One variation of a method for detecting a fire includes: during a first time period: detecting an increase in ambient light intensity and detecting an increase in ambient humidity; responsive to the increase in ambient light intensity and the increase in ambient humidity, detecting a fire event; during a second time period: correlating a decrease in ambient light intensity with an increase in visual obscuration; detecting an increase in ambient air temperature; in response to a magnitude of the increase in visual obscuration remaining below a high obscuration threshold and a magnitude of the increase in ambient temperature remaining below a high temperature threshold, classifying the fire as an incipient fire; and, in response to the magnitude of the increase in visual obscuration exceeding the high obscuration threshold and the magnitude of the increase in ambient temperature exceeding the high temperature threshold, classifying the fire as a developed fire.

In a detecting device, infrared light is emitted by a first source in a detection target space; second light of a wavelength different from the infrared light is emitted by a second source in a direction different from a direction of the infrared light being emitted by the first source. A reflecting section provided in the direction of the second light being emitted reflects the second light. A light receiver receives infrared light emitted by the first source and reflected by the object, and receives infrared light radiating from the object as a result of the object being irradiated with the infrared light emitted by the first source and being irradiated with the second light emitted by the second source and reflected by the reflecting section. A detector detects the object based on the infrared light received by the light receiver.

Use of multiple sensors to determine whether motion of an object is occurring in an area is described. In one aspect, an infrared (IR) sensor can be supplemented with a radar sensor to determine whether the determined motion of an object is not a false positive.

A client device is configured to communicate with an access point over a wireless network, exchanging data with the access point over a selected communication channel. After the wireless connection to the access point has ended, the client device receives a probe from the access point over a low-level layer, such as a data link layer. In response to receiving the probe, the client device reconnects to the access point.

A multi-sensory sensor comprises at least a first and a second sensor element, wherein the multi-sensory sensor is adapted for attachment to a movable structure in a building. The multi-sensory sensor is operatively associated with a controller that is configured to receive input from said first sensor element, wherein the input is indicative of a movement of the movable structure. The controller is further configured to receive input from the second sensor element, and indirectly identify a human behavioral action in the building based on a combination of the input from the first sensor element and the input from the second sensor element. It is further configured to determine a function to be taken based on the identified action, and cause the function to be taken to be executed. In one embodiment the first sensor is a movement sensor element for sensing a movement and the second sensor element is an audio sensor element for sensing audio.

The present invention is a motion detection system that will consistently report detected movement, while reducing the number of false reports. The motion detection system includes a receiver and a dual sensor motion detector. The dual sensor motion detector utilizes sensors mounted in a weatherproof chassis. The dual sensors are located at the same vertical height in the weatherproof chassis and separated by a predetermined distance from the center of the chassis. Each sensor is rotated at an angle away from the center of the chassis. Each sensor has a coverage area dictated by its viewing angle (or field-of-view) and viewing distance. By utilizing dual sensors, a user can set the dual sensor motion detector to an AND operation or an OR operation. Motion is detected when both sensors detect movement simultaneously or motion is detected when any one of the two sensors detects movement.

Apparatus for detecting a presence of a target in a room is disclosed. The apparatus includes a motion-sensitive passive infrared (PIR) sensor, an imaging sensor, and a control unit. The PIR sensor is adapted to provide a motion signal, while the imaging sensor is adapted to generate at least a first image and a second image. The control unit is adapted to provide either a first signal or a second signal, depending on the strength of the motion and a comparison of the first and second images, where the first signal indicates a presence of the target and the second signal indicates an absence of the target. Also disclosed are a system for controlling lighting in a room, a method for detecting a presence of a target in a room, and a corresponding use of an apparatus for controlling lighting in a room.

Systems, methods and apparatus are described for reducing the occurrence of false alarms by determining the identify of people, typically via their mobile devices, in or near a monitored premises. A security system employing the embodiments described herein monitors a home or business to determine the presence of mobile devices in or near the premises, and determines whether such mobile devices are authorized, or not, to enter the premises after the security system has been armed. When an intrusion is detected, the security system determines whether any unauthorized mobile devices are present in or near the premises. If so, one or more escalated alarm responses are initiated by the security system. If no unauthorized mobile devices are in or near the premises when intrusion is detected, the security system ignores the intrusion and refrains from performing the escalated alarm responses.

The disclosure is related to adaptive transcoding of video streams from a camera. A camera system includes a camera and a base station connected to each other in a first communication network, which can be a wireless network. When a user requests to view a video from the camera, the base station obtains a video stream from the camera, transcodes the video stream, based on one or more input parameters, to generate a transcoded video stream, and transmits the transcoded video stream to a user device. The base station can transcode the video stream locally, e.g., within the base station, or in a cloud network based on transcoding location factors. Further, the camera system can also determine whether to stream the video to the user directly from the base station or from the cloud network based on streaming location factors.

An integrated fire and emergency management system comprised of standard emergency devices wherein each device is equipped with a sensing device configured for detecting and reporting to a server, by way of a transceiver, to a Central Management Software which connects to the Internet and all manner of private networks. The devices include alarm bells, extinguishers, manual alarm stations, battery-backed emergency lights which also comprise infrared, smoke, and motion detectors, sprinklers from a sprinkler system, smoke detectors (6 in 1), a display screen for displaying evacuation instructions, and light strips along the walls to indicate the best exit route. The 6-in-1 smoke detectors send their readings to the server where the Central Management Software has an algorithm that determines the best evacuation route that minimizes exposure to smoke and noxious gases.