POWER MANAGEMENT APPARATUS, ELECTRONIC APPLIANCE, AND METHOD OF REGISTERING ELECTRONIC APPLIANCES

• US 20110184585A1
• Filed: 01/14/2011
• Published: 07/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: KATAGI, MASANOBU, TANAKA, YU, ASANO, TOMOYUKI, UKITA, MASAKAZU, KAWAMOTO, YOHEI, YOSHIDA, ASAMI, MORIAI, SHIHO, MATSUDA, Seiichi
• Application Number:
  US13/006,483
• Publication Number:
  US 20110184585A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/297
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/665 Methods related to measuring, billing or payment
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/32021 Energy management, balance and limit power to tools
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00002 characterised by monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00004 characterised by the power network being locally controlled
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00009 using pulsed signals
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00016 using a wired telecommunication network or a data transmission bus
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00024 by means of mobile telephony
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00026 involving a local wireless network, e.g. Wi-Fi, ZigBee or Bluetooth
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00034 the elements or equipment being or involving an electric power substation
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/16 The load or loads being an Information and Communication Technology [ICT] facility
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/008 involving trading of energy or energy transmission rights
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/12 Applying verification of the received information cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for data integrity or data verification H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• 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: Y02E 60/00 Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 70/10 Greenhouse gas [GHG] capture, material saving, heat recovery or other energy efficient measures, e.g. motor control, characterised by manufacturing processes, e.g. for rolling metal or metal working
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 80/10 Efficient use of energy, e.g. using compressed air or pressurized fluid as energy carrier
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 : Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 : Plug-in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/16 : Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/167 : Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for supporting the interoperability of electric or hybrid vehicles, i.e. smartgrids as interface for battery charging of electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/126 : the energy generation units being or involving electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV], i.e. power aggregation of EV or HEV, vehicle to grid arrangements [V2G]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 30/14 : Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/121 : using the power network as support for the transmission
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/124 : using wired telecommunication networks or data transmission busses
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/10 : Energy trading, including energy flowing from end-user application to grid

Abstract

There is provided a power management apparatus including: a managed appliance registering unit carrying out authentication on an electronic appliance connected to a power network and registering the electronic appliance as a managed appliance if the authentication has succeeded; and a control unit controlling operation of and supplying of power to the managed appliance. The managed appliance registering unit is operable, when an electronic appliance registered in another power management apparatus is connected to the power network, to acquire, from the electronic appliance, a digital signature, which has been assigned to identification information that is unique to the electronic appliance by the other power management apparatus, and identification information that is unique to the other power management apparatus, and is operable when verification of the digital signature assigned by the other power management apparatus has succeeded, to temporarily register the electronic appliance registered in the other power management apparatus.

Claims

1. A power management apparatus comprising:

a managed appliance registering unit carrying out authentication on an electronic appliance connected to a power network and registering an electronic appliance for which the authentication has succeeded as a managed appliance; and

a control unit controlling operation of the managed appliance and supplying of power to the managed appliance,

wherein the managed appliance registering unit

is operable, when an electronic appliance that has been registered in another power management apparatus is connected to the power network, to acquire, from the electronic appliance, a digital signature, which has been assigned to identification information that is unique to the electronic appliance by the other power management apparatus, and identification information that is unique to the other power management apparatus, and

is operable when verification of the digital signature assigned by the other power management apparatus has succeeded, to temporarily register the electronic appliance registered in the other power management apparatus.

2. A power management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a power usage certificate managing unit managing a power usage certificate that is generated by the electronic appliance registered in the other power management apparatus and certifies that supplied power from the power management apparatus in which the electronic appliance is temporarily registered has been received,

wherein the power usage certificate managing unit

is operable when the control unit has supplied power to the temporarily registered electronic appliance, to acquire the power usage certificate from the temporarily registered electronic appliance, and

assigns a digital signature to the acquired power usage certificate and then transmits the power usage certificate to which the digital signature has been assigned to an external server that bills for power usage.

3. A power management apparatus according to claim 2,

wherein the power usage certificate managing unit is operable, when the power management apparatus has received supplied power from the electronic appliance, to generate a power usage certificate, which certifies that supplied power was received from the electronic appliance, for the electronic appliance from which the supplied power was received.

4. An electronic appliance comprising:

a storage unit storing identification information that is unique to the electronic appliance and a digital signature that has been authenticated by a specified certificate authority; and

an authentication processing unit carrying out authentication processing with a power management apparatus that manages supplying of power to the electronic appliance using the digital signature stored in the storage unit and registering the electronic appliance in the power management apparatus,

wherein the authentication processing unit is operable when the electronic appliance has been registered in the power management apparatus, to acquire, from the power management apparatus in which the electronic appliance has been registered, identification information that is unique to the power management apparatus and a digital signature that the power management apparatus has assigned to the identification information that is unique to the electronic appliance.

5. An electronic appliance according to claim 4,

wherein the authentication processing unit is operable when temporary registration is requested to a power management apparatus aside from the power management apparatus in which the electronic appliance has been registered, to transmit the digital signature acquired from the power management apparatus in which the electronic appliance has been registered to the power management apparatus for which temporary registration has been requested.

6. An electronic appliance according to claim 5, further comprising:

a control unit operable when supplied power is received from the power management apparatus in which the electronic appliance is temporarily registered, to generate a power usage certificate certifying that supplied power was received from the power management apparatus in which the electronic appliance is temporarily registered.

7. A method of registering an electronic appliance comprising

a step of carrying out authentication on an electronic appliance connected to a power network and registering an electronic appliance for which the authentication has succeeded as a managed appliance,

wherein the step of carrying out authentication uses a digital signature that is stored by the electronic appliance and has been authenticated by a specified certification authority,

is operable, when the electronic appliance has been registered in the power management apparatus, to transmit, from the power management apparatus to the electronic appliance, identification information that is unique to the power management apparatus and a digital signature that the power management apparatus has assigned to identification information that is unique to the electronic appliance,

is operable, when an electronic appliance that has been registered in another power management apparatus is connected to the power network, to acquire, from the electronic appliance, a digital signature, which has been assigned to identification information that is unique to the electronic appliance by the other power management apparatus, and identification information that is unique to the other power management apparatus, and

is operable when verification of the digital signature assigned by the other power management apparatus has succeeded, to temporarily register the electronic appliance registered in the other power management apparatus.