Intelligent appliance home network

• US 6,906,617 B1
• Filed: 11/17/2000
• Issued: 06/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Video Streaming Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: van der Meulen, Pieter Sierd
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Daniel J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tai T.
• Application Number:
  US09/715,364
• Time in Patent Office: 1,670 Days
• Field of Search: 340/310.07, 340/310.08, 340/825.06, 340/870.02, 340/635, 340/637, 340/654, 340/661, 340/664, 340/679, 340/3.1, 340/3.31, 340/3.32, 340/825.22, 340/825.23, 700/296, 700/297, 700/291, 700/306
• US Class Current: 340/538
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 19/2513 Arrangements for monitoring electric power systems, e.g. power lines or loads; Logging
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 21/133 by using digital technique
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00001 characterised by the display of information or by user interaction, e.g. supervisory control and data acquisition systems [SCADA] or graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00004 characterised by the power network being locally controlled
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00007 using the power network as support for the transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/14 The load or loads being home appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/12 Arrangements for remote connection or disconnection of substations or of equipment thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2823 Reporting information sensed by appliance or service execution status of appliance services in a home automation network device-related reporting H04L43/065; arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/30 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/3225 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• 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: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/20 End-user application control systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/222 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/242 Home appliances
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/121 using the power network as support for the transmission

Abstract

The instantaneous power consumption of an appliance is used to determine the status of the appliance, from which further actions may be taken. This invention is premised on the observation that most appliances have a characteristic power consumption pattern that can be used to determine the state of operation of the appliance. An electric coffee pot, for example, consumes high power substantially continuously during the brewing state, then reduces its power level, or power duration, or both, while keeping the pot warm, then terminates its power consumption when it is turned off. In like manner, the power consumption patterns of other appliances, such as toasters, washing machines, dryers, and so on may also be used to determine the state of each appliance. The communicated state may be used by a home-automation system to effect a variety of actions, including notifying the user, terminating the available power to the appliance, initiating an action by another appliance, and so on.

Claims

1. An information processing system, comprising:

a monitor device that provides a sequence of power measures corresponding to a power consumption of an appliance,

a processing device that among a plurality of states of the operation cycles determines a state of the appliance based on the sequence of power measures; and

,

a communications device that communicates the sequence of power measures from the monitor device to the processing device.

2. The information processing system of claim 1, wherein

the communications device communicates the sequence of power measures via a power line circuit.

3. The information processing system of claim 1, further including:

a notification device that notifies a user of a change of the state of the appliance.

4. The information processing system of claim 3, wherein

the processing device communicates the change of the state of the appliance to the notification device via a power line circuit.

5. The information processing system of claim 1, further including

a home network that includes at least one audio device, and

wherein

the processing device notifies a user of a change of the state of the appliance via the at least one audio device of the home network.

6. The information processing system of claim 1, further including

a home network that includes at least one display device that presents a visual signal, and

wherein

the processing device notifies a user of a change of the state of the appliance via the at least one display device of the home network.

7. The information processing system of claim 1, further including

a control device that controls the state of the appliance, and

wherein

the processing device communicates with the control device to effect a change in the state of the appliance.

8. The information processing system of claim 1, further including

a control device that controls an other appliance, and

wherein

the processing device communicates with the control device to effect a control of the other appliance.

9. The information processing system of claim 1, wherein

the processing device determines the state of the appliance in dependence upon a characteristic pattern associated with the appliance.

10. The information processing system of claim 9, wherein

the characteristic pattern is provided via an Internet site.

11. The information processing system of claim 1, wherein

the processing device determines an action to be effected based on a rule associated with the appliance that includes the state of the appliance.

12. The information processing system of claim 11, wherein

the rule is provided via an Internet site.

13. A monitoring device comprising:

a sensing device that provides a sequence of power measures corresponding to a power consumption of the appliance,

a processing device that determines a state among a plurality of states of the operation cycles of the appliance based on the sequence of power measures, and,

a notification device that notifies a user of a change of the state of the appliance.

14. The monitoring device of claim 13, further including

a communications device that communicates the state of the appliance to a home network for an alternative notification of the user of the change of the state of the appliance.

15. The monitoring device of claim 13, further including

a control device that controls the state of the appliance.

16. The monitoring device of claim 13, further including

a control device that terminates the power consumption of the appliance.

17. A method for determining a state among a plurality of states of the operation cycles of an appliance, comprising:

collecting a sequence of power consumption measures,

comparing the sequence of power consumption measures to a characteristic pattern of power consumption associated with at least one predetermined state of the appliance, and determining thereby the state of the appliance.

18. The method of claim 17, further including

notifying a user of the state of the appliance.

19. The method of claim 18, further including

communicating a notification signal to a notification device for notifying the user.

20. The method of claim 17, further including

communicating the sequence of power consumption measures to a processing device for determining the state of the appliance based on the sequence of power consumption measures.

21. The method of claim 17, further including

downloading the characteristic pattern from an Internet site.

22. The method of claim 17, further including

effecting an action based on a rule that is associated with the state of the appliance.

23. The method of claim 22, further including

downloading the rule from an Internet site.