GB2599804A

GB2599804A - System for controlling access to vehicle charging points

Info

Publication number: GB2599804A
Application number: GB2114721.0A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Dickerson Lauren; Fallon Rob
Original assignee: Centrica PLC
Current assignee: Centrica PLC
Priority date: 2019-09-30
Filing date: 2019-09-30
Publication date: 2022-04-13
Anticipated expiration: 2039-09-30
Also published as: GB202114721D0; GB2599804B

Abstract

A method for controlling a vehicle charging point associated with a building environment to enable charging of an electric vehicle, comprising, determining an occupancy status of the environment 100 and/or a location of a first vehicle 160 associated with the environment and controlling the use of the vehicle charging point 502 by a second vehicle 504 based on the occupancy status or determined location. The building environment may comprise a smart home system which receives smart home data (e.g. sensor, image from a camera), which may be used to determine occupancy status. Location may be determined using geolocation data, analysis of image data. Controlling the charging point may depend on permitted charging time periods, vehicle size, location, or distance of the first vehicle. Controlling may be performed according to user configurable rules. A system for managing vehicle charging points associated with smart homes, is also provided. The system comprises a database of vehicle charging points. To identify an available vehicle charging point for the vehicle, the system calculates charge point matches for a vehicle based on availability of individual vehicle charging points according to owner preferences and smart home status of associated smart homes.

Description

Intellectual Property Office Application No G132114721.0 RTM Date January 2022 The following terms are registered trade marks and should be read as such wherever they occur in this document: Amazon Echo Intel AMD WiFi Bluetooth Zigbee Intellectual Property Office is an operating name of the Patent Office www.gov.uk/ipo System for controlling access to vehicle charging points The present invention relates to architectures and processes for ntegrating smart home systems with control systems of intelligent vehicles.

Modern smart home environments are characterized by a range of network-connected sensors and devices that enable a variety of novel functions for occupants, such as smartphone-based control of heating or lighting. The trend is for increased connectedness and intelligence of home appliances and devices. Modern vehicles are similarly being equipped with more and more computer-controlled functions, sensors etc. However, there is limited, if any, integration between such systems, since the problems solved by home automation systems and vehicle control systems are generally considered as quite distinct and separate.

Embodiments of the invention seek to provide ways of integrating these two disparate domains and provide novel and useful functionalities for home occupants and vehicle users.

In a first aspect, the invention provides a method of controlling a smart home system comprising interconnected devices in a home environment, the method comprising: receiving smart home data from one or more devices of the smart home system; receiving vehicle data from one or more devices of a vehicle associated with the smart home system; determining an occupancy status of the home environment based on the smart home data and the vehicle data; and controlling at least one device in the smart home system based on the determined occupancy status The smart home data may comprise data based on: sensor data from one or more sensor devices of the smart home system; and/or status data from one or more devices of the smart home system, the status data indicating an operational status of a device. The smart home data is preferably data indicative of occupancy of the home. Optionally the smart home data comprises data based on one or more of: image data from a camera; sensor data from a motion sensor; a status signal from a door or window sensor, the sensor optionally providing a signal indicative of whether the door or window is closed; a lock status of a lock; utility consumption data from a utility smart meter; and water flow status data from a flow or leak sensor.

The vehicle data may comprise data based on: sensor data from one or more sensor devices of the vehicle; and/or status data from one or more devices of the vehicle, the status data indicating an operational status of a device. The vehicle data may comprise data based on one or more of: sensor data from one or more seat sensors; image data from one or more cameras of the vehicle; presence data indicating presence of a wireless activation device for gaining access to and/or controlling the vehicle; key status data indicating insertion of an ignition key; engine activation status; and geolocation data indicating a location of the vehicle, optionally from a geolocati on sensor of the vehicle.

Determining an occupancy status preferably comprises determining possible occupancy indications based on respective data from a plurality of smart home and/or vehicle devices; and combining the possible occupancy indications to obtain the occupancy status. The occupancy indications and/or occupancy status preferably comprise one or more probabilities that the home is unoccupied. Alternatively, the occupancy status may comprise an estimated number of occupants of the home environment.

Determining the occupancy status may comprise performing image processing to detect presence of one or more individuals in the home environment and/or in the vehicle in image data from one or more cameras, the one or more cameras optionally provided in the home environment and/or the vehicle, the method optionally further comprising identifying presence of one or more known occupants of the home in the home or vehicle based by performing face recognition.

Preferably, determining the occupancy status comprises one or more of: identifying presence or absence of motion in the home environment based on motion sensor data; identifying status (e.g. open/closed or locked status) of one or more doors or windows of the home environment; determining absence, presence and/or a quantity of utility consumption of a given utility in the smart home, preferably based on data from a utility meter; determining water flow in the environment based on data from one or more flow sensors.

Alternatively or additionally, determining the occupancy status may comprise one or more of: determining presence of one or more occupants or a number of occupants of the vehicle based on seat sensor data; determining presence in the vehicle of a wireless vehicle access device e.g. wireless fob; determining engine activation status; determining location of the vehicle and/or proximity of the vehicle to the home.

The controlling step preferably comprises performing one or more predetermined control actions in response to determining an expected occupancy status indicating that the home is unoccupied. The controlling step may comprise configuring the smart home system or one or more subsystems of the smart home system to operate in an away mode, preferably wherein each subsystem in the away mode is configured to operate in accordance with predetermined parameters suitable for operation in an unoccupied home.

Preferably, the controlling step comprises one or more of: configuring a heating, ventilation and/or air conditioning (HVAC) system to operate in a predetermined mode, preferably wherein the FIVAC system is configured to be controlled using a predetermined HVAC schedule or predetermined HVAC set points; configuring or activating a security system such as an intruder alarm system, the security system preferably configured to be active so as to monitor for and generate an alarm in response to detection of presence in, or entry to, the home; configuring one or more monitoring devices, e.g. cameras, to monitor the home; configuring one or more energy management systems, e.g. to alter energy consumption from, or energy supply to, one or more energy sources; and/or configuring a mimic mode, the mimic mode preferably comprising controlling lights within the home automatically to replicate a human usage pattern.

The method may comprise, in response to detecting an unoccupied status as the expected occupancy status of the smart home, providing a notification on a display device of the vehicle or associated with a vehicle occupant, the notification indicating the detected occupancy status, and/or prompting input from a user to confirm activation of the away mode, wherein the controlling step is preferably performed in dependence on the user input.

In a further aspect of the invention (which may be combined with the above aspect), there is provided a method of enabling monitoring of devices in a smart home environment, the method comprising: receiving monitoring data from one or more devices in the smart home environment, the information comprising sensor data and/or device status data; identifying a predetermined condition based on the monitoring data; transmitting, via one or more networks, notification data based on the identified condition to a management system of a vehicle associated with one or more occupants of the smart home environment; and outputting, by the vehicle management system, a notification to a vehicle occupant based on the notification data.

The condition may comprise one of a security risk, for example a potential intruder, detected based on sensor information by a security subsystem of the smart home environment; a fault condition of a device or system in the smart home environment, for example a fluid leak, HVAC fault or power outage; an environmental hazard condition detected by an environmental sensor, for example a fire or carbon monoxide detector; a condition indicating a potential danger to an occupant of the smart home detected based on sensor information and/or image analysis of camera images, e.g. a prolonged inactivity or fall of a monitored individual. The condition may alternatively or additionally comprise a presence, arrival or departure of an individual in or at the smart home, optionally detected by image analysis from one or more camera images.

The method may comprise receiving user input at the vehicle management system from a vehicle occupant in response to the condition and transmitting one or more control commands to the smart home environment based on the user input, optionally wherein the notification relates to status of a heating, ventilation and/or air conditioning (HVAC) system and/or wherein the control command is for configuring operation of the HVAC system.

The notification may be output to the user by displaying on a display device of the vehicle The method may further comprise performing the outputting step in dependence on an operating state, for example current location, travelling speed, or destination, of the vehicle.

