DISTRIBUTED ENERGY SERVICES MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• US 20130166081A1
• Filed: 02/22/2013
• Published: 06/27/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Budderfly, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sunverge Energy, Inc.
• Inventors: Sanders, Dean, Statman, Stuart
• Granted Patent: US 9,063,525 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/286
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 11/01 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric

Abstract

Systems and methods for distributed energy services management are disclosed. A particular embodiment includes: receiving an input command via a network interface at a site gateway, the input command including information for controlling one or more physical devices at a site; converting, by use of a data processor, the input command to a virtualized command in a common command format; executing, by use of the data processor, one or more executor modules to cause execution of one or more corresponding virtual devices associated with the virtualized command; and using the executed one or more virtual devices to control the corresponding one or more physical devices at the site.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving an input command via a network interface at a site gateway, the input command including information for controlling one or more physical devices at a site;

converting, by use of a data processor, the input command to a virtualized command in a common command format;

executing, by use of the data processor, one or more executor modules to cause execution of one or more corresponding virtual devices associated with the virtualized command; and

using the executed one or more virtual devices to control the corresponding one or more physical devices at the site.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 including executing the one or more executor modules to cause execution of at least one of a plurality of programs or platform applications (apps).

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the one or more executor modules are specific to the particular input command.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 including using a physical device layer and a device driver corresponding to the one or more virtual devices to translate the virtualized command to control signals for controlling the one or more physical devices at the site.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 including using the one or more virtual devices to collect status information from the one or more physical devices at the site via a corresponding device driver.

6. The method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the one of a plurality of programs or platform applications (apps) is installable and configurable at the site gateway.

7. The method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the one of a plurality of programs or platform applications (apps) is assigned a configurable unique priority relative to other programs.

8. The method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the one of a plurality of programs or platform applications (apps) is configurably assigned to a specified portion of a resource at the site.

9. The method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the one of a plurality of programs or platform applications (apps) is configurably associated with a particular external entity.

10. The method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the one of a plurality of programs or platform applications (apps) is configured to set a mode or policy in the one or more virtual devices using any of a plurality of available program models.

11. A system comprising:

one or more data processors; and

a distributed energy services management system, executable by the one or more data processors, to;

receive an input command via a network interface at a site gateway, the input command including information for controlling one or more physical devices at a site;

convert the input command to a virtualized command in a common command format;

execute one or more executor modules to cause execution of one or more corresponding virtual devices associated with the virtualized command; and

use the executed one or more virtual devices to control the corresponding one or more physical devices at the site.

12. The system as claimed in claim 11 being further configured to execute the one or more executor modules to cause execution of at least one of a plurality of programs or platform applications (apps).

13. The system as claimed in claim 11 wherein the one or more executor modules are specific to the particular input command.

14. The system as claimed in claim 11 being further configured to use a physical device layer and a device driver corresponding to the one or more virtual devices to translate the virtualized command to control signals for controlling the one or more physical devices at the site.

15. The system as claimed in claim 11 being further configured to use the one or more virtual devices to collect status information from the one or more physical devices at the site via a corresponding device driver.

16. The system as claimed in claim 12 wherein the one of a plurality of programs or platform applications (apps) is installable and configurable at the site gateway.

17. The system as claimed in claim 12 wherein the one of a plurality of programs or platform applications (apps) is assigned a configurable unique priority relative to other programs.

18. The system as claimed in claim 12 wherein the one of a plurality of programs or platform applications (apps) is configurably assigned to a specified portion of a resource at the site.

19. The system as claimed in claim 12 wherein the one of a plurality of programs or platform applications (apps) is configurably associated with a particular external entity.

20. A non-transitory machine-useable storage medium embodying instructions which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

receive an input command via a network interface at a site gateway, the input command including information for controlling a one or more physical devices at a site;

convert the input command to a virtualized command in a common command format;

execute one or more executor modules to cause execution of one or more corresponding virtual devices associated with the virtualized command; and

use the executed one or more virtual devices to control the corresponding one or more physical devices at the site.