Energy information exchange

• US 9,224,128 B2
• Filed: 05/17/2011
• Issued: 12/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Southern Company Services, Inc. (Southern Company)
• Original Assignee: Southern Company Services, Inc. (Southern Company)
• Inventors: Floyd, Gregory Ray
• Primary Examiner(s): Woo, Isaac M
• Application Number:
  US13/109,177
• Publication Number:
  US 20120296869A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,687 Days
• Field of Search: 707600-899
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments for facilitating data synchronization in a utility computing environment. A data synchronization application can monitor source systems in such an environment and generate periodic change sets that correspond to data that has changed in the various source systems. Destination systems can subscribe to change sets and receive the appropriate change sets by monitoring flags that the data synchronization application can set. Various classes of change sets that correspond to data within a particular change set can also be generated.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

identifying, in at least one computing device, information corresponding to a plurality of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) metering devices, the information having changed during a specified period of time, the information comprising energy information;

extracting, in the at least one computing device, the energy information from an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) head-end, the energy information associated with at least a subset of the AMI metering devices;

generating, in the at least one computing device, an energy usage change set, wherein the energy usage change set consists of a change set identifier, a change set type, at least one flag indicating the energy information within the energy usage change set, and a plurality of records associated with the energy information changed during the specified period of time with respect to the plurality of AMI metering devices, wherein the change set type indicates a type of data change that has occurred during the specified period of time, wherein the change set identifier represents an unique identifier with respect to a plurality of previously generated change sets;

publishing the energy usage change set on an enterprise service bus.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein extracting the energy information from the AMI head-end further comprises monitoring a log file updated by the AMI head-end when the energy information is updated.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein extracting the energy information from the AMI head-end further comprises receiving an update notification from a database, wherein the update notification comprises an indication of a change in the enerqy information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one flag further comprises an energy usage flag.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the information corresponding to the AMI metering devices comprises device information, and the method further comprises:

extracting, in the at least one computing device, the device information from the AMI head-end, the device information corresponding to data about utility metering devices that has changed during the specified period of time;

generating, in the at least one computing device, a device information change set corresponding to the changed device information; and

publishing the device information change set on the enterprise service bus.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of records corresponds to a respective utility metering device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising

extracting, in the at least one computing device, device information from the AMI head-end, the device information corresponding to data about utility metering devices that has changed during the specified period of time;

generating, in the at least one computing device, a device information change set corresponding to the changed device information; and

publishing the device information change set on the enterprise service bus.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the device information further comprises at least one event associated with a metering device in an AMI metering deployment.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the device information change set further comprises a plurality of device records corresponding to a respective utility metering device, and generating the device information change set further comprises setting at least one device flag in each of the plurality of device records identifying a type of device change that has occurred during the specified period of time.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one device flag in each of the plurality of device records further comprise:

a meter installation flag, an address change flag, a move-in flag, a move-out flag, a meter removal flag, a meter swap flag, a rate change flag, and an estimated meter reading flag.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

extracting, in the at least one computing device, customer information from a customer information system in communication with the at least one computing device via a network, the customer information corresponding to data about at least one customer account that has changed during the specified period of time;

generating, in the at least one computing device, a customer information change set, wherein the customer information change set comprises a customer set identifier, a customer set type indicating a customer classification group, at least one customer flag indicating the customer information changed within the customer information change set, and a plurality of customer records associated with the customer information changed during the specified period of time, wherein the customer set identifier represents an unique identifier with respect to the plurality of previously generated change sets; and

publishing the customer information change set on an enterprise service bus.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the customer information further comprises at least one of:

a rate plan associated with the customer account or an AMI metering identifier associated with the customer account.

13. A system, comprising:

at least one computing device; and

a data synchronization application executed in the at least one computing device, wherein the data synchronization application, when executed, causes the at least one computing device to least;

identify information corresponding to a plurality of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) metering devices, the information having changed during a specified period of time, the information comprising energy information;

extract the energy information from an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) head-end, the energy information associated with at least a subset of the AMI metering devices;

generate an energy usage change set, wherein the energy usage change set consists of a change set identifier, a change set type, at least one flag indicating the energy information within the energy usage change set, and a plurality of records associated with the energy information changed during the specified period of time with respect to the plurality of AMI metering devices, wherein the change set type indicates a type of data change that has occurred during the specified period of time, wherein the change set identifier represents an unique identifier with respect to a plurality of previously generated change sets; and

publish the energy usage change set on an enterprise service bus.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein extracting the energy information from the AMI head-end further causes the at least one computing device to at least monitor a log file updated by the AMI head-end when the energy information is updated.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein extracting the energy information from the AMI head-end further causes the at least one computing device to at least receive an update notification from a database.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least one flag further comprises an energy usage flag.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the information corresponding to the AMI metering devices comprises device information, and the data synchronization application further causes the at least one computing device to at least:

extract the device information from the AMI head-end or a meter data management system, the device information corresponding to data about utility metering devices that has changed during the specified period of time;

generate a device information change set corresponding to the changed device information; and

publish the device information change set on the enterprise service bus.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the plurality of records corresponds to a respective utility metering device.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the data synchronization application further causes the at least one computing device to at least:

extract device information from the AMI head-end, the device information corresponding to data about utility metering devices that has changed during the specified period of time;

generate a device information change set corresponding to the changed device information; and

publish the device information change set on the enterprise service bus.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the device information further comprises at least one event associated with a metering device in an AMI metering deployment.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the device information change set further comprises a plurality of device records corresponding to a respective utility metering device, and generating the device information change set further causes the at least one computing device to set at least one device flag in each of the plurality of device records identifying a type of change that has occurred during the specified period of time.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the at least one device flag in each of the records further comprises:

a meter installation flag, an address change flag, a move-in flag, a move-out flag, a rate change flag, a meter removal flag, a meter swap flag, or an estimated meter reading flag.

23. The system of claim 13, wherein the data synchronization application further causes the at least one computing device to at least:

extract customer information from a customer information system in communication with the at least one computing device via a network, the customer information corresponding to data about at least one customer account that has changed during the specified period of time;

generate a customer information change set corresponding to the changed customer information, wherein the customer information set comprises a customer set identifier, a customer set type indicating a customer classification group, at least one customer flag indicating the customer information changed within the customer information change set, and a plurality of customer records associated with the customer information changed during the specified period of time; and

publish the customer information change set on an enterprise service bus.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the customer information further comprises at least one of:

a rate plan associated with the customer account or an AMI metering identifier associated with the customer account.