An application for a mobile device allows a user to let a monitoring center know that they are in trouble without the requirement of using the user interface of the mobile device to navigate to the app menu to select the app and select an option to send an alarm. The app allows the user to send alarms for different types of events. The mobile device's Inertial Measurement Unit is used to record and trigger a three dimensional movement gesture pattern of the mobile device which is associated with certain events and actions. To make the process even more unique a fourth dimension of time is added into the process. Time can affect the gesture pattern in two ways. First, there will be an overall time to complete the three dimensional movement for the gesture pattern, and second, a time to complete each individual movement that comprises the gesture pattern.
A security and automation system that is very simple and does not require any phone or device applications is disclosed. The system simply looks for an IP/MAC address that is registered onto a local Wi-Fi network and a response to a communication, such as a ping. The presence or absence of this indicates whether the device, and hence a user with the device, is near or away, and whether the security system can be automatically armed or disarmed and whether automation components should be activated or deactivated. Using this information the system can intelligently arm or disarm the system as well as make decisions about controlling devices within the structure, such as automatically switching on lights when a user returns, or switching them off and automatically locking all the doors when the user leaves.