System for the Monitoring and Maintenance of Remote Autonomously Powered Lighting Installations
First Claim
1. A method for monitoring and controlling an operating status of electrical loads of a plurality of autonomously powered discrete devices, and said plurality of autonomously powered devices are disposed as part of a device array at a first geographic location, wherein each said device includes:
- an electric load;
a rechargeable battery for storing and providing electric power to said electric load;
a wind and/or solar generator for generating electric power to be stored in said battery;
a device controller for regulating or controlling the flow of electric power from said generator to said battery and from said battery to said electric load; and
a data transmission assembly operable to transmit output data representative of the device operating parameters power generation performance, battery storage and/or discharge performance of the electric load, and to receive input control signals for said device controller controlling the charging and/or discharge of said battery;
said method comprising;
transmitting the output data from a plurality of said discrete devices for storage in a system memory,generating a regional operating profile for said device array for a selected time period based at least in part on compiled output data from the plurality of said discrete devices stored said memory,generating a device operating profile for said selected said discrete device for said selected period of time based at least in part on compiled output data from the selected discrete device stored in said memory,logging historic weather events for said first geographic area during said selected period of time, said historic weather events comprising both short term forecast data for up to three weeks and seasonal environmental data;
receiving for said first geographical region, predicted weather events for a future period of time, said predicted weather events comprising at least one of predicted short term forecast weather data for up to three weeks, and predictive seasonal environmental data;
correlating at least one of said regional operating profile and said device operating profile to said future period of time based on said logged weather events and said predicted weather events, and providing an extrapolated performance expectation for said selected device during said future period of time based on said correlation; and
outputting modified control commands to the device controller of said selected discrete device as said input control signals to vary control of at least one of battery charging, battery discharge, and electric load operation in response to said extrapolated performance expectation.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system of monitoring and/or maintaining remotely located autonomously powered lights, security systems, parking meters, and the like is operable to receive data signals from a number of the devices, and provide a comparison with other similar devices in the same geographic region to detect a default condition of a particular device, and/or assess whether the defect is environmental or particular to the specific device itself. The system includes memory for storing operating parameters and data, and outputs modified control commands to the devices in response to sensed performance, past performance and/or self-learning algorithms. The system operates to provide for the monitoring and/or control of individual device operating parameters on an individual or regional basis, over preset periods.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method for monitoring and controlling an operating status of electrical loads of a plurality of autonomously powered discrete devices, and said plurality of autonomously powered devices are disposed as part of a device array at a first geographic location, wherein each said device includes:
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an electric load; a rechargeable battery for storing and providing electric power to said electric load; a wind and/or solar generator for generating electric power to be stored in said battery; a device controller for regulating or controlling the flow of electric power from said generator to said battery and from said battery to said electric load; and a data transmission assembly operable to transmit output data representative of the device operating parameters power generation performance, battery storage and/or discharge performance of the electric load, and to receive input control signals for said device controller controlling the charging and/or discharge of said battery; said method comprising; transmitting the output data from a plurality of said discrete devices for storage in a system memory, generating a regional operating profile for said device array for a selected time period based at least in part on compiled output data from the plurality of said discrete devices stored said memory, generating a device operating profile for said selected said discrete device for said selected period of time based at least in part on compiled output data from the selected discrete device stored in said memory, logging historic weather events for said first geographic area during said selected period of time, said historic weather events comprising both short term forecast data for up to three weeks and seasonal environmental data; receiving for said first geographical region, predicted weather events for a future period of time, said predicted weather events comprising at least one of predicted short term forecast weather data for up to three weeks, and predictive seasonal environmental data; correlating at least one of said regional operating profile and said device operating profile to said future period of time based on said logged weather events and said predicted weather events, and providing an extrapolated performance expectation for said selected device during said future period of time based on said correlation; and outputting modified control commands to the device controller of said selected discrete device as said input control signals to vary control of at least one of battery charging, battery discharge, and electric load operation in response to said extrapolated performance expectation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for remotely controlling a selected powered device, said device comprising part of an array of a plurality of devices disposed in a device array at a first geographic location, and wherein each of said devices comprising an autonomously powered discrete device including:
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an electric load; a rechargeable battery for storing and providing electric power to said load; a wind and/or solar generator for generating power to be stored in said battery; a device controller for regulating and controlling the flow of electric power from said generator to said battery and from said battery to said electric load; and a data transmission assembly operable to transmit output data to a remotely located processor assembly said output data being representative of operating parameters of the device comprising power generation performance, and battery storage and load output performance for a selected time period, and to receive and output to said device controller input control signals for controlling the charging and/or discharge of said battery, said method comprising; transmitting the output data from a plurality of said devices to said processor assembly, with said processor assembly generating a regional operating profile for said device array over said selected time period based on compiled output data from the plurality of devices in the device array; with said processor assembly generating, a device operating profile for the selected device over said selected period of time based on the output data from the selected device, with said processor assembly, logging weather event data for said first geographic area over said selected period of time, said weather event data comprising short term forecast data and/or seasonal environmental data; with said processor assembly, compiling predicted weather event data for said first geographic region over a future period of time, said predicted weather event data comprising a least one of predicted short term forecast weather data, and predictive seasonal forecast data for said future period of time, correlating said regional operating profile and/or said device operating profile to said future period of time based on a comparison of said logged weather event data and said predicted weather event data to provide an extrapolated performance expectation for said selected device during said future period of time; outputting modified control commands to the device controller of said selected device as said input control signals in response to said extrapolated performance expectation; and wherein said devices comprise one or more selected from the group consisting of a solar light pole, a security camera, a parking meter, a charging station, a bike rental platform, a display board, an environmental sensor, and a telecommunication transmitter. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for remotely controlling a rechargeable battery powered light pole, said light pole comprising a selected one of a plurality of light poles disposed at a first geographically remote location as part of a light pole array, and wherein each of said light pole includes:
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an electric load including at least one light; a rechargeable battery for storing and providing electric power to said electric load; a power generator comprising at least one of a wind generator and a photovoltaic generator for generating power to be stored in said battery; a device controller for regulating the charging of the battery and the flow of electric power therefrom to the electric load; and a data transmission assembly operable to output to a remotely located processor assembly output data representative of operating parameters of the light pole comprising at least one of power generator performance, battery storage performance and battery discharge performance, and to receive and output to said device controller control signals for controlling battery charging by the power generator and power discharge of said battery to said electric load; said processor assembly being operated to; generate a regional operating profile for said light pole array over a selected time period by compiling on output data from the plurality of light poles in the pole array, wherein said regional operating profile comprises aggregate power generator performance and aggregate battery storage and/or discharge performance of said pole array, generate a device operating profile for said selected light pole over the selected time period based by compiling output data from the selected light pole, said device operating profile comprising power generator performance and battery storage and/or discharge performance of said selected light pole; store weather event data for said first geographic region over the selected time period, said weather event data comprising short term forecast data and/or seasonal environmental data; compile predicted weather event data for said first geographic region over a future period of time, said predicted weather event data comprising predicted short term forecast weather data, and/or predictive seasonal forecast data for said future period of time, correlate performance data from at least one of said regional operating profile and said device operating profile to said future period of time based on a comparison of said stored weather event data and said predicted weather event data to provide an extrapolated performance expectation for said selected light pole during said future period of time; and output modified control commands to the device controller of said selected light pole as said input control signals in response to said extrapolated performance expectation, wherein the modified control commands are selected to maximize battery charging/discharging performance during at least part of said future period of time. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification