Remote energy management using persistent smart grid network context

• US 8,335,596 B2
• Filed: 07/16/2010
• Issued: 12/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Chipalkatti, Renu, Raman, Madhusudan, Dubois, Jean Francois
• Primary Examiner(s): Ali, Mohammad
• Assistant Examiner(s): Booker, Kelvin
• Application Number:
  US12/837,776
• Publication Number:
  US 20120016528A1
• Time in Patent Office: 886 Days
• Field of Search: 700/291, 700/295, 709/203, 709/206
• US Class Current: 700/295
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5094 where the allocation takes into account power or heat criteria power management in computers in general G06F1/3203; thermal management in computers in general G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A server device includes a storage device to store policies that govern the manner in which a curtailment operation or a replenish operation are performed. The policies include a threshold associated with a quantity of power consumption permitted by smart grid devices or another threshold associated with a minimum quantity of power to be supplied by a smart grid device. The server device also includes a processor to obtain, via a web service enabled by a tunneling protocol, a quantity of power consumed by the smart grid devices and another quantity of power to be supplied by the smart grid device; compare the threshold with the quantity of power; send an instruction to perform the curtailment operation when the quantity of power exceeds the threshold; compare the other threshold with the other quantity of power, when the quantity of power is less than the threshold; and send another instruction to perform the replenish operation when the other quantity of power is less than the other threshold.

Claims

1. A method performed by a server device, the method comprising:

receiving, by the server device and from a device gateway server, network content that includes information regarding a quantity of power consumed by each of a plurality of smart grid devices, the network content being received via a tunneling protocol that permits the server device to receive the network content at a location that is remote from the device gateway server;

retrieving, from a memory associated with the server device, control policies that include a threshold associated with another quantity of power consumed by the plurality of smart grid devices or a plurality of device thresholds associated with the plurality of smart grid devices, each device threshold, of the plurality of device thresholds, corresponding to a quantity of power consumed by a different one of the plurality of smart grid devices;

determining, by the server device, whether a device condition exists based on a comparison of the each device threshold with the quantity of power consumed by the different one of the plurality of smart grid devices;

sending, by the server device and to a user device, a notification that the device condition exists when the quantity of power consumed by a particular smart grid device, of the plurality of smart grid devices, is greater than a particular device threshold, of the plurality of device thresholds, that corresponds to the particular smart grid device;

determining, by the server device, whether a curtailment condition exists based on a comparison of the other quantity of power consumed by the plurality of smart grid devices and the threshold; and

sending, by the server device and to the user device, another notification indicating that a curtailment condition exists when the other quantity of power consumed by the plurality of the smart grid devices is greater than the threshold, wherein sending the other notification includes;

generating a query to determine a quantity of unforced capacity, associated with at least one smart grid device, of the plurality of smart grid devices, which is available to be used during a curtailment operation;

sending, to the at least one smart grid device and via the device gateway server, the query to obtain the quantity of unforced capacity; and

sending an instruction to one or more smart grid devices, of the plurality of smart grid devices, to perform the curtailment operation based on the quantity of unforced capacity obtained from the at least one smart grid device in response to the query.

2. The method of claim 1, where the tunneling protocol is an extensible messaging and presence protocol (XMPP).

3. The method of claim 1, where sending the notification that the device condition exists further includes:

obtaining, from the network content, the quantity of power consumed by the particular smart grid device using a messaging service or a web service, where the web service includes a service discovery web service or a subscriber/publisher web service.

4. The method of claim 3, where the messaging service or the web service is based on an extensible messaging and presence protocol (XMPP).

5. The method of claim 1, where sending the notification that the device condition exists further includes:

sending, to the particular smart grid device and via the device gateway server, an instruction to perform an operation to power off or to reduce a rate of power consumption associated with the particular smart grid device.

6. The method of claim 1, where sending the notification that the device condition exists further includes:

receiving, from the user device, a first instruction that includes an indication regarding whether to perform an operation to power off or to reduce a rate of power consumption associated with the particular smart grid device; and

performing the operation to power off or to reduce a rate of power consumption associated with the particular smart grid device when the first instruction includes the indication to perform the operation.

