Site management in an on-demand system

• US 9,397,521 B2
• Filed: 01/11/2013
• Issued: 07/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Wester, Gregory, Paiz, Matthew, Shulman, Aleksandr
• Primary Examiner(s): Barnes-Bullock, Crystal J
• Application Number:
  US13/739,445
• Publication Number:
  US 20130190943A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,285 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/30 for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/46 Improving electric energy efficiency or saving
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/523 for displaying temperature data
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/58 using Internet communication
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/63 Electronic processing
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/80 for controlling the temperature of the supplied air
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/10 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/20 Humidity
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25011 Domotique, I-O bus, home automation, building automation
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25329 Each module, segment has only either a sensor or an actuator
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2639 Energy management, use maximum of cheap power, keep peak load low
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31093 Communication between sensors, actuators and gateway
• CPC Class Codes: G05F 5/00 Systems for regulating electric variables by detecting deviations in the electric input to the system and thereby controlling a device within the system to obtain a regulated output
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90335 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00 Circuit arrangements for providing remote indication of network conditions, e.g. an instantaneous record of the open or closed condition of each circuitbreaker in the network; Circuit arrangements for providing remote control of switching means in a power distribution network, e.g. switching in and out of current consumers by using a pulse code signal carried by the network
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00006 characterised by information or instructions transport means between the monitoring, controlling or managing units and monitored, controlled or operated power network element or electrical equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00007 using the power network as support for the transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/14 The load or loads being home appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/28 : characterised by path configuration, e.g. LAN [Local Area Networks] or WAN [Wide Area Networks] wireless communication networks H04W ; arrangements for dividing the transmission path H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2816 : Controlling appliance services of a home automation network by calling their functionalities 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 H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 : Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/30 : Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/3225 : Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 90/20 : Smart grids as enabling technology in buildings sector smart grids supporting the management or operation of end-user stationary applications in general, or like technologies with no associated climate change mitigation effect Y04S20/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 80/10 : Efficient use of energy, e.g. using compressed air or pressurized fluid as energy carrier
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/20 : End-user application control systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/221 : General power management systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/222 : Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/242 : Home appliances
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/244 : the home appliances being or involving heating ventilating and air conditioning [HVAC] units
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/12 : characterised by data transport means between the monitoring, controlling or managing units and monitored, controlled or operated electrical equipment
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/121 : using the power network as support for the transmission

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for managing environmental conditions and energy usage associated with a site. One exemplary method of regulating an environment condition at a site involves a server receiving environmental measurement data from a monitoring system at the site via a network, determining an action for an electrical appliance at the site based at least in part on the environmental measurement data and one or more monitoring rules associated with the site, and providing an indication of the action to an actuator for the electrical appliance.

Claims

1. A method of regulating an environmental condition at a site by a server coupled to a network, the method comprising:

receiving, via the network, environmental measurement data from a hub device of a monitoring system at the site, wherein the hub device receives the environmental measurement data from a sensor device at the site via a second network distinct from the network;

receiving a request for configuration information from the hub device;

in response to the request, providing an indication of an upload frequency to the hub device, wherein the hub device automatically transmits the environmental measurement data received from the sensor device to the server with the upload frequency;

determining, by the server, an action for an electrical appliance at the site based at least in part on the environmental measurement data and one or more monitoring rules associated with the site; and

providing an indication of the action to an actuator for the electrical appliance.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

providing the indication comprises transmitting the indication to the hub device via the network;

the hub device transmits the indication to the actuator via the second network; and

the actuator operates the electrical appliance in response to receiving the indication; and

operation of the electrical appliance influences the environmental condition at the site.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing an association between the site and a first tenant of a plurality of tenants supported by a database coupled to the server;

receiving criteria for a monitoring rule from a client device;

establishing an association between the monitoring rule and the site based on the association between the site and the first tenant when a user of the client device is associated with the first tenant; and

storing the criteria for the monitoring rule in the database in association with the site.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the action comprises:

obtaining the criteria for the monitoring rule from the database; and

comparing the environmental measurement data to the criteria to identify the action.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, via the network, a request for configuration information, the request including identifying information pertaining to the sensor device at the site;

obtaining, by the server, the configuration information from a database coupled to the server based on the identifying information; and

providing, via the network, the configuration information to the sensor device, wherein the sensor device autonomously operates in accordance with the configuration information.

