Systems, methods and apparatus for encouraging energy conscious behavior based on aggregated third party energy consumption

• US 10,108,217 B2
• Filed: 11/14/2016
• Issued: 10/23/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Weaver, Jason C., Kayton, Bradley A.
• Primary Examiner(s): BARNES-BULLOCK, CRYSTAL JOY
• Application Number:
  US15/351,188
• Publication Number:
  US 20170061815A1
• Time in Patent Office: 708 Days
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/30 for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/46 Improving electric energy efficiency or saving
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/52 Indication arrangements, e.g. displays
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/56 Remote control
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/62 characterised by the type of control or by internal processing, e.g. using fuzzy logic, adaptive control or estimation of values
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/63 Electronic processing
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/64 using pre-stored data
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/10 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/12 of the outside air
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/20 Humidity
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2130/00 Control inputs relating to environmental factors not covered by group F24F2110/00
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2130/10 Weather information or forecasts
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2130/20 Sunlight
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2140/60 Energy consumption
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/34306 Power down, energy saving
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1917 using digital means
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1927 using a plurality of sensors G05D23/1902, G05D23/1917, and G05D23/1919 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05F 1/66 Regulating electric power
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06314 Calendaring for a resource
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 : User requested
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 : Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/00 : Teaching not covered by other main groups of this subclass teaching or practice apparatus for gun-aiming or gun-laying F41G3/26
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/02 : with visual presentation of the material to be studied, e.g. using film strip
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/14 : The load or loads being home appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/00 : Circuit arrangements for ac mains or ac distribution networks
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/14 : by switching loads on to, or off from, network, e.g. progressively balanced loading
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/12 : Arrangements for remote connection or disconnection of substations or of equipment thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2816 : Controlling appliance services of a home automation network by calling their functionalities arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station; in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2827 : Reporting to a device within the home network; wherein the reception of the information reported automatically triggers the execution of a home appliance functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2829 : involving user profiles according to which the execution of a home appliance functionality is automatically triggered
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 : comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 : in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 : specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/30 : using a wired architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/43 : using wireless personal area networks [WPAN], e.g. 802.15, 802.15.1, 802.15.4, Bluetooth or ZigBee
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/60 : for transmitting utility meters data, i.e. transmission of data from the reader of the utility meter
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 : Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 : Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/00 : Wireless channel access
• 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: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/82 : Energy audits or management systems therefor
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/20 : End-user application control systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/14 : Marketing, i.e. market research and analysis, surveying, promotions, advertising, buyer profiling, customer management or rewards

Abstract

Accessing an energy management policy for a plurality of devices is described, wherein the devices are coupled with a first structure. The energy usage of the devices is monitored. An energy usage rule and energy usage is then compared. The energy management policy and energy usage is also compared. Based on the comparing, an instruction is generated to modify an energy usage profile of said device to correlate with the energy usage rule associated with the devices and the energy management policy, thereby enabling efficient energy management.

Claims

1. A method of encouraging resource-conscious behavior, comprising:

determining, using a resource management system, resource usage information for each of a plurality of homes, the resource usage information for each home in the plurality of homes indicating an amount of resource consumption associated with the home;

comparing the amount of resource consumption associated with a first home in the plurality of homes to the amount of resource consumption associated with one or more other homes in the plurality of homes;

determining similarities and/or differences between the amount of resource consumption associated with the first home and the amount of resource consumption associated with the one or more other homes in the plurality of homes based on the comparing;

anonymizing the amount of resource consumption associated with the one or more other homes in the plurality of homes to generate anonymized resource consumption information;

communicating, with a first user of the first home, the anonymized resource consumption information, the anonymized resource consumption information for the one or more other homes in the plurality of homes being indicative of the amount of resource consumption associated with one or more other homes in the plurality of homes; and