7. The method of claim 1, where sending the other notification indicating that the curtailment condition exists further includes:

sending, to one or more of the plurality of smart grid devices, an instruction to perform an operation to power off or to reduce a rate of power consumption associated with the one or more smart grid devices.

8. The method of claim 1, where the control policies include information identifying one or more of the plurality of smart grid devices to be powered off during the curtailment operation or other information identifying another one or more of the plurality of smart grid devices, to reduce power consumption during the curtailment operation;

and

where sending the other notification indicating that the curtailment condition exists further includes;

sending, to the one or more of the plurality of smart grid devices and via the device gateway server, an instruction to power off when the control policies include the information identifying the one or more of the plurality of smart grid devices to be powered off during the curtailment operation; and

sending, to the other one or more of the plurality of smart grid devices and via the device gateway server, another instruction to reduce power consumption when the control policies include the information identifying the other one or more of the plurality of smart grid devices to reduce power consumption during the curtailment operation.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the user device, a request to set up an energy management profile associated with the plurality of smart grid devices;

presenting, in response to the request, a user interface (UI) generated by the server device, via which information associated with the plurality of smart grid devices and other information regarding a facility associated with the plurality of smart grid devices is to be received;

receiving, via the UI, the information associated with the plurality of user devices and the other information regarding the facility;

generating, a consumption profile for the plurality of user devices, based on the information associated with the plurality of user devices and the other information regarding the facility, the consumption profile indicating the quantity of power that is permitted to be consumed by the plurality of smart grid devices;

generating the control policies based on the consumption profile for the plurality of smart grid devices; and

storing at least one of the control policies, the consumption profile, the information associated with the plurality of smart grid devices, or the information associated with the facility, in the memory associated with the server device.

10. A server device comprising:

a memory to store control policies, associated with a plurality of smart grid devices, that govern the manner in which a curtailment operation or an operation to replenish unforced capacity are to be performed, the control policies including a threshold associated with a maximum quantity of power consumption permitted by the plurality of smart grid devices or another threshold associated with a minimum quantity of stored or generated power to be made available by one or more smart grid devices of the plurality of smart grid devices; and

a processor to;

obtain, from a device gateway server and via a web service enabled by a tunneling protocol, network content that includes information regarding a quantity of power consumed by the plurality of smart grid devices and information regarding a quantity of stored or generated power available from the one or more smart grid devices,

compare the threshold obtained from the control policies with the quantity of power consumed by the plurality of smart grid devices obtained from the network content,

send, to the device gateway server, an instruction to perform the curtailment operation when the quantity of power consumed is greater than the threshold,

compare the other threshold obtained from the control policies with the quantity of stored or generated power available from the one or more smart grid devices obtained from the network content, when the quantity of power consumed is less than or equal to the threshold, and

send, to the device gateway server, another instruction to perform the operation to replenish the unforced capacity, and when the quantity of stored or generated power is less than the other threshold.

11. The server device of claim 10, where the web service or the tunneling protocol enable the network content to be obtained by the server device, where the server device is located at a location that is remote from another location associated with the device gateway server or the plurality of smart grid devices.

12. The server device of claim 11, where the tunneling protocol is an extensible messaging and presence protocol (XMPP).

13. The server device of claim 10, where the processor is further to:

receive, from another server device associated with a power generating utility from which the plurality of smart grid devices receive power, a demand-response (DR) request to reduce the power consumption associated with the plurality of smart grid devices,

query the one or more smart grid devices, via the device server gateway and using a web service associated with the tunneling protocol, to obtain information associated with an unforced capacity that corresponds to the quantity of stored or generated power associated with the one or more smart grid devices, and

send a further instruction to perform another curtailment operation to reduce the power consumption, associated with the plurality of smart grid devices by a quantity that is less than or equal to the quantity of stored or generated power.

14. The server device of claim 10, where the instruction to perform the curtailment operation includes an indication for at least one smart grid device of the one or more of the plurality of smart grid devices to power off or to reduce a rate of power consumption below a device threshold associated with the at least one smart grid device.

15. The server device of claim 10, where, when sending the instruction to perform the curtailment operation the processor is further to:

send a notification to a user device indicating that the curtailment operation is to be performed.

