Garage access unit

A method of identifying objects arriving at a house, the method comprising:

• identifying background objects visible in a field of view of a camera positioned at the house;
• labeling the background objects as permanent objects;
• monitoring the zone for new objects entering the zone;
• classifying the new objects as vehicle, human, or animal;
• if the new object is not classifiable, issuing an alarm to a remote device;
• if the new object is classifiable, incrementing a count for the classification vehicle, human, or animal;
• if the count exceeds a limit, issuing an alarm;
• receiving information for a predefined list of allowed entities containing visual characteristics for the allowed entities;
• and
• recognizing the new object as an allowed entity.

A garage access unit, comprising:

• an inside component mounted to a wall inside a garage near an opening for an overhead door, the inside component comprising:
• a housing;
• an inside camera mounted to the housing with a field of view directed toward the opening for the overhead door and including at least a portion of an inside of the garage;
• an activatable button mounted to the housing, the activatable open button being coupled to a motor unit for the overhead door, wherein pressing the activatable open button causes the motor unit to raise, lower, or stop the overhead door;
• an outside component mounted to a wall outside the garage near the opening for the overhead door, the outside component comprising:
• an outside camera mounted to the housing with a field of view directed toward the opening for the overhead door and including at least a portion of a driveway leading up to the opening for the overhead door, wherein the field of view of the inside camera and the field of view of the outside camera overlap in the opening for the overhead door;
• an activatable open button mounted to the housing, the activatable open button being coupled to the motor unit for the overhead door, wherein pressing the activatable open button causes the motor unit to raise, lower, or stop the overhead door;
• and
• an electronics unit comprising a processing unit, a data storage unit, a battery, and a memory, wherein the electronics unit is in the housing of the inside component, the outside component, or wherein the electronics unit is split between the inside component and the outside component;
• wherein the memory electronics unit is configured to execute commands stored in the memory, the commands comprising:
• storing visually recognizable information for identifying one or more allowed entities;
• from visual images captured by the inside camera or the outside camera, recognizing an object entering a field of view of the inside camera or the outside camera as an allowed entity;
• storing one or more rules associated with the allowed entities, wherein the rules pertain to actions to be performed by the garage access unit;
• and
• executing one or more of the rules for an allowed entity when the camera identifies the allowed entity entering a field of view of the inside camera or the outside camera.