RESIDENTIAL AND SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESS DEMAND RESPONSE

• US 20150206084A1
• Filed: 01/22/2014
• Published: 07/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: HERBERG, Ulrich, JETCHEVA, Jorjeta G., MASHIMA, Daisuke, CHEN, Wei-Peng
• Granted Patent: US 9,953,285 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06313 Resource planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply

Abstract

A method of residential or small and medium business (SMB) demand response (DR) coordination may include receiving a DR event notification from a DR server. The DR event notification may include DR event information pertaining to a DR event and curtailment information. The method may also include communicating a notification acknowledgement to the DR server. The notification acknowledgement may indicate reception of the DR event notification. The method may include displaying a curtailment request pertaining to the DR event. The curtailment request may be based on the curtailment information included in the DR event notification and may include some portion of the DR event information. The method may also include receiving a user input including a DR event participation confirmation or a DR event participation refusal. The method may further include communicating a participation signal representative of at least a portion of the user input to the DR server.

Claims

1. A method of residential or small and medium (SMB) business demand response (DR) coordination, the method comprising:

receiving a DR event notification from a DR server, the DR event notification including DR event information pertaining to a DR event and curtailment information;

communicating a notification acknowledgement to the DR server, the notification acknowledgement indicating reception of the DR event notification;

displaying a curtailment request pertaining to the DR event, the curtailment request being based on the curtailment information included in the DR event notification and including some portion of the DR event information;

receiving a user input including a DR event participation confirmation or a DR event participation refusal; and

communicating a participation signal representative of at least a portion of the user input to the DR server.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating an appliance list including appliances having energy curtailment capabilities;

displaying the appliance list; and

receiving a selection of a target appliance included in the appliance list.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the curtailment request includes energy curtailment pertaining to the target appliance; and

the user input includes a target appliance selection indicating curtailment during the DR event of the selected target appliance.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the curtailment request includes an incentive pertaining to curtailment of the target appliance during the DR event.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a control command for a target appliance based on the DR event notification and a pre-configured setting related to the target appliance; and

in response to the user input including the DR event participation confirmation, transmitting the control command to affect an operation of the target appliance.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether a current location is within a particular area;

in response to the current location being within the particular area, transmitting a control command to affect an operation of a target appliance via one or more of a first protocol and a first media; and

in response to the current location being outside the particular area, transmitting the control command to affect the operation of the target appliance via one or more of a second protocol different from the first protocol and a second media different from the first media.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a selection of circumstances that trigger automated control of a target appliance; and

in response to the circumstances being present in the DR event notification, transmitting a control command to the target appliance without user input.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a notification limit inquiry;

receiving a selection of notification limits including one or more of a maximum number of DR event notifications, a maximum frequency of DR event notifications, a prioritization of DR event notifications, and a device preference; and

prior to the displaying the curtailment request, verifying the DR event notification has not violated one or more of the notification limits.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating feedback based on data gathered by a sensor; and

communicating the feedback to the DR server.

10. A method of residential or small and medium (SMB) business demand response (DR) coordination, a method comprising:

communicating a DR event notification to a device, the DR event notification including DR event information pertaining to a DR event and curtailment information;

receiving a notification acknowledgement from the device, the notification acknowledgement indicating reception of the DR event notification;

receiving a participation signal from the device, the participation signal being representative of at least a portion of user input, the user input including a DR event participation confirmation or a DR event participation refusal; and

based at least partially on the participation signal and the notification acknowledgement, estimating energy curtailment for the DR event.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining whether a current location of the device is within a particular area;

in response to the current location of the device being within the particular area, communicating the DR event notification to the device; and

in response to the current location of the device being outside the particular area, not communicating the DR event notification to the device.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving feedback from the device, the feedback being based on data gathered by a sensor; and

assessing a participation of a user associated with the device based on the feedback.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising communicating a second DR event notification to a commercial and industrial (C&

I) customer, the second DR event notification including the DR event information pertaining to the DR event and curtailment information relevant to the C&

I customer.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having encoded therein programming code executable by a processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a DR event notification from a DR server, the DR event notification including DR event information pertaining to a DR event and curtailment information;

communicating a notification acknowledgement to the DR server, the notification acknowledgement indicating reception of the DR event notification;

displaying a curtailment request pertaining to the DR event, the curtailment request being based on the curtailment information included in the DR event notification and including some portion of the DR event information;

receiving a user input including a DR event participation confirmation or a DR event participation refusal; and

communicating a participation signal representative of at least a portion of the user input to the DR server.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise:

generating an appliance list including appliances having energy curtailment capabilities;

displaying the appliance list; and

receiving a selection of a target appliance included in the appliance list.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein:

the curtailment request includes energy curtailment pertaining to the target appliance and an incentive pertaining to curtailment of the target appliance during the DR event; and

the user input includes a target appliance selection indicating curtailment during the DR event of the selected target appliance.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining a control command for a target appliance based on the DR event notification and a pre-configured setting related to the target appliance; and

in response to the user input including the DR event participation confirmation, transmitting the control command to affect an operation of the target appliance.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining whether a current location is within a particular area;

in response to the current location being within the particular area, transmitting a control command to affect an operation of a target appliance via one or more of a first protocol and a first media; and

in response to the current location being outside the particular area, transmitting the control command to affect the operation of the target appliance via one or more of a second protocol different from the first protocol and a second media different from the first media.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise:

generating feedback based on data gathered by a sensor; and

communicating the feedback to the DR server.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise:

displaying a notification limit inquiry;

receiving a selection of notification limits including one or more of a maximum number of DR event notifications, a maximum frequency of DR event notifications, a prioritization of DR event notifications, and a device preference; and

prior to the displaying the curtailment request, verifying the DR event notification has not violated one or more of the notification limits.