INTELLIGENT POWER SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR ITS APPLICATION

• US 20090304101A1
• Filed: 06/08/2009
• Published: 12/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dominion Enterprises (Landmark Media Enterprises LLC), TRC Companies Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Power Tagging Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: McClellan, Stan, LoPorto, John J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,519,832 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 375/260
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/70 Interactions with external data bases, e.g. traffic centres
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/16 by display
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/14 Conductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/305 Communication interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/65 involving identification of vehicles or their battery types
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/68 Off-site monitoring or control, e.g. remote control
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/12 responding to state of charge [SoC]
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 2204/12 Determination or prediction of behaviour, e.g. likely power consumption or unusual usage patterns
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 2204/14 Displaying of utility usage with respect to time, e.g. for monitoring evolution of usage or with respect to weather conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 2204/16 Displaying of utility pricing or cost
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/004 Remote reading of utility meters to a fixed location
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2203/5412 by modofying wave form of the power source
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2203/5433 Remote metering
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2203/5458 Monitor sensor; Alarm systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 3/546 Combination of signalling, telemetering, protection circuits for remote indication of supply or distribution network condition H02J13/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2626 Arrangements specific to the transmitter only
• 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: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 Electric energy management in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 : Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 : Plug-in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/16 : Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/167 : Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for supporting the interoperability of electric or hybrid vehicles, i.e. smartgrids as interface for battery charging of electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/30 : Smart metering, e.g. specially adapted for remote reading
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 30/12 : Remote or cooperative charging
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 30/14 : Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing

Abstract

Methods and systems for injecting information into a power signal, and techniques to capture the injected information are disclosed. Various processes for using the information are also presented, which may relate to the type of device receiving the information. Moreover, techniques for determining the distance of a consumer device are disclosed, as have a specific implementation which relates to mobile consumer devices. Also various ways of encrypting both in-band and out-of-band transmission are disclosed.

Claims

1. A process for controlling a consumer device based upon information relating to characteristics of a power source;

said process comprising the steps of;

a. receiving a power signal at a power transceiver;

b. embedding a signature into the power signal using a modulator to form a combined signal;

c. transmitting the combined power signal to a consumer device;

d. transmitting the signature and additional information to a server having records;

e. storing the signature and the additional information in the records;

f. demodulating the combined signal to determine the signature;

g. sending the power from the power signal to a power supply coupled to the consumer device;

h. generating a query based on the signature;

i. sending the query to the server to request the server lookup information in the records; and

j. responding to the query by sending the additional information to the consumer device.

2. The process of claim 1 comprising utilizing the signature as a primary key from which to request the additional information.

3. The process of claim 1 comprising turning off the power supply if the information from the server indicates the power exceeds a predefined value.

4. The process of claim 1 comprising setting the consumer device to run in a power saving mode if the information from the server indicates the power exceeds a predefined value.

5. The process of claim 1 comprising turning on the power supply if the information from the server indicates the cost of the power is less than a predefined value.

6. The process of claim 1 comprising sending battery characteristics, user charge/discharge preferences, and vehicle-specific information to the consumer device.

7. The process of claim 1 comprising sending time-of-day restrictions and power cost information.

8. The process of claim 1 comprising monitoring the characteristics of the power source to determine how much of the power comes from green sources, and instructing the controller to switch off or move certain electrical devices into a reduced power level if a certain percentage of the power does not come from green sources.

9. A process for embedding a signature into a power signal using OFDM comprising the following steps:

a. generating the signature;

b. receiving a power signal having harmonics for transmitting power to a consumer device and for transmitting the signature to the consumer device;

c. demultiplexing the signature into several sub-sequences; and

d. modulating the sub-sequences onto one or more carriers near the power signal using a modulator;

e. wherein the step of modulating utilizes OFDM to embed the information into the carriers near the power signal.

10. The process of claim 9, wherein the power signal comprises locations of peak and nonpeak spectral magnitude;

and the step of modulating adds the sub-sequences to the carriers in the location of nonpeak magnitude.

