Method and system for the estimating the energy consumption of commercially available electrical devices
First Claim
1. A method for estimating the energy usage of an electrical device using a portable device operated by user comprising:
- obtaining a digital image of manufacturer provided labeling from the electrical device, said labeling being related to energy use of the electrical device;
inputting the digital image with the processing application running on the portable device;
performing power parameter processing of the digital image;
inputting one or more user inputted time parameters to the processing application running on the portable device;
outputting from the processing application an estimate of the power usage of the electrical device over a specific time period, based on the user inputted time parameters.
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Abstract
Some embodiments of the present invention provide a system for estimating electrical power usage of commercially available devices utilizing a portable computing device equipped with a digital camera. In some embodiments, initial input to the system is accomplished by taking a digital photograph of an electrical device surface in order to capture text or other marks such as barcodes from which power usage of the device can be determined. In some embodiments OCR (optical character recognition) is used to retrieve text from the digital photograph. If successfully extracted from the captured text, power parameters such as voltage, amperes and watts are provided to the system user on the display of the mobile device. At this point an estimate of electrical device usage during a particular time period, such as a week, can be input into the system. The system will then calculate power usage over the specified time period for the electrical device and show the result on the system display.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for estimating the energy usage of an electrical device using a portable device operated by user comprising:
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obtaining a digital image of manufacturer provided labeling from the electrical device, said labeling being related to energy use of the electrical device; inputting the digital image with the processing application running on the portable device; performing power parameter processing of the digital image; inputting one or more user inputted time parameters to the processing application running on the portable device; outputting from the processing application an estimate of the power usage of the electrical device over a specific time period, based on the user inputted time parameters. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A system for estimating the energy use of an electrical device, comprising:
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a portable device operated by a user, comprising; a camera configured to capture a digital image of manufacturer labeling on the electrical device, said labeling related to energy use of the electrical device; a wireless transceiver configured to send the digital image over a network; and a processing application configured to; receive as an input the digital image; and perform power parameter processing on the image; and exchange information with a server processing application running on a remote server; and determine an estimate of power usage of the electrical device over a specific time period, based on inputted time parameters by the user; and output the estimate of power usage of the electrical device over a specific time period; an input device configured to receive the inputted time parameters; and a display configured to provide visual information to the portable device user said visual information comprising said estimate of power usage of the electrical device over a specific time period. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions residing on a portable device operated by a user that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for estimating the electrical power usage of an electrical device, the method comprising:
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obtaining via the portable device a digital image of manufacturer provided labeling provided on an electrical device, said label being related to energy use of the electrical device; performing power parameter processing using the digital image; receiving one or more time parameters as inputted time parameters from the user of the portable device; outputting an estimate of the energy usage of an electrical device over a specific time period, based on the inputted time parameters. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification