Energy Information Exchange

• US 20120296869A1
• Filed: 05/17/2011
• Published: 11/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Southern Company Services, Inc. (Southern Company)
• Original Assignee: Southern Company Services, Inc. (Southern Company)
• Inventors: Floyd, Gregory Ray
• Granted Patent: US 9,224,128 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/625
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments for facilitating data synchronization in a utility computing environment. A data synchronization application can monitor source systems in such an environment and generate periodic change sets that correspond to data that has changed in the various source systems. Destination systems can subscribe to change sets and receive the appropriate change sets by monitoring flags that the data synchronization application can set. Various classes of change sets that correspond to data within a particular change set can also be generated.

Claims

1. A method, comprising the steps of:

identifying, in at least one computing device, information corresponding to a plurality of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) metering devices that has changed during a specified period of time, the information comprising energy usage information;

extracting, in the at least one computing device, energy usage information from an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) head-end, the energy usage information associated with at least a subset of the AMI metering devices;

generating, in the at least one computing device, an energy usage change set corresponding to the changed utility usage information; and

publishing the energy usage change set on an enterprise system bus.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of extracting energy usage information from the AMI head-end further comprises monitoring a log file updated by the AMI head-end when energy usage information is updated.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of extracting energy usage information from the AMI head-end further comprises receiving an update notification from a database.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the energy usage change set further comprises a plurality of records corresponding to a respective utility metering device, and the step of generating the energy usage change set further comprises setting at least one flag in each of the records identifying a type of change that has occurred during the specified period of time.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one flag in each of the records further comprises an energy usage flag.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the information corresponding to the AMI metering devices comprises device information, and the method further comprises the steps of:

extracting, in the at least one computing device, the device information from an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) head-end, the device information corresponding to data about utility metering devices that has changed during the specified period of time;

generating, in the at least one computing device, a device information change set corresponding to the changed device information; and

publishing the device information change set on an enterprise system bus.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the energy usage change set further comprises a plurality of records corresponding to a respective utility metering device, and the step of generating the energy usage change set further comprises setting at least one flag in each of the records identifying a type of change that has occurred during the specified period of time.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

extracting, in the at least one computing device, device information from an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) head-end, the device information corresponding to data about utility metering devices that has changed during the specified period of time;

generating, in the at least one computing device, a device information change set corresponding to the changed device information; and

publishing the device information change set on an enterprise system bus.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the device information further comprises at least one event associated with a metering device in an AMI metering deployment.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the device information change set further comprises a plurality of records corresponding to a respective utility metering device, and the step of generating the device information change set further comprises setting at least one flag in each of the records identifying a type of change that has occurred during the specified period of time.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one flag in each of the records further comprise:

a meter installation flag, an address change flag, a move-in flag, a move-out flag, a meter removal flag, a meter swap flag, a rate change flag, and an estimated meter reading flag.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

extracting, in the at least one computing device, customer information from a customer information system in communication with the at least one computing device via a network, the customer information corresponding to data about at least one customer account that has changed during the specified period of time;

generating, in the at least one computing device, a customer information change set corresponding to the changed customer information; and

publishing the customer information change set on an enterprise system bus.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the customer information further comprises at least one of:

an address associated with the customer account, a rate plan associated with the customer account, and a data field associated with a customer account.

14. A system, comprising:

at least one computing device; and

a data synchronization application executed in the at least one computing device, further comprising;

logic that identifies information corresponding to a plurality of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) metering devices that has changed during a specified period of time, the information comprising energy usage information;

logic that extracts energy usage information from an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) head-end, the energy usage information associated with at least a subset of the AMI metering devices;

logic that generates an energy usage change set corresponding to the changed utility usage information; and

logic that publishes the energy usage change set on an enterprise system bus.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the logic that extracts energy usage information from the AMI head-end further comprises logic that monitors a log file updated by the AMI head-end when energy usage information is updated.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the logic that extracts energy usage information from the AMI head-end further comprises logic that receives an update notification from a database.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the energy usage change set further comprises a plurality of records corresponding to a respective utility metering device, and the logic that generates the energy usage change set further comprises logic that sets at least one flag in each of the records identifying a type of change that has occurred during the specified period of time.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least one flag in each of the records further comprises an energy usage flag.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the information corresponding to the AMI metering devices comprises device information, and the data synchronization application further comprises:

logic that extracts the device information from an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) head-end, the device information corresponding to data about utility metering devices that has changed during the specified period of time;

logic that generates a device information change set corresponding to the changed device information; and

logic that publishes the device information change set on an enterprise system bus.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the energy usage change set further comprises a plurality of records corresponding to a respective utility metering device, and the logic that generates the energy usage change set further comprises logic that sets at least one flag in each of the records identifying a type of change that has occurred during the specified period of time.

21. The system of claim 14, wherein the data synchronization application further comprises:

logic that extracts device information from an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) head-end, the device information corresponding to data about utility metering devices that has changed during the specified period of time;

logic that generates a device information change set corresponding to the changed device information; and

logic that publishes the device information change set on an enterprise system bus.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the device information further comprises at least one event associated with a metering device in an AMI metering deployment.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the device information change set further comprises a plurality of records corresponding to a respective utility metering device, and the logic that generates the device information change set further comprises logic that sets at least one flag in each of the records identifying a type of change that has occurred during the specified period of time.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the at least one flag in each of the records further comprise:

a meter installation flag, an address change flag, a move-in flag, a move-out flag, a rate change flag, a meter removal flag, a meter swap flag, and an estimated meter reading flag.

25. The system of claim 14, wherein the data synchronization application further comprises:

logic that extracts customer information from a customer information system in communication with the at least one computing device via a network, the customer information corresponding to data about at least one customer account that has changed during the specified period of time;

logic that generates a customer information change set corresponding to the changed customer information; and

logic that publishes the customer information change set on an enterprise system bus.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the customer information further comprises at least one of:

an address associated with the customer account, a rate plan associated with the customer account, and a data field associated with a customer account.