factors such as being
configured as or part of a watch, necklace, armband, earbuds and
headphones.
[0019] Activity trackers (or other portable devices) may use BLE
(branded as Bluetooth Smart) or other RF signals to communicate
with another electronic device such as a mobile phone or computer.
However, it should be appreciated that activity trackers (or other
portable devices) may use other RF signals (such as WiFi) to
wirelessly communicate with other devices and/or networks.
[0020] In addition, it should be appreciated that portable devices
such as mobile phones (as well as some laptops and tablets) may be
configured with cellular radios capable of communicating RF signals
with cell towers. Thus, in some examples the RF sensors 116 may be
configured to detect cellular RF signals outputted by portable
devices.
[0021] In example embodiments, the described system 100 may be
configured to determination information regarding a building based
on the RF signals detected by portable devices moving around the
building. For example, as illustrated in the visual representation
126 of an example building 128, the various, rooms 130, 132, hall
ways, and/or other locations in the building may include one or
more RF sensors 134, 136, 138, 140 mounted therein and/or adjacent
thereto. As people wearing or holding portable devices 142, 144
move around the building, the RF signals from these devices may be
detected by one or more of the RF sensors.
[0022] In this example, the visual representation 126 of the
building 128 includes a visual representation of the RF sensors and
portable devices. However, it should be appreciated that
alternative embodiments may not provide a visual representation of
the RF sensors or portable devices.
[0023] In example embodiments, the RF sensors may be capable of
determining the RF power level of the RF signals. Also, in example
embodiments, the RF sensors may be capable of determining
information in the RF signals that is unique to each portable
device. For example, portable devices may include a media access
control (MAC) address, or other data that is usable to uniquely
identify each device. In some embodiments, such portable devices
may continuously or periodically output the RF signal with such a
unique identifier. However, it should be appreciated that in other
embodiments, the RF sensor may be configured to output a signal
that triggers the portable devices to output their respective RF
signal with their unique identifier.
[0024] The determined RF power level and unique identifiers for
detected RF signals may be communicated by the RF sensors to the
processor for use by the processor to track the movement of
individual portable devices across the building. For example, the
processor may be configured via the application software component
106 to use triangulation algorithms based on the relative power
levels from three or more RF sensors detecting signals with the
same unique identifier, to determine the position and movement of
the portable device with that unique identifier.
[0025] To assist in the determination of the position and movement
of portable devices, in example embodiments, the at least one
processor 102 may be configured with information (e.g., stored in
the data store 108) that specifies the location of each RF sensor
in the building. The GUI of the application software component may
enable such positions to be inputted by a user for example.
However, it should be appreciated that the at least one processor
102 may be configured to determine the general relative locations
of the RF sensors overtime based on correlations carried out on RF
power levels and unique identifiers for many different portable
devices moving across the building over time. Further, based on
such correlations and the various places and paths that individual
portable dives are detected, the at least one processor may be
configured to determine a map of the placement of rooms and paths
in the building. In an example embodiment, the visual
representation 126 of the building 128 may be based on such a
determined map. However, it should be appreciated that the visual
representation of the building may alternatively or in addition be
based on a previously prepared floor plan (e.g., an image file) of
the building accessed by the processor from the data store 108.
[0026] It should be appreciated that floor plans of buildings may
indicate the locations of rooms, hallways and other locations in a
building, but often do not provide information as to which
individual people are or are/not permitted to access different
locations. For example, one or more rooms may have doors that are
configured with electronic locks that are unlocked via an
authorized card, badge or other token. Such rooms, or other
locations secured via a lock may not be marked on a floor plan of a
building. However, the location of such locked rooms or other
locations may be useful for purposes by surveillance systems.
[0027] In an example embodiment of the described system 100, the
processor 102 may be configured to track positions in the building
128 of a plurality of portable devices 142, 144 over time and
responsive thereto determine characteristics of the building
including locations in the building where at least some of the
portable devices are unauthorized. Such locations, for example, may
include a room or other area that is secured via a locked door,
gate, turn style, or other lockable structure that restricts access
to the location in the building to people having appropriate access
permissions.
[0028] The at least one processor may be configured to determine
the locations in the building where at least some of the portable
devices are unauthorized based on communications received from the
plurality of RF sensors mounted in spaced-apart relation across the
building. Such communications include information detected by the
RF sensors from RF signals from the portable devices that uniquely
identify each portable device such as the MAC address of the
portable device.
[0029] At least some of the examples described here are based on
the insight that at least some portable devices are of a type that
is personal to a particular user (i.e., is not shared among users).
For example, a portable device in the form of an activity tracker
may typically be worn by a single user each day for the usable life
of the portable device. Based on where the user goes and does not
go to in a building (via tracking the user's portable device over
time) the at least one processor may be configured to determine
where the user's portable device is or is not authorized to go in
the building.
[0030] In this example, the at least one processor may be
configured to provide at least one notification that indicates that
the portable device was detected at an unauthorized location, based
on a determination that the portable device is detected (via a
communication from at least one of the RF sensors) at the
determined unauthorized location in the building for that portable
device.
