Method and system for automatic residual consumption

• US 20140203949A1
• Filed: 01/21/2013
• Published: 07/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Baras, Dorit, Naveh, Yehuda, Kermany, Einat
• Granted Patent: US 9,699,525 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/870.03
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/60 for transmitting utility meters data, i.e. transmission of data from the reader of the utility meter
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom

Abstract

A computer-implemented method performed by a computerized device, comprising: obtaining consumption data comprising readings indicating consumption of a product, the consumption data is monitored by a plurality of metering devices, wherein the metering devices are associated with a plurality of consumption entities, wherein the plurality of consumption entities comprising a consumption unit and one or more sub consumption units of the consumption unit, wherein the product is supplied serially to the one or more sub consumption units via the consumption unit; and calculating residual consumption of the plurality of consumption entities at a point in time, wherein the residual consumption is consumption of the consumption unit and which is not associated with a sub consumption unit, wherein the residual consumption is calculated based on the consumption by the plurality of consumption entities at a plurality of points in time.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method performed by a computerized device, comprising:

obtaining consumption data comprising readings indicating consumption of a product, the consumption data is monitored by a plurality of metering devices, wherein the metering devices are associated with a plurality of consumption entities, wherein the plurality of consumption entities comprise a consumption unit and one or more sub consumption units of the consumption unit, wherein the product is supplied serially to the one or more sub consumption units via the consumption unit; and

calculating, by a processor, residual consumption of the plurality of consumption entities at a point in time, wherein the residual consumption is consumption of the consumption unit and which is not associated with a sub consumption unit, wherein the residual consumption is calculated based on the consumption by the plurality of consumption entities at a plurality of points in time.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more sub consumption units comprise at least two sub consumption units.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the consumption unit is a building and wherein the one or more sub consumption units are apartments.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the consumption data is obtainable from the plurality of metering devices by Automatic Metering Reading (AMR).

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

removing from the consumption data a portion obtained by a metering device in a time period during which the metering device did not monitor consumption of the product.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

for at least one consumption entity, determining an estimated reading for the consumption entity at the point in time based on at least one reading associated with the consumption entity at a second point in time; and

wherein said calculating utilizes the estimated reading.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 further comprising aligning consumption data of the consumption entities to the point in time by said determining the estimated reading, and wherein said calculating is performed based on the aligned consumption data of the consumption entities for computing the residual consumption.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein said determining comprises an operation selected from the group consisting of:

increasing a reading from a second time prior to the point in time by an average consumption of the consumption entity;

increasing the reading from the second time by a predicted consumption, wherein the predicted consumption is an aggregation of consumption predictions at two or more time units; and

interpolating the consumption data associated with the consumption entity.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

automatically detecting anomalous consumption of the product based on the residual consumption.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 further comprising:

defining clusters of consumption units based on the obtained data; and

analyzing the residual consumption with respect to said clusters.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein said automatically detecting is based on a first and second consumptions, wherein the first consumption is associated with a first time resolution and the second consumption is associated with a second time resolution.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the first and second time resolutions are different time resolutions selected from the group consisting of:

an hourly resolution, a daily resolution and a weekly resolution.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the product is selected from the group consisting of:

water, electricity, and gas.

14. A system having a processor, the processor being adapted to perform the steps of:

obtaining consumption data comprising readings indicating consumption of a product, the consumption data is monitored by a plurality of metering devices, wherein the metering devices are associated with a plurality of consumption entities, wherein the plurality of consumption entities comprise a consumption unit and one or more sub consumption units of the consumption unit, wherein the product is supplied serially to the one or more sub consumption units via the consumption unit; and

calculating residual consumption of the plurality of consumption entities at a point in time, wherein the residual consumption is consumption of the consumption unit and which is not associated with a sub consumption unit, wherein the residual consumption is calculated based on the consumption by the plurality of consumption entities at a plurality of points in time.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising the plurality of metering devices, wherein the consumption data is obtainable from the plurality of metering devices by Automatic Metering Reading (AMR).

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the processor is further adapted to pre-process the consumption data to exclude a portion of the readings and to introduce estimated readings.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein said processor is further adapted to:

determine, for at least one consumption entity, an estimated reading for the consumption entity at the point in time based on at least one reading associated with the consumption entity at a second point in time; and

wherein said calculating utilizes the estimated reading.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein said processor is further adapted to:

automatically detect anomalous consumption of the product based on the residual consumption.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the automatic detection is based on a plurality of computed residual consumptions of the same consumption unit at the same point in time, each with respect to a different time resolution.

20. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium retaining program instructions, which instructions when read by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

obtaining consumption data comprising readings indicating consumption of a product, the consumption data is monitored by a plurality of metering devices, wherein the metering devices are associated with a plurality of consumption entities, wherein the plurality of consumption entities comprise a consumption unit and one or more sub consumption units of the consumption unit, wherein the product is supplied serially to the one or more sub consumption units via the consumption unit; and

calculating residual consumption of the plurality of consumption entities at a point in time, wherein the residual consumption is consumption of the consumption unit and which is not associated with a sub consumption unit, wherein the residual consumption is calculated based on the consumption by the plurality of consumption entities at a plurality of points in time.