Attribute energy consumption through power sensing and user localizations

• US 10,169,835 B2
• Filed: 09/21/2015
• Issued: 01/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Gu, Yu, Hwang, Inseok, Liu, Su, Wei, Yaoguang
• Primary Examiner(s): Sullivan, Caleen
• Application Number:
  US14/860,304
• Publication Number:
  US 20170082994A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,198 Days
• Field of Search: 700291, 700 33, 700296, 700276
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/048 Monitoring; Safety
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2639 Energy management, use maximum of cheap power, keep peak load low
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply

Abstract

An approach is provided for attributing energy usage to individual occupants in an area, such as a building or office space. The approach receives current locations of occupants from sensors deployed in the area being monitored. Identifiers corresponding to various occupants are determined, such as by tracking the occupants'"'"' mobile telephone location, biometrics such as facial recognition, or other device-enabled means of identifying people. Energy consumption values corresponding to energy consuming devices are received and device locations are identified. The approach further attributes the amount of energy consumed by each of the occupants, with the energy attribution being based on the occupants'"'"' current locations and the device locations.

Claims

1. A method executed by an information handling system comprising one or more processors and a memory, the method comprising:

receiving, by one of the processors, sensory data from one or more proximity detection sensors, wherein the sensory data corresponds to a plurality of occupants located within an area;

generating, by one of the processors, an occupant map based upon the captured sensory data, wherein the occupant map identifies a plurality of current occupant locations corresponding to the plurality of occupants;

receiving, by one of the processors, a plurality of energy consumption values corresponding to a plurality of energy consuming devices;

identifying, by one of the processors, a device location pertaining to each of the plurality of energy consuming devices, resulting in a plurality of device locations;

retrieving, by one of the processors, device metadata corresponding to the plurality of energy consuming devices, wherein the device metadata comprises a plurality of usage proximity ranges corresponding to the plurality of energy consuming devices;

mapping, by one of the processors, the plurality of occupants to the plurality of energy consuming devices based on evaluating the occupant map against the plurality of device locations and the corresponding plurality of usage proximity ranges;

attributing, by one of the processors, an amount of energy consumed by each of the plurality of occupants based on their mapped at least one of the plurality of energy consuming devices and corresponding at least one of the plurality of energy consumption values; and

reporting, by one of the processors, the attributed amount of energy consumed by each of the one or more occupants to one or more entities selected from the group consisting of a social media website, a manager, and one or more of the plurality of occupants.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying a set of the plurality of energy consuming devices that is not attributed to any of the occupants; and

reporting an energy waste corresponding to the identified set of energy consuming devices.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating a graph with an occupant node corresponding to each of the received current occupant locations of the plurality of occupants;

adding a device node corresponding to each of the plurality of energy consuming devices; and

connecting the occupant nodes with the device nodes based on the current occupant locations of the plurality of occupants and the device locations.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

retrieving a set of occupant assigned devices that link one or more of the plurality of occupants to one or more of the plurality of energy consuming devices; and

connecting the occupant nodes linked to the occupant assigned devices to the respective energy consuming devices regardless of the current location of the respective occupants.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the amount of energy consumed includes a total amount of energy consumed by each of the plurality of occupants and an energy amount attributed to each of the plurality of occupants for each of the plurality of energy consuming device nodes connected to each of the occupant nodes.

6. An information handling system comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory coupled to at least one of the processors; and

a set of instructions stored in the memory and executed by at least one of the processors, wherein the set of instructions perform actions comprising;

receiving, by one of the processors, sensory data from one or more proximity detection sensors, wherein the sensory data corresponds to a plurality of occupants located within an area;

generating, by one of the processors, an occupant map based upon the captured sensory data, wherein the occupant map identifies a plurality of current occupant locations corresponding to the plurality of occupants;

receiving, by one of the processors, a plurality of energy consumption values corresponding to a plurality of energy consuming devices;

identifying, by one of the processors, a device location pertaining to each of the plurality of energy consuming devices, resulting in a plurality of device locations;