[0031] In example embodiments, such a notification may correspond
to storing a log of possible unauthorized accesses in the data
store 108. The GUI 114 may be configured to enable the log to be
displayed through the display device in order for security
personnel to be informed of locations in the building which may
require enhanced surveillance (e.g., via the addition of a security
guard, video camera or other measure which better controls access
to the unauthorized location).
[0032] In another example, the notification provided may correspond
to a communication which triggers an alarm. Such an alarm, for
example, may corresponds to activation of an alarm device (146)
(e.g., a siren and/or flashing light) at the unauthorized location
and/or in another location which notifies the user with the
detected portable device, and/or security personnel that the
location has been accessed by someone that may not be authorized to
access the location.
[0033] In a further example, the notification may be provided via a
wired and/or wireless network communication to a monitoring service
(e.g., a server) which is configured to handle such notifications
by alerting security personnel and/or law enforcement.
[0034] Also, in another example, the notification may be provided
via short message service (SMS) text messages, instant message,
e-mail, or other electronic communication to one or more mobile
phones or other electronic device of individuals responsive for
handing security for the building.
[0035] In addition, in another example the notification may be
provided to another computing system, processor, server, and/or
software application that is responsive to handing securing
notifications. An example of a surveillance software application
that may be adapted to include the described application software
component 106 and carry out the functionality described herein, or
may be adapted to receive the described notification, may include
Surveillance SitelQ Analytics, which is produced by Siemens
Switzerland Ltd, of Zug Switzerland. However, it should be
appreciated that the systems and methods described herein may be
used in or with other surveillance systems and/or any other type of
system that detects and/or handles unauthorized access to locations
in a building.
[0036] As discussed previously, it should be appreciated that the
described RF sensors may be operative to detect one or more
different types of RF signals. For example, each RF sensor may
detect more than one type of RF signal and/or the system may
include different types of RF sensors each dedicated to detecting
one or more different types of RF signals. Also, it should be
understood that different types of RF signals may correlated to
portable devices that are in general more personal to a user that
portable devices that use other types of RF signals. For example,
portable devices that use BLE signals (such as an activity monitor)
may tend to be more personal to a user than portable devices that
communicate WiFi signals (which may be more easily shared among
users, and or which may not be continuous worn/carried by a user).
Thus, the example system may be configured to determine trends as
to which locations in a building are unauthorized for particular
portable devices, taking into account the type of RF signals being
detected. For example, the processor may be configured to determine
such trends by taking into account that a BLE device may have a
higher probability of providing accurate trends as to the location
of unauthorized locations than WiFi devices. Also, in some
embodiments, the described examples may be configured to only or
primarily use BLE signals, based on the more personal nature of BLE
enabled devices (e.g., activity monitors).
[0037] FIGS. 2-5 schematically illustrate several example sceneries
by which the described system may be configured to dynamically
determine locations in a building where at least some portable
device are unauthorized and detect when a possible unauthorized
access has occurred at such a location. However, it should be
appreciated that example embodiments of the described system may or
may not be configured to detect one or more of these described
example scenarios.
[0038] In each of these examples, the at least one processor 102
may be configured (based on the application software component 103)
to determine information about the building based at least in part
on trends and correlations determined from the locations and/or
movements of portable devices via RF signals. For example, with
respect to FIG. 2, an example scenario 200 is illustrated in which
the processor is configured to determine trends regarding the rate
at which such portable devices typically pass given places in a
building. Such trends may be used to determine choke points 202 in
the flow of users that are indicative of a locked door, gate 204 or
other security technology that is responsible for the choke point.
Choke points may be detected by the at least one processor based on
the detection of portable devices 206 that accumulate in an outside
area 208 and slowly move through a first location having a limited
space (i.e., the choke point 202) into a second location (e.g., a
room 210). Thus, the detection of such choke points may correspond
to a determination that the first location 202 corresponds to a
location in which access is restricted by a security technology
which slows the movement of people through the choke point. As
illustrated in FIG. 2, the first location 202 may corresponds to an
entrance to a room or building for example, that is configured with
a door 204 that automatically unlocks responsive to an
authentication of a user's access card (or other token) via a card
reader 212 (or other type of token reader).
[0039] The system may be operative to automatically distinguish a
choke point that represents a card accessed door/gate from a
regular unlocked door/gate based on trends regarding the average
flow rates through such doors/gates. For example, the system may be
operative to determine that portable devices in some locations tend
to move through limited spatial ranges, which likely represent a
location of a door, gate, narrow hallway, or other narrow
passageway. Further, the system may be operative to determine which
of such narrow passageways are controlled by a card accessed
door/gate based on the flow rate of detected portable devices
through such passageways being substantially lower than flow rates
through other passageways with the same or smaller spatial ranges
in which portable devices tend to move therethrough. Thus, the
system may be operative to distinguish a passageway corresponding
to a locked door (in which portable devices move at a relatively
slow rate) from a passageway corresponding to a narrow hallway (in
which portable devices move at a relatively faster rate).
