A security device has user-configurable motion detection settings. The security device includes at least one camera configured to capture sequential frames of image data within a field of view; at least one processor; memory communicatively coupled with the processor(s); a location setting, stored in the memory, defining whether or not the security device is located at a common access area; and machine readable instructions stored in the memory. The machine readable instructions are executable by the processor(s) to determine the image data indicates motion; and determine that the motion indicates lingering presence at the common access area. In certain embodiments, the machine readable instructions are executable by the processor(s) to determine, from the image data, that the average ambient light over a daily period varies less than a light variation threshold, and configure the location setting to indicate that the security device is located at the common access area.

A method of selectively broadcasting a message to a client by a server without knowing the client's internet protocol (IP) address includes performing target recognition and tracking on one or more targets, including position of the one or more targets, extracting target-specific context parameters from the one or more recognized and tracked targets, encoding the target-specific context parameters into a header, thereby generating a context address for the one or more targets, appending the context address to a message for the one or more targets from a predetermined set of messages based on the position of the one or more targets, thereby generating one or more packets of information, and broadcasting the one or more packets wirelessly to one or more client mobile devices each associated with the one or more targets.

In one implementation, a method for using a mobile computing device as a security system component includes receiving, from a mobile device and by a security system gateway, mobile device sensor information associated with sensor data captured by the mobile device at a premises monitored by the security system gateway; identifying, based on the received sensor information, a mobile device sensor information rule; identifying an action to perform in the mobile device sensor information rule; and automatically performing the identified action, by the security system gateway, in response to receiving the sensor information from the mobile device.

An appropriate response to an event is recommended to a monitoring person. An event detection unit (12) detects an event based on video data, and an alert unit (13) issues a first alert when a first event is detected, and issues a second alert that is distinguished from the first alert when a second event relating to the first event is further detected in addition to the first event.

An electronic monitoring system has one or more imaging devices that can detect at least one triggering event comprising sound and motion and a controller that executes a program to categorize the triggering event as being located in a user-defined activity zone within the field of view and/or as being a taxonomic-based triggering event. Upon categorizing the triggering event, the system generates an output comprising a video component and an audio component. At least a portion of the audio component is modified if the triggering event is a categorized triggering event. Modification of the audio may include muting all or a portion of the audio component of the output.

An electronic monitoring system has one or more imaging devices that can detect a triggering event based on motion and/or sound and that concurrently provide a push notification to a user device with a custom audio alert indicative of the one or more triggering events for quickly identifying the triggering without requiring the remote device to execute a dedicated application program. The custom audio alert portion of the push notification may provide various details of the triggering event, categorized as either a genus level triggering event and/or a species level triggering event, i.e., a subset of the genus level triggering event. The push notification can operate as a custom audio alert and a pop-up message which can be pushed to the device and broadcast or displayed via an operating system of the device.

An apparatus includes: display controlling means for displaying, on a display, a viewable-area image representing a viewable area of a captured image having been captured; and accepting means for receiving an instruction to set the viewable-area image as a detectable area in which an object can be detected.

A building monitoring system includes a first sensor configured to detect a first condition in the space, a second sensor configured to detect a second condition in the space, and a robotic sentinel. The robotic sentinel includes a memory for storing one or more rules each configured to identify an alert condition for the space based on the first and/or second conditions in the space, a communications module configured to communicate with a remote device over a network, and a controller operatively coupled to the sensors, the memory, and the communications module. The controller is configured to apply the one or more rules to the first and second detected conditions in the space to identify one or more alert conditions and determine what action is required by the robotic sentinel, and if action is required, command the robotic sentinel to travel to a location of the alert condition.

A method for monitoring and securing a facility without employing a manned control center, according to which a server acquires surveillance data from each of a plurality of distributed surveillance devices deployed within or adjacent to a given security sensitive facility. Then the server receives an intrusion alert from a guard, or from one or more of the plurality of surveillance devices to initiate a triggering event, if the acquired surveillance data is indicative of activity that has been detected at an indicated location. A first guard is alerted and presented with a full situational awareness image to assess the severity of the detected activity and the triggering event is terminated if found by the first guard to be of a low severity, or an interception operation initiated by self-dispatching or dispatching one or more additional guards to a close by location that holds tactical advantage relative to the indicated location if the triggering event was found by the first guard to be of a high severity.

An electronic device, computer program product, and method manage presenting and pausing of media content in response to remotely detected interruptions. The electronic device includes network interface(s) by which the electronic device communicatively connects to: (i) a media output device that presents media content; and (ii) external device(s) that is configured to detect an event that draws user attention. A controller of the electronic device is communicatively coupled to the at least one network interface and a user interface device. The controller presents, via one or more signals transmitted via the network interface(s), media content presented on the media output device. The controller monitors the external device(s). In response to receiving input indicating that at least one external device has detected an event, the controller pauses the presentation of the media content on the media output device and presents, on a user interface device, a notification of the event.