Updated: June 21, 2019 / 5:23 p.m.

Amazon.com Inc is now looking into newer ways to use drones not just to deliver packages, but also to provide surveillance as a service to its customers, according to a patent which was granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

The delivery drones would be used to record video of consented user’s property to gather data that can be analyzed. An example of this would be to use analyzed data to look out for a broken window, or a fire or if a garage door was left open during the day, the patent described.

According to the patent, the surveillance function of the drone can be limited through geo-fencing, a technology which is used to draw a virtual boundary around the property under surveillance. Any imagery or data captured by the drone outside the geo-fence would be obscured or removed.

Amazon.com filed the application for the patent in 2015 and was granted it on June 4.

Earlier this month, Amazon mentioned it would begin using drones for faster delivery of packages to their customers in 30 minutes or less in the coming months of the year.