[0040] In this example, the system may not have information as to
which portable device is or is not permitted to enter the room in
which access is determined to be restricted (e.g., via a card
active door/gate). However, the described application software
component may be configured to detect when the rate of people (via
the detection of their portable devices) moved through the choke
point at a rate which is substantially higher than predetermined
upper threshold determined by the processor as to which the
portable devices of users have previously been able to pass through
the choke point having a card access door/gate. The detection of
such an occurrence may correspond to people "tailgating" (i.e., one
person unlocking the door or gate with a single access card being
read by a card reader, followed by one or more additional people
quickly moving through the open door or gate without using the card
reader to read their access cards. Such additional people may not
have access cards and/or the correct permissions associated with
their access cards to unlock the door or gate. Thus, the detection
of too many portable devices passing through a previously
determined choke point may correspond to a detection of
unauthorized portable devices accessing an unauthorized
location.
[0041] In this example, the at least one processor may be
configured to determine a first rate at which at least some of the
portable devices pass a first location in the building in an amount
of time based on the RF signals (e.g., BLE, WiFi signals). Here the
first rate may correspond to (or be used to calculate) a determined
upper threshold of authenticated users capable of passing through
the entrance (e.g., properly via reading an access card) in the
amount of time. In addition, the processor may be configured to
determine a second rate at which further portable devices pass the
first location in the building in the amount of time based on the
RF signals. When the second rate is above the determined upper
threshold, the processor may be configured to determine that the
further portable devices are at the unauthorized location in the
building and responsive thereto provide the described
notification.
[0042] FIG. 3 illustrates another example scenario 300 in which the
processor is configured to determine trends based on determined
positions and movements of portable devices via RF signals (such as
BLE or WiFi signals) and based on determined positions and
movements of further devices (with different types of signals).
[0043] In this example the at least one processor may be configured
to track positions of a plurality of the further devices (e.g.,
access tokens, such as cards and badges) over time based on
information acquired from at least one further sensors in the
building other than via BLE signals (or other than WiFi signals)
for example, which information uniquely identifies each further
device.
[0044] For example, the building 128 may include locked doors
and/or gates 204 that are unlocked via scanning a user's access
card 302 via a contact or contactless communication with a further
sensor 212 (such as a card reader) that does not involve BLE (or
WiFi). Such access cards may be associated with a user account
maintained by a security system. Such user accounts may have one or
more attributes that represent a type of user. For example,
attributes associated with a user account may indicate whether the
person assigned the access card is an employee type or an outside
contractor type. Other examples of attributes may indicate whether
the person assigned the access card is associated with one or more
of a plurality of different security levels, clearance levels or
any other type of attribute which can be used to group or classify
people).
[0045] The processor 102 may be operative to access information
from the security system regarding when a user uses their access
cards to unlock doors as well as one or more attributes associated
with the account of the user associated with the access card. The
processor may be configured to determine correlations between
respective portable devices 142, 144 and respective further devices
302, 304 (e.g., cards) based on determinations that the respective
portable devices and respective further devices are detected at
common positions and times in the building (e.g., a portable device
is adjacent card reader when an access card is read). The processor
may also determine correlations between determined attributes for a
user account and positions and movements of portable devices. The
processor 102 may then determine that a portable device is
positioned in the unauthorized location in the building based at
least in part on the determined correlations.
[0046] For example, with respect to as shown in FIG. 3, the
processor 102 may be operative to determine that portable devices
142, 144 are adjacent respective cards 302, 304 when such cards are
read by the various card readers in the building. In addition, the
processor 102 may be operative to determine that the cards 302 and
304 are associated with different attributes. For example, the
first card 302 may be associated with an employee type attribute,
whereas the second card 304 may be associated with an outside
contractor attribute. In addition, as illustrated in view A of the
building 128, the processor may be configured to determine that a
particular location (such as room 130) often has therein portable
devices correlated to further devices (such as an access card)
associated with an employee attribute. Further, the processor may
be configured to determine that such a particular location (such as
room 120) never (or rarely) appears to have portable devices
detected therein that correlate to further devices (such as access
cards) that are associated with an outside contractor
attribute.
[0047] With this determined information, the processor may be
configured to issue a notification when a situation illustrated in
view B is detected, where a portable device is detected in a
location (e.g., room 130) in which the portable device is
correlated to a further device (such as an access card) associated
an particular attribute (e.g., an outside contractor), and where
the processor has determined that prior detected portable devices
in that location were not previously correlated to (or are rarely
correlated to) further devices (such as access cards) associated
with this attribute (e.g., an outside contractor).
