ELECTRIC DEVICE, POWER MANAGEMENT APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE SAME

• US 20120197448A1
• Filed: 01/13/2012
• Published: 08/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Inventors: Jang, Jae Hwi, SHIN, Jong Hyun
• Granted Patent: US 9,235,818 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/286
• 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 4/004 Remote reading of utility meters to a fixed location
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/02 Details
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/30 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level
• 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 20/242 Home appliances
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/30 Smart metering, e.g. specially adapted for remote reading

Abstract

An electric device includes a storage unit to store operation information for each period, a controller to generate a power consumption pattern on the basis of the operation information for each period, and generate a consulting message on the basis of a power consumption pattern, and a display to display the consulting message. A power management device includes a communication unit to receive operation information for each period from several electric devices, a controller to generate a consulting message for each electric device, generate a power consumption pattern on the basis of operation information for each period, and generate a consulting message on the basis of the power consumption pattern, and a display to display a consulting message for each electric device. The electric device or the power management device informs a user of a power consumption pattern on the basis of operation- and environmental-information for each electric device.

Claims

1. An electric device comprising:

a storage unit to store operation information for each period;

a controller to generate a power consumption pattern on the basis of the operation information for each period, and generate a consulting message on the basis of a power consumption pattern; and

a display to display the consulting message.

2. The electric device according to claim 1, wherein the consulting message is habit information of a user who uses the electric device.

3. The electric device according to claim 1, wherein the operation information is at least one of an operation command, power consumption for each period, artificial information, environmental information, and consumable use information.

4. The electric device according to claim 3, further comprising:

a power measurement unit to measure power for each period;

an input unit to receive the operation command from a user;

an artificial information detection unit to detect user behavior; and

an environmental information detection unit to detect environmental information,

wherein the controller generates an operation pattern on the basis of at least one of the environmental information, artificial information, and operation command, and generates a power consumption pattern on the basis of the operation pattern and the power for each period.

5. The electric device according to claim 4, wherein the operation command is at least one of a power on/off signal and a target operation value.

6. The electric device according to claim 5, wherein the controller determines power consumption generated when the electric device is driven at the target operation value, compares the determined power consumption with reference power, and generates a consulting message on the basis of the result of comparison.

7. The electric device according to claim 6, wherein:

the controller compares the measured power consumption with reference power, and determines the amount of excess power when the measured power consumption exceeds the reference power; and

the display displays the calculated excess power using a user-recognizable icon.

8. The electric device according to claim 6, wherein:

the storage unit further includes a reference operation value corresponding to the reference power, and

the controller generates a recommended value as a consulting message using the reference operation value and the reference power.

9. The electric device according to claim 5, wherein:

the storage unit further stores a consulting message corresponding to the target operation value,

the controller searches for the consulting message corresponding to the target operation value in the storage unit, and controls display of the searched consulting message.

10. The electric device according to claim 5, wherein the controller counts the number of target operation value change times, compares the counted number with a reference number, and generates a consulting message on the basis of the result of comparison.

11. The electric device according to claim 5, wherein the controller counts the number of operation times corresponding to the power on/off signal for a predetermined time, compares the counted number with a reference number, and generates a consulting message on the basis of the result of comparison.

12. The electric device according to claim 4, wherein the controller determines standby power generated in a standby mode, and generates the determined standby power as a consulting message.

13. The electric device according to claim 4, wherein:

the environmental information detection unit includes at least one of an outdoor temperature detection unit to detect an outdoor temperature and an outdoor humidity detection unit to detect outdoor humidity, and

the controller determines power consumption variation on the basis of at least one of the outdoor temperature and the outdoor humidity, and generates a consulting message on the basis of the determined result.

14. The electric device according to claim 4, wherein:

the artificial information detection unit includes at least one of a door opening/closing detection unit to detect door opening/closing, a storage amount detection unit to detect a storage amount of stored food, and a temperature detection unit to detect a storage temperature of stored food on the basis of a chamber temperature variation, and

the controller generates a consulting message regarding at least one of the number of door opening/closing times, the storage amount, and the storage temperature.

15. The electric device according to claim 4, wherein:

the artificial information detection unit includes a storage amount detection unit to detect a storage amount of stored objects, and

the controller compares the storage amount with a reference amount, counts the number of operation times when the storage amount is less than the reference amount, and generates a consulting message regarding the counted number of operation times when the storage amount is less than the reference amount.

16. The electric device according to claim 3, wherein the controller generates a consulting message for each consumable on the basis of the consumable use information.

17. A power management device comprising:

a communication unit to receive operation information for each period from several electric devices;

a controller to generate a consulting message for each electric device, generate a power consumption pattern on the basis of operation information for each period, and generate a consulting message on the basis of the power consumption pattern; and

a display to display a consulting message for each electric device.

18. The power management device according to claim 17, wherein the operation information is at least one of an operation command, power consumption for each period, artificial information, environmental information, and consumable use information.

19. The power management device according to claim 18, wherein the controller generates an operation pattern on the basis of at least one of the environmental information, artificial information, and operation command, and generates a power consumption pattern on the basis of the operation pattern and the power for each period.

20. The power management device according to claim 19, wherein the operation command is at least one of a power on/off signal and a target operation value.