The term "occupant as used herein may refer (depending on context) to a current occupant e.g. of a home environment (i.e. an individual who is currently present), or to an individual who generally occupies the environment (e.g. as a resident) but is not necessarily currently present there.

In a further aspect of the invention (which may be combined with any of the preceding aspects), there is provided a method of responding to an event detected by a security system securing a building environment, the method comprising: at the security system, receiving and processing sensor data from one or more sensor devices to detect the event; determining a control action to be performed by a vehicle located in a vicinity of the environment, based on detecting the event; and transmitting a notification specifying the control action to a control system of the vehicle to trigger performance of the control action by the vehicle.

The one or more sensor devices preferably comprise: one or more sensor devices installed in the building environment; and/or one or more sensor devices provided in the vehicle. The sensor devices preferably comprise at least one camera, the processing preferably comprising performing image processing, person detection and/or face detection on image data from the camera. The sensor devices may additionally or alternatively comprise at least one motion sensor.

The control action preferably comprises one or more of: activating one or more interior or exterior lights of the vehicle; activating an engine of the vehicle; autonomously moving the vehicle; activating one or more cameras of the vehicle and transmitting image data from the one or more cameras to the security system The security system preferably comprises one or both of: an intruder alarm system of the building environment; and a remote network-connected monitoring system The notification is preferably transmitted via one or more communications networks.

The method preferably comprises determining the operational status and/or the location of the vehicle, wherein the notification transmission and/or performance of the control action are performed in dependence on the operational status and/or location.

Preferably, the notification transmission and/or control action are performed in response to identifying that the vehicle is stationary in the vicinity of the building environment and/or not in use, for example being parked outside the building environment.

The detected event may comprise a potential intruder to the building environment, for example an individual approaching, entering or present within the building environment.

In a further aspect of the invention (which may be combined with any of the preceding aspects), there is provided a method of controlling a smart home control system of a smart home environment to provide a home security function, the method comprising: at the smart home control system, receiving and processing sensor data from one or more sensor devices of a vehicle associated with the smart home; detecting, by the smart home control system, a security event based on the sensor data; and in response to detecting the security event, generating a security alert.

Preferably, the receiving, processing, detecting and/or generating steps are performed only when the vehicle is at or in the vicinity of (e.g. stationary/parked at) the smart home environment, which may be determined e.g. based on location data of the vehicle obtained using a geolocation sensor. The receiving, processing, detecting and/or generating steps may be performed only when the home security function is configured to be in an activated mode. The sensor data may be received via a communications network. The receiving, processing, detecting and/or generating steps may be performed in response to detecting a fault state, disabled state or other inoperative state of one or more cameras of the smart home environment. Alternatively, the smart home environment may not include or be connected to any cameras. The security event may include detection of a potential intruder. The one or more sensor devices may include one or more cameras of the vehicle, and sensor data may include image/video data. The detecting step may comprise image processing, person/face detection or other pattern recognition processing, and/or motion detection based on image/video data. The alert may include activation of a visual/audible alarm at the smart home and/or transmission of a notification to a remote system and/or user device The invention also provides a home security system comprising a smart home control system configured to carry out the above method.

In a further aspect of the invention (which may be combined with any of the above aspects), there is provided a method of controlling a vehicle charging point associated with a building environment to selectively enable charging of an electric vehicle, the method comprising: determining at least one of: an occupancy status of the environment; and a location of a first vehicle associated with the environment; and controlling use of the vehicle charging point by a second vehicle based on one or both of the determined occupancy status and the determined location.

Determining the occupancy status may comprise performing image analysis of images from one or more cameras of the building environment. Alternatively/additionally, occupancy status may be determined using any method set out above or described in more detail below.

The controlling step preferably comprises enabling charging of the second vehicle only if the environment is identified as being unoccupied.

The location of the first vehicle is preferably determined based on geolocation data received from the first vehicle and/or based on analysis of image data from a camera of the building environment.

The controlling step may comprise enabling charging of the second vehicle only if the first vehicle is not located at the building environment and/or only if the first vehicle is located at least a threshold distance away from the building environment. The controlling step may be further performed in dependence on one or more of: a time when the second vehicle is to be charged, optionally in relation to one or more predetermined permitted charging time periods; and a type or size of the second vehicle. The controlling may be performed in accordance with one or more user-configurable rules.

Preferably, the controlling step comprises determining whether to permit charging of the second vehicle based on one or both of the determined occupancy status and the determined location, and optionally selectively enabling or disabling operation of, or access to, the charging point in accordance with the determination.

Preferably, the method comprises selecting the charging point from a plurality of charging points for charging the second vehicle based on one or more of: a determined availability of the charging point for charging the second vehicle; a location of the charging point; a location and/or route of the vehicle In a further aspect, the invention provides a system having means, optionally comprising one or more processors with associated memory storing executable instructions, for performing any method as set out herein.

In a further aspect, the invention provides a (tangible) computer-readable medium comprising software code adapted, when executed on a data processing apparatus, to perform any method as set out herein.

More generally, the described methods are preferably computer-implemented, using software running on one or more processing devices. However, features implemented in software may generally be implemented in hardware, and vice versa. Any reference to software and hardware features herein should be construed accordingly.

Any feature in one aspect of the invention may be applied to other aspects of the invention, in any appropriate combination. In particular, method aspects may be applied to apparatus and computer program aspects, and vice versa.

Preferred features of the present invention will now be described, purely by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 illustrates smart home and intelligent vehicle systems; Figure 2A illustrates a user interface for a vehicle management system; Figure 2B illustrates a smart home configuration process; Figure 3A illustrates interaction between smart home and vehicle while the vehicle is in transit, Figure 3B illustrates a process for interactions between the smart home and vehicle systems; Figure 4A illustrates interactions between smart home and vehicle while the vehicle is parked at the smart home to provide enhanced security functions; Figure 4B illustrates an integrated security process; Figure 5A illustrates electric vehicle charging applications; Figure 5B illustrates a process for controlling access to a vehicle charging point; and Figure 6 illustrates a hardware/software architecture for implementing described processes.

Smart environments such as smart homes are characterised by a collection of interacting autonomous devices, including not just computing devices but also many other types of home appliances, systems, sensors and other devices. Individual devices are typically low in computing capabilities but can communicate via wired or wireless networks and may interact directly and/or via a central control device such as a smart home hub. Modern "intelligent" vehicles are similarly equipped with a wide range of interacting subsystems, components and sensors, which may be autonomous or managed by one or more vehicle management systems Embodiments of the invention provide a system that enables interaction between a smart home environment (or similar building environment) on the one hand, and vehicle systems on the other hand, to support new functionality and augment home and vehicle system functions.

An example system is illustrated in Figure 1. A typical smart home environment 100 includes a range of local devices, smart appliances and sensors. Purely by way of example Figure 1 illustrates: * computer-controllable lights 102, which may e.g. be controlled to turn on/off, set brightness and/or hue etc.; * a heating, ventilation and/or air conditioning (EIVAC) controller 104, for example for controlling components of an HVAC system such as a central heating boiler, furnace and/or an air conditioning system (note the term HVAC is used herein to refer to a system providing any such function or multiple functions in combination, and thus an HVAC system could simply be a heating system or could combine heating, cooling and other related functions); * a smart thermostat 106 (e.g. forming part of the HVAC system), typically incorporating a temperature sensor, for providing temperature measurements in the home and inputting control commands, programming heating/cooling schedules etc.; the smart thermostat typically communicates with the HVAC controller to control the HVAC system based on measured temperatures and configured set points (e.g. target temperatures to be achieved by the HVAC system) or comfort schedules (e.g. schedules of set points for different time periods). Note the HVAC controller and thermostat could alternatively be integrated in a single component.