[0048] In this example, the detected unauthorized location (e.g.,
room 130) may correspond to a secure server room, for example, (or
other restricted area) in which only employees with certain
permissions are permitted, however the access door is such that an
authorized user with a valid access card could violate the rules
and open the door and let the unauthorized person into the room. In
another example of this scenario, the first attribute may
correspond to a male student type and the unauthorized location may
correspond to a female student only locker room. It should be
appreciated that in this example scenario, the unauthorized
location may or may not have a door or gate that is unlocked using
an access card, but may simply have a sign that indicates who is or
who is not permitted in the location.
[0049] FIG. 4 illustrates another example scenario 400 in which the
processor is configured to determine trends and correlations based
on determined positions and movements of portable devices via RF
signals (such as BLE signals) and based on determined positions and
movements of further devices (with different types of signals). For
example, as shown in view A of FIG. 4, the processor may be
configured to determine correlations between respective portable
devices 142, 144 and respective further devices 302, 304 (e.g.,
access cards) based on determinations that the respective portable
devices and respective further devices are detected at common
positions and times in the building (e.g., a portable device is
adjacent a further sensor such as a card reader 212 when an access
card is read by the card reader).
[0050] Subsequently as shown in view B of FIG. 4, the processor 102
may then determine that a portable device 144 is positioned in the
unauthorized location (e.g., room 130) in the building 128 based at
least in part on a determination that the at least one portable
device 144 has now become correlated with a further device 302 that
was previously correlated with at least one different portable
device 142 (shown in view A) and the at least one portable device
144 was not previously determined to have been positioned at the
unauthorized location (e.g., room 130).
[0051] This example scenario may correspond to a situation where an
employee borrows or steals an access card of another user to enter
an unauthorized location (e.g., an area in which their issued
access card does not permit them entry). However, the person
stealing or borrowing the access card continues to wear their
previously detected and correlated portable device (e.g., an
activity tracker). Thus, the described system is able to detect a
discrepancy between portable device and further device that may
indicate an unauthorized access to a location.
[0052] FIG. 5 illustrates another example scenario 500 in which the
processor is configured to determine trends and correlations based
on determined positions and movements of portable devices via RF
signals (such as BLE signals). In this scenario the system may be
configured to detect a person that attempts to hide in a small area
in a building during the day and then waits until night and after
regular business hours to come out of hiding and access an
unauthorized location in the building.
[0053] For example, as illustrated in view A of the building in
FIG. 5, the processor may be configured to determine a first place
(e.g., small space 130) in the building at which portable devices
are not previously detected. Such a first place may correspond to a
hiding place in the building such as behind or inside a piece of
furniture. The processor may also be configured to determine a
second place (e.g., room 132) in the building where portable
devices are detected during a first time period (such as during
working hours) and are not detected during a second time period
during the day (such as at night).
[0054] As illustrated in views B and C of the building in FIG. 5,
the at least one processor may be configured to determine that the
at least one portable device is positioned in the unauthorized
location in the building corresponding to the second place (e.g.,
room 132) when the at least one processor detects that the at least
one portable device had remained stationary in the first place
(e.g., small space 130) during the first time period (view B) and
subsequently moves to the second place (e.g., larger room 132)
during the second time period (view C).
[0055] In this example, the person may be attempting hide until the
larger room 132 is clear of people before carrying out some
activity that may be unauthorized. Thus the larger room 132 may
correspond to an authorized location for the user (and the user's
portable device) at least during the second time period (such as at
night).
[0056] It should also be appreciated that in this example, the
particular portable device may or may not be new to the system.
Thus the portable device could be one that has been tracked for
many days prior to the activity, and/or be worn for the first time
when detected in this example scenario.
[0057] In the example scenarios illustrated in FIGS. 2 to 5, the
described system may use BLE sensors in order to take advantage of
the insight that portable devices that use BLE (such as activity
trackers) are typically continuously worn by a user and thus may
correlate better with the detection of people at unauthorized
locations than devices that are less personal (such as WiFi enabled
tablet). In addition, the described sceneries of detected portable
devices in unauthorized locations may be based on additional or
alternative detections of trends and correlations. For example, the
processor may be operative to detect in each of these examples that
the unauthorized access to a location occurs in a time frame during
the day at which portable devices are not typically detected and/or
are in which additional portable devices are not currently being
detected.
[0058] It should also be appreciated that portable devices may
further include additional features which assist in tracking them
via the described sensors. For example, the portable devices may
include applications thereon, which are responsive to Bluetooth
signals from BLE beacons to communicate information to a server
which may be used to further track the movements of the portable
devices in a building. Such applications may further enable
notifications to be communicated to the portable device regarding
the building, emergency information, and/or any other information
that may be useful to send the user while in the building.
