Dynamically adaptive personalized smart energy profiles

• US 10,782,666 B2
• Filed: 03/27/2019
• Issued: 09/22/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uplight, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Tendril Ea, LLC
• Inventors: Agarwal, Ashish
• Primary Examiner(s): Hartman, Jr., Ronald D
• Application Number:
  US16/367,163
• Publication Number:
  US 20190324417A1
• Time in Patent Office: 545 Days
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/54 using one central controller connected to several sub-controllers
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/57 using telephone networks
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/048 Monitoring; Safety
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204

Abstract

A facility employing systems, methods, and/or techniques for dynamically and adaptively configuring configurable energy consuming and producing devices (e.g., smart energy devices) based on user profiles and user presence information is disclosed. In some embodiments, the facility periodically detects the presence of users, and retrieves preference information for those users. For each of one or more configurable energy devices in the area, the facility generates a combined setting based on the preferences of each user present and adjusts the devices based on the combined settings. For example, if User A, User B, and User C are present in a room and User A'"'"'s preferred temperature setting is 75° F., User B'"'"'s preferred temperature setting is 68° F., and User C'"'"'s preferred temperature setting is 70° F., the facility may generate a combined setting for a thermostat by taking the average value of the users in the room.

Claims

1. A method for automatically configuring configurable devices within a building based on the presence of users within the building, the method comprising:

collecting presence information for each of a plurality of users of the building; and

for each of a plurality of regions within the building,

in response to determining that there is at least one user, and no more than a predetermined threshold number of users, present in the region within the building,

for each user present in the region within the building,

retrieving a weighting factor associated with the user, and

retrieving a setting preference for one or more configurable device of the region within the building, and

scaling the retrieved weighting factor,

generating a weighted sum based on the scaled weighting factors and the retrieved setting preferences, and

controlling the one or more configurable device in accordance with the generated weighted sum so that the one or more configurable device is controlled based on a setting preference of the at least one user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising for each of a plurality of regions within the building, and in response to determining that there are no users present in the region within the building, loading an empty profile for the region.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising for each of a plurality of regions within the building, and in response to determining that there are more than the predetermined threshold number of users present in the region within the building, loading a group profile for the region.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of configurable devices of the region within the building is a thermostat, and wherein each of the setting preferences for the thermostat is a temperature setting.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the weighted sum is generated according to the formula

6. The method of claim 1 wherein collecting presence information for each of a plurality of users of the building comprises collecting presence information transmitted from a mobile phone.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein at least a portion of the collected presence information is based on a stored schedule for at least one user.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

for each user present in a first region within the building,

determining an amount of time that the user has been present in the first region,

wherein scaling the retrieved weighting factors is based at least in part on the amount of time that an associated user has been present in the first region.

9. A method for automatically configuring a configurable device within a building based on the presence of users within the building, the method comprising:

collecting presence information for each of a plurality of users of the building;

determining a number of users in a region associated with the configurable device,

determining that the number of users in the region associated with the configurable device exceeds a predetermined threshold,

wherein the predetermined threshold is greater than zero; and

in response to determining that the number of users in the region associated with the configurable device exceeds the predetermined threshold,

retrieving a combined setting based on a retrieved setting preference for the configurable device for each user present in the region associated with the configurable device, and

controlling the configurable device based on the generated combined setting.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the configurable device of the region within the building is a thermostat, and wherein each of the setting preferences for the thermostat is a temperature setting.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the weighted sum is generated according to the formula

12. The method of claim 9 wherein collecting presence information for each of a plurality of users of the building comprises collecting presence information transmitted from a mobile phone.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein at least a portion of the collected presence information is based on a stored schedule for at least one user.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

for each user present in a first region within the building,

determining an amount of time that the user has been present in the first region,

wherein scaling the retrieved weighting factors is based at least in part on the amount of time that an associated user has been present in the first region.

15. A method for automatically configuring a configurable device within a building based on the presence of users within the building, the method comprising:

collecting presence information for each of a plurality of users of the building; and

determining that there is at least one user, and no more than a predetermined threshold number of users, present in a region within the building associated with the configurable device,

for each user present in the region within the building,

retrieving a weighting factor associated with the user, and

retrieving a setting preference for the configurable device of the region within the building, and

scaling the retrieved weighting factor,

generating a weighted sum based on the scaled weighting factors and the retrieved setting preferences

generating an adjusted setting preference based on the weighted sum, and

controlling the configurable device based on the adjusted setting preference.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising for each of a plurality of regions within the building, and in response to determining that there are no users present in the region within the building, retrieving an empty profile for the region and executing a setting preference associated with the empty profile.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising for each of a plurality of regions within the building, and in response to determining that there are more than the predetermined threshold number of users present in the region within the building, retrieving a group profile for the region and executing a setting preference associated with the group profile.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the weighted sum is generated according to the formula

19. The method of claim 15 wherein at least a portion of the collected presence information is based on a stored schedule for at least one user.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

for each user present in a first region within the building,

determining an amount of time that the user has been present in the first region,

wherein scaling the retrieved weighting factors is based at least in part on the amount of time that an associated user has been present in the first region.