Optimizing consumption of resources

• US 8,086,354 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2009
• Issued: 12/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: GlobalFoundries, Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bondar, Vitaliy, Chen-Ritzo, Ching-Hua, Hamilton, Rick Allen II, Pickover, Clifford Alan, Williams, Ralph Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Bahta, Kidest
• Application Number:
  US12/551,191
• Publication Number:
  US 20110054642A1
• Time in Patent Office: 848 Days
• Field of Search: 700/284, 700/291, 700/32, 700/29, 239/68, 239/69, 239/71, 239/74
• US Class Current: 700/284
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2639 Energy management, use maximum of cheap power, keep peak load low
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply

Abstract

Methods, systems and apparatus for optimizing consumption of one or more resources are presented. For example, a method may be implemented on a processor device and includes obtaining user preferences for the consumption of resources that include water and electricity, predicting the consumption of, and a first metric for the consumption of, the resources for each of a plurality of first time periods, determining a projected second metric for the consumption of the resources during a second time period according to the predicted consumption and the predicted first metric, and optimizing the consumption of the resources according to the projected second metric and the user preferences. The second time period includes the plurality of first time periods. The first metric is associated with the user preferences and at least one of the plurality of first time periods. The second metric indicates full or partial projected attainment of the preferences during the second time period.

Claims

1. A method, implemented on a processor device, for optimizing consumption of two or more resources, the method comprising the steps of:

obtaining one or more user preferences for the consumption of the two or more resources, the two or more resources comprising water and electricity consumed in at least one resource consuming task;

predicting the consumption of the two or more resources for each of a plurality of first time periods;

predicting a first metric for the consumption of the two or more resources for each of the plurality of first time periods, wherein the first metric is associated with the one or more user preferences and at least one of the plurality of first time periods;

determining a projected second metric for the consumption of the two or more resources during a second time period, comprising the plurality of first time periods, according to the predicted consumption and the predicted first metric, wherein the projected second metric indicates full or partial projected attainment of the one or more user preferences during the second time period; and

optimizing the consumption of the two or more resources according to the projected second metric and according to the one or more user preferences;

wherein one or more of the steps of obtaining one or more user preferences, predicting the consumption, predicting a first metric, determining a projected second metric, and optimizing the consumption are executed on the processor device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more user preferences comprise at least one of:

an expenditure, a price, a characteristic, a quality factor, a social responsibility factor, a conservation factor, and a user convenience factor.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the user provides instruction for at least one of:

(i) forming a resource consumption plan comprising one or more rules for operation of one or more resource consuming devices, and (ii) providing the user with information related to the consumption of the two or more resources.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of optimizing the consumption comprises at least one of:

(i) scheduling a time for the consumption of the two or more resources, (ii) scheduling a time for the consumption of the two or more resources when a price of at least one of the two or more resources is below a specified upper threshold, and (iii) operation of one or more resource consuming devices with limited consumption of at least one of the two or more resources.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more simulations are used in at least one of the steps of predicting the consumption and predicting a first metric, the one or more simulations comprising simulations of at least one of:

climate, weather, demand for at least one of the two or more resources, time-dependent usage of at least one of the two or more resources, an economic factor, a natural disaster, availability of at least one of the two or more resources, energy usage related to at least one of the two or more resources, quality of at least one of the two or more resources, human activity, and a process involving the two or more resources.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first metric and second metric comprise an expenditure for the two or more resources, the expenditure comprising what is given to obtain at least one of the two or more resources.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the second metric comprise a projected total expenditure for the two or more resources during the second time period, the method further comprising the step of:

determining if the projected total expenditure is above a predetermined limit, wherein the method is operable to control use of one or more resource consuming devices when the projected total expenditure is above the predetermined limit such that a revised projected total expenditure is below the predetermined limit; and

forming a resource consumption plan comprising one or more rules for operation of the one or more resource consuming devices when the projected total expenditure is above the predetermined limit.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

obtaining procurement information for at least one of the two or more resources, wherein the step of predicting a first metric is according to the procurement information; and

obtaining consumption information for the at least one of the two or more resources, wherein the step of predicting the consumption of the two or more resources is according to the consumption information.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the procurement information comprises at least one of:

(i) a price of the at least one of the two or more resources, (ii) a quality of the at least one of the two or more resources, (iii) an availability of the at least one of the two or more resources, (iv) a cost associated with procuring the at least one of the two or more resources, and (v) one or more chronological times.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the consumption information comprises historical usage of the at least one of the two or more resources as a function of at least one of:

(i) time, weather, and the at least one of the two or more resources.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of predicting a first metric comprises predicting that a price of at least one of the two or more resources, during a specific time period, is at least one of:

a temporary maximum price and a temporary minimum price; and

wherein the use of one or more resource consuming devices is controlled during the specific time period and according to at least one of;

the prediction of the temporary maximum price, and the prediction of the temporary minimum price.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the use of one or more resource consuming devices is controlled by at least one of:

(i) determining to use one of the one or more resource consuming devices at a present time, (i) determining not to use one of the one or more resource consuming devices at the present time, (iii) determining to use one of the one or more resource consuming devices at a specific future time, and (iv) a resource management system.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

predicting a resource characteristic, for at least one of the plurality of first time periods, the resource characteristic comprising at least one of;

resource quality, resource availability, and a cost associated with procuring at least one of the two or more resources;

wherein the use of one or more resource consuming devices is controlled according to the predicted resource characteristic.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining a projected second metric for the consumption the two or more resources is according to at least one of equation 1 and equation 2;

wherein equation 1 is;

