Outage notification device and method

• US 7,586,420 B2
• Filed: 11/07/2005
• Issued: 09/08/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TXU Energy Retail Company LLC (Vistra Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Basic Resources, Inc (Sempra)
• Inventors: Schultz, Russell B., Fischer, Roger L.
• Primary Examiner(s): TRIEU, VAN THANH
• Application Number:
  US11/267,298
• Publication Number:
  US 20060055549A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,401 Days
• Field of Search: 340/635, 340/660, 340/661, 340/502, 340/606, 340/531, 340/870.02, 340/870.03, 340/870.07, 340/539.14, 370/216, 370/248, 370/365, 370/215, 320/126
• US Class Current: 340/635
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/30 Means for acting in the event of power-supply failure or interruption, e.g. power-supply fluctuations for resetting only G06F1/24
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00016 using a wired telecommunication network or a data transmission bus
• 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: Y02B 70/3225 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/221 General power management systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/222 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving

Abstract

An outage notification system for detecting a power outage at a customer location is provided. The outage notification system comprises a first outage notification device operably coupled to a first circuit at the customer location, a second device operably coupled to a second circuit at the customer location. The first device is operable to determine a status of power supply to the first circuit and communicate the status of power supply to the first circuit to the second device. The second device is operable to determine a status of power supply to the second circuit (or other desired parameter in an alternative embodiment) and notify, via a network, a receiving system associated with the electric utility of a power outage at the customer location based at least in part on the statuses of power supply to the first and/or second circuits.

Claims

1. An outage detection device for detecting a power outage in a circuit comprising:

a circuit interface operably coupleable to the circuit;

means for determining a status of power supply to the circuit via the circuit interface; and

means for communicating the status of power supply to at least one other outage detection device.

2. The outage detection device of claim 1, wherein the circuit interface includes an alternating current (AC) adaptor operably coupleable to an outlet associated with the circuit.

3. The outage detection device of claim 2, wherein the means for determining a status of power supply to the circuit includes a microcontroller operably coupled to the AC adaptor and operable to determine the status of the power supply of the circuit based at least in part on an output of the AC adaptor.

4. The outage detection device of claim 2, wherein the outage detection device is powered by an output of the AC adaptor when power supply to the circuit is available.

5. The outage detection device of claim 4, further comprising a battery for providing power to the outage detection device when power supply to the circuit is unavailable.

6. The outage detection device of claim 1, wherein the means for communicating the status includes a wireless transceiver operable to transmit a signal representative of the status of the power supply to the circuit.

7. An outage detection device for detecting a power outage at a customer location comprising:

a circuit interface operably coupleable to a first circuit at the customer location;

means for determining a status of power supply to the first circuit via the circuit interface;

means for receiving a status of power supply to a second circuit at the customer location; and

means for notifying a receiving system associated with the electric utility of a power outage at the customer location via a network based at least in part on the status of the power supply to the first and second circuits.

8. The outage detection device of claim 7, wherein the circuit interface includes an alternating current (AC) adaptor operably coupleable to an outlet associated with the first circuit.

9. The outage detection device of claim 8, wherein the means for determining a status of power supply to the first circuit includes a microcontroller operably coupled to the AC adaptor and operable to determine the status of the power supply to the first circuit based at least in part on an output of the AC adaptor.

10. The outage detection device of claim 8, wherein the outage detection device is powered by an output of the AC adaptor when power supply to the circuit is available.

11. The outage detection device of claim 10, further comprising a battery for providing power to the outage detection device when power supply to the circuit is unavailable.

12. The outage detection device of claim 11, further comprising an indicator for indicating a status of the battery.

13. The outage detection device of claim 7, wherein the means for receiving the status of the power supply to the second circuit includes a wireless transceiver operable to receive a signal representative of the status of the power supply to the second circuit.

14. The outage detection device of claim 13, wherein the signal representative of the status of the power supply to the second circuit is transmitted from a second outage detection device.

15. The outage detection device of claim 7, wherein the network includes a cable network.

16. The outage detection device of claim 7, wherein the network includes a telephone network.

17. The outage detection device of claim 16, wherein the receiving system includes a modem data server and wherein the means for notifying the electric utility of a power outage includes a modem chipset adapted to communicate with the modem data server via the telephone network.

18. The outage detection device of claim 16, wherein the receiving system includes an integrated voice response (IVR) system and wherein the means for notifying the electric utility of a power outage includes means for communicating with the integrated voice response (IVR) system via the telephone network using at least one dual-tone multifrequency (DTMF) signal.

19. A method for notifying a customer of a power outage at a customer location comprising:

determining a status of power supply to each of a plurality of circuits at the customer location using a plurality of outage detection devices, each outage detection device operably coupled to a respective circuit of the plurality of circuits; and

notifying at least one representative of the customer of a power outage at the customer location when the statuses of power supply to the plurality of circuits indicate an unavailability of power supply to least one of the plurality of circuits.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein notifying the at least one representative of the customer includes transmitting an email to at least one email address associated with the at least one representative.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein notifying the at least one representative of the customer includes transmitting a facsimile to at least one facsimile number associated with the at least one representative.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein notifying the at least one representative of the customer includes transmitting a voice message to at least one telephone number associated with the at least one representative.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein notifying the at least one representative of the customer includes transmitting a page to at least one pager number associated with the at least one representative.

24. The method of claim 19, further comprising notifying an electric utility of a power outage at the customer location when the statuses of power supply to the plurality of circuits indicate an unavailability of power supply to each of the plurality of circuits.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein notifying the electric utility of a power outage at the customer location includes communicating an indication of a power outage to the electric utility via a network.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the network includes a cable network.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the network includes a telephone network.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the receiving system includes an integrated voice response (IVR) system and wherein communicating the indication of a power outage to the electric utility includes communicating the indication of a power outage to the IVR system via the telephone network using at least one dual-tone multifrequency (DTMF) signal.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the receiving system includes a modem data server and wherein communicating the indication of a power outage to the electric utility includes communicating the indication of a power outage to the modem data via the telephone network.

30. The method of claim 19, wherein determining a status of power supply to each of a plurality of circuits at the customer location includes:

coupling, for each of the plurality of circuits, an alternating current (AC) adaptor to an outlet associated with the circuit; and

determining, for each of the plurality of circuits, an availability of power supply to the circuit based at least in part on an output of the AC adaptor coupled to the outlet associated with the circuit.

31. A method for detecting a power outage a customer location, the method comprising:

coupling an alternating current (AC) adaptor to an outlet associated with a first circuit at the customer location;

determining a status of power supply to the first circuit based at least in part on an output of the AC adaptor;

receiving a status of power supply to a second circuit at the customer location; and

communicating, via a network, the statuses of power supply to the first and second circuits to a receiving system connected to the network and associated with an electric utility.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the network includes a cable network.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the network includes a telephone network.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the receiving system includes a modem data server connected to the telephone network.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the receiving system includes an integrated voice response (IVR) system connected to the telephone networks.