Demand response device configured to provide comparative consumption information relating to proximate users or consumers

• US 10,033,184 B2
• Filed: 05/13/2015
• Issued: 07/24/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Opower, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Opower, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Byron, David, Aji, Sudarshan Mandayam, Loftus, Thom, Peters, Edward L., Yu, Janet
• Primary Examiner(s): Suryawanshi, Suresh
• Application Number:
  US14/711,498
• Publication Number:
  US 20160141869A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,168 Days
• Field of Search: 700291
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00 Circuit arrangements for providing remote indication of network conditions, e.g. an instantaneous record of the open or closed condition of each circuitbreaker in the network; Circuit arrangements for providing remote control of switching means in a power distribution network, e.g. switching in and out of current consumers by using a pulse code signal carried by the network
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/00 Circuit arrangements for ac mains or ac distribution networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/30 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 90/20 Smart grids as enabling technology in buildings sector smart grids supporting the management or operation of end-user stationary applications in general, or like technologies with no associated climate change mitigation effect Y04S20/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/00 Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/30 State monitoring, e.g. fault, temperature monitoring, insulator monitoring, corona discharge
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/50 Systems or methods supporting the power network operation or management, involving a certain degree of interaction with the load-side end user applications
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/00 Management or operation of end-user stationary applications or the last stages of power distribution; Controlling, monitoring or operating thereof
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/20 End-user application control systems

Abstract

Aspects of the subject technology relate to a demand response device that is configured to receive comparison report information from a notification system, wherein the notification system is configured to execute steps including receiving at least one temperature report for each of a plurality of demand response devices, and identifying two or more demand response devices that share a common geographic location. In some aspects, a notification system of the subject technology can be further configured for generating a comparison report, wherein the comparison report is based on the ambient temperature information and the geolocation data for at least two of the plurality of demand response devices.

Claims

1. A notification system configured for generating comparison reports for one or more demand response devices, the notification system comprising:

one or more processors, and

a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by the processors, cause the processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving at least one temperature report for each of a plurality of demand response devices, wherein each of the temperature reports comprises ambient temperature information and geolocation data for a respective one of the plurality of demand response devices;

identifying two or more demand response devices that are within a geographic location of each other;

determining a temperature condition for each of the two or more demand response devices based upon the corresponding temperature report;

determining a variation in temperature conditions between the two or more demand response devices based upon a comparison of the temperature conditions of the two or more demand response devices;

generating a comparison report based on the ambient temperature information and the geolocation data for at least the two or more demand response devices; and

responsive to the variation in temperature conditions exceeding a threshold, transmitting the comparison report, including instructions to change a setting of a thermostat, to at least one of the two or more demand response devices.

2. The notification system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for transmitting further comprise instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to:

provide the comparison report to a first one of the two or more demand response devices, wherein the comparison report comprises ambient temperature information associated with a second one of the two or more demand response devices.

3. The notification system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for generating further comprise instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to generate the comparison report based on weather information for a geolocation of at least one of the plurality of demand response devices.

4. The notification system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for generating further comprise instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to generate the comparison report to include instructions indicating at least one behavior for reducing electric power consumption.

5. The notification system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for generating further comprise instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to generate at least a portion of the comparison report to be displayable on a display module of a demand response device.

6. The notification system of claim 1, wherein each of the temperature reports comprises humidity information associated with the corresponding demand response device.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by one or more processors, cause the processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving at least one temperature report for each of a plurality of demand response devices;

identifying two or more demand response devices that are within a geographic location of each other;

determining a temperature condition for each of the two or more demand response devices based upon the corresponding temperature report;

determining a variation in temperature conditions between the two or more demand response devices based upon a comparison of the temperature conditions of the two or more demand response devices;

generating a comparison report for at least the two or more demand response devices; and

responsive to the variation in temperature conditions exceeding a threshold, transmitting the comparison report, including instructions to change a setting of a thermostat, to at least one of the two or more demand response devices.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein each of the temperature reports comprises ambient temperature information and geolocation data for a respective one of the plurality of demand response devices, and

wherein the instructions for generating further comprise instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to generate the comparison report based on the ambient temperature information and the geolocation data.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions for the transmitting further comprise instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to:

provide the comparison report to a first one of the two or more demand response devices, wherein the comparison report comprises ambient temperature information associated with a second one of the two or more demand response devices.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions for generating further comprise instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to generate the comparison report based on weather information for a geolocation of at least one of the plurality of demand response devices.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions for generating further comprise instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to generate the comparison report to include instructions indicating at least one behavior for reducing electric power consumption.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions for generating further comprise instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to generate at least a portion of the comparison report to be displayable on a display module of a demand response device.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein each of the temperature reports comprises humidity information associated with the corresponding demand response device.

14. A computer-implemented method performed by a computing device comprising a processor, the computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving at least one temperature report for each of a plurality of demand response devices;

identifying two or more demand response devices that are within a geographic location of each other;

determining a temperature condition for each of the two or more demand response devices based upon the corresponding temperature report;

determining a variation in temperature conditions between the two or more demand response devices based upon a comparison of the temperature conditions of the two or more demand response devices; and

responsive to the variation in temperature conditions exceeding a threshold;

generating a comparison report for at least the two or more demand response devices; and

transmitting the comparison report, including instructions to change a setting of a thermostat, to at least one of the two or more demand response devices.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein each of the temperature reports comprises ambient temperature information and geolocation data for a respective one of the plurality of demand response devices, and

wherein the computer-implemented method further comprises generating the comparison report based on the ambient temperature information and the geolocation data.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the computer-implemented method further comprises:

providing the comparison report to a first one of the two or more demand response devices, wherein the comparison report comprises ambient temperature information associated with a second one of the two or more demand response devices.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the computer-implemented method further comprises generating the comparison report based on weather information for a geolocation of at least one of the plurality of demand response devices.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the computer-implemented method further comprises generating the comparison report to include instructions indicating at least one behavior for reducing electric power consumption.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the computer-implemented method further comprises generating at least a portion of the comparison report to be displayable on a display module of a demand response device.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein each of the temperature reports comprises humidity information associated with the corresponding demand response device.