COMMUNICATION OF HISTORICAL AND REAL-TIME INFORMATION ABOUT DEVICES IN A BUILDING

• US 20160147243A1
• Filed: 08/14/2015
• Published: 05/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sense Labs, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sense Labs, Inc.
• Inventors: Micali, Christopher M., Houlette, Ryan T., Phillips, Michael S., Rutledge, Charles H., Marcus, Jeffrey N.
• Granted Patent: US 10,338,112 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 21/133 by using digital technique
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05F 1/66 Regulating electric power
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9024 Graphs; Linked lists G06F16/9027 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00 Circuit arrangements for providing remote indication of network conditions, e.g. an instantaneous record of the open or closed condition of each circuitbreaker in the network; Circuit arrangements for providing remote control of switching means in a power distribution network, e.g. switching in and out of current consumers by using a pulse code signal carried by the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2823 Reporting information sensed by appliance or service execution status of appliance services in a home automation network device-related reporting H04L43/065; 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 H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/30 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/20 End-user application control systems

Abstract

Electrical usage of devices in a building may be monitored to provide information about the operation of the devices to a user. The information communicated to a user may include historical information that is retrieved from a server and real-time information that is received from a power monitoring device. The historical information may be transmitted to the user device over a first network connection where the historical information is retrieved using an identifier received from the user device. The real-time information may be received from a power monitoring device and transmitted to the user device over a second network connection.

Claims

1. A system for providing information about a plurality of devices, the system comprising:

at least one server computer comprising at least one processor and at least one memory, the at least one server computer configured to;

retrieve first information from a data store, wherein the first information comprises information about a state change of a first device;

transmit the first information to a user device via a first network connection; and

transmit second information to the user device via a second network connection, wherein the second information comprises information about power consumption of a second device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one server computer is further configured to:

receive an identifier from the first device; and

wherein the first information is retrieved from the data store using the identifier.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one server computer is further configured to receive the second information from a client device via a third network connection.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the client device is installed in a home of a user of the user device.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one server computer comprises a first server computer and a second server computer, the first information is transmitted by the first sever computer, and the second information is transmitted by the second server computer.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein at least a portion of the first information was previously received from the client device.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the first information comprises information about a state of the first device after the state change, a state of the first device before the state change, a number of state changes of the first device, or an amount of time since the state change.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the third network connection is maintained when not in use.

9. A computer-implemented method for providing information about a plurality of devices in a building, the method comprising:

receiving, at a user device, first information via a first network connection, wherein the first information comprises information about a state change of a first device;

presenting the first information on a display of the user device;

receiving, at the user device, second information via a second network connection, wherein the second information comprises information about power consumption of a second device; and

presenting the second information on the display of the user device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first information comprises information about a state of the first device after the state change, a state of the first device before the state change, a number of state changes of the first device, or an amount of time since the state change.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the second information comprises real-time information about power consumption of the second device at a first time and wherein the second information is received without significant delay from the first time.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the first information and the second information are presented simultaneously on the display of the user device.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the first information is received from a first server computer and the second information is received from a second server computer.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising transmitting an identifier of a user or the user device via at least one of the first network connection or the second network connection.

15. A user device comprising at least one processor, at least one network interface, and computer executable instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one processor to perform actions comprising:

receiving first information via a first network connection, wherein the first information comprises information about a state change of a first device;

presenting the first information on a display of the user device;

receiving second information via a second network connection, wherein the second information comprises information about power consumption of a second device; and

presenting the second information on the display of the user device.

16. The user device of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to perform actions comprising:

receiving a recommendation for conserving energy; and

presenting the recommendation to a user.

17. The user device of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to perform actions comprising:

receiving comparison information about a comparison between power usage by a first building and by a second building or between the first building over a first time period and the first building over a second time period; and

presenting the comparison information to a user.

18. The user device of claim 15, wherein receipt of the first information causes a message or notification to be displayed on the user device.

19. The user device of claim 15, wherein the first information was not requested by the user device.

20. The user device of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to perform actions comprising sending a request to a server computer for the second information.

21. The user device of claim 20, wherein the request is sent in response to a user opening an application on the user device.

22. The user device of claim 15, wherein the first information comprises information about a state of the first device after the state change, a state of the first device before the state change, a number of state changes of the first device, or an amount of time since the state change.

23. The user device of claim 15, wherein the second information comprises real-time information about power consumption of the second device at a first time and wherein the second information is received without significant delay from the first time.