[0059] It should also be appreciated that the described RF sensors
(such as BLE sensors) may have a form factor that enables them to
be readily mounted in spaced-apart relation across a building. For
example, an example embodiment of an RF sensor may have a shape
that can be inserted into a cylindrical hole drilled in a wall. An
installer may drill holes in various places in drywall of a room
wall and insert the RF sensors in each hole. In some embodiments,
the installer may cover the RF sensors/holes with a patching
compound, mud, paint, or other covering. Such a portable device may
be powered via a battery, wires to a power source, solar cell, RF
power harvesting device, and/or any other type of electrical power
source. For example the sensor could have a solar cell that forms a
circular flange larger than the hole in the drywall that prevents
the portion of the RF sensor inserted into the hole from falling
out of the hole inside wall. Also, as discussed previously, the at
least one processor 102 may be configured to determine the general
relative locations of such RF sensors overtime from RF signals
(e.g., BLE signals) wirelessly outputted by the RF sensors to the
processor 102. The RF sensor locations may be determined by the
processor based on correlations regarding RF power levels and the
unique identifiers for many different portable devices moving
across the building over time that are detected by the RF
sensors.
[0060] In other examples, the RF sensors may be integrated into
exit signs, lighting fixtures, building control modules (e.g., for
temperature, lighting, and window shade control), furniture, and/or
any other structure that forms and/or may be included in a
building.
[0061] In addition, it should be appreciated that the information
regarding the position of portable devices in a building may be
useful in emergency situations. For example, because BLE type
devices (activity trackers) tend to be worn all the time, such
devices may be a more reliable indicator of the number of people in
a building or remaining in a building after an evacuation during an
emergency situation (fire, earthquake) compared to other types of
portable devices. Other types of portable devices which primarily
use WiFi or classic Bluetooth communications, may be left behind
when a user has left the building during lunch or during an
emergency, and thus may not reliably indicate if a user is still in
a building.
[0062] Further, BLE type devices may more accurately reflect that
the number of people in a building is greater than expected (e.g.,
compared to card reader scans). For example, in the tailgating
example described previously, additional people may be let in a
building without having their access cards being scanned, when
another person enters the building or opens a door from the inside.
Such information about the number of people wearing BLE type
devices may be useful for emergency responder (firefighters, EMS,
police) when assessing whether people may still be present in an
evacuated building.
[0063] In addition, because BLE type devices may provide a unique
identifier, such a unique identifier may be captured by the at
least one processor and correlated with the same unique identifier
previously stored in the data store 108 in association with user
information (e.g., human resource data, medical records, student
records, housing records). Such a unique identifier, for example,
may correspond to a MAC address of the portable device which is
stored in the database in association with the users' information
when the person is hired by an employer, registers for classes, or
any other time.
[0064] During an emergency situation, the at least one processor
may be capable of determining relevant information about
individuals associated with portable devices that remain detected
in a building that was attempted to be fully evacuated. Such
individuals could be unconscious, injured and/or have a known
medical condition stored in the data store 108 (e.g., whether a
person is blind, paraplegic, diabetic, epileptic) that could
hinders them from evacuating). The at least one processor may be
capable of determining the location in the building of a portable
devices that remains in the building and correlate the unique
identifiers of the portable devices to corresponding user records
in the data store 108. The location of the portable devices and
associated information about the users (such as their name, mobile
phone number and/or medical condition), may be communicated by the
described system 100 to an emergency service (such as a server)
that is configured to communicate such received information
regarding users to emergency responders.
[0065] With reference now to FIG. 6, various example methodologies
are illustrated and described. While the methodologies are
described as being a series of acts that are performed in a
sequence, it is to be understood that the methodologies may not be
limited by the order of the sequence. For instance, some acts may
occur in a different order than what is described herein. In
addition, an act may occur concurrently with another act.
Furthermore, in some instances, not all acts may be required to
implement a methodology described herein.
[0066] It is important to note that while the disclosure includes a
description in the context of a fully functional system and/or a
series of acts, those skilled in the art will appreciate that at
least portions of the mechanism of the present disclosure and/or
described acts are capable of being distributed in the form of
computer-executable instructions contained within non-transitory
machine-usable, computer-usable, or computer-readable medium in any
of a variety of forms, and that the present disclosure applies
equally regardless of the particular type of instruction or data
bearing medium or storage medium utilized to actually carry out the
distribution. Examples of non-transitory machine usable/readable or
computer usable/readable mediums include: ROMs, EPROMs, magnetic
tape, floppy disks, hard disk drives, SSDs, flash memory, CDs,
DVDs, and Blu-ray disks. The computer-executable instructions may
include a routine, a sub-routine, programs, applications, modules,
libraries, a thread of execution, and/or the like. Still further,
results of acts of the methodologies may be stored in a
computer-readable medium, displayed on a display device, and/or the
like.
[0067] Referring now to FIG. 6, a methodology 600 is illustrated
that facilitates passive building information discovery. The method
may start at 602 and the methodology may include several acts
carried out through operation of at least one processor.
[0068] These acts may include an act 604 of receiving
communications from a plurality of radio-frequency (RF) sensors
mounted in spaced-apart relation across a building, which
communications include information detected by the RF sensors from
RF signals from a plurality of portable devices that uniquely
identify each portable device. In addition, the methodology may
include an act 606 of tracking positions in the building of the
portable devices over time, based on the received communications.
