Push communications architecture for intelligent electronic devices
First Claim
1. An electrical power management architecture for managing an electrical power distribution system comprising:
- a secure network;
a first power management device coupled with said secure network;
an unsecure network;
a second power management device coupled with said unsecure network;
a firewall coupled between said secure network and said unsecure network and operative to facilitate communications between said secure network and said unsecure network, said firewall further operative to prevent unsolicited communications from said unsecure network to said secure network;
said second power management device operative to send at least one unsolicited message to said first power management device, said at least one unsolicited message comprising at least one of a power management command and power management data; and
wherein said first power management device is operative to generate a first unsolicited communication to said second power management device and said second power management device is further operative to generate a first solicited communication to said first power management device in response to said first unsolicited communication, said first solicited communication comprising said at least one unsolicited message.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A power management architecture for an electrical power distribution system, or portion thereof, is disclosed. The architecture includes multiple intelligent electronic devices (“IED'"'"'s”) distributed throughout the power distribution system to manage the flow and consumption of power from the system using real time communications. Power management application software and/or hardware components operate on the IED'"'"'s and the back-end servers and inter-operate via the network to implement a power management application. The architecture provides a scalable and cost effective framework of hardware and software upon which such power management applications can operate to manage the distribution and consumption of electrical power by one or more utilities/suppliers and/or customers which provide and utilize the power distribution system. Autonomous communication on the network between IED'"'"'s, back-end servers and other entities coupled with secure networks, themselves interconnected, via firewalls, by one or more unsecure networks, is facilitated by the use of a back-channel protocol. The back-channel protocol allows a device coupled with a secure network to solicit communications from a device on the unsecure network, thereby opening a back-channel through the firewall through which the unsecure network device may send unsolicited messages to the secure network device. Communications between multiple secure networks is accomplished using a unsecure device on an intermediary unsecure network to relay communications between the secure network devices using the protocol described above.
188 Citations
91 Claims
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1. An electrical power management architecture for managing an electrical power distribution system comprising:
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a secure network; a first power management device coupled with said secure network; an unsecure network; a second power management device coupled with said unsecure network; a firewall coupled between said secure network and said unsecure network and operative to facilitate communications between said secure network and said unsecure network, said firewall further operative to prevent unsolicited communications from said unsecure network to said secure network; said second power management device operative to send at least one unsolicited message to said first power management device, said at least one unsolicited message comprising at least one of a power management command and power management data; and wherein said first power management device is operative to generate a first unsolicited communication to said second power management device and said second power management device is further operative to generate a first solicited communication to said first power management device in response to said first unsolicited communication, said first solicited communication comprising said at least one unsolicited message. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. An electrical power management architecture for managing an electrical power distribution system comprising:
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a first secure network; a first power management device coupled with said first secure network; a second secure network; a second power management device coupled with said second secure network; an unsecure network; a third power management device coupled with said unsecure network; a first firewall coupled between said first secure network and said unsecure network and operative to facilitate communications between said first secure network and said unsecure network, said first firewall further operative to prevent unsolicited communications from said unsecure network to said first secure network, a second firewall coupled between said second secure network and said unsecure network and operative to facilitate communications between said second secure network and said unsecure network, said second firewall further operative to prevent unsolicited communications from said unsecure network to said second secure network; said third power management device operative to receive at least one unsolicited message from said second power management device and send said at least one unsolicited message to said first power management device, said at least one unsolicited message comprising at least one of a power management command and power management data; and wherein said first power management device is operative to generate a first unsolicited communication to said third power management device and said third power management device is further operative to generate a first solicited communication to said first power management device in response to said first unsolicited communication, said first solicited communication comprising said at least one unsolicited message. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
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51. A first power management device, said first power management device being coupled with a secure network and operative to communicate with an unsecure network via a firewall coupled between said secure network and said unsecure network, said firewall operative to facilitate communication between said secure and unsecure networks, said firewall being further operative to prevent unsolicited communications from said unsecure network to said secure network, said first power management device comprising:
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a network interface operative to couple said first power management device with said secure network; and a communications processor coupled with said network interface and capable of generating a first unsolicited communication to a second power management device coupled with said unsecure network to allow said second power management device to generate a first solicited communication to said first power management device in response to said first unsolicited communication, said first solicited communication comprising at least one unsolicited message, said at least one unsolicited message comprising at least one of a power management command and power management data. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54, 55)
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56. A first power management device, said first power management device being coupled with an unsecure network and operative to communicate with a secure network via a firewall coupled between said secure network and said unsecure network, said firewall operative to facilitate communication between said secure and unsecure networks, said firewall being further operative to prevent unsolicited communications from said unsecure network to said secure network, said first power management device comprising:
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a network interface operative to couple said power management device with said unsecure network; and a communications processor coupled with said network interface and capable of generating a first solicited communication to a second power management device coupled with said secure network in response to a first unsolicited communication received from said second power management device, said first solicited communication comprising at least one unsolicited message, said at least one unsolicited message comprising at least one of a power management command and power management data. - View Dependent Claims (57, 58, 59, 60, 61)
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62. A method for managing an electrical power distribution system, said method comprising:
