Advanced Metering Infrastructure Network Visualization

• US 20120101749A1
• Filed: 10/20/2010
• Published: 04/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Southern Company Services, Inc. (Southern Company)
• Original Assignee: Southern Company Services, Inc. (Southern Company)
• Inventors: Garrett, Joseph John, Lundy, Brandon Keith, Rhoades, Derl Wayne
• Granted Patent: US 9,030,333 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/58
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 2204/18 Remote displaying of utility meter readings
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 2204/45 Utility meters networked together within a single building
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 22/063 related to remote communication
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 22/10 using digital techniques
• 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: Y04S 20/30 Smart metering, e.g. specially adapted for remote reading

Abstract

Systems and methods for visualization of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) deployments are disclosed. A status associated with communications towers or metering devices in an AMI deployment can be monitored based on alarms generated by a metering vendor system or based on thresholds specified in the AMI operations database. A user interface can be generated that allows the AMI deployment to be visualized, with status indicators associated with statuses overlaid on a map. The user interface can further facilitate visualization of progress of tasks associated with AMI operations.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

at least one computing device; and

an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) application executable in the at least one computing device, the AMI application comprising;

logic that receives a metering data stream from a metering database, the metering data stream comprising a plurality of messages regarding at least one communications tower and at least one metering device in an AMI deployment;

logic that stores the plurality of messages in an AMI operations database;

logic that determines a status of at least one of the communications towers and the at least one metering device based at least upon the plurality of messages and data retrieved from the AMI operations database;

logic that determines a location associated with the at least one of the communications towers and the at least one metering device;

logic that renders a user interface, the user interface comprising displaying a status indicator associated with the status and a location indicator associated with the location.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising logic that updates the status indicator when the status changes.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the status further comprises:

a normal status, a door tamper status, a power failure status, a slot error status, a low battery status, a communication error status, a temperature error status, a message overload status, a low message status, and an insufficient statistics status.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the status indicator further comprises at least one of:

a colored indicator and a shaped indicator;

wherein the status indicator uniquely corresponds to the status corresponding to the at least one of the communications towers and the at least one metering device based.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic that determines a status associated with of at least one of the communications towers and the at least one metering device based at least upon the plurality of messages and historical data retrieved from the AMI operations database further comprises logic that retrieves a metering alarm message from the metering data stream.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic that stores the plurality of messages in the AMI operations database further comprises:

logic that extracts from a message a value associated with a statistic, the statistic corresponding to at least one of the communications towers and the at least one metering device; and

logic that updates the statistic in the AMI operations database if the value is valid.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the logic that determines a status associated with at least one of the communications towers and the at least one metering device based at least upon the plurality of messages and historical data retrieved from the AMI operations database further comprises:

logic that determines whether the value causes the statistic to fall outside at least one predetermined threshold; and

logic that updates the status indicator when the statistic falls outside the at least one predetermined threshold.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the logic that updates the statistic in the AMI operations database if the value is valid further comprises logic that bypasses updating the statistic in the AMI operations database if the value causes the statistic to fall outside at least one predetermined threshold.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic that determines a status associated with of at least one of the communications towers and the at least one metering device based at least upon the plurality of messages and historical data retrieved from the AMI operations database further comprises logic that retrieves a metering alarm message from the metering data stream.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

logic that monitors at least one task associated with the AMI deployment; and

logic that updates the user interface with a task status indicator corresponding to the at least one task.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the task status indicator further comprises at least one of:

a completion indicator, an overdue indicator, and an in-progress indicator.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the logic that monitors the at least one task further comprises:

logic that determines completion progress of a task;

logic that determines an expected completion time for the task;

logic that determines a task deadline associated with the task;

logic that determines, based at least upon the completion progress of the task and the expected completion time of the task, whether the task will be completed by the task deadline.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the billing task further comprises at least one of:

a request to retrieve usage data associated with a plurality of metering devices in the AMI deployment, a request to reconcile requested usage data and reported usage data associated with a plurality of metering devices in the AMI deployment, and a request to report usage data associated with a plurality of metering devices in the AMI deployment.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one billing task further comprises determining whether usage data regarding a plurality of metering devices in the AMI deployment

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic that renders the user interface further comprises logic that overlays the status indicator on a map interface, the status indicator placed on a map location corresponding to the location associated with the at least one of the communications towers and the at least one metering device.

16. A method, comprising the steps of:

receiving a metering data stream from a metering database, the metering data stream comprising a plurality of messages regarding at least one communications tower and at least one metering device in an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) deployment;

storing the plurality of messages in an AMI operations database;

determining a status of at least one of the communications towers and the at least one metering device based at least upon the plurality of messages and data retrieved from the AMI operations database;

determining a location associated with the at least one of the communications towers and the at least one metering device; and

rendering a user interface, the user interface comprising displaying a status indicator associated with the status and a location indicator associated with the location.

17. The method of claim 16, further the step of updating the status indicator when the status changes.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the status further comprises:

a normal status, a door tamper status, a power failure status, a slot error status, a low battery status, a communication error status, a temperature error status, a message overload status, a low message status, and an insufficient statistics status.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the status indicator further comprises at least one of:

a colored indicator and a shaped indicator;

wherein the status indicator uniquely corresponds to the status corresponding to the at least one of the communications towers and the at least one metering device based.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of determining a status associated with of at least one of the communications towers and the at least one metering device based at least upon the plurality of messages and historical data retrieved from the AMI operations database further comprises logic that retrieves a metering alarm message from the metering data stream.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of storing the plurality of messages in the AMI operations database further comprises:

extracting from a message a value associated with a statistic, the statistic corresponding to at least one of the communications towers and the at least one metering device; and

updating the statistic in the AMI operations database if the value is valid.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the step of determining a status associated with at least one of the communications towers and the at least one metering device based at least upon the plurality of messages and historical data retrieved from the AMI operations database further comprises:

determining whether the value causes the statistic to fall outside at least one predetermined threshold; and

updating the status indicator when the statistic falls outside the at least one predetermined threshold.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the step of updating the statistic in the AMI operations database if the value is valid further comprises logic that bypasses updating the statistic in the AMI operations database if the value causes the statistic to fall outside at least one predetermined threshold.

24. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of determining a status associated with of at least one of the communications towers and the at least one metering device based at least upon the plurality of messages and historical data retrieved from the AMI operations database further comprises logic that retrieves a metering alarm message from the metering data stream.

25. The method of claim 16, further comprising the steps of:

monitoring at least one task associated with the AMI deployment; and

updating the user interface with a task status indicator corresponding to the at least one task.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the task status indicator further comprises at least one of:

a completion indicator, an overdue indicator, and an in-progress indicator.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the step of monitoring the at least one task further comprises:

determining completion progress of a task;

determining an expected completion time for the task;

determining a task deadline associated with the task;

determining, based at least upon the completion progress of the task and the expected completion time of the task, whether the task will be completed by the task deadline.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the billing task further comprises at least one of:

a request to retrieve usage data associated with a plurality of metering devices in the AMI deployment, a request to reconcile requested usage data and reported usage data associated with a plurality of metering devices in the AMI deployment, and a request to report usage data associated with a plurality of metering devices in the AMI deployment.

29. The method of claim 22, wherein the at least one billing task further comprises determining whether usage data regarding a plurality of metering devices in the AMI deployment

30. The method of claim 16, wherein the logic that renders the user interface further comprises logic that overlays the status indicator on a map interface, the status indicator placed on a map location corresponding to the location associated with the at least one of the communications towers and the at least one metering device.