E_Total(t)=E₁(t)+Σ

_i(P_Pi×

P_Ci);

wherein equation 2 is;

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the second metric comprise a projected total expenditure for the two or more resources during the second time period, the method further comprising the steps of:

determining if the projected total expenditure deviates from optimum by a predetermined amount, wherein the step of optimizing the consumption is configured to control use of one or more resource consuming devices when the projected total expenditure is determined to deviate from optimum by the predetermined amount; and

determining a revised projected total expenditure for the consumption of the two or more resources during the second time period, the revised total expenditure is determined according to the optimization of the consumption of the two or more resources, wherein the revised projected total expenditure deviates from optimum by less that the predetermined amount.

24. An article of manufacture tangibly embodying a computer readable program code which, when executed, causes the computer to carry out the steps of a computer implemented method for optimizing consumption of two or more resources according to claim 1.

16. A method, implemented on a processor device, for optimizing consumption of one or more resources, the method comprising the steps of:

obtaining one or more user preferences for the consumption of the one or more resources consumed by a resource consuming device comprising an informing device;

predicting the consumption of the one or more resources for each of a plurality of first time periods;

predicting a first metric for the consumption of the one or more resources for each of the plurality of first time periods, wherein the first metric is associated with the one or more user preferences and at least one of the plurality of first time periods;

determining a projected second metric for the consumption of the one or more resources during a second time period, comprising the plurality of first time periods, according to the predicted consumption and the predicted first metric, wherein the projected second metric indicates full or partial projected attainment of the one or more user preferences during the second time period;

optimizing the consumption of the one or more resources according to the projected second metric and according to the one or more user preferences; and

providing a user with information related to the optimization of the consumption of the one or more resources, the information provided by the informing device;

wherein one or more of the steps of obtaining one or more user preferences, predicting the consumption, predicting a first metric, determining a projected second metric, optimizing the consumption, and providing information are executed on the processor device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of providing a user with information provides information comprising at least one of:

(i) one or more prices of the one or more resources, (ii) one or more quality indicators of the one or more resources, (iii) one or more availability indicators of the one or more resources, (iv) one or more costs associated with procuring the one or more resources, (v) one or more points in times, (vi) a signal to use one or more resource consuming devices, (vii) a signal that at least one of the one or more prices is at a temporary maximum, and (viii) a signal that at least one of the one or more prices is at a temporary minimum.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the one or more resources comprises at least one of:

water, electricity and a fuel.

25. An article of manufacture tangibly embodying a computer readable program code which, when executed, causes the computer to carry out the steps of a computer implemented method for optimizing consumption of two or more resources according to claim 16.

19. A system for optimizing consumption of two or more resources, the system comprising:

a user preference obtaining module, configured to obtain one or more user preferences for the consumption of the two or more resources, the two or more resources comprising water and electricity consumed in at least one resource consuming task;

a consumption prediction module, configured to predict the consumption of the two or more resources for each of a plurality of first time periods;

an expenditure prediction module, configured to predict a first metric for the consumption of the two or more resources for each of the plurality of first time periods, wherein the first metric is associated with the one or more user preferences and at least one of the plurality of first time periods;

an expenditure projection module, configured to determine a projected second metric for the consumption of the two or more resources during a second time period, comprising the plurality of first time periods, according to the predicted consumption and the predicted first metric, wherein the projected second metric indicates full or partial projected attainment of the one or more user preferences during the second time period; and

an optimization module, configured to optimize the consumption of the two or more resources according to the projected second metric and according to the one or more user preferences;

wherein one or more of the obtaining of the one or more user preferences, the predicting of the consumption, the predicting of the expenditure, the determining of the projected total expenditure, and the optimizing of the consumption are executed on the processor device.

20. The system of claim 19 further comprising a user information module configured to provide a user with information related to the optimization of the consumption of the two or more resources, the information provided by an informing device comprised by a resource consuming device consuming the two or more resources.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the use of one or more resource consuming devices is controlled by at least one of:

(i) a user; and

(ii) a control module configured to control use of the one or more resource consuming devices.

22. Apparatus for optimizing consumption of two or more resources, the apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory, operative to;

obtain one or more user preferences for the consumption of the two or more resources, the two or more resources comprising water and electricity consumed in at least one resource consuming task;

predict the consumption of the two or more resources for each of a plurality of first time periods;

predict a first metric for the consumption of the two or more resources for each of the plurality of first time periods, wherein the first metric is associated with the one or more user preferences and at least one of the plurality of first time periods;

determine a projected second metric for the consumption of the two or more resources during a second time period, comprising the plurality of first time periods, according to the predicted consumption and the predicted first metric, wherein the projected second metric indicates full or partial projected attainment of the one or more user preferences during the second time period; and

optimize the consumption of the two or more resources according to the projected second metric and according to the one or more user preferences.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the processor is further operative to provide a user with information related to the optimization of the consumption of the two or more resources, the information provided by an informing device comprised by a resource consuming device consuming the two or more resources.