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(a) coupling a first power management device with a secure network; (b) coupling a second power management device with an unsecure network, said unsecure network coupled with said secure network via a firewall, said firewall facilitating communications between said secure network and said unsecure network and preventing unsolicited communications from said unsecure network to said secure network, (c) sending at least one unsolicited message to said first power management device from said second power management device, said at least one unsolicited message comprising at least one of a power management command and power management data; and wherein said sending further comprises; (d) generating a first unsolicited communication to said second power management device by said first power management device; and (e) generating a first solicited communication to said first power management device by said second power management device in response to said first unsolicited communication, said first solicited communication comprising said at least one unsolicited message. - View Dependent Claims (63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74)
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75. A method for managing an electrical power distribution system comprising:
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(a) coupling a first power management device with a first secure network; (b) coupling a second power management device coupled with a second secure network; (c) coupling a third power management device with an unsecure network, said unsecure network coupled with said first secure network via a first firewall, said first firewall facilitating communications between said first secure network and said unsecure network and preventing unsolicited communications from said unsecure network to said first secure network, said unsecure network coupled with said second secure network via a second firewall, said second firewall facilitating communications between said second secure network and said unsecure network, and preventing unsolicited communications from said unsecure network to said second secure network; (d) receiving at least one unsolicited message by said third power management device from said second power management device and sending said at least one unsolicited message to said first power management device, said at least one unsolicited message comprising at least one of a power management command and power management data; and wherein said sending further comprises; (e) generating a first unsolicited communication by said first power management device to said third power management device; (f) generating a first solicited communication by said third power management device to said first power management device in response to said first unsolicited communication, said first solicited communication comprising said at least one unsolicited message. - View Dependent Claims (76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87)
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88. An electrical power management architecture for managing an electrical power distribution system comprising:
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means for coupling a first power management device with a secure network means; means for coupling a second power management device with an unsecure network means, said unsecure network means coupled with said secure network means via a firewall means, said firewall means comprising means for facilitating communications between said secure network means and said unsecure network means and preventing unsolicited communications from said unsecure network means to said secure network means, means for sending at least one unsolicited message means to said first power management device from said second power management device, said at least one unsolicited message means comprising at least one of a power management command means and power management data means; and wherein said sending means further comprises; means for generating a first unsolicited communication to said second power management device by said first power management device; and means for generating a first solicited communication to said first power management device by said second power management device in response to said first unsolicited communication, said first solicited communication comprising said at least one unsolicited message means.
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89. An electrical power management architecture for managing an electrical power distribution system comprising:
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means for coupling a first power management device with a first secure network means; means for coupling a second power management device coupled with a second secure network means; means for coupling a third power management device with an unsecure network means, said unsecure network means coupled with said first secure network means via a first firewall means, said first firewall means comprising means for facilitating communications between said first secure network means and said unsecure network means and means for preventing unsolicited communications from said unsecure network means to said first secure network means, said unsecure network means coupled with said second secure network means via a second firewall means, said second firewall means comprising means for facilitating communications between said second secure network means and said unsecure network means, and means for preventing unsolicited communications from said unsecure network means to said second secure network means; means for receiving at least one unsolicited message by said third power management device from said second power management device and means for sending said at least one unsolicited message means to said first power management device, said at least one unsolicited message means comprising at least one of a power management command means and power management data means; and wherein said sending means further comprises; means for generating a first unsolicited communication by said first power management device to said third power management device; means for generating a first solicited communication by said third power management device to said first power management device in response to said first unsolicited communication, said first solicited communication comprising said at least one unsolicited message means.
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90. A network architecture for managing a data system comprising:
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a first secure network; a first device coupled with said first secure network; an unsecure network; a second device coupled with said unsecure network; a firewall coupled between said first secure network and said unsecure network and operative to facilitate communications between said first secure network and said unsecure network, said firewall further operative to prevent unsolicited communications from said unsecure network to said secure network; said second device operative to send at least one unsolicited message to said first device, said at least one unsolicited message comprising at least one of a command and data; and wherein said first device is operative to generate a first unsolicited communication to said second device and said second device is further operative to generate a first solicited communication to said first device in response to said first unsolicited communication, said first solicited communication comprising said at least one unsolicited message.
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91. A network architecture for managing a data system comprising:
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a first secure network; a first device coupled with said first secure network; a second secure network; a second device coupled with said second secure network; an unsecure network; a third device coupled with said unsecure network; a first firewall coupled between said first secure network and said unsecure network and operative to facilitate communications between said first secure network and said unsecure network, said first firewall further operative to prevent unsolicited communications from said unsecure network to said first secure network, a second firewall coupled between said second secure network and said unsecure network and operative to facilitate communications between said second secure network and said unsecure network, said second firewall further operative to prevent unsolicited communications from said unsecure network to said second secure network; said third device operative to receive at least one unsolicited message from said second device and send said at least one unsolicited message to said first device, said at least one unsolicited message comprising at least one of a command and data; and wherein said first device is operative to generate a first unsolicited communication to said third device and said third device is further operative to generate a first solicited communication to said first device in response to said first unsolicited communication, said first solicited communication comprising said at least one unsolicited message.
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Specification