16. The server device of claim 15, where, when sending the notification to the user device the processor is further to:

send the notification to another server device associated with a social networking service that permits the user device to receive the notification, and

receive, from the user device and via the other server device, the instruction to perform the curtailment operation.

17. The server device of claim 10, where the other instruction includes an indication that at least one smart grid device, of the one or more smart grid devices, is to be recharged above a charge threshold obtained from the control policies, the at least one smart grid device being a power storage device.

18. The server device of claim 10, where the processor is further to:

send, to the device gateway server, a further instruction to transmit stored or generated power, associated with the one or more smart grid devices, to a power generation utility from which the plurality of smart grid devices receive power when the quantity of stored or generated power is greater than or equal to the other threshold.

19. A system comprising:

a storage device to store control policies, associated with a plurality of smart grid devices, that govern a manner in which a curtailment operation is to be performed, the control policies including a curtailment threshold corresponding to a quantity that power, consumed by a plurality of smart grid devices, is permitted to be reduced during the curtailment operation; and

a first server device to;

receive, from a second server device associated with a power generation utility from which the plurality of smart grid devices receive power, a demand-response (DR) request to reduce power consumption, the request including a demand quantity corresponding to a quantity that the plurality of smart grid devices are to reduce consuming power transmitted by the power generation utility,

obtain, from a third server device and via a tunneling protocol, a quantity of unforced capacity to be used to offset a reduction in power consumed by the plurality of smart grid devices during a curtailment operation, the tunneling protocol enabling the first server device to communicate with the plurality of smart grid devices from a location that is remote from another location associated with the plurality of smart grid devices,

determine whether to perform the curtailment operation in response to the DR request based on a comparison of the demand quantity with a curtailment capacity associated with the curtailment threshold and the quantity of unforced capacity,

send a notification to a user device that the curtailment operation is not to be performed when the demand quantity is greater than the curtailment capacity, and

send another notification to the user device that the curtailment operation is to be performed when the demand quantity is less than or equal to the curtailment capability.

20. The system of claim 19, where, when obtaining the quantity of unforced capacity to be used to offset the reduction in power consumed by the plurality of smart grid devices during a curtailment operation, the first server device is further to:

generate, using a web service enabled by the tunneling protocol, a query associated with one or more smart grid devices, of the plurality of smart grid devices, the one or more smart grid devices being a power storage device or power generation device, and

send, to the second server device and via the tunneling protocol, the query to obtain the quantity of unforced capacity.

21. The system of claim 20, where, when determining whether to perform the curtailment operation in response to the DR request, the first server device is further to:

compute the curtailment capacity based on a sum of the curtailment threshold and the quantity of unforced capacity.

22. The system of claim 19, where the first server device is further to:

receive, from a user device, another request to set up a consumption profile,

present, in response to the other request, a user interface (UI) generated by the first server device, the UI including a plurality of facility templates, each facility template corresponding to a respective different one of a plurality of facilities,

receive, via the UI and from the user device, selection of a particular facility template, of the plurality of facility templates, the particular facility template corresponding to a particular facility, of the plurality of facilities,

retrieve, from the storage device and based on the selection, information associated with the particular facility template that includes information associated with the particular facility and information associated with the plurality of smart grid devices associated with the particular facility,

generate a consumption profile for the particular facility based on the information associated with the particular facility and the information associated with the plurality of smart grid devices, the consumption profile indicating the quantity of power that is permitted to be consumed by the plurality of smart grid devices, and

store, in the storage device, the consumption profile for the particular facility.

23. The system of claim 22, where the first server device is further to:

receive, from another server device, information associated with a projected cost for power consumed by the plurality of smart grid devices over a future period of time,

generate the control policies, for the plurality of smart grid devices based on the consumption profile for the particular facility, and

store, in the storage device, the control policies for the plurality of smart grid devices.

24. The system of claim 22, where the first server device is further to:

perform a registration operation associated with the particular facility, using the tunneling protocol, to establish a tunnel via which network content, generated by each smart grid device of the plurality of smart grid devices, may be obtained by the first server device using a web service associated with the tunneling protocol.