* a security system 108, including e.g. a intruder alarm system, one or more motion sensors, door/window sensors etc. A security system may be configurable via the network to activate (arm), deactivate (disarm) or otherwise schedule operation of the system; * smart locks 110; these may be lockable/unlockable using e.g. conventional keys and/or electronic means such as key fobs, smart phones or the like. Smart locks may communicate with the security system 108 to communicate locked/unlocked state, allow remote locking/unlocking, report unauthorised access attempts etc. * one or more internal and/or external cameras 112, e.g, interior cameras for monitoring interior spaces, and/or external cameras for monitoring a garden, driveway or other approach to a building, or a communal hallway/staircase in an apartment building * utility supply/consumption sensors 114, e.g. a gas, electricity, or water smart meter providing consumption data for the smart home and its connected appliances to occupants and/or remote utility supplier systems * local energy generation facilities 107 which supply energy (electricity) to devices in the home, e.g, batteries, solar panels and the like * one or more leak detectors 116, e.g. for detecting leaks in a utility supply network (e.g. gas/water/sewage pipes etc.) within or leading into or out of the smart home environment, or in internal circulation networks (e.g. pipes for circulating heated water from a boiler) * connected fire detectors (e.g. smoke and/or heat-based detectors) and/or carbon monoxide detectors, or other detectors for detecting environmental conditions The above are merely examples, and any number and/or types of components, devices and sensors may be present.

A smart home control system 140, e.g. a smart home hub, controls and interacts with local devices, including receiving sensor data from sensor-type devices (e.g. cameras 112, leak detectors 114) and sending control data to (and possibly receiving control responses or status data from) active devices such as HVAC controller 106 and smart locks 110. Note some devices may fulfil both (passive) sensor functions and active functions, e.g. a smart thermostat which may provide temperature measurements and which may be controlled to set HVAC schedules. The control system 140 may also communicate with an external network 150, via any suitable wired or wireless network (e.g. DSL or fibre home broadband connection) A vehicle 160 such as a car is associated with the smart home (e.g. being owned or used by an occupant of the smart home). The vehicle similarly provides a range of component devices providing active control functions, sensor functions or both. This may, for example, include: * one or more interior cameras or other optical sensors 162, e.g. for monitoring the interior of and/or passengers within the vehicle and/or one or more exterior cameras or other optical sensors, e.g. for monitoring a vicinity of the vehicle, other vehicles near the vehicle etc. * driving assist sensors 164 such as parking sensors, positioning/location/ranging sensors and the like, providing information for vehicle control functions. Such sensors can include optical sensors, LIDAR (light detection and ranging) sensors, infrared sensors, sound / ultrasound sensors etc. * an immobilizer 166, e.g. for preventing engine operation unless a driver has been identified from a valid key fob or other identifying means; * an engine management system 168, for managing and monitoring engine operation * lights 170, including interior and exterior lights, e.g. headlights, indicators etc. * a navigation, information and/or entertainment system 172 for providing functions such as map display, routing, vehicle status data, stored or streamed media playback, radio, etc. Such a system could e.g. include one or more display screens, input means, voice recognition functions etc. * a security system 176, e.g. including one or more lock devices controllable in response to key fob activation or other local or remote signals; the security system may include or communicate with the immobilizer 166 to control vehicle use; * a vehicle management system 178 for monitoring and controlling various of the components of the vehicle and communicating data between various of those components and the exterior network 150, e.g. via way of a cellular or other wireless network interface.

Again, the above are merely examples, and any number and/or types of components, sensors, and devices may be present.

Network 150 may include any suitable local or wide area networks, including one or more cellular, wireless or wired networks. The network may typically include the Internet. Network 150 may in practice represent a collection of different interconnected networks. In a typical scenario, the smart home may be connected via a typical home Internet connection to the Internet, while the vehicle connects to the Internet via a cellular / mobile telephony network.

The smart home control system 140 and vehicle control system 178 can communicate with each other via the network to exchange data, e.g. sensor data, status data of various components and/or control data for controlling various components. Either control system may also communicate via the network with one or more sewers 152 connected to the network, the servers providing functionality for monitoring and/or controlling aspects of the smart home and/or vehicle, via the respective control systems 140/178. Elements of the network and its connected server(s) 152 that support various integrated functions between home and vehicle is also referred to herein collectively as the cloud platform 190, it being understood that the cloud platform could in practice be implemented as a single server, a homogeneous server cluster, or a collection of cooperating heterogeneous servers and other devices which could be co-located or distributed across one or more networks Communication between the smart home and the vehicle control system, either directly or intermediated by the server 152 / cloud platform 190, enables a range of useful functions, examples of which are described in the following sections. Note that particular embodiments may implement the described functions individually or in any appropriate combination.

In one embodiment, the system enables configuration of an operating mode of the smart home system in dependence (at least partly) on the status of the vehicle (where the status may include both status of the vehicle itself and its components as well as e.g. conditions detected inside the vehicle, e.g. occupancy, or outside the vehicle e.g. interactions with other traffic, location etc.) In an example of this, the smart home control system provides an "away mode which is used when the home is unoccupied. In this approach, unoccupied status is detected automatically based on an occupancy check of the home and/or an occupancy check of the vehicle.

The home occupancy check may involve a range of checks based on available sensors and other devices in the smart home environment. The following are examples of checks that may be performed by the smart home control system.

One type of check involves direct observations of occupant presence, for example: * Confirming occupancy status using one or more interior cameras. The control system performs image recognition (including e.g. object/person/face detection) on images or video data from the cameras to identify individuals present in the property. If no individuals are detected by any of the cameras this may be taken as an indication that the property is unoccupied.

* Confirming occupancy status using motion sensors, e.g. provided as part of the security system 108. Absence of motion for a predetermined duration may be taken as an indication that the property is likely to be unoccupied. Time of day may be taken into account (e.g. using this indication only during day hours, not at night time when motion is not expected).

* Confirming car occupancy status using an exterior camera of the smart home. Where an exterior camera of the home has sight of the vehicle 160, e.g. parked on a driveway or in the process of departing the property, image recognition is applied to determine one or more individuals present in the vehicle. Detection of one or more individuals may be taken as an indication that the property is unoccupied (e.g. in combination with prior knowledge of an expected number of occupants of the home).

* In a variation of the above approaches, the system may specifically identify those that have left the house using facial recognition, e.g. based on exterior camera or a camera near an exterior entryway of the property.

* The system may also identify if any pets remain in the home through image recognition.

* The system may make further inferences as to likely absence duration using image recognition and/or object detection. For example, by identifying a given minimum number of suitcases (e.g. four or more) being taken out of or placed into the vehicle a prolonged holiday absence may be inferred.

A further type of check involves indirect inferences as to occupancy based on other sensors, for example: * The system may confirm window and door status through sensors. If all monitored windows and doors are detected as closed, or are detected as having been closed for a predetermined duration, this may be taken as an indication that the home is unoccupied. The duration may be varied based on contextual factors; for example during winter times a longer duration might be required for windows remaining closed, or window status may be disregarded, since windows are more likely to remain closed during colder times. Analysis of window/door status may be varied based on the current date and/or directly based on temperature (e.g. using an exterior temperature sensor).

* Confirming connected door lock status e.g. for one or more smart locks 110. For example, a locked main door may be taken as an indication that the home may be unoccupied.

* Detecting utility consumption, e.g. of gas, electricity or water using smart meter readings from utility meters 114. An absence of consumption, or a low level of consumption below some threshold (since some consumption may still occur during unoccupied periods) of any utility for a determined period, may be taken as an indication that the home is likely unoccupied.

* Confirming water status (taps, pipes, hoses etc.), through flow sensors, smart leak sensors, or smart meter readings. For example, an absence of water flow within the home for a predetermined duration may be taken as an indication that the home is likely unoccupied.

The following are examples of checks that may be performed at the vehicle to determine vehicle usage / occupancy: * Confirming vehicle occupancy through seat sensors, e.g. detecting a number of passengers * Confirming vehicle occupancy using one or more interior cameras 162 of the vehicle, e.g. by face detection or other image processing * Confirming vehicle occupancy through detected presence of wireless (e.g. RFID) fob, insertion of ignition key, engine activation etc * The system can use geolocation data from a geolocation sensor (e.g. GPS) to determine proximity to the home. For example, if the system detects the vehicle location is a predetermined threshold distance away from the home, this may be taken as an indication of possible unoccupied status.

