ENERGY RESOURCE SYSTEM

• US 20160029342A1
• Filed: 07/23/2015
• Published: 01/28/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intelligent Energy Limited (Lb-shell Plc)
• Original Assignee: Intelligent Energy Limited (Lb-shell Plc)
• Inventors: WINAND, Henri M. A., MURRAY, John Joseph, BISHOP, Christopher William, SAMRA, Amarpal Singh, NINAN, Daniel, NIRWAN, Prajwal
• Granted Patent: US 9,775,131 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0284 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/005 Transmission of information for alerting of incoming communication

Abstract

An energy resource management server comprising: means for receiving energy availability messages from remote energy resources and geographic location indicators indicative of the geographical location of said remote energy resources; means for receiving energy request messages from remote energy resources and geographic location indicators indicative of the geographical location of said remote energy resources; a processor configured to determine counterparties in an energy resource transfer based on received energy availability messages and received energy request messages and the geographical location of the remote energy resources, and to transmit, to one or both of the counterparties, location information of the other counterparty of the determined counterparties.

Claims

1. An energy resource management server comprising:

means for receiving energy availability messages from remote energy resources and geographic location indicators indicative of the geographical location of said remote energy resources;

means for receiving energy request messages from remote energy resources and geographic location indicators indicative of the geographical location of said remote energy resources;

a processor configured to determine counterparties in an energy resource transfer based on received energy availability messages and received energy request messages and the geographical location of the remote energy resources, and to transmit, to one or both of the counterparties, geographical location information of the other counterparty of the determined counterparties.

2. The energy resource management server of claim 1 in which the processor is configured to determine counterparties to an energy resource transfer based on one or more of:

energy resource type, energy resource level, energy availability quantum, required energy transfer quantum, transfer time, energy availability time window, geographical proximity.

3. The energy resource management server of claim 1 in which the processor is configured to, prior to the transmittal of location information of a first of the counterparties to a second of the counterparties, transmit an energy transfer connection notification message to inform the first counterparty of the identification of a counterparty requesting the energy resource.

4. The energy resource management server of claim 3 in which the processor is configured to await the receipt of a response from the counterparty sent the energy transfer connection notification message before transmitting the location information to the other counterparty.

5. The energy resource management server of claim 1 in which the processor is configured to transmit a list of candidate counterparties having energy availability to the counterparty requesting energy resource, each candidate in the list associated with an approximate location indicator and, after receipt of a selection message which indicates a selected candidate from the list of candidate counterparties, transmit a more precise location indicator for the selected candidate counterparty.

6. The energy resource management server of claim 1 including means to receive energy transfer messages indicative of the amount of energy transferred between the counterparties.

7. The energy resource management server of claim 1 in which the processor is configured to transmit at least one energy transfer control messages to one or both of the counterparties to control the transfer of energy between the counterparties.

8. The energy resource management server of claim 6 in which the processor is configured to associate a record of the amount of energy transferred with a counterparty identifier which identifies at least one of the counterparties.

9. The energy resource management server of claim 1 further comprising :

means to receive geographical location indicator messages comprising the geographical location of the remote energy resource supplying energy in the energy resource transfer; and

means to receive energy resource owner location messages comprising the geographical location of the owner of the energy resource that is supplying energy in the energy resource transfer,

the processor configured to provide for determination of the geographical distance, during the energy resource transfer, between the remote energy resource supplying energy to one of the counterparties and the other counterparty comprising the owner of said remote energy resource.

10. The energy resource management server of claim 1 in which the processor is configured to determine counterparties to an energy resource transfer based on energy availability quantum, wherein energy availability quantum one or more of;

i) a measure of the amount of energy available for transfer;

ii) a measure of the time required to transfer a particular amount of energy between remote energy resources.

11. The energy resource management server of claim 1 in which the remote energy resources include portable fuel cell power sources having associated fuel reservoirs or batteries.

12. A mobile telecommunication device comprising:

a first communication channel configured for coupling to an energy resource;

a second communication channel configured for coupling to a remote server;

a processor configured to receive a status message from the energy resource via the first communication channel and to transmit an energy availability message and a geographic location indicator to the remote server via the second communication channel, the processor further configured to receive an energy request message from the remote server, and to provide for display of said energy request.

13. The mobile telecommunication device of claim 12 in which the status message includes an indication of one or more of:

an energy resource type;

an energy resource level.

14. The mobile telecommunication device of claim 12 in which the energy availability message includes an indication of one or more of:

an energy resource type;

an energy resource level;

an energy availability quantum;

a transfer time;

an energy availability time window.

15. The mobile telecommunication device of claim 12 further including a user interface configured to receive a user input defining an energy availability quantum and an energy availability time window.

16. The mobile telecommunication device of claim 12 further including an energy resource unit, the energy resource unit comprising:

a fuel cell power source and a fuel canister;

or a fuel reservoir.

17. The mobile telecommunication device of claim 12 wherein the processor is configured to display guidance to the geographical location of at least one of the energy resources willing to share energy.

18. The mobile telecommunication device of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to control the energy resource transfer based on at least one of the amount of energy specified in the energy request message, an amount of energy specified in a message received from the remote server, at least one control signal received from the remote server or at least one control signal received from another mobile telecommunications device.

19. A computer program or computer program product comprising instructions for execution by a processor to:

receive energy availability messages from remote energy resources and geographic location indicators indicative of the geographical location of said remote energy resources;

receive energy request messages from remote energy resources and geographic location indicators indicative of the geographical location of said remote energy resources;

determine counterparties in an energy resource transfer based on received energy availability messages and received energy request messages and the geographical location of the remote energy resources, and to transmit, to one or both of the counterparties, geographical location information of the other counterparty of the determined counterparties.

20. A computer program or computer program product comprising instructions for execution by a processor to:

establish a first communication channel for coupling to an energy resource;

establish a second communication channel for coupling to a remote server;

receive a status message from the energy resource via the first communication channel and to provide for the transmission of an energy availability message and a geographic location indicator to the remote server via the second communication channel, and to receive an energy request message from the remote server, and to provide for display of said energy request.