Providing resource consumption recommendations

• US 9,123,082 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2012
• Issued: 09/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.), AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.), AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hu, Qingmin, Daly, Brian Kevin, Toren, Jamie, Causey, Mark Edward, Mullis, Karen
• Primary Examiner(s): Gaffin, Jeffrey A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Misir, Dave
• Application Number:
  US13/539,341
• Publication Number:
  US 20140006329A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,158 Days
• Field of Search: 706/46
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply

Abstract

The subject disclosure provides systems and methods for recommending optimal consumption of a variety of resources that may be consumed by a consumer. A recommendation provided by the system may be based upon resource-consumption statistics gathered by a plurality of sensors, consumer'"'"'s resource-consumption behavior, consumer-defined criteria, resource availability, and a cost of consumption. The recommendation may include a recommendation on how the consumer may lower resource consumption costs. The recommendation may further include optimal consumption considering consumption trends of a plurality of consumers living in a geographical proximity. The recommendation may include optimal usage of a consumer'"'"'s vehicle such that the vehicle may consume the least amount of energy. The recommendation may further include offer(s) of credit/incentives by resource providers to consumers in exchange for less consumption of resource, alternative consumption of resources, and any combination thereof.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

registering a sensor associated with an equipment consuming a resource, wherein registering the sensor comprises receiving, from a mobile device comprising a camera, an image, captured by the camera, of information identifying the sensor,

receiving, from the sensor via the mobile device, statistical data related to consumption of the resource, wherein the statistical data comprises a user-defined attribute appended to the statistical data by the mobile device,

performing an analysis on the statistical data received from the sensor,

determining, based at least in part on a criteria specified by a user and on the analysis performed on the statistical data, whether to provide, to the user, a recommendation associated with the consumption of the resource, and

in response to determining, based at least in part on the criteria specified by the user, to provide the recommendation associated with the consumption of the resource to the user,

generating, based at least in part on a result of analyzing the statistical data, the recommendation associated with the consumption of the resource, and

providing the recommendation for presentation to the user.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein providing the recommendation for presentation to the user comprises sending the recommendation to the mobile device associated with the user.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise receiving inventory data from a tracking inventory system.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein generating the recommendation comprises generating the recommendation based at least in further part on the inventory data.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise receiving data from a resource server, the resource server associated with a resource provider servicing the equipment, and wherein generating the recommendation comprises generating the recommendation based at least in further part on the data received from the resource server.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the operations further comprise storing, in a database, the statistical data, the result of analyzing the statistical data, and the data received from the resource server.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the data received from the resource server comprises resource availability and pricing information.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the result of analyzing the statistical data comprises determining behavior of the user based at least in part on the consumption of the resource and determining resource consumption trends based at least in part on the consumption of the resource.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise receiving, from the mobile device, a task needed to be performed by the user, and wherein generating the recommendation comprises considering an availability of the resource to perform the task and a cost of using the resource.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the task needed to be performed by the user comprises purchasing a product and wherein generating the recommendation comprises obtaining data regarding an optimal location to purchase the product.

11. A method comprising:

registering, at a server comprising a processor, a sensor associated with an equipment consuming a resource, wherein registering the sensor comprises receiving, at the server from a mobile device comprising a camera, an image, captured by the camera, of information identifying the sensor;

receiving, at the server from the sensor via the mobile device, statistical data related to consumption of the resource, wherein the statistical data comprises a user-defined attribute appended to the statistical data by the mobile device;

performing, by the server, an analysis on the statistical data received from the sensor;

determining, based at least in part on a criteria specified by a user and on the analysis performed on the statistical data, whether to provide, to the user, a recommendation associated with the consumption of the resource; and

in response to determining, based at least in part on the criteria specified by the user, to provide the recommendation associated with the consumption of the resource to the user,

generating, based at least in part on a result of analyzing the statistical data, the recommendation associated with the consumption of the resource, and

providing the recommendation for presentation to the user.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving data from a resource server, the resource server associated with a resource provider servicing the equipment, and wherein generating the recommendation comprises generating the recommendation based at least in further part on the data received from the resource server.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising storing, in a database, the statistical data, the result of analyzing the statistical data, and the data received from the resource server.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein presenting the recommendation to the user comprises sending the recommendation to the mobile device associated with the user.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving an acceptance of the recommendation; and

in response to receiving the acceptance of the recommendation, regulating a supply of the resource to the equipment.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving a plurality of statistical data associated with a plurality of consumers in geographic proximity, and wherein generating the recommendation further comprises generating the recommendation based on the plurality of statistical data.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the equipment is a vehicle and the recommendation is associated with the consumption of the resource by the vehicle.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the recommendation comprises an offer of credit by a resource provider in exchange for less consumption of the resource provided by the resource provider.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving, by the server and from the mobile device, a task needed to be performed by the user, and wherein generating the recommendation comprises considering an availability of the resource to perform the task and a cost of using the resource.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores instructions that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform operations comprising:

registering a sensor associated with an equipment consuming a resource, wherein registering the sensor comprises receiving, from a mobile device comprising a camera, an image, captured by the camera, of information identifying the sensor;

receiving, from the sensor via the mobile device, statistical data related to consumption of the resource, wherein the statistical data comprises a user-defined attribute appended to the statistical data by the mobile device;

performing an analysis on the statistical data received from the sensor;

determining, based at least in part on a criteria specified by a user and on the analysis performed on the statistical data, whether to provide, to the user, a recommendation associated with the consumption of the resource; and

in response to determining, based at least in part on the criteria specified by the user, to provide the recommendation associated with the consumption of the resource to the user,

generating, based at least in part on a result of analyzing the statistical data, the recommendation associated with the consumption of the resource, and

providing the recommendation for presentation to the user.