Note that not all of the various described checks need to be performed. Rather the system may use any of the checks described individually or in combination, and other checks may be used alternatively or in addition.

In a preferred embodiment, a combination of several of the described checks is used. Individual checks may not conclusively determine occupancy status but in combination a likely occupancy status may be determined. Some checks may be more strongly indicative of unoccupied status, for example if the known regular occupants of the home are identified as occupants of the vehicle (e.g. through face detection) and the vehicle is remote from the home/in transit, this may indicate a high likelihood of unoccupied status. Other individual indications of occupancy status resulting from particular checks (that are in themselves less conclusive) may give additional confidence that the conclusion that the home is unoccupied is correct In one implementation, the system determines probabilities of the home being occupied/unoccupied for each check and combines the probabilities, e.g. using a weighted sum (this could give higher weight to more reliable indicators). Alternatively each check could provide an occupied/unoccupied indication and the system determines occupancy based on the combination of indications, e.g. concluding an unoccupied status if a predetermined threshold number or percentage of indicators suggest the unoccupied status.

The final determination may be made at the smart home control system 140, using either sensor data from the vehicle (with occupancy indicators computed at control system 140), or the vehicle control system could compute its occupancy indicator(s) using the above checks and transmit them to the smart home control system 140 via the network for integration with the smart home occupancy results. Alternatively, the final determination could be made at the vehicle control system, using sensor data or computed occupancy indicator(s) transmitted from the smart home control system.

In a further variation, sewer 152 may receive sensor data or computed occupancy indicator(s) from each of the smart home control system 140 and vehicle control system 178. The server then makes the final determination as to the likely occupancy status and provides this back to the smart home and vehicle systems 140/178. The system may additionally/alternatively determine an estimated number of current occupants as the occupancy status.

Regardless of where the final occupancy status is determined, once it has been determined that the home is likely unoccupied, the smart home control system configures the home to operate in an "away mode" or holiday mode. In this mode, operation of various systems (e.g. HVAC system, security system) is configured in accordance with predetermined modes/parameters selected to optimise operation based on the knowledge that the home is unoccupied As a preliminary step, an operator/passenger of the vehicle may optionally be prompted to confirm occupancy status and activation of the away mode. In this step, the detected status of the home is confirmed on the in car display (e.g. information system 172), as an aggregated summary based on the information from the various smart home components. An example is depicted in Figure 2A, showing a confirmation screen displayed on an in-vehicle touch display. A summary 202 of the occupancy status is shown. Additional information could optionally be displayed e.g. concerning status of individual smart home subsystems. Upon confirmation by the user using the button 204, the system proceeds to activation of the away mode by transmitting a control signal from the vehicle control system 178 to the smart home control system 140.

Activation of the away mode by the smart home control system 140 may include activating specific operating modes of one or more components or subsystems of the home. The following are examples of configuration actions that may be taken as part of the away mode.

* Configuring the security system. The security system / intruder alarm system is activated (armed), if not already done manually by the occupants.

* Additionally, the system may configure a "mimic mode", as described in GB 2565593 and US 2019/0059143, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. In the mimic mode, lights within the home are controlled automatically to replicate a typical usage pattern of occupants during the period of absence.

* Configuring one or more cameras to be active and monitoring during this period e.g. for intrusion detection.

* Configuring the HVAC system. The HVAC system is configured for holiday mode, ensuring heating and/or air conditioning is optimized for efficiency and protection during the absence. This may, for example, involve disabling a heating schedule or configuring an alternative heating schedule. Heating may be disabled except if the temperature falls below a frost protection threshold. Where hot water is stored in a tank, replenishment of the tank may be disabled for the duration of the absence (here it is assumed that hot water supply is under the control of the HVAC system).

* Configuring home energy management. The home is configured to run in carbon neutral mode e.g. from a solar and/or battery reserve if possible, by configuring local energy generation facilities 107. Where a surplus of electricity is generated this is sent back to grid, and if an electric vehicle is left plugged in, power can be taken from the vehicle through a bi-directional charge point.

The system may also provide status updates or alerts to the user, e.g via the vehicle information system 172, for example to inform the user if * any windows or doors remain open/unlocked * water has not been turned off * water, gas, electricity or other utility use is detected after away mode starts This can enable the occupant to take necessary action e.g. to return and secure the property.

As an additional function, the "away mode" may be automatically disabled when the detected occupancy status changes or when return of the vehicle to the smart home is detected (again this may be based on vehicle geolocation, image recognition etc.) The following are examples of actions that may be performed when return of the vehicle or home occupants is detected: * A "welcome home" message is displayed on the vehicle display and/or an in-home display device. Such a message could include a summary of smart home subsystem statuses, e.g. current measured temperature.

* The security system is disarmed * The HVAC control mode or schedule is set to a precontigured mode/schedule used when the home is occupied * Home lighting is switched on (e.g. depending on time of day) The various actions such as disarming of the security system may be based on proximity/location data of the vehicle. Actions may also be performed based on a computed estimated time of arrival (e.g. as reported to the smart home systems by a vehicle navigation system or as calculated based on a current distance of the vehicle). For example, a heating system may be activated in advance of arrival.

Actions may be automatic or may be confirmed via a notification to the in-vehicle display, e.g. with user input obtained to confirm deactivation of the away mode. Notifications may alternatively be sent to individual user devices, e.g. smart phones. A dedicated smart home control app may be provided for such interactions.

Figure 2B illustrates a process of controlling the smart home based on the detected occupancy status. The process may be performed wholly or partly by the cloud platform 190. The process involves receiving smart home data from one or more devices (e.g. sensors) of the smart home system in step 210, and receiving vehicle data from one or more devices of a vehicle associated with the smart home system (e.g. a vehicle owned/used by home occupants). Based on the smart home data and the vehicle data, an occupancy status of the home environment is determined in step 214, e.g. as an (estimated) number of occupants, or determination or probability of whether the home is unoccupied. In step 216, if the home is determined as being unoccupied (e.g. with a threshold probability), the vehicle operator is notified via the vehicle information system. Upon confirmation, the system then determines the required control actions, e.g. to activate away mode, in step 218. The control actions are then performed in step 220, e.g. to activate/deactivate respective devices / subsystems, configure devices / subsystems to switch to away/holiday modes or to operate in accordance with predetermined configuration parameters.

Where a vehicle is remote from its associated smart home, for example travelling to or from a smart home 302 / 304 as depicted in Figure 3A, the vehicle control system and information system may be used to monitor the status of the smart home and its various components and subsystems, provide alerts relating to conditions detected in the smart home, and allow for remote control of the smart home from the vehicle.

The following (referring back to Figure 1) are examples of smart home systems and functions that may be monitored remotely from the vehicle: * Security system 108-e.g. intruder alarm system * Cameras -e.g. approach of an individual to the home or (authorised) entry to the home that does not necessarily trigger an intruder alarm, detected through image analysis * Home diagnostics -e.g. leak sensors 116, boiler sensors associated with an HVAC system etc., operating states and/or error states of connected appliances, devices etc. * Assisted living functions -e.g. fall detection of an elderly resident or other behaviour monitoring, based on image analysis performed on a camera feed, appliance usage patterns etc. * Smart meters 114 -e.g. to detect power cuts and outages * Fire, smoke & carbon monoxide conditions -e.g. based on signals from connected fire / CO detectors 118 * Risk of natural disaster or other local event -e.g. the system could monitor / respond to a localised weather wanting or police incident report Based on the monitored status, in-vehicle alerts are generated, for example via display on the information system 172. Some examples of alerts include: * Intruder alarm triggered * Water pipe leak detected * Subsystem/device/appliance fault detected * Fall or prolonged inactivity of monitored resident detected * Power outage * Fire detected * Carbon monoxide detected (e.g. above an alert threshold) * Impending natural disaster/extreme weather alert The above are merely examples of systems that may be monitored and alerts that could be generated. In practice, any connected smart home subsystems/appliances/devices/sensors may be monitored with appropriate alerts being generated. The generated alerts may be user-configurable.