Further, the methodology may include an act 608 of determining
characteristics of the building including locations in the building
where at least some of the portable device are unauthorized, based
on the tracked positions of the portable devices. Also, the
methodology may include an act 610 of determining that at least one
of the portable devices is detected via a communication from at
least one of the RF sensors at a determined unauthorized location
in the building. In addition, the methodology may include an act
612 of providing at least one notification that indicates that the
at least one portable device was detected at the unauthorized
location. At 614 the methodology may end.
[0069] It should be appreciated that the methodology 600 may
include other acts and features discussed previously with respect
to the processing system 100. For example, (as discussed
previously) the RF sensors involved in this described methodology
may be BLE sensors and the RF signals may be BLE signals. However,
in other examples the methodology may be carried with respect to
alternative or additional types of RF signals and sensors such as
WiFi sensors/signals, other forms of Bluetooth sensors/signals,
and/or any other types of sensors capable of detecting any other
type of RF signals outputted by portable devices.
[0070] In addition the described methodology 600 may include an act
of providing the at least one notification to at least one of an
alarm system, a display screen, a data base, a second at least one
processor, or any combination thereof.
[0071] Further, the methodology may include addition acts such as
determining: a first rate at which at least some of the portable
devices pass a first location in the building in an amount of time
based on the BLE signals; determining a second rate at which
further portable devices pass the first location in the building in
the amount of time based on the BLE signals; and determining that
the further portable devices are at the unauthorized location in
the building and responsive thereto provide the at least one
notification, based on the second rate being higher than the first
rate.
[0072] In addition, in some example embodiments of this described
methodology, the first location may correspond to an entrance to a
room that is configured with a door that automatically unlocks
responsive to an authentication of a user. Also, the first rate may
correspond to an upper threshold of authenticated users capable of
passing through the entrance in the amount of time.
[0073] Also, the methodology may include additional acts such as:
tracking positions of a plurality of further devices over time
based on information acquired from at least one further sensors in
the building other than via BLE signals, which information uniquely
identifies each further device; and determining correlations
between respective portable devices and respective further devices
based on determinations that the respective portable devices and
respective further devices are detected at common positions and
times in the building. In this example, the act of determining that
the at least one portable device is positioned in the unauthorized
location in the building may be based at least in part on the
determined correlations.
[0074] In this described example, the at least one further sensor
may correspond to a card reader and the further devices may
correspond to identification cards. Also, determining that the at
least one portable device is positioned in the unauthorized
location in the building may be based at least in part on:
determining that the at least one portable device is correlated to
a further device associated with at least one first attribute; and
determining that prior detected portable devices in the
unauthorized location were not previously correlated to further
devices associated with the at least one first attribute.
[0075] In another example, the at least one further sensor may
correspond to a card reader, the further devices may correspond to
identification cards, and the card reader may be configured to
unlock a door to the unauthorized location in the building. In
addition the methodology may include determining that the at least
one portable device has become correlated with a further device
that was previously correlated with at least one different portable
device and the at least one portable device was not previously
determined to have been positioned at the unauthorized
location.
[0076] Example embodiments of the methodology 600 may also include
act such as: determining a first place in the building at which
portable devices are not previously detected; determining a second
place in the building where portable devices are detected during a
first time period and are not detected during a second time period
during the day; and determining that the at least one portable
device is positioned in the unauthorized location in the building
corresponding to the second place when the at least one processor
detects that the at least one portable device remains stationary in
the first place during the first time period and moves to the
second place during the second time period.
[0077] As discussed previously, the at least one portable device
may include a display screen and a band or strap configured to
mount the portable device to a wrist of a user. Also, the at least
one portable device may include a media access control (MAC)
address and the detected information that uniquely identifies the
at least one portable device may include the MAC address. In
addition the methodology may further include the acts of:
determining information about the user of the at least one portable
device from at least one data store based on the MAC address
associated with the at least one portable device; and communicating
the determined information about the user to an emergency
responder.
[0078] As discussed previously, acts associated with these
methodologies (other than any described manual acts) may be carried
out by one or more processors. Such processor(s) may be included in
one or more data processing systems, for example, that execute
software components (such as the described application software
component) operative to cause these acts to be carried out by the
one or more processors. In an example embodiment, such software
components may comprise computer-executable instructions
corresponding to a routine, a sub-routine, programs, applications,
modules, libraries, a thread of execution, and/or the like.
Further, it should be appreciated that software components may be
written in and/or produced by software
environments/languages/frameworks such as Java, JavaScript, Python,
C, C#, C++ or any other software tool capable of producing
components and graphical user interfaces configured to carry out
the acts and features described herein.
[0079] FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of a data processing
system 700 (also referred to as a computer system) in which an
embodiment can be implemented, for example, as a portion of a
building system, and/or other system operatively configured by
software or otherwise to perform the processes as described herein.
