Systems and methods of interaction with water usage information

• US 8,618,941 B2
• Filed: 02/25/2010
• Issued: 12/31/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Badger Meter Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Aquacue, Inc. (Badger Meter Incorporated)
• Inventors: Javey, Shahram, Rodriguez, Patrick, Walker, Donald A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lieu, Julie
• Application Number:
  US12/713,137
• Publication Number:
  US 20100289652A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,405 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 340/605
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 2204/22 Arrangements for detecting or reporting faults, outages or leaks
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 2204/24 Identification of individual loads, e.g. by analysing current/voltage waveforms
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/008 Modifications to installed utility meters to enable remote reading
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/20 responsive to moisture
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/30 using a wired architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/43 using wireless personal area networks [WPAN], e.g. 802.15, 802.15.1, 802.15.4, Bluetooth or ZigBee
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/60 for transmitting utility meters data, i.e. transmission of data from the reader of the utility meter
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/823 where the data is sent when the measured values exceed a threshold, e.g. sending an alarm
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom

Abstract

Exemplary systems and methods for interaction with water usage information are provided. In various embodiments, a method comprises receiving water usage data from a meter device, receiving an identifier from a user associated with the meter device, providing an interactive interface to the user, the interactive interface conveying at least some water usage information based on the water usage data, receiving a first characterization of a first water activity from the user, generating a visualization based on the water usage information and the first characterization of the first water activity, and displaying the visualization.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving water usage data from a meter device;

receiving an identifier from a user associated with the meter device;

providing an interactive interface to the user, the interactive interface conveying at least some water usage information based on the water usage data;

receiving a first characterization of a first water activity from the user, wherein the first characterization characterizes the first water activity by a quantity of water consumed over a duration of water consumption, the first characterization including a user designation of both a period of time in the water usage information representing the duration of water consumption and a water usage categorization to be associated with the period of time;

characterizing a second water activity based on pattern matching;

generating a visualization based on the water usage information and the first characterization of the first water activity; and

displaying the visualization.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein pattern matching comprises matching a duration of water consumption and a quantity of water consumed with the first characterization.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the visualization is further based also on the second characterization.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the meter device is a water meter.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the meter device is coupled to a water meter.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving user preferences to set an alert threshold.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising alerting the user when the alert threshold is exceeded.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting one or more leaks and notifying the user of the one or more leaks.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying suggestions to conserve water based on the water usage information.

10. A system comprising:

a meter data module configured to receive water usage data from a meter device;

a GUI module configured to receive an identifier from a user associated with the meter device and provide an interactive interface to the user, the interactive interface conveying at least some water usage information based on the water usage data;

a preference module configured to receive a first characterization of a first water activity from the user, wherein the first characterization characterizes the first water activity by a quantity of water consumed over a duration of water consumption, the first characterization including a user designation of both a period of time in the water usage information representing the duration of water consumption and a water usage categorization to be associated with the period of time;

a learning module configured to characterize a second water activity based on pattern matching; and

a visualization module configured to generate a visualization based on the water usage information and the first characterization of the first water activity and display the visualization.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein pattern matching comprises the learning module configured to match a duration of water consumption and a quantity of water consumed with the first characterization.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the visualization module is further configured to generate the visualization based on the second characterization.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the meter device is a water meter.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the meter device is coupled to a water meter.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the preference module is further configured to receive user preferences to set an alert threshold.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising an alert module configured to alert the user when the alert threshold is exceeded.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the meter data module is further configured to detect one or more leaks and the system further comprises an alert module configured to notify the user of the one or more leaks.

18. The system of claim 10, further comprising a suggestion engine configured to generate suggestions to conserve water based on the water usage information.

19. A computer readable medium comprising instructions, the instructions being executable by a processor to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving water usage data from a meter device;

receiving an identifier from a user associated with the meter device;

providing an interactive interface to the user, the interactive interface conveying at least some water usage information based on the water usage data;

receiving a first characterization of a first water activity from the user, wherein the first characterization characterizes the first water activity by a quantity of water consumed over a duration of water consumption, the characterization including a user designation of both a period of time in the water usage information representing the duration of water consumption and a water usage categorization to be associated with the period of time;

characterizing a second water activity based on pattern matching;

generating a visualization based on the water usage information and the first characterization of the first water activity; and

displaying the visualization.