Energy management of remotely controllable devices associated with a workspace based on users scheduled activities in a calendar application and users' current network activities
First Claim
1. A method, comprising:
- receiving scheduled user activities from each of a plurality of individual users into one or more electronic calendar program through a software interface;
associating each user activity with a defined workspace having one or more remotely controllable electronic devices selected from the group consisting of electrical outlets, computers, printers, light fixtures, and combinations thereof; and
controlling energy utilization of the one or more electronic devices within each defined workspace according to the user activities that are associated with the defined workspace;
reducing energy utilization in one or more defined workspaces during a time period that there is no user activity associated with the one or more defined workspaces;
detecting that a user has logged onto a remote computer that is not located within the defined workspace; and
over-riding any of the scheduled user activities that are inconsistent with logging onto the remote computer.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and computer program product for controlling energy utilization includes receiving user activities from each of a plurality of users into one or more software application, associating each user activity with a defined workspace having one or more remotely controllable electronic devices, and controlling energy utilization of the one or more electronic devices within each defined workspace according to the user activities associated with the defined workspace. Energy utilization is reduced in a defined workspace during a time period that there is no user activity associated with the workspace. Optionally, the step of receiving user activities may include detecting that a user has logged onto a remote computer that is not located within the defined workspace, or users inputting activities into a software application, such as one or more instances of an electronic calendar.
20 Citations
12 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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receiving scheduled user activities from each of a plurality of individual users into one or more electronic calendar program through a software interface; associating each user activity with a defined workspace having one or more remotely controllable electronic devices selected from the group consisting of electrical outlets, computers, printers, light fixtures, and combinations thereof; and controlling energy utilization of the one or more electronic devices within each defined workspace according to the user activities that are associated with the defined workspace; reducing energy utilization in one or more defined workspaces during a time period that there is no user activity associated with the one or more defined workspaces; detecting that a user has logged onto a remote computer that is not located within the defined workspace; and over-riding any of the scheduled user activities that are inconsistent with logging onto the remote computer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12)
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10. A computer program product for controlling energy utilization, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer useable storage medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer useable program code comprising:
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computer usable program code configured to receive scheduled user activities into an electronic calendar program through a software interface from each of a plurality of individual user nodes on a network; computer usable program code configured to associate each user activity with a defined workspace having one or more remotely controllable electronic devices selected from the group consisting of an electrical outlet, computer, printer, light fixture, and combinations thereof; and computer usable program code configured to control energy utilization of the one or more electronic devices within each defined workspace according to the activity associated with the defined workspace; computer usable program code configured to reduce energy utilization in one or more defined workspaces during a time period that there is no user activity associated with the one or more defined workspaces; computer usable program code configured to detect that a user has logged onto a remote computer that is not located within the defined workspace; and computer usable program code configured to over-ride any of the scheduled user activities that are inconsistent with logging onto the remote computer. - View Dependent Claims (11)
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Specification