ENERGY DEMAND PREDICTION APPARATUS AND METHOD

• US 20120239213A1
• Filed: 01/30/2012
• Published: 09/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Nagata, Kazumi, Baba, Kenji, Enohara, Takaaki, Takagi, Yasuo, Nishimura, Nobutaka, Noda, Shuhei
• Granted Patent: US 9,633,320 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/291
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply

Abstract

An energy demand prediction apparatus according to an embodiment includes an image analysis unit and a prediction unit. The image analysis unit generates analysis data including at least one of human information and environment information of a prediction target area based on image data acquired by an image sensor. The prediction unit generates prediction data by executing an energy demand prediction based on the analysis data and an energy demand prediction model generated using previous data corresponding to the analysis data.

Claims

1. An energy demand prediction apparatus comprising:

an image analysis unit that generates analysis data including at least one of human information and environment information of a prediction target area based on image data acquired by an image sensor; and

a prediction unit that generates prediction data by executing an energy demand prediction based on the analysis data and an energy demand prediction model generated using previous data corresponding to the analysis data.

2. The energy demand prediction apparatus of claim 1, wherein the previous data includes previous data acquired by a device sensor, and

the prediction unit executes the energy demand prediction based on the analysis data, data acquired by the device sensor, and the energy demand prediction model.

3. The energy demand prediction apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a device control unit that generates, based on the human information including a identification result of a person and control setting data including a control value set for the person or an attribute of the person, control data which matches the person indicated by the human information; and

an output control unit that outputs the control data to a corresponding device.

4. The energy demand prediction apparatus of claim 1, wherein the environment information includes at least one of light information, device layout information, and weather information, and

the energy demand prediction apparatus further comprises:

an environment model generation unit that generates an environment model which represents a feature of an environment of the prediction target area based on the environment information.

5. The energy demand prediction apparatus of claim 1, wherein the human information includes at least one of head-count information, distribution information, activity amount information, clothing amount information, attribute information, and action information of persons, and

the energy demand prediction apparatus further comprises:

a human model generation unit that generates a human model which represents a feature of a person who are staying in the prediction target area based on the human information.

6. The energy demand prediction apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a storage unit that stores a plurality of energy demand prediction models and a plurality of model feature data respectively indicating features of the plurality of energy demand prediction models in association with each other; and

a selection unit that selects, based on the analysis data, the energy demand prediction model associated with the model feature data which matches the analysis data,

wherein the prediction unit executes the energy demand prediction based on the analysis data and the selected energy demand prediction model.

7. The energy demand prediction apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a coefficient correction unit that corrects a coefficient of the energy demand prediction model based on the analysis data.

8. The energy demand prediction apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

an updating unit that sequentially updates the energy demand prediction model based on the analysis data every time a predetermined period elapses.

9. The energy demand prediction apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a data replenishment unit that estimates a value used in the energy demand prediction based on the analysis data.

10. The energy demand prediction apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a singularity determination unit configured to determine a singularity based on the analysis data, and to generate singularity determination data indicating a determination result.

11. An energy demand prediction method by a computer, comprising:

generating analysis data including at least one of human information and environment information of a prediction target area based on image data acquired by an image sensor, and storing the analysis data in a storage device; and

generating prediction data by executing an energy demand prediction based on the analysis data stored in the storage device and an energy demand prediction model generated using previous data corresponding to the analysis data, and storing the prediction data in the storage device.