21. The power management device according to claim 20, wherein the controller determines power consumption generated when the electric device is driven at the target operation value, compares the determined power consumption with reference power, and generates a consulting message on the basis of the result of comparison.

22. The power management device according to claim 20, wherein:

the controller compares the measured power consumption with reference power consumption, and determines the amount of excess power consumption when the measured power consumption exceeds the reference power consumption; and

the display displays the calculated excess power consumption using a user-recognizable icon.

23. The power management device according to claim 18, wherein the controller confirms a use period of a consumable mounted to each electric device, compares the confirmed consumable use period with a reference use period of the consumable, and generates a consulting message for the consumable on the basis of the result of comparison.

24. The power management device according to claim 17, wherein the controller determines total power consumption generated in an operation mode for each electric device, generates a consulting message for the determined total power consumption, determines total standby power consumed in a standby mode for each electric device, and generates a consulting message for the determined total standby power.

25. The power management device according to claim 17, wherein:

the communication unit receives power of an electric device incapable of communicating with others through a smart socket, and

the controller determines standby power of the electric device incapable of communicating with others and generates a consulting message for the determined standby power.

26. The power management device according to claim 17, wherein the communication unit periodically receives the operation information from the electric devices.

27. A method of controlling an electric device comprising:

storing operation information for each period;

generating a power consumption pattern on the basis of the operation information for each period;

generating a consulting message on the basis of a power consumption pattern; and

displaying the consulting message.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein the generating of the power consumption pattern includes:

measuring power;

receiving an operation command from a user;

generating an operation pattern on the basis of the operation command; and

generating a power consumption pattern on the basis of the operation pattern and the power for each period.

29. The method according to claim 28, wherein the generating of the operation pattern further includes:

detecting artificial information;

detecting environmental information; and

reflecting the environment information and the artificial information.

30. The method according to claim 28, wherein the generating of the consulting message includes:

receiving a target operation value from among the operation commands from the user;

generating comparison information by comparing the target operation value with a reference operation value;

calculating power corresponding to the comparison information; and

generating a consulting message on the basis of the calculated power.

31. The method according to claim 30, wherein the generating of the consulting message includes:

determining whether the target operation value exceeds the reference operation value on the basis of the comparison information; and

generating, if the target operation value exceeds the reference operation value, power corresponding to the excess value as a consulting message.

32. The method according to claim 31, wherein the displaying of the consulting message includes displaying power corresponding to the excess value as a user-recognizable icon.

33. The method according to claim 30, further comprising:

determining power consumption generated when the electric device is driven at the target operation value;

comparing the determined power consumption with reference power; and

generating a consulting message on the basis of the result of comparison.

34. The method according to claim 27, wherein the generating of the consulting message includes:

confirming a use period of each consumable;

comparing the confirmed consumable use period with a prestored reference use period; and

generating a consulting message regarding the consumable use period when the consumable use period exceeds the reference use period.

35. The method according to claim 27, further comprising:

measuring power;

determining total power consumption generated in an operation mode during a predetermined time with total standby power generated in a standby mode; and

generating a consulting message for the total power consumption and a consulting message for the total standby power.

36. A method of controlling a power management device comprising:

receiving operation information for each period from several electric devices;

generating a consulting message for each electric device, generating a power consumption pattern on the basis of operation information for each period, and generating a consulting message on the basis of the power consumption pattern; and

displaying a consulting message for each electric device.

37. The method according to claim 36, wherein the operation information is at least one of an operation command, power consumption for each period, artificial information, environmental information, and consumable use information.

38. The method according to claim 37, wherein the generating of the power consumption pattern includes:

generating an operation pattern on the basis of at least one of the environmental information, artificial information, and operation command; and

generating a power consumption pattern on the basis of the operation pattern and the power for each period.

39. The method according to claim 38, wherein the generating of the power consumption pattern includes:

receiving the operation command and a target operation value from each electric device;

determining power consumption generated when the electric device is driven at the target operation value;

comparing the determined power consumption with reference power; and

generating a consulting message on the basis of the result of comparison.

40. The method according to claim 39, further comprising:

confirming which electric device has a target operation value higher than a reference operation value; and

controlling the confirmed electric device on the basis of power rates received from a power provider.

41. The method according to claim 40, further comprising:

displaying the confirmed electric device in a different way from the remaining electric devices.

42. The method according to claim 40, wherein the reference operation value is any one of a past average value, a value established by the user, and a value of a previous month.

43. The method according to claim 36, further comprising:

determining total power consumption generated in an operation mode of the electric devices;

determining total standby power consumed in a standby mode of the electric devices; and

generating a consulting message for the total power consumption and a consulting message for the total standby power.

44. The method according to claim 43, further comprising:

classifying the total power consumption according to individual periods;

comparing power consumption for each period with reference power consumption, and displaying a power consumption habit of a user as a consulting message.

45. The method according to claim 36, further comprising:

confirming which electric device has the highest standby power; and

performing standby power reduction control of the confirmed electric device.

46. The method according to claim 36, further comprising:

receiving power of an electric device incapable of communicating with others through a smart socket; and

determining standby power of the electric device incapable of communicating with others and generating a consulting message for the determined standby power.