Monitoring efficiency and ecological impact associated with a use of a product

• US 20120150552A1
• Filed: 09/14/2011
• Published: 06/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Belady, Christian L., Bernard, Rob, Calvo, Angel Sarmento, Cochrane, Larry, Garms, Jason, Hyde, Roderick A., Levien, Royce A., Lord, Richard T., Lord, Robert W., Malamud, Mark A., Pollard, Jennifer Mame, Rinaldo, John D. Jr., Tegreene, Clarence T., Vega, Rene A., Wood, Lowell L. Jr., Zhao, Feng
• Application Number:
  US13/199,995
• Publication Number:
  US 20120150552A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/1.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/30 Administration of product recycling or disposal
• CPC Class Codes: Y02W 90/00 Enabling technologies or technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions mitigation

Abstract

Systems and methods for determining efficiency-of-use scores related to uses of a product by two or more users may implement operations including, but not limited to: associating a physical product with a user account associated with a user in response to a signal indicating that the user has control of the physical product; receiving data associated with use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product; computing at least one of an efficiency-of-use score and an environmental impact quantification according to the data associated with the use of the physical product by the user over a period of time the user is indicated as having control of the physical product; and publishing at least one of the efficiency-of-use score and the environmental impact quantification.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

means for associating a physical product with a user account associated with a user in response to a signal indicating that the user has control of the physical product;

means for receiving data associated with use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product;

means for computing at least one of an efficiency-of-use score and an environmental impact quantification according to the data associated with the use of the physical product by the user over a period of time the user is indicated as having control of the physical product; and

means for publishing at least one of the efficiency-of-use score and the environmental impact quantification.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the means for associating a physical product with a user account associated with a user in response to a signal indicating that the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for associating the physical product with a user in response to receiving a device-readable indicator associated with the physical product.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the means for associating a physical product with a user account associated with a user in response to a signal indicating that the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for associating the physical product with a user in response to a user-input.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the means for associating a physical product with a user account associated with a user in response to a signal indicating that the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for associating the physical product with a user in response to a signal indicative of a user.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the means for associating the physical product with a user in response to a signal indicative of a user comprises:

means for associating the physical product with a user in response to a signal indicative of a presence of a user in proximity to the product.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for receiving data associated with use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for receiving at least temperature data generated by a temperature monitoring sensor over the period of time that a user has control of the physical product.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for receiving data associated with use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for receiving at least pressure data generated by a pressure monitoring sensor over the period of time that a user has control of the physical product.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for receiving data associated with use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for receiving at least one image over the period of time that a user has control of the physical product.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for receiving data associated with use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for receiving at least information obtained by a laser over the period of time that a user has control of the physical product.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for receiving data associated with use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for receiving at least vibration information generated from a vibration monitoring sensor over the period of time that a user has control of the physical product.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for receiving data associated with use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for receiving at least impact data generated by an impact sensor over the period of time that a user has control of the physical product.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for receiving data associated with use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for receiving at least corrosion data generated by a corrosion sensor over the period of time that a user has control of the physical product.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for receiving data associated with use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for receiving at least an output of a sensor configured to measure concentrations of metallic elements in a lubricant over the period of time that a user has control of the physical product.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for receiving data associated with use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for receiving at least information obtained by a diagnostic computing device associated with the physical product over the period of time that a user has control of the physical product.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for receiving data associated with use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for receiving at least revolutions per minute data generated by a tachometer over the period of time that a user has control of the physical product.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for receiving data associated with use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for receiving at least status information associated with a battery over the period of time that a user has control of the physical product.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for receiving data associated with use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for receiving at least information associated with processor utilization over the period of time that a user has control of the physical product.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for receiving data associated with use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for receiving at least information associated with an amount of energy consumed over the period of time that a user has control of the physical product.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for receiving data associated with use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for receiving at least information associated with an estimated amount of work per unit of fuel achieved by the physical product over the period of time that a user has control of the physical product.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for receiving data associated with use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for receiving at least information associated with an estimated amount of miles per gallon of gasoline achieved by the physical product over the period of time that a user has control of the physical product.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for receiving data associated with use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for receiving at least information associated with mileage driven over the period of time that a user has control of the physical product.

22. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for receiving data associated with use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for receiving at least sound information for the physical product generated by a microphone over the period of time that a user has control of the physical product.

23. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for receiving data associated with use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for receiving at least information associated with an amount of light reflected by the physical product over the period of time that a user has control of the physical product.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for receiving data associated with use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for receiving at least information associated with an amount of bandwidth used by the physical product over the period of time that a user has control of the physical product.

25. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for receiving data associated with use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for receiving at least information associated with an amount of physical damage to the physical product that occurred over the period of time that a user has control of the physical product.

26. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for receiving data associated with use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for receiving at least information associated with a product control element.

27. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing at least one of an efficiency-of-use score and an environmental impact quantification according to the data associated with the use of the physical product by the user over a period of time the user is indicated as having control of the physical product comprises:

means for computing an efficiency-of-use score according to the data associated with the use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the means for computing an efficiency-of-use score according to the data associated with the use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for computing an efficiency-of-use score from at least information that defines an efficiency-of-use pattern for the physical product.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the means for computing an efficiency-of-use score according to the data associated with the use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for computing the efficiency-of-use score using information set by a service provider.

30. The system of claim 27, wherein the means for computing an efficiency-of-use score according to the data associated with the use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for computing the efficiency-of-use score using information set by a group of users.

31. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing at least one of an efficiency-of-use score and an environmental impact quantification according to the data associated with the use of the physical product by the user over a period of time the user is indicated as having control of the physical product comprises:

means for computing an environmental impact quantification according to the data associated with the use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the computing an environmental impact quantification according to the data associated with the use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for computing an ecological impact quantification associated with manufacturing at least a portion of a product.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the means for computing an ecological impact quantification associated with manufacturing at least a portion of a product comprises:

means for computing an ecological impact quantification associated with manufacturing at least a portion of a product according to product construction material identification data.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the means for computing an ecological impact quantification associated with manufacturing at least a portion of a product according to product construction material identification data comprises:

means for computing an ecological impact quantification associated with manufacturing at least a portion of a product according to an amount of rare-earth materials in the product.

35. The system of claim 33, wherein the means for computing an ecological impact quantification associated with manufacturing at least a portion of a product according to product construction material identification data comprises:

means for computing an ecological impact quantification associated with manufacturing at least a portion of a product according to an amount of hazardous materials in the product.

36. The system of claim 33, wherein the means for computing an ecological impact quantification associated with manufacturing at least a portion of a product according to product construction material identification data comprises:

means for computing an ecological impact quantification associated with manufacturing at least a portion of a product according to an amount of ground pollutants in the product.

37. The system of claim 32, wherein the means for computing an ecological impact quantification associated with manufacturing at least a portion of a product comprises:

means for computing an ecological impact quantification associated with manufacturing at least a portion of a product according to a carbon dioxide equivalent value associated with the manufacturing of at least a portion of the product.

40. The method of claim 31, wherein the computing an environmental impact quantification according to the data associated with the use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product comprises:

means for computing an ecological impact quantification associated with disposal of at least a portion of the product according to a product disposal mode.

47. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for publishing at least one of the efficiency-of-use score and the environmental impact quantification comprises:

generating a webpage that includes information based at least in part on at least one of the efficiency-of-use-score and the environmental impact quantification.

48. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for publishing at least one of the efficiency-of-use score and the environmental impact quantification comprises:

means for publishing a notification to a social media database account associated with the user.

49. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for publishing at least one of the efficiency-of-use score and the environmental impact quantification comprises:

means for providing an e-mail notification to one or more e-mail accounts associated with the one or more users of the product.

50. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for publishing at least one of the efficiency-of-use score and the environmental impact quantification comprises:

means for providing a text messaging notification to one or more devices associated one or more users of the product.

51. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

means for assigning at least one of a reward or a penalty to the user account according to at least one of the efficiency-of-use score and the ecological impact quantification.

52. The system of claim 51, wherein the assigning at least one of a reward or a penalty to the user account according to at least one of the efficiency-of-use score and the ecological impact quantification comprises:

means for charging a fee to the user account according to at least one of the efficiency-of-use score and the ecological impact quantification.

53. The system of claim 51, wherein the assigning at least one of a reward or a penalty to the user account according to at least one of the efficiency-of-use score and the ecological impact quantification comprises:

means for crediting a user account according to at least one of the efficiency-of-use score and the ecological impact quantification.

54. The system of claim 51, wherein the assigning at least one of a reward or a penalty to the user account according to at least one of the efficiency-of-use score and the ecological impact quantification comprises:

means for generating a webpage including an icon indicative of a reward associated with at least one of the efficiency-of-use score and the ecological impact quantification.

55. The system of claim 51, wherein the assigning at least one of a reward or a penalty to the user account according to at least one of the efficiency-of-use score and the ecological impact quantification comprises:

means for generating a webpage including an icon indicative of a penalty associated with at least one of the efficiency-of-use score and the ecological impact quantification.

38-39. -39. (canceled)

41-46. -46. (canceled)

56. A computer-implemented method comprising:

associating a physical product with a user account associated with a user in response to a signal indicating that the user has control of the physical product;

receiving data associated with use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product;

computing at least one of an efficiency-of-use score and an environmental impact quantification according to the data associated with the use of the physical product by the user over a period of time the user is indicated as having control of the physical product; and

publishing at least one of the efficiency-of-use score and the environmental impact quantification.

57. (canceled)

58. A computer-readable storage medium product storing instructions for:

associating a physical product with a user account associated with a user in response to a signal indicating that the user has control of the physical product;

receiving data associated with use of the physical product by the user during a period of time the user has control of the physical product;

computing at least one of an efficiency-of-use score and an environmental impact quantification according to the data associated with the use of the physical product by the user over a period of time the user is indicated as having control of the physical product; and

publishing at least one of the efficiency-of-use score and the environmental impact quantification.