In an embodiment sensor and/or subsystem status data is sent to the server 152 (e.g. periodically), with the server analysing the data and generating necessary alerts for transmission to the vehicle management system, which then alerts the vehicle occupant(s) e.g. via display of relevant information on information system 172. Alternatively, processing may occur within the smart home systems, e.g. at individual subsystems/devices or at the smart home control system 140, with alerts transmitted to the vehicle control system for display (or other output) to the operator/passengers, or the vehicle management system 178 may receive raw sensor/status data from the smart home and generate necessary alerts itself The location and route of the vehicle may also be monitored Location and speed may be factored into alert prioritization, for example to avoid distraction due to less important alerts at high speed.

The vehicle route may be considered e.g. to prioritize alerts for a home location 302 and/or a destination location 304, as illustrated in Figure 3A. The depicted example may e.g. relate to a vehicle associated with two smart homes (such as a main home and a holiday/weekend home). The system may prioritize alerts and status notifications from either smart home based on the relative proximity of the vehicle, the destination of the vehicle, as well as the severity of the individual alerts.

Vehicle occupants could also be notified of people present in, arriving outside, or entering or leaving, the home, based on face recognition, or person detection, and transmission of notifications and/or camera images to the vehicle for display.

In addition to status notifications / alerts, the system may also allow user interaction from the vehicle to control smart home subsystems. In one example, an HVAC control function is provided which displays a current measured temperature of the smart home via the vehicle information and provides input functions allowing the user (vehicle occupant) to input control commands, for example to activate / deactivate the HVAC system or a component (e.g. turn on heating), set a target temperature for the HVAC system or select a comfort schedule to be used. This could allow, for example, vehicle occupants to activate a required level of heating in a smart home in sufficient time before arrival to ensure that the home will have reached a required temperature on arrival.

Information may also be provided to the smart home from the vehicle. This may include the route (e.g. as configured in a navigation system) and/or current location (as detected using a geolocation sensor, e.g. GPS). The information, including route and/or location is then displayed on a display in the home, such as a personal computer, tablet computer, smartphone, personal assistant device (e.g. Amazon Echo Show) or the like, e.g. superimposed on a map view, allowing home occupants to monitor and track the vehicle's journey progress.

An example process for monitoring of devices in a smart home environment is illustrated in Figure 3B. In an embodiment, some or all aspects of the process, such as information exchange, alert generation etc. is performed, or coordinated, by cloud platform 190. However, processing may be distributed between smart home systems, vehicle systems and cloud platform in any appropriate way.

The process involves receiving monitoring data from one or more devices in the smart home environment in step 310. The information comprising sensor data and/or device status data (or data derived therefrom). In step 312, a predetermined condition is identified based on the monitoring data, for example a security alert, fire alarm or other environmental condition, etc. The condition may be any condition determined by the system or configured by the user as requiring notification. In step 314, notification data is transmitted to a vehicle associated with the smart home based on the identified condition via the relevant communications network(s). The vehicle management system receives the notification data and outputs a notification to a vehicle occupant based on the notification information in step 316 (e.g. as a popup on the vehicle screen, audible/spoken alert etc.). The vehicle management system may optionally prompt the user for response input in step 318 and transmit relevant control information to the smart home system in step 320.

Vehicle systems may also be used to augment security functions of a smart home. In preferred embodiments, the vehicle is integrated into a connected home security solution in a number of ways.

A typical scenario is illustrated in Figure 4A. Here, the smart home 100 includes an exterior security camera 402 connected to the home security system 108 (Figure 1).

The security system may be activated manually by a user, or alternatively the smart home control system may automatically configure a night-time mode (or similar security enabled mode), using sensors and cameras to optimise security settings and arming the security system to an appropriate level.

The vehicle 160 calculates its proximity to the home 100 through geolocation (e.g. using information from sensor 174), and may additionally determine its direction in relation to the home through cameras, a micro-compass or other sensors.

Using the outdoor camera 402, the security system detects a person 404, e.g. a potential intruder, outside the home, for example using night vision (e.g. infrared). The system may additionally employ facial recognition to determine the level of threat (e.g. if the face is recognised as an occupant or regular visitor the system may disregard the detection or consider it low risk).

Once a risk is identified, a trigger is sent to the cloud platform 190 to trigger certain actions by the vehicle. The cloud platform (which may include a security monitoring system for remote monitoring of intruder alarm systems) then determines actions to be taken by the vehicle in response to the risk. Alternatively, the required actions may be determined by the smart home security system and communicated to the cloud platform 190. The cloud platform then communicates the determined actions to the control system of the vehicle 160 where they are implemented. As a further example the vehicle may determine the actions itself upon notification of an alarm condition.

Examples of vehicle actions include: * switching on headlights 406 and/or other vehicle lights (e.g. interior lights) to provide additional illumination at the exterior of the home and provide a deterrent effect, deterring potential intruders away from the home * instead of simply activating lights, headlights or other lights could be controlled to flash on and off periodically to provide an additional deterrent * activating an audible alert; flashing lights and an audible alert could be achieved by activating the vehicle's own vehicle alarm response * starting the vehicle engine * automatically moving / repositioning the vehicle (e.g. using an autonomous parking assist function) to mimic a driver and create an impression of activity at the home * activating an audio playback system of the vehicle * activating one or more vehicle cameras (e.g. a reversing assist camera, traffic monitoring camera, passenger cabin monitoring camera etc.) and sending camera feed(s) to the cloud system, e.g. to obtain additional images of the potential intruder Vehicle camera feeds (e.g. internal and/or external cameras) may be streamed to the smart home system / home security system only in response to threat detection, or alternatively this may be done at other times as well, for example whenever the vehicle is parked at the home and/or in response to explicit user request. The security system may provide a display in the home for displaying security camera feeds or alternatively such feeds may be displayed on a user device such as a personal or tablet computer or smartphone. When displaying security camera feeds, motion detection and image recognition can be used to prioritise live feeds between vehicle cameras and smart home cameras, or both may be shown simultaneously.

Camera feeds from vehicle cameras may augment those from other exterior cameras installed at the home, or alternatively vehicle cameras may replace the home camera(s) entirely. For example, in an embodiment, a smart home system that is not equipped with a security camera (or possibly any camera) may be configured to communicate with a vehicle as described above to receive image/video data from one or more vehicle camera(s) and provide security functions, such as detecting, and providing alerts in response to, intruders or other events at the smart home, based on those camera feeds. This allows the smart home system to provide a simple security system when the vehicle as located at the home by using the vehicle cameras, even though the smart home is not itself equipped with cameras A smart home system that is equipped with one or more cameras could also perform these functions using vehicle cameras in the event that its own camera(s) are faulty, disabled, deactivated or otherwise non-operational Security alerts may be generated only when the vehicle is at the smart home. The system may additionally take into account whether the vehicle is parked in a suitable orientation so that a direction of a vehicle camera (e.g. forward or reversing camera or other camera) is appropriate for obtaining useful security footage. Alerts may be generated by processing image/video data from the feed to detect motion or a person (potential intruder) through object/face detection etc. In addition to (or instead of) an external camera, other sensors may be used to detect a potential risk or intruder, for example motion sensors. Sensors of the vehicle itself may also be used. For example, data from vehicle proximity sensors may be provided to the home security system, e.g. when the vehicle is located / parked at the home, for use in detecting motion of a potential intruder near the home.

The above integration of the vehicle into the home security system is preferably dependent on the vehicle location and/or operational status of the vehicle. For example, vehicle sensors are only used and/or vehicle actions in response to detected threats are only implemented if the vehicle is not in use and/or if the vehicle is identified (based on geolocation data from the vehicle) as being located (e.g. parked) at the home (for example due to vehicle location being within a threshold distance from the home). If the vehicle is identified as being located elsewhere and/or travelling then the integration may be disabled.