11. The process of claim 9, wherein the modulator is instructed to use instantaneous phase or amplitude discontinuities to produce sub-channel modulation and improve carrier error rate in the power channel.

12. The process of claim 9, wherein the step of modulating may use minimum shift keying (MSK), binary PSK (BPSK), quadrature-carrier PSK (QPSK), or differential PSK (D-PSK) to produce the sub-channel modulation.

13. The process of claim 12, wherein the step of modulating uses frequency modulation to produce the sub-channel modulation.

14. The process of claim 12, wherein the step of modulating uses amplitude shift keying (ASK) to produce the sub-channel modulation.

15. The process of claim 9, wherein the embedded information has a spectral containment of at least 90%.

16. The process of claim 9, wherein the embedded information may be embedded at a bandwidth of 5 Hz, 10 Hz, or 20 Hz.

17. The process of claim 9, wherein the embedded information can transfer information at 1.0 bits/Hz and 20 bits per second if the modulator is instructed to use quadrature carrier phase shift keying at a bandwidth of 20 Hz.

18. The process of claim 9, wherein the modulator places the sub-channels near the 12^th, 14^th, and 16^th harmonics of the power signal.

19. The process of claim 9, wherein the modulator utilizes forward error correction coding to provide the signature with error protection.

20. The process of claim 19 wherein the error correction coding is coded OFDM.

21. A process for tracking a consumer device'"'"'s power consumption from a power source comprising the steps of:

a. providing a server having a memory for storing an account having a user'"'"'s payment information and consumer device information;

b. connecting the consumer device to a power outlet to allow power to flow from the power source to the consumer device;

c. sending an in-band transmission to the power source to charge the account associated with the consumer device for the consumption of the power;

d. querying the server to determine whether an account associated with the consumer device exists; and

e. sending a response concerning the query to the power source.

22. The process of claim 21, wherein the step of sending includes:

a. generating a signature for identifying the consumer device;

b. demultiplexing the signature into a plurality of subsequences; and

c. modulating the subsequences into the in-band transmission.

23. The process of claim 22, wherein the signature comprises a code, and the code is stored on a VIM.

24. The process of claim 22, comprising demodulating the in-band transmission to determine the signature at the power source.

25. The process of claim 21 comprising performing the following process if the response indicates an account associated with the consumer device is present:

monitoring the flow of the power from the power source to the consumer device.

26. The process of claim 25 comprising the step of detecting when the consumer device ceases drawing power.

27. The process of claim 25 comprising the step of sending a total amount of energy consumed to the server.

28. The process of claim 25 comprising the step of determining how much to charge the account for the energy consumed.

29. The process of claim 28 comprising the step of transmitting the total charge for the energy and a total amount energy which was consumed by the consumer device.

30. The process of claim 29 comprising the step of displaying the total charge and energy consumed with a component of the consumer device.

31. The process of claim 21 comprising the step of performing the following process if the response does not indicate an account associated with the consumer device is present:

transmitting a message to the consumer device to cause the consumer device to display information to indicate that the consumer device is not associated with an account.

32. The process of claim 21 comprising the step of transmitting a price for the energy to the consumer device after the identity of the consumer device has been determined.

33. The process of claim 21 wherein the consumer device is a vehicle.

34. The process of claim 21 wherein the consumer device is an electric or hybrid automobile.

35. A consumer device having a controller and a power supply having a charge, said controller comprising instructions stored on computer readable memory to cause the consumer device to execute the steps of:

a. establishing a maximum cost per watt of energy, and a minimum cost per watt of energy;

b. drawing power from a power source if the cost of the power is less than the maximum cost per watt; and

c. sending power to the power source if the power source is offering more than the minimum cost per watt.

36. The consumer device of claim 35 wherein the consumer device is an electric or hybrid automobile.

37. The consumer device of claim 35, wherein the step of drawing power is performed when the charge on the power supply is less than a predefined percentage.

38. The consumer device of claim 35, wherein the step of drawing power is performed when the charge on the power supply is greater than a predefined percentage.