Computerized resource accounting methods and systems, computerized utility management methods and systems, multi-user utility management methods and systems, and energy-consumption-based tracking methods and systems

• US 6,088,688 A
• Filed: 04/08/1999
• Issued: 07/11/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: ENGIE Insight Services, Inc. (ENGIE SA)
• Original Assignee: Advantage IQ, Inc. (ENGIE SA)
• Inventors: French, Blaine, Miller, Dave, Battista, John, Holmes, David D., Genzberger, Janna, Schlect, Ed, Kippenhan, Larry, Crooks, Gerry, Feichtner, Mark, Nanto, Shawn, Bowers, Dan, Arnhold, Ed, Orr, Teri, Boni, Ken
• Primary Examiner(s): Cosimano, Edward R.
• Application Number:
  US09/290,016
• Time in Patent Office: 460 Days
• Field of Search: 395/200.47, 395/200.48, 395/200.49, 702/60, 702/61, 702/62, 705/400, 705/412, 705/413, 705/414, 707/104, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219
• US Class Current: 705/412
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/125 Finance or payroll
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/008 involving trading of energy or energy transmission rights
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/50 Systems or methods supporting the power network operation or management, involving a certain degree of interaction with the load-side end user applications
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/10 Energy trading, including energy flowing from end-user application to grid
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/12 Billing, invoicing, buying or selling transactions or other related activities, e.g. cost or usage evaluation
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/14 Marketing, i.e. market research and analysis, surveying, promotions, advertising, buyer profiling, customer management or rewards
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

Computerized resource accounting methods and systems, and in particular computerized utility resource management methods and systems, multi-user utility resource management methods and systems, and energy-consumption-based tracking methods and systems are described. In one implementation, a host computer includes a processor, an interface device and a database defined therein for maintaining information pertaining to one or more customers of one or more resources. Resource usage information is received into the host computer pertaining to consumption of one or more of the resources by one or more of the customers at one or more customer site. The resource usage information is processed to provide usage-based, computer-viewable data associated with a respective customer'"'"'s consumption of one or more of the resources. In a preferred aspect, each customer is provided with computer access to the computer-viewable data through the interface device, wherein the customer can view the data at a location which is remote from the host computer. Preferably, the computer-viewable data comes in the form of a plurality of different graphical reports, including numerical and tabulated reports, which can be selected by a customer. For customers with multiple sites, the viewable data for the various sites can be viewed remotely and in a plurality of different report formats. In a preferred implementation, utility resource usage information, e.g. electricity, gas, water, etc . . . , is tracked, maintained, and made available to facilitate decision making.

Claims

1. A resource accounting method comprising:

defining a database having information regarding a customer and resources that the customer consumes;

establishing in the database predetermined tolerance parameters which relate to the resources the customer consumes;

receiving into the database resource utilization information concerning the resources currently being consumed by the customer;

auditing the resource utilization information against the predetermined tolerance parameters to determine whether the resource utilization information satisfies the predetermined tolerance parameters; and

processing the audited resource utilization information to provide remotely accessible data representative of the customers consumption of the resources.

2. A resource accounting method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the database is defined in a host computer having a processor and an interface device.

3. A resource accounting method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the step of processing the audited information further comprises providing the remotely accessible data in a format which permits the customer to view the data by computer at a location which is remote from the host computer.

4. A resource accounting method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the step of establishing predetermined tolerance parameters in the database comprise:

storing historical billing data for the customer concerning at least one of their business locations; and

processing the historical billing data to define the tolerance parameter for the at least one business location.

5. A resource accounting method as claimed in claim 3, wherein after the step of auditing the resource utilization information, and before processing the audited resource utilization information, the method further comprises:

implementing a review of the audited resource utilization information which does not satisfy the at least one tolerance parameter to ascertain if an error exists.

6. A resource accounting method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the customer has a plurality of business locations, and wherein the step of storing historical billing data further comprises storing historical billing data for each of the customers business locations and further defining a plurality of tolerance parameters for each business location.

7. A resource accounting method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the step of receiving into the database resource utilization information further comprises receiving resource utilization information from a plurality of different utility resources consumed by each business location of the customer.