OPTIMISATION OF USE OR PROVISION OF A RESOURCE OR SERVICE
First Claim
1. An apparatus for monitoring use and/or provision of a resource and/or a service by a user and/or provider of the resource and/or service, said apparatus comprising means for receiving data indicative of the benefit of operating the user and/or provider at one or more particular future times and/or one or more particular future operating conditions;
- means for monitoring use and/or provision of the resource or service by the user or provider; and
means for outputting information indicative of a cost of said use and/or provision based on said data.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus is provided in which the use or provision of a resource or service can be optimised based on data indicative of the benefits of using or providing the resource or service at one or more future times. The service could be the provision of electricity to an appliance or device. A retailer or distributor of the electricity could transmit future prices of the electricity based on the expected supply and demand for the electricity. An apparatus could receive the future prices and set a timing of an appliance or device to use or provide the electricity in order to optimise the cost of the use or provision of electricity. Other resources and services are also applicable, such as road network usage, telecoms or gas provision or usage. The usage or provision of the resource or service by the appliance or device can be metered and the amount of resource or service used or provided can be billed using the given indication of a benefit at particular future times, e.g. using the given future prices.
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Citations
80 Claims
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1. An apparatus for monitoring use and/or provision of a resource and/or a service by a user and/or provider of the resource and/or service, said apparatus comprising means for receiving data indicative of the benefit of operating the user and/or provider at one or more particular future times and/or one or more particular future operating conditions;
- means for monitoring use and/or provision of the resource or service by the user or provider; and
means for outputting information indicative of a cost of said use and/or provision based on said data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
- means for monitoring use and/or provision of the resource or service by the user or provider; and
- 6. An apparatus for allowing optimisation of use or provision of a resource and/or service based on input data indicative of the benefit of using and/or providing the resource and/or service at one or more particular future times and/or under one or more particular future operating conditions.
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42. A method of monitoring use and/or provision of a resource and/or a service by a user and/or provider of the resource and/or service, said method comprising receiving data indicative of the benefit of operating the user and/or provider at one or more particular future times and/or one or more particular future operating conditions;
- monitoring use and/or provision of the resource or service by the user or provider; and
outputting information indicative of a cost of said use and/or provision based on said data. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 51, 54, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 68, 69, 70, 72, 73, 74, 75, 78, 79, 80)
- monitoring use and/or provision of the resource or service by the user or provider; and
- 47. A method of allowing optimisation of use or provision of a resource and/or service based on input data indicative of the benefit of using and/or providing the resource and/or service at one or more particular future times and/or under one or more particular future operating conditions.
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71. The method of claim 71, comprising transforming the frequency of the grid to a present price and transforming the indication of a benefit to a predicted price and wherein said interrupting resetting output an interruption or reset signal if the predicted price is beyond a threshold amount from the present price.
Specification