The data processing system depicted includes at least one processor
702 (e.g., a CPU) (which may correspond to the at least one
processor 102) that may be connected to one or more
bridges/controllers/buses 704 (e.g., a north bridge, a south
bridge). One of the buses 704, for example, may include one or more
I/O buses such as a PCI Express bus. Also connected to various
buses in the depicted example may include a main memory 706 (RAM)
and a graphics controller 708. The graphics controller 708 may be
connected to one or more display devices 710. It should also be
noted that in some embodiments one or more controllers (e.g.,
graphics, south bridge) may be integrated with the CPU (on the same
chip or die). Examples of CPU architectures include IA-32, x86-64,
and ARM processor architectures.
[0080] Other peripherals connected to one or more buses may include
communication controllers 712 (Ethernet controllers, WiFi
controllers, cellular controllers) operative to connect to a local
area network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), a cellular network,
and/or other wired or wireless networks 714 or communication
equipment.
[0081] Further components connected to various busses may include
one or more I/O controllers 716 such as USB controllers, Bluetooth
controllers, and/or dedicated audio controllers (connected to
speakers and/or microphones). It should also be appreciated that
various peripherals may be connected to the I/O controller(s) (via
various ports and connections) including input devices 718 (e.g.,
keyboard, mouse, pointer, touch screen, touch pad, drawing tablet,
trackball, buttons, keypad, game controller, gamepad, camera,
microphone, scanners, motion sensing devices that capture motion
gestures), output devices 720 (e.g., printers, speakers) or any
other type of device that is operative to provide inputs to or
receive outputs from the data processing system. Also, it should be
appreciated that many devices referred to as input devices or
output devices may both provide inputs and receive outputs of
communications with the data processing system. For example, the
processor 702 may be integrated into a housing (such as a tablet)
that includes a touch screen that serves as both an input and
display device. Further, it should be appreciated that some input
devices (such as a laptop) may include a plurality of different
types of input devices (e.g., touch screen, touch pad, and
keyboard). Also, it should be appreciated that other peripheral
hardware 722 connected to the I/O controllers 716 may include any
type of device, machine, or component that is configured to
communicate with a data processing system.
[0082] Additional components connected to various busses may
include one or more storage controllers 724 (e.g., SATA). A storage
controller may be connected to a storage device 726 such as one or
more storage drives and/or any associated removable media, which
can be any suitable non-transitory machine usable or machine
readable storage medium. Examples, include nonvolatile devices,
volatile devices, read only devices, writable devices, ROMs,
EPROMs, magnetic tape storage, floppy disk drives, hard disk
drives, solid-state drives (SSDs), flash memory, optical disk
drives (CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray), and other known optical, electrical,
or magnetic storage devices drives and/or computer media. Also in
some examples, a storage device such as an SSD may be connected
directly to an I/O bus 704 such as a PCI Express bus.
[0083] A data processing system in accordance with an embodiment of
the present disclosure may include an operating system 728,
software/firmware 730, and data stores 732 (that may be stored on a
storage device 726 and/or the memory 706). Such an operating system
may employ a command line interface (CLI) shell and/or a graphical
user interface (GUI) shell. The GUI shell permits multiple display
windows to be presented in the graphical user interface
simultaneously, with each display window providing an interface to
a different application or to a different instance of the same
application. A cursor or pointer in the graphical user interface
may be manipulated by a user through a pointing device such as a
mouse or touch screen. The position of the cursor/pointer may be
changed and/or an event, such as clicking a mouse button or
touching a touch screen, may be generated to actuate a desired
response. Examples of operating systems that may be used in a data
processing system may include Microsoft Windows, Linux, UNIX, iOS,
and Android operating systems. Also, examples of data stores
include data files, data tables, relational database (e.g., Oracle,
Microsoft SQL Server), database servers, or any other structure
and/or device that is capable of storing data, which is retrievable
by a processor.
[0084] The communication controllers 712 may be connected to the
network 714 (not a part of data processing system 700), which can
be any public or private data processing system network or
combination of networks, as known to those of skill in the art,
including the Internet. Data processing system 700 can communicate
over the network 714 with one or more other data processing systems
such as a server 734 (also not part of the data processing system
700). However, an alternative data processing system may correspond
to a plurality of data processing systems implemented as part of a
distributed system in which processors associated with several data
processing systems may be in communication by way of one or more
network connections and may collectively perform tasks described as
being performed by a single data processing system. Thus, it is to
be understood that when referring to a data processing system, such
a system may be implemented across several data processing systems
organized in a distributed system in communication with each other
via a network.
[0085] Further, the term "controller" means any device, system or
part thereof that controls at least one operation, whether such a
device is implemented in hardware, firmware, software or some
combination of at least two of the same. It should be noted that
the functionality associated with any particular controller may be
centralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely.
[0086] In addition, it should be appreciated that data processing
systems may be implemented as virtual machines in a virtual machine
architecture or cloud environment. For example, the processor 702
and associated components may correspond to a virtual machine
executing in a virtual machine environment of one or more servers.
Examples of virtual machine architectures include VMware ESCi,
Microsoft Hyper-V, Xen, and KVM.
