Customer-centric energy usage data sharing

• US 9,767,469 B2
• Filed: 07/16/2013
• Issued: 09/19/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Mashima, Daisuke, Chen, Wei-Peng
• Primary Examiner(s): NETZLOFF, ERIC R
• Application Number:
  US13/942,995
• Publication Number:
  US 20150025934A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,526 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data

Abstract

A method of sharing energy usage data may include requesting customer-specific energy usage data (CSEUD). The method further includes receiving a modified CSEUD record. The modified CSEUD record includes modified energy usage data with respect to original energy usage data of an original CSEUD record from which the modified CSEUD record is derived. The method also includes authenticating the modified CSEUD record to verify the integrity of the modified energy usage data.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

requesting, by a demand response (DR) aggregator, customer-specific energy usage data (CSEUD), the requested CSEUD being from a time period corresponding to a DR event;

receiving, by the DR aggregator, a modified CSEUD record, the modified CSEUD record formatted according to a redactable digital signature scheme in which at least one customer-selected energy usage data item is redacted from original energy usage data of an original CSEUD record that is measured by a metering device;

authenticating, by the DR aggregator, the modified CSEUD record to verify the integrity of modified energy usage data, the authenticating including verifying a signature of a utility on the modified CSEUD record and determining whether the modified CSEUD record includes sufficient energy usage data items to allow assessment of compliance with the DR event by the customer; and

in response to authentication of the modified CSEUD record, assessing, by the DR aggregator, compliance of a customer associated on the modified CSEUD record with the DR event based on the energy usage data items of the modified CSEUD record.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising organizing the modified CSEUD record according to a Merkle hash tree in which data items of the energy usage data are leaf nodes and that includes a signature of the utility.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the modified CSEUD record is organized according to a Merkle hash tree; and

the authenticating includes verifying a signature of the utility and reconstructing the Merkle hash tree without the redacted original energy usage data.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising offering an incentive in exchange for including increasing amounts of the original energy usage data in the modified CSEUD record.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the modified CSEUD record includes an accountability tag configured to enable monitoring of communications of a portion of the modified CSEUD record to a third party.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the modified CSEUD record is received from a repository, the repository being hosted on a personal computer of the customer or hosted by a third party.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the modified CSEUD record is configured according a pre-configured privacy option selected by the customer.

8. A system comprising:

a repository communicatively coupled with a utility, a customer, and a demand response (DR) aggregator, the repository configured to receive an original customer-specific energy usage data (CSEUD) record from the utility and to enable performance of a modification of the original CSEUD record; and

the DR aggregator communicatively coupled to the utility, the customer, and the repository, the DR aggregator configured to;

communicate a DR event associated with a DR program and a CSEUD record request to the customer wherein the requested CSEUD is from a time period corresponding to a DR event;

access a modified CSEUD record from the repository, the modified CSEUD record formatted according to a redactable digital signature scheme in which at least one customer-selected energy usage data item is redacted from original energy usage data of an original CSEUD record that is measured by a metering device;

authenticate the modified CSEUD record to verify the integrity of modified energy usage data, wherein authentication of the CSEUD record includes a verification of a signature of the utility on the modified CSEUD record and a determination whether the modified CSEUD record includes sufficient energy usage data items to allow assessment of compliance with the DR event by the customer; and

in response to authentication of the modified CSEUD record, assess compliance of the customer with the DR event based on the modified CSEUD record based on the energy usage data items of the modified CSEUD record.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the original CSEUD record is organized in a redactable digital signature scheme including a root node, leaf nodes including data items of the energy usage data, a first level of intermediate nodes each having a hash value assigned to a corresponding leaf node, other intermediate nodes each having a hash value identifying nodes in an immediately lower level, and a signature of the utility.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the DR aggregator is configured to authenticate the modified CSEUD record by verifying the signature of the utility is included in the redactable digital signature scheme and reconstructing the redactable digital signature scheme.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the DR program includes one or more of a capacity bidding program (CBP) and a demand bidding program (DBP).

12. The system of claim 8, wherein:

the utility communicates with the repository using a modified energy information protocol;

the repository communicates with the DR aggregator using the modified energy information protocol; and

the DR aggregator communicates with the customers using a standard energy information protocol,

wherein the modified energy information protocol includes a first extensible markup language (XML) schema configured to accommodate non-numeric values and a second XML schema configured to accommodate a signature of the utility.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein:

the standard energy information protocol includes one or more of OpenADR protocol and Green Button protocol; and

the modified energy information protocol includes one or more of a modified OpenADR protocol and a modified Green Button protocol.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having encoded thereon programming code executable by one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

requesting, by the one or more processors, customer-specific energy usage data (CSEUD), the requested CSEUD being from a time period corresponding to a demand response (DR) event;

receiving, by the one or more processors, a modified CSEUD record, the modified CSEUD record formatted according to a redactable digital signature scheme in which at least one customer-selected energy usage data item is redacted from original energy usage data of an original CSEUD record that is measured by a metering device;

authenticating, by the one or more processors, the modified CSEUD record to verify the integrity of modified energy usage data, the authenticating including verifying a signature of a utility on the modified CSEUD record and determining whether the modified CSEUD record includes sufficient energy usage data items to allow assessment of compliance with the DR event by the customer; and

in response to authentication of the modified CSEUD record, assessing, by the one or more processors, compliance with the DR event based on the modified CSEUD record with the DR event based on the energy usage data items of the modified CSEUD record.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the modified CSEUD record is formatted according to a modified energy information protocol including a first extensible markup language (XML) schema configured to accommodate hash values and a second XML schema configured to accommodate a redactable signature of the utility.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the operations further include formatting the energy usage data such that a customer is notified with the energy usage data is communicated to a third party.