Information from various smart home systems may additionally be integrated into the security system to provide related functionality, for example: * ensuring home is at correct temperature (e.g. using HVAC system 104) * confirming occupant behaviour patterns & status (e.g. using home cameras 112, or other sensors such as thermal radiation sensors, LiDAR sensors etc.) * identifying indoor air quality levels (e.g. using air quality sensors/monitors) * identifying/filtering outdoor threats (e.g. using image recognition based on images/video feeds from exterior cameras 112) * identifying power usage and utility/device status (e.g. from smart meters / utility sensors 114) * controlling devices and lights to simulate occupancy (e.g. by smart home control system 140) * identifying occupants that have left the house (e.g. using image recognition based on images/video feeds from interior/exterior cameras 112) * identifying likely occupancy durations or patterns (e.g. using image recognition based on images/video feeds form exterior cameras 112, for example departure of occupants with multiple suitcases detected from camera footage can be used to infer likely prolonged holiday absence) * monitoring window and door status (e.g. via smart locks 112 and other sensors of security system 108) * confirming water status (e.g. using leak detectors 116).

Alerts may additionally or alternatively be sent to a smart home occupant via other means, e.g. as electronic notifications (e.g. email, SMS), delivered to a user device of the occupant (e.g. smart phone). Alternatively or additionally a conventional intruder alarm (e.g. light and/or siren/bell) may be triggered.

Integration of information from various sources (as well as information analysis and determination of security measures and actions) may be performed at the cloud system 190, at the smart home control system 140, at the vehicle control system 178, and/or at any other system component, as needed.

An integrated security process is illustrated in Figure 4B. The process enables responding to an event detected by a security system securing a smart home or other building environment. The security system as referred to here may include any appropriate devices and systems of the smart home, cloud platform and vehicle (including but not limited to the security system 108 of Figure 1), cooperating to provide security functions. In an embodiment, the process is performed or coordinated by the cloud platform.

In step 410, the security system receives and processes sensor data from one or more sensor devices. These are typically devices of the smart home but may also include vehicle sensors. In step 412, an event is detected based on the data, e.g. an event indicative of a security risk or threat (such as a potential intruder). In step 414, one or more control actions to be performed by a vehicle located in a vicinity of the environment (e.g. parked outside the home) are determined. The control action(s) may be preconfigured or may be selected dynamically based on the nature of the detected event and/or other contextual circumstances (such as time of day, occupancy of the home e.g. as detected using previously described techniques etc.) In step 416, a notification specifying the control action(s) is transmitted to a control system (e.g. the vehicle management system 178) of the vehicle. The control action(s) are then initiated by the vehicle system in step 418, e.g. activating head lights, to deter the potential intruder or otherwise mitigate the identified risk.

Integration between smart home and vehicle systems can also enable new functions in relation to vehicle charging. In an embodiment, as depicted in Figure 5A, the smart home is associated with a charging point 502 for an electric vehicle (e.g. located on a driveway of the vehicle) The electric vehicle charging point can be made available for use by third party vehicles such as vehicle 504.

Availability is controlled by sharing preferences set by the home/vehicle owners/occupants.

Configurable preferences/rules may, for example, include: * only making the charge point 502 available when the home is empty (unoccupied) * only making the charger available for specified time periods (e.g. particular periods of the day and/or particular days of the week, such as 9-5 on weekdays when the occupants expect to be away from the home) * only making the charger available when the home owner/occupant's own vehicle 160 is away from the smart home, e.g. the charger may not be made available if the vehicle is within a predetermined distance or travel duration from the smart home (e.g. within 30 minutes of home). Where multiple owner vehicles are associated with the smart home the charger may only be made available if all of them are away from the home * only making the charging point available to vehicles of a specified type and/or under a specific size The above are examples and other rules may be used and configured by the owners/occupants for determining the conditions under which the charging point 502 may be made available for use by third party vehicles 504.

To implement the above rules, the charging point 502 is integrated into the smart home control system. In an embodiment, the smart home system determines occupancy using cameras or other sensors as previously described, and then determines whether the EVC 502 can be used based on occupancy. Occupancy is determined e.g. through image processing, person / face detection, and/or other sensors as described elsewhere herein.

The location of the occupant's own vehicle 160 can be obtained by the smart home control system via the cloud platform 190 (e.g. using geolocation data reported by the vehicle 160), with the EVC 502 activated/deactivated based on detected location (e.g. making the EVC available for use if the vehicle's distance from the home exceeds a threshold). Alternatively or additionally, the smart home control system may detect presence of the vehicle outside the home or in a garage of the home using image analysis of interior or exterior camera feeds to determine whether the vehicle is at the home and therefore charging should be disabled.

Control of the charging point may involve selectively enabling/disabling the charging point based on whether charging of the vehicle was determined to be permissible. This could involve enabling/disabling flow of electricity to the charging point, enabling/disabling access to the charging point (e.g. by locking/unlocking a connector socket or cover), or both.

The cloud platform 190 may again implement an integration layer between smart home and vehicle, e.g. to perform functions such as receiving, calculating and mapping occupancy status, vehicle location etc. In practice there may be many smart homes with associated EVCs, which may be managed by the cloud platform 190 to provide a vehicle charging platform. The platform may e.g. provide a database of EVCs, and may calculate charge point matches for a given vehicle based on e.g. vehicle route and battery status, as well as availability of individual EVCs in accordance with the owner preferences and smart home status as described above. In this way, the cloud platform can identify a suitable EVC 502 for a given vehicle 504 that is known to be available e.g. because the home is reported by its smart home control system as being unoccupied and/or the associated owner vehicle 160 is known to be remote from the home at the time the charging point is required.

The cloud platform may also integrate the vehicle charger home network with third party charging infrastructure services such as the "driivz" database or the like.

A process for controlling a vehicle charging point associated with a building environment such as a smart home is illustrated in Figure 5B. The process allows selectively enabling charging of electric vehicle 504. In step 510, the occupancy status of the smart home is determined, for example using any previously described method (e.g. analysis of camera images from smart home cameras). The occupancy status may indicate whether or not the home is unoccupied (or a probability of that being the case). In step 512, a location of one or more vehicle(s) 160 associated with the smart home (e.g. owned/used by the home occupants/owners) is determined. The system then determines in step 514 whether charging of vehicle 504 is permitted based on the occupancy status and/or the location of the owner vehicle 160, e.g. by permitting access only if the owner vehicle (or each of them if there are more than one) is located away from the smart home. Other user preferences may also be considered (e.g. time) as described above. Use of the vehicle charging point by the third party vehicle 504 is then controlled based on the determination by selectively enabling or disabling use of (or access to) the charging point to charge the vehicle in step 516.

Computer System Figure 6 illustrates the hardware/software architecture of a processing system suitable for implementing described processes and functions. The system includes the cloud sewer 152 e.g. in the form of a conventional server computer. The server includes one or more processors 602 (e.g. standard Intel/A.1\1D server processors) together with volatile / random access memory 604 for storing temporary data and software code being executed.

A network interface 606 is provided for communication with other system components (in particular smart home control system 140 and vehicle management system 178) over one or more networks 150 (e.g. Local or Wide Area Networks, including the Internet, cellular networks etc.) The smart home control system 140 is itself connected to local devices via a local network in the smart home, which in one example may include a local wireless network installed in the property for supporting smart home functions, e.g. based on WiFi, Bluetooth, Zigbee or other communications standards and protocols. The vehicle management system 178 communicates with vehicle devices and subsystems using suitable wired communications buses or wireless networks in the vehicle (not shown).

Persistent storage 608 (e.g. in the form of hard disk storage, optical storage and the like) persistently stores relevant data 610 received from the smart home and/or vehicle (including e.g. camera image data, sensor data, occupancy indications etc.), together with software modules 612-618 for performing the various described integrated functions. The software modules may include a smart home configuration module 612 e.g. for configuring a smart home away mode, a notifications module 614 for providing smart home notifications to the vehicle and enabling related interactions, a security integration module 616 for implementing the described integrated security functions between smart home and vehicle and a charging point control module 618 for managing access to a vehicle charging point of the smart home. Note embodiments may implement individual described functions, combinations of several functions, or all of the described functions and thus the modules included may be varied accordingly. Smart home controller 140 and vehicle management system 178 include complimentary software modules (not shown) implementing aspects of the described processes performed at those components.