retrieving, by one of the processors, device metadata corresponding to the plurality of energy consuming devices, wherein the device metadata comprises a plurality of usage proximity ranges corresponding to the plurality of energy consuming devices;

mapping, by one of the processors, the plurality of occupants to the plurality of energy consuming devices based on evaluating the occupant map against the plurality of device locations and the corresponding plurality of usage proximity ranges;

attributing, by one of the processors, an amount of energy consumed by each of the plurality of occupants based on their mapped at least one of the plurality of energy consuming devices and corresponding at least one of the plurality of energy consumption values; and

reporting, by one of the processors, the attributed amount of energy consumed by each of the one or more occupants to one or more entities selected from the group consisting of a social media website, a manager, and one or more of the plurality of occupants.

7. The information handling system of claim 6 wherein the actions further comprise:

identifying a set of the plurality of energy consuming devices that is not attributed to any of the occupants; and

reporting an energy waste corresponding to the identified set of energy consuming devices.

8. The information handling system of claim 6 wherein the actions further comprise:

generating a graph with an occupant node corresponding to each of the received current occupant locations of the plurality of occupants;

adding a device node corresponding to each of the plurality of energy consuming devices; and

connecting the occupant nodes with the device nodes based on the current occupant locations of the plurality of occupants and the device locations.

9. The information handling system of claim 8 wherein the actions further comprise:

retrieving a set of occupant assigned devices that link one or more of the plurality of occupants to one or more of the plurality of energy consuming devices; and

connecting the occupant nodes linked to the occupant assigned devices to the respective energy consuming devices regardless of the current location of the respective occupants.

10. The information handling system of claim 8 wherein the amount of energy consumed includes a total amount of energy consumed by each of the plurality of occupants and an energy amount attributed to each of the plurality of occupants for each of the plurality of energy consuming device nodes connected to each of the occupant nodes.

11. A computer program product stored in a computer readable storage medium, comprising computer instructions that, when executed by an information handling system, causes the information handling system to perform actions comprising:

receiving sensory data from one or more proximity detection sensors, wherein the sensory data corresponds to a plurality of occupants located within an area;

generating an occupant map based upon the captured sensory data, wherein the occupant map identifies a plurality of current occupant locations corresponding to the plurality of occupants;

receiving a plurality of energy consumption values corresponding to a plurality of energy consuming devices;

identifying a device location pertaining to each of the plurality of energy consuming devices, resulting in a plurality of device locations;

retrieving device metadata corresponding to the plurality of energy consuming devices, wherein the device metadata comprises a plurality of usage proximity ranges corresponding to the plurality of energy consuming devices;

mapping the plurality of occupants to the plurality of energy consuming devices based on evaluating the occupant map against the plurality of device locations and the corresponding plurality of usage proximity ranges;

attributing an amount of energy consumed by each of the plurality of occupants based on their mapped at least one of the plurality of energy consuming devices and corresponding at least one of the plurality of energy consumption values; and

reporting the attributed amount of energy consumed by each of the one or more occupants to one or more entities selected from the group consisting of a social media website, a manager, and one or more of the plurality of occupants.

12. The computer program product of claim 11 wherein the actions further comprise:

identifying a set of the plurality of energy consuming devices that is not attributed to any of the occupants; and

reporting an energy waste corresponding to the identified set of energy consuming devices.

13. The computer program product of claim 11 wherein the actions further comprise:

generating a graph with an occupant node corresponding to each of the received current occupant locations of the plurality of occupants;

adding a device node corresponding to each of the plurality of energy consuming devices; and

connecting the occupant nodes with the device nodes based on the current occupant locations of the plurality of occupants and the device locations.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the actions further comprise:

retrieving a set of occupant assigned devices that link one or more of the plurality of occupants to one or more of the plurality of energy consuming devices; and

connecting the occupant nodes linked to the occupant assigned devices to the respective energy consuming devices regardless of the current location of the respective occupants.