[0087] Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the
hardware depicted for the data processing system may vary for
particular implementations. For example, the data processing system
700 in this example may correspond to a computer, workstation,
server, PC, notebook computer, tablet, mobile phone, and/or any
other type of apparatus/system that is operative to process data
and carry out functionality and features described herein
associated with the operation of a data processing system,
computer, processor, and/or a controller discussed herein. The
depicted example is provided for the purpose of explanation only
and is not meant to imply architectural limitations with respect to
the present disclosure.
[0088] Also, it should be noted that the processor described herein
may be located in a server that is remote from the display and
input devices described herein. In such an example, the described
display device and input device may be included in a client device
that communicates with the server (and/or a virtual machine
executing on the server) through a wired or wireless network (which
may include the Internet). In some embodiments, such a client
device, for example, may execute a remote desktop application or
may correspond to a portal device that carries out a remote desktop
protocol with the server in order to send inputs from an input
device to the server and receive visual information from the server
to display through a display device. Examples of such remote
desktop protocols include Teradici's PCoIP, Microsoft's RDP, and
the RFB protocol. In such examples, the processor described herein
may correspond to a virtual processor of a virtual machine
executing in a physical processor of the server.
[0089] As used herein, the terms "component" and "system" are
intended to encompass hardware, software, or a combination of
hardware and software. Thus, for example, a system or component may
be a process, a process executing on a processor, or a processor.
Additionally, a component or system may be localized on a single
device or distributed across several devices.
[0090] Also, as used herein a processor corresponds to any
electronic device that is configured via hardware circuits,
software, and/or firmware to process data. For example, processors
described herein may correspond to one or more (or a combination)
of a microprocessor, CPU, FPGA, ASIC, or any other integrated
circuit (IC) or other type of circuit that is capable of processing
data in a data processing system, which may have the form of a
controller board, computer, server, mobile phone, and/or any other
type of electronic device.
[0091] Those skilled in the art will recognize that, for simplicity
and clarity, the full structure and operation of all data
processing systems suitable for use with the present disclosure is
not being depicted or described herein. Instead, only so much of a
data processing system as is unique to the present disclosure or
necessary for an understanding of the present disclosure is
depicted and described. The remainder of the construction and
operation of data processing system 700 may conform to any of the
various current implementations and practices known in the art.
[0092] Also, it should be understood that the words or phrases used
herein should be construed broadly, unless expressly limited in
some examples. For example, the terms "include" and "comprise," as
well as derivatives thereof, mean inclusion without limitation. The
singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the
plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates
otherwise. Further, the term "and/or" as used herein refers to and
encompasses any and all possible combinations of one or more of the
associated listed items. The term "or" is inclusive, meaning
and/or, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The phrases
"associated with" and "associated therewith," as well as
derivatives thereof, may mean to include, be included within,
interconnect with, contain, be contained within, connect to or
with, couple to or with, be communicable with, cooperate with,
interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to or with, have,
have a property of, or the like.
[0093] Also, although the terms "first", "second", "third" and so
forth may be used herein to describe various elements, functions,
or acts, these elements, functions, or acts should not be limited
by these terms. Rather these numeral adjectives are used to
distinguish different elements, functions or acts from each other.
For example, a first element, function, or act could be termed a
second element, function, or act, and, similarly, a second element,
function, or act could be termed a first element, function, or act,
without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.
[0094] In addition, phrases such as "processor is configured to"
carry out one or more functions or processes, may mean the
processor is operatively configured to or operably configured to
carry out the functions or processes via software, firmware, and/or
wired circuits. For example, a processor that is configured to
carry out a function/process may correspond to a processor that is
executing the software/firmware, which is programmed to cause the
processor to carry out the function/process and/or may correspond
to a processor that has the software/firmware in a memory or
storage device that is available to be executed by the processor to
carry out the function/process. It should also be noted that a
processor that is "configured to" carry out one or more functions
or processes, may also correspond to a processor circuit
particularly fabricated or "wired" to carry out the functions or
processes (e.g., an ASIC or FPGA design). Further the phrase "at
least one" before an element (e.g., a processor) that is configured
to carry out more than one function may correspond to one or more
elements (e.g., processors) that each carry out the functions and
may also correspond to two or more of the elements (e.g.,
processors) that respectively carry out different ones of the one
or more different functions.
[0095] In addition, the term "adjacent to" may mean: that an
element is relatively near to but not in contact with a further
element; or that the element is in contact with the further
portion, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
[0096] Although an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure
has been described in detail, those skilled in the art will
understand that various changes, substitutions, variations, and
improvements disclosed herein may be made without departing from
the spirit and scope of the disclosure in its broadest form.
[0097] None of the description in the present application should be
read as implying that any particular element, step, act, or
function is an essential element, which must be included in the
claim scope: the scope of patented subject matter is defined only
by the allowed claims. Moreover, none of these claims are intended
to invoke a means plus function claim construction unless the exact
words "means for" are followed by a participle.
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