The persistent storage also includes other software and data (not shown), such as an operating system. Furthermore, the sewer will include other conventional hardware and software components as known to those skilled in the art, and the components are interconnected by data buses (e.g. in the form of a memory bus between memory 604 and processor 602, and an 1/0 bus between the processor 602, network interface 606 and a storage controller for persistent storage 608 etc.) While a specific architecture is shown by way of example, any appropriate hardware/software architecture may be employed. Furthermore, functional components indicated as separate may be combined and vice versa For example, the functions of server 152 may in practice be implemented by multiple separate processing devices. Software functions may be divided or combined and may be distributed over any appropriate number of software modules. Distribution of functionality between smart home control system 140, vehicle management system 178 and cloud server 152 may be varied as needed.

The smart home control system 140 and vehicle management system 178 themselves are similarly implemented using conventional computer hardware (e.g. comprising local processor, persistent and volatile memory), though these may typically be more limited in processing capability than the cloud server.

It will be understood that the present Invention has been described above purely by way of example, and modification of detail can be made within the scope of the invention For example, while predominantly described in relation to smart home environments (e.g. residential properties such as houses /apartments) the described concepts and techniques can equally be applied to other types of building environments, such as commercial, industrial or public properties (e.g, factories, offices etc.) equipped with collections of interconnected devices, sensors, networks and the like.

Additional aspects and features of the invention are set out in the following numbered clauses.

1. A method of controlling a smart home system comprising interconnected devices in a home environment, the method comprising: receiving smart home data from one or more devices of the smart home system; receiving vehicle data from one or more devices of a vehicle associated with the smart home system; determining an occupancy status of the home environment based on the smart home data and the vehicle data; and controlling at least one device in the smart home system based on the determined occupancy status.

2. A method according to clause 1, wherein the smart home data comprises data based on: sensor data from one or more sensor devices of the smart home system; and/or status data from one or more devices of the smart home system, the status data indicating an operational status of a device 3. A method according to clause I or 2, wherein the smart home data is data indicative of occupancy of the home, optionally wherein the smart home data comprises data based on one or more of: image data from a camera, sensor data from a motion sensor, a status signal from a door or window sensor, the sensor optionally providing a signal indicative of whether the door or window is closed, a lock status of a lock; utility consumption data from a utility smart mete and water flow status data from a flow or leak sensor.

4. A method according to any of the preceding clauses, wherein the vehicle data comprises data based on: sensor data from one or more sensor devices of the vehicle; and/or status data from one or more devices of the vehicle, the status data indicating an operational status of a device.

5. A method according to any of the preceding clauses, wherein the vehicle data comprises data based on one or more of sensor data from one or more seat sensors; image data from one or more cameras of the vehicle; presence data indicating presence of a wireless activation device for gaining access to and/or controlling the vehicle; key status data indicating insertion of an ignition key; engine activation status, and geolocation data indicating a location of the vehicle, optionally from a geolocation sensor of the vehicle.

6 A method according to any of the preceding clauses, wherein determining an occupancy status comprises determining possible occupancy indications based on respective data from a plurality of smart home and/or vehicle devices; and combining the possible occupancy indications to obtain the occupancy status 7. A method according to clause 6, wherein the occupancy indications and/or occupancy status comprise one or more probabilities that the home is unoccupied or wherein the occupancy status comprises an estimated number of occupants of the home environment.

8. A method according to any of the preceding clauses, wherein determining the occupancy status comprises performing image processing to detect presence of one or more individuals in the home environment and/or in the vehicle in image data from one or more cameras, the one or more cameras optionally provided in the home environment and/or the vehicle, the method optionally further comprising identifying presence of one or more known occupants of the home in the home or vehicle based by performing face recognition.

9. A method according to any of the preceding clauses, wherein determining the occupancy status comprises one or more of identifying presence or absence of motion in the home environment based on motion sensor data; identifying status (e.g. open/closed or locked status) of one or more doors or windows of the home environment; determining absence, presence and/or a quantity of utility consumption of a given utility in the smart home, preferably based on data from a utility meter; determining water flow in the environment based on data from one or more flow sensors.

10. A method according to any of the preceding clauses, wherein determining the occupancy status comprises one or more of determining presence of one or more occupants or a number of occupants of the vehicle based on seat sensor data; determining presence in the vehicle of a wireless vehicle access device e.g. wireless fob; determining engine activation status; determining location of the vehicle and/or proximity of the vehicle to the home.

11. A method according to any of the preceding clauses, wherein the controlling step comprises performing one or more predetermined control actions in response to determining an expected occupancy status indicating that the home is unoccupied.

12. A method according to any of the preceding clauses, wherein the controlling step comprises configuring the smart home system or one or more subsystems of the smart home system to operate in an away mode, preferably wherein each subsystem in the away mode is configured to operate in accordance with predetermined parameters suitable for operation in an unoccupied home.

13. A method according to any of the preceding clauses, wherein the controlling step comprises one or more of configuring a heating, ventilation and/or air conditioning (HVAC) system to operate in a predetermined mode, preferably wherein the HVAC system is configured to be controlled using a predetermined FIVAC schedule or predetermined HVAC set points; configuring or activating a security system such as an intruder alarm system, the security system preferably configured to be active so as to monitor for and generate an alarm in response to detection of presence in, or entry to, the home; configuring one or more monitoring devices, e.g. cameras, to monitor the home; configuring one or more energy management systems, e.g. to alter energy consumption from, or energy supply to, one or more energy sources; and/or configuring a mimic mode, the mimic mode preferably comprising controlling lights within the home automatically to replicate a human usage pattern.

14. A method according to any of the preceding clauses, comprising, in response to detecting an unoccupied status as the expected occupancy status of the smart home, providing a notification on a display device of the vehicle or associated with a vehicle occupant, the notification indicating the detected occupancy status, and/or prompting input from a user to confirm activation of the away mode, wherein the controlling step is preferably performed in dependence on the user input.

15. A method of enabling monitoring of devices in a smart home environment, the method comprising: receiving monitoring data from one or more devices in the smart home environment, the information comprising sensor data and/or device status data; identifying a predetermined condition based on the monitoring data; transmitting, via one or more networks, notification data based on the identified condition to a management system of a vehicle associated with one or more occupants of the smart home environment; and outputting, by the vehicle management system, a notification to a vehicle occupant based on the notification data.

16. A method according to clause 15, wherein the condition comprises one of: a security risk, for example a potential intruder, detected based on sensor information by a security subsystem of the smart home environment; a fault condition of a device or system in the smart home environment, for example a fluid leak, HVAC fault or power outage; an environmental hazard condition detected by an environmental sensor, for example a fire or carbon monoxide detector; a condition indicating a potential danger to an occupant of the smart home detected based on sensor information and/or image analysis of camera images, e.g. a prolonged inactivity or fall of a monitored individual.

17. A method according to clause 15 or 16, wherein the condition comprises a presence, arrival or departure of an individual in or at the smart home, optionally detected by image analysis from one or more camera images.

18. A method according to any of clauses 15 to 17, comprising receiving user input at the vehicle management system from a vehicle occupant in response to the condition and transmitting one or more control commands to the smart home environment based on the user input, optionally wherein the notification relates to status of a heating, ventilation and/or air conditioning (HVAC) system and/or wherein the control command is for configuring operation of the HVAC system.

19 A method according to any of clauses 15 to 18, wherein the notification is output to the user by displaying on a display device of the vehicle 20. A method according to any of clauses 15 to 19, further comprising performing the outputting step in dependence on an operating state, for example current location, travelling speed, or destination, of the vehicle.

