A server-based environment for reporting a status of a security, monitoring and automation controller is provided. Detecting cessation of an always-on persistent network connection between the SMA controller and the server is also provided. Reporting the cessation of the network connection to an end user and defined others is further provided. A further aspect provides for automatically reporting an alarm event to a central station, the end user, and others, in the event the cessation of the network connection occurs while the SMA controller is armed and after a zone fault event, and not receiving a disarm notification prior to expiration of a preset entry delay.

Methods and systems for communicating between autonomous vehicles are described herein. Such communication may be performed for signaling, collision avoidance, path coordination, and/or autonomous control. A computing device may receive data for the same road segment from autonomous vehicles, including (i) an indication of a location within the road segment, and (ii) an indication of a condition of the road segment. The computing device may generate, from the data for the same road segment, an overall indication of the condition of the road segment, which may include a recommendation to vehicles approaching the road segment. Additionally, the computing device may receive a request from a computing device within a vehicle approaching the road segment to display vehicle data. The overall indication for the road segment may then be displayed on a user interface of the computing device.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a storage device, for using a robotic device to manipulate a manual control of a device. In one aspect, the system includes a robotic device, a first device that is located at a property and that has a manual control, and a monitoring unit. The monitoring unit may include a network interface, a processor, and a storage device that includes instructions to cause the processor to perform operations. The operations may include determining an operating state of the first device, determining the state of the monitoring system, determining whether one or more of the manual controls associated with the first device should be manipulated to alter the operating state of the first device, and transmitting one or more instruction to the robotic device that instruct the robotic device to manipulate one or more manual controls that are associated the first device.

A communications method and a communications apparatus and system are provided, and are applied to smart home systems. The method includes: a home device sends operation information to a server, where the operation information is used to indicate an operation performed by a user on the home device; and after receiving the operation information from the home device, the server determines a target account, where the target account is one of accounts associated with the home device, and sends a notification message to a target terminal device, where the notification message includes status information used to indicate a status of the home device, the status information is related to the operation information, and the target terminal device is a terminal device on which the target account is logged in.

A method for guiding a smart device to connect to a wireless network includes that the smart device sends a device identifier (ID) and a cloud service address that are of the smart device to a control terminal. The control terminal obtains, from a corresponding cloud server based on the received device ID and the cloud service address, network configuration information for the smart device to connect to the wireless network, determines, based on the network configuration information, a management application that is of the smart device and that is provided by a manufacturer, and then downloads the management application. After the download is complete, the control terminal sends the obtained network configuration information to the management application. The management application uses the network configuration information to guide the smart device to connect to the wireless network.

A system includes control circuitry configured to manage faults of an electrical system. The system is configured to monitor consumption for a plurality of electrical circuits, such as branch circuits, and generate device information about a device based on an electrical current measurement from at least one electrical circuit of the plurality of electrical circuits to which the device is coupled. The system is also configured to determining that an event has occurred based on the device information and interrupt current of the at least one electrical circuit, generate a notification, communicate a control signal to the device in response to the event occurring to mitigate the event, actuate a second device in response to the event, or a combination thereof.

A communication apparatus includes: a memory that stores, first data on firmware before update, second data on firmware after the update, and a table in which the first data or the second data is associated with an address where the first data or the second data is positioned; and a processor that executes processing based on the first data or the second data positioned at the address defined in the table.

A server-based environment for reporting a status of a security, monitoring and automation controller is provided. Detecting cessation of an always-on persistent network connection between the SMA controller and the server is also provided. Reporting the cessation of the network connection to an end user and defined others is further provided. A further aspect provides for automatically reporting an alarm event to a central station, the end user, and others, in the event the cessation of the network connection occurs while the SMA controller is aimed and after a zone fault event, and not receiving a disarm notification prior to expiration of a preset entry delay.

An electronic sensing and allocation system is provided for a distributed water infrastructure containing a plurality of differing appliances. The system may receive, from at least one sensor upstream of the plurality of differing appliances, a plurality of signals indicative of water usage within the distributed water infrastructure. The system may output a first indication of a first volume of water together with an indicator attributing the first volume of water to a first rate schedule, and output a second indication of a second volume of water together with an indicator attributing the second volume of water to a second rate schedule. The system may enable billing of the first and second volumes of water to a consumer at differing rates based on differing uses.

The disclosure includes a method for using a doorbell system to detect a presence of a visitor. The doorbell system can comprise a doorbell having a speaker, a microphone, a camera, and a button. The method can include detecting, by the doorbell system, the presence of the visitor while the visitor is located outside a building to which the doorbell is attached. The building can include a door having a lock that is configured to fasten the door to inhibit unauthorized entry into the building. In response to detecting the presence of the visitor, the method can include the step of actuating, by the doorbell system, a first appliance associated with the building.