6. A method of regulating an environmental condition at a site by a server coupled to a network, the method comprising:

receiving, via the network, environmental measurement data from a monitoring system including one or more devices at the site;

establishing an association between the monitoring system and the site when a position of a device of the one or more devices indicates the device is at the site;

determining, by the server, an action for an electrical appliance at the site based at least in part on the environmental measurement data and one or more monitoring rules associated with the site, wherein determining the action comprises;

obtaining, from a database coupled to the server, the one or more monitoring rules for the site based on the association between the monitoring system and the site; and

comparing the environmental measurement data to the one or more monitoring rules to identify the action; and

providing an indication of the action to an actuator for the electrical appliance.

7. The method of claim 6, the server being coupled to a database supporting a plurality of tenants, the method further comprising:

establishing an association between a first tenant of the plurality of tenants and the site; and

storing the environmental measurement data in the database in association with the first tenant based on the association between the first tenant and the site.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

obtaining, by the server, the environmental measurement data associated with the first tenant from the database; and

providing, by the server, a graphical representation of the environmental measurement data obtained from the database to a client device via the network, wherein a user of the client device is associated with the first tenant.

9. A method of regulating an environmental condition at a site by a server coupled to a network, the method comprising:

receiving, via the network, environmental measurement data from a monitoring system at the site;

receiving, via the network, a request for configuration information, the request including identifying information pertaining to a sensor device at the site;

obtaining, by the server, the configuration information from a database coupled to the server based on the identifying information; and

providing, via the network, the configuration information to the sensor device, wherein the sensor device autonomously operates in accordance with the configuration information;

obtaining, from the database, one or more monitoring rules for the site based on an association between the sensor device and the site;

determining a sampling frequency for the environmental measurement data from the sensor device based on the one or more monitoring rules, wherein providing the configuration information to the sensor device comprises providing an indication of the sampling frequency to the sensor device, wherein the sensor device autonomously obtains the environmental measurement data with the sampling frequency;

determining, by the server, an action for an electrical appliance at the site based at least in part on the environmental measurement data and one or more monitoring rules associated with the site; and

providing an indication of the action to an actuator for the electrical appliance.

10. A system comprising:

a database maintaining one or more monitoring rules for a site; and

a server coupled to the database, wherein the server is coupled to a monitoring system including one or more devices at the site via a network to establish an association between the monitoring system and the site when a position of a device of the one or more devices indicates the device is at the site, receive environmental measurement data from the monitoring system via the network, obtain the one or more monitoring rules for the site from the database based on the association between the monitoring system and the site, compare the environmental measurement data to the one or more monitoring rules to determine an action for modifying an environmental condition at the site, and provide indication of the action to an actuator for an electrical appliance at the site via the network.

11. The system of claim 10, the server receiving criteria for a monitoring rule of the one or more monitoring rules for the site from a client device having a user associated with a first tenant of a plurality of tenants and storing the criteria of the monitoring rule in the database in association with the first tenant, wherein the server determines the action by obtaining the criteria using the association between the monitoring system and the first tenant and comparing the environmental measurement data to the criteria.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the monitoring system comprises:

a hub device directly coupled to the network, the hub device being configured to establish a wireless mesh network; and

a sensor device communicatively coupled to the hub device via the wireless mesh network to obtain the environmental measurement data and transmit the environmental measurement data to the hub device via the wireless mesh network, the hub device transmitting the environmental measurement data to the server via the network.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the server provides, to a client device coupled to the network, a virtual application including a graphical representation of the environmental measurement data.

14. A computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system communicatively coupled to a network, cause the processing system to:

receive environmental measurement data from a monitoring system including one or more devices at a site via the network;

establish an association between the monitoring system and the site when a position of a device of the one or more devices indicates the device is at the site;

obtain, from a database coupled to the network, one or more monitoring rules for the site based on the association between the monitoring system and the site;

determine an action for modifying an environmental condition at the site by comparing the environmental measurement data to the one or more monitoring rules associated with the site to identify the action; and

provide an indication of the action to an actuator for an electrical appliance at the site.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the processing system to:

establish an association between the site and a first tenant of a plurality of tenants supported by a database coupled to the network; and

store the environmental measurement data in the database in association with the first tenant based on the association between the first tenant and the site.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the processing system to generate a graphical representation of the environmental measurement data on a client device coupled to the network, wherein a user of the client device is associated with the first tenant.