21 A method of responding to an event detected by a security system securing a building environment, the method comprising: at the security system, receiving and processing sensor data from one or more sensor devices to detect the event; determining a control action to be performed by a vehicle located in a vicinity of the environment, based on detecting the event; and transmitting a notification specifying the control action to a control system of the vehicle to trigger performance of the control action by the vehicle.

22. A method according to clause 21, wherein the one or more sensor devices comprise: one or more sensor devices installed in the building environment; and/or one or more sensor devices provided in the vehicle.

23. A method according to clause 21 or 22, wherein the sensor devices comprise at least one camera, the processing preferably comprising performing image processing, person detection and/or face detection on image data from the camera.

24. A method according to any of clauses 21 to 23 wherein the sensor devices comprise at least one motion sensor.

25. A method according to any of clauses 21 to 24, wherein the control action comprises one or more of: activating one or more interior or exterior lights of the vehicle; activating an engine of the vehicle; autonomously moving the vehicle; activating one or more cameras of the vehicle and transmitting image data from the one or more cameras to the security system 26. A method according to any of clauses 21 to 25, wherein the security system comprises one or both of: an intruder alarm system of the building environment; a remote network-connected monitoring system.

27 A method according to any of clauses 21 to 26, wherein the notification is transmitted via one or more communications networks.

28. A method according to any of clauses 21 to 27, the method comprising determining the operational status and/or the location of the vehicle, wherein the notification transmission and/or performance of the control action are performed in dependence on the operational status and/or location.

29. A method according to clause 28, wherein the notification transmission and control action are performed in response to identifying that the vehicle is stationary in the vicinity of the building environment and/or not in use, for example being parked outside the building environment.

30. A method according to any of clauses 21 to 29, wherein the detected event comprises a potential intruder to the building environment, for example an individual approaching, entering or present within the building environment 31. A method of controlling a vehicle charging point associated with a building environment to selectively enable charging of an electric vehicle, the method comprising: determining at least one of an occupancy status of the environment; and a location of a first vehicle associated with the environment; and controlling use of the vehicle charging point by a second vehicle based on one or both of the determined occupancy status and the determined location.

32. A method according to clause 31, wherein determining the occupancy status comprises performing image analysis of images from one or more cameras of the building environment.

33. A method according to clause 31 or 32, wherein the controlling step comprises enabling charging of the second vehicle only if the environment is identified as being unoccupied.

34 A method according to any of clauses 31 to 33, wherein the location of the first vehicle is determined based on geolocation data received from the first vehicle and/or based on analysis of image data from a camera of the building environment.

A method according to any of clauses 31 to 34, wherein the controlling step comprises enabling charging of the second vehicle only if the first vehicle is not located at the building environment and/or only if the first vehicle is located at least a threshold distance away from the building environment.

36. A method according to any of clauses 31 to 35, wherein the controlling step is further performed in dependence on one or more of: a time when the second vehicle is to be charged, optionally in relation to one or more predetermined permitted charging time periods, and a type or size of the second vehicle 37. A method according to any of clauses 31 to 36, wherein the controlling is performed in accordance with one or more user-configurable rules.

38. A method according to any of clauses 31 to 37, wherein the controlling step comprises determining whether to permit charging of the second vehicle based on one or both of the determined occupancy status and the determined location, and optionally selectively enabling or disabling operation of or access to, the charging point in accordance with the determination.

39 A method according to any of clauses 31 to 38, comprising selecting the charging point from a plurality of charging points for charging the second vehicle based on one or more of a determined availability of the charging point for charging the second vehicle; a location of the charging point; a location and/or route of the vehicle 40. A system having means, optionally comprising one or more processors with associated memory storing executable instructions, for performing a method as set out in any of the preceding clauses 41. A computer-readable medium comprising software code adapted, when executed on a data processing apparatus, to perform a method as set out in any of clauses 1 to 39.

Claims

CLAIMSI. A method of controlling a vehicle charging point associated with a building environment to selectively enable charging of an electric vehicle, the method comprising: determining at least one of: an occupancy status of the environment; and a location of a first vehicle associated with the environment; and controlling use of the vehicle charging point by a second vehicle based on one or both of the determined occupancy status and the determined location.
2. A method according to claim 1, wherein determining the occupancy status comprises performing image analysis of images from one or more cameras of the building environment.
3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the controlling step comprises enabling charging of the second vehicle only if the environment is identified as being unoccupied.
4. A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the location of the first vehicle is determined based on geol ocati on data received from the first vehicle
5. A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the location of the first vehicle is determined based on analysis of image data from a camera of the building environment.
6. A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the controlling step comprises enabling charging of the second vehicle only if the first vehicle is not located at the building environment and/or only if the first vehicle is located at least a threshold distance away from the building environment.
7. A method according to any of the preceding claims, comprising determining a location of each of a plurality of vehicles associated with the environment, wherein the controlling step comprises enabling charging of the second vehicle only if each of the associated vehicles is located away from the environment.
8. A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the controlling step is further performed in dependence on one or more of: a time when the second vehicle is to be charged, optionally in relation to one or more predetermined permitted charging time periods; and a type or size of the second vehicle.
9. A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the controlling step comprises determining whether to permit charging of the second vehicle based on one or both of the determined occupancy status and the determined location.
10. A method according to claim 9, comprising selectively enabling or disabling operation of, or access to, the charging point in accordance with the determination.
11. A method according to claim 10, comprising one or both of: enabling or disabling flow of electricity to the charging point; and enabling or disabling access to the charging point by locking or unlocking a connector socket or cover.
12. A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the controlling is performed in accordance with one or more user-configurable rules.
13. A method according to claim 12, wherein the user-configurable rules specify one or more of: only making the vehicle charging point available when the environment is unoccupied; only making the vehicle charging point available for specified time periods, the specified time periods optionally comprising particular periods of the day and/or particular days of the week; only making the vehicle charging point available when one or more home owner or occupant vehicle(s) are away from the environment, e.g. by not being within a predetermined distance or travel duration from the environment; only making the vehicle charging point available to vehicles of a specified type and/or under a specific size.
14. A method according to any of the preceding claims, comprising selecting the charging point from a plurality of charging points for charging the second vehicle based on one or more of: a determined availability of the charging point for charging the second vehicle; a location of the charging point; a location and/or route of the vehicle.
15. A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the building environment is a home environment comprising a smart home system.
16. A method according to claim 15, wherein determining the occupancy status comprises receiving smart home data indicative of occupancy of the environment from the smart home system and determining the occupancy status based on the smart home data.
17. A method according to claim 16, wherein the smart home data comprises data based on one or more of: image data from a camera, sensor data from a motion sensor, a status signal from a door or window sensor, the sensor optionally providing a signal indicative of whether the door or window is closed, a lock status of a lock; utility consumption data from a utility smart mete and water flow status data from a flow or leak sensor.
18. A system for managing a plurality of vehicle charging points associated with smart homes, comprising: a database of vehicle charging points; and means for calculating charge point matches for a given vehicle based on availability of individual vehicle charging points in accordance with owner preferences and smart home status of associated smart homes to identify an available vehicle charging point for the given vehicle.
19 A system according to claim 18, configured to select the vehicle charging point from the plurality of charging points for charging the given vehicle based on one or more of: a determined availability of the charging point for charging the given vehicle; a location of the charging point, a location and/or route of the given vehicle
20. A system according to claim 18 or 19, wherein the calculating means is configured to calculate charge point matches for a given vehicle based on vehicle route and/or battery status of the vehicle.
21. A system according to any of claims 18 to 20, configured to identify the available vehicle charging point for the given vehicle based on one or both of: the associated smart home being reported by its smart home control system as being unoccupied, and an owner vehicle associated with the smart home being remote from the home, at the time the charging point is required.
22. A system according to any of claims 18 to 21, configured to implement a cloud platform for managing the vehicle charging points.
23. A system according to any of claims 18 to 22, configured to perform a method as set out in any of claims 1 to 17.
24. A system or processing device having means for performing a method as set out in any of claims 1 to 17.
25. A computer-readable medium comprising software code adapted, when executed on a data processing apparatus, to perform a method as set out in any of claims 1 to 17.