Apparatus and method for determining a schedule of an appliance
First Claim
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1. A method of defining a signal sent to an appliance, the method comprising:
- acquiring pricing data from a source of information about a resource used by the appliance while performing a cycle of operation;
obtaining a user preference for a tradeoff factor associated with the use of the resource by the appliance;
calculating, from the pricing data, at least one projected rate for the use of the resource by the appliance for a future series of time periods to define a series of projected rates;
assigning a delay request to selected time periods based on the tradeoff factor and the at least one projected rate; and
transmitting a signal to the appliance to perform the cycle of operation based on the assigned delay request;
wherein the tradeoff factor is used to determine a rate threshold above which the delay request is assigned and the rate threshold is a summation of I) an average of the series of projected rates and II) a product of the tradeoff factor and a standard deviation of the pricing data.
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Abstract
A method of determining an optimal schedule for performing a cycle of operation in the appliance wherein the schedule is a function of the tradeoff factor wherein the tradeoff factor is used to determine a rate threshold above which a delay request is included in the optimal schedule, and the rate threshold is a summation of I) an average of a series of projected rates for the use of the resource by the appliance for a future series of time periods and II) a product of the tradeoff factor and a standard deviation of the series of projected rates.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of defining a signal sent to an appliance, the method comprising:
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acquiring pricing data from a source of information about a resource used by the appliance while performing a cycle of operation; obtaining a user preference for a tradeoff factor associated with the use of the resource by the appliance; calculating, from the pricing data, at least one projected rate for the use of the resource by the appliance for a future series of time periods to define a series of projected rates; assigning a delay request to selected time periods based on the tradeoff factor and the at least one projected rate; and transmitting a signal to the appliance to perform the cycle of operation based on the assigned delay request; wherein the tradeoff factor is used to determine a rate threshold above which the delay request is assigned and the rate threshold is a summation of I) an average of the series of projected rates and II) a product of the tradeoff factor and a standard deviation of the pricing data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of scheduling a cycle of operation in an appliance, comprising:
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obtaining from a user of the appliance a tradeoff factor over a predetermined range based on a user'"'"'s preference for a level of participation in management of a resource; determining an optimal schedule for performing a cycle of operation in the appliance wherein the schedule is a function of the tradeoff factor wherein the tradeoff factor is used to determine a rate threshold above which a delay request is included in the optimal schedule, and the rate threshold is a summation of I) an average of a series of projected rates for the use of the resource by the appliance for a future series of time periods and II) a product of the tradeoff factor and a standard deviation of the series of projected rates; and transmitting a signal to the appliance to implement the optimal schedule. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A remote device configured to communicate with appliance and a source of information about a resource consumed by the appliance, wherein the remote device comprises at least one server configured to:
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acquire pricing data from the source of information; obtain a user preference for a tradeoff factor where the tradeoff factor is indicative of a user'"'"'s preference for a level of participation in management of a resource; calculate at least one projected rate for the use of the resource by the appliance for a future series of time periods to define a series of projected rates; assign a delay request to selected time periods based on the tradeoff factor and the projected rate; and transmit a signal to the appliance to perform a cycle of operation based on the assigned delay request; wherein the tradeoff factor is used to determine a rate threshold above which the delay request is included in a projected schedule and the rate threshold is a summation of I) an average of the series of projected rates and II) a product of the tradeoff factor and a standard deviation of the series of projected rates. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium for defining a signal to be sent to at an appliance, the non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions for a server to:
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acquire pricing data from a source of information; obtain a tradeoff factor where the tradeoff factor is indicative of a user'"'"'s preference for a level of participation in management of a resource; calculate at least one projected rate for the use of the resource by the appliance for a future series of time periods to define a series of projected rates; assign a delay request to selected time periods based on the tradeoff factor and the projected rate; create a projected schedule for performing a cycle of operation for the future series of time periods; and transmit a signal to the appliance to perform the cycle of operation based on the projected schedule; wherein the tradeoff factor is used to determine a rate threshold above which the delay request is included in the projected schedule and the rate threshold is a summation of I) an average of the series of projected rates and II) a product of the tradeoff factor and a standard deviation of the series of projected rates.
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Specification