causing a device to be controlled in the first home based on the anonymized resource information and/or on feedback from the first user in response to receiving the anonymized resource consumption information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating with the first user of the first home is performed via a user interface.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more other homes in the plurality of homes are within a neighborhood of the first user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a resource, for which the resource usage information is determined, is a form of energy.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource usage information for each home represents total resource consumption of the home.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource usage information for each home represents resource consumption of a subset of devices operating in the home.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a first cost of operating a device associated with one of the plurality of homes based on a first operational parameter of the device;

determining a second cost of operating the device associated with the one of the plurality of homes based on a second operational parameter of the device different than the first operational parameter of the device; and

communicating to a user of the device information indicative of a difference in cost between the first cost and the second cost resulting from changing from the first operational parameter to the second operational parameter.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the second operational parameter is indicative of the device consuming less resource as compared to the first operational parameter, and the difference in cost is a cost saving.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

communicating a query to the user of the device regarding accepting the second operational parameter;

receiving feedback from the user of the device in response to the query; and

controlling the device in accordance with the second operational parameter based on the received feedback.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a goal of the first user associated with the first user'"'"'s resource consumption;

monitoring resource consumption of the first user; and

sending information to the first user regarding the goal when the first user'"'"'s resource consumption approaches the goal.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the goal is a pre-set resource budget target for a given period of time.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

partway through the period of time, determining a trend of the first user'"'"'s resource consumption;

determining that the first user'"'"'s resource consumption is likely to exceed the pre-set resource budget target; and

sending information to the first user encouraging the first user to adjust their resource consumption upon determining that the first user'"'"'s resource consumption is likely to exceed the pre-set resource budget target.

13. A system for encouraging resource-conscious behavior, comprising:

one or more computer servers communicatively coupled to a plurality of resource management devices and configured to;

determine resource usage information for each of a plurality of homes, the resource usage information for each home in the plurality of homes indicating an amount of resource consumption associated with the home;

compare the amount of resource consumption associated with a first home in the plurality of homes to the amount of resource consumption associated with one or more of other homes in the plurality of homes;

determine similarities and/or differences between the amount of resource consumption associated with the first home and the amount of resource consumption associated with the one or more other homes in the plurality of homes based on the comparing;

anonymize the amount of resource consumption associated with the one or more other homes in the plurality of homes to generate anonymized resource consumption information;

communicate, with a first user of the first home, the anonymized resource consumption information, the anonymized resource consumption information for the one or more other homes in the plurality of homes being indicative of the amount of resource consumption associated with one or more other homes in the plurality of homes; and

cause a device to be controlled in the first home based on the anonymized resource information and/or on feedback from the first user in response to receiving the anonymized resource consumption information.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein a resource, for which the resource usage information is determined, is a form of energy.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, having instructions stored therein, which when executed cause a computer to perform a set of operations comprising:

determining resource usage information for each of a plurality of homes, the resource usage information for each home in the plurality of homes indicating an amount of resource consumption associated with the home;

comparing the amount of resource consumption associated with a first home in the plurality of homes to the amount of resource consumption associated with one or more other homes in the plurality of homes;

determining similarities and/or differences between the amount of resource consumption associated with the first home and the amount of resource consumption associated with the one or more other homes in the plurality of homes based on the comparing;

anonymizing the amount of resource consumption associated with the one or more other homes in the plurality of homes to generate anonymized resource consumption information;

communicating, with a first user of the first home, the anonymized resource consumption information, the anonymized resource consumption information for the one or more other homes in the plurality of homes being indicative of the amount of resource consumption associated with one or more other homes in the plurality of homes; and

causing a device to be controlled in the first home based on the anonymized resource information and/or on feedback from the first user in response to receiving the anonymized resource consumption information.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, having further instructions stored therein, which when executed cause the computer to perform a set of operations comprising:

generating an advertisement for the first user.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the advertisement is for an upgraded device to replace a device associated with the first home of the first user.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, having further instructions stored therein, which when executed cause the computer to perform a set of operations comprising:

personalizing the advertisement to target the first user based on the resource usage information for the first home of the first user.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, having further instructions stored therein, which when executed cause the computer to perform a set of operations comprising:

communicating an incentive to the first user for accepting the advertisement.