Critical resource notification system and interface device

A system and device that communicates critical resource information is described. The resource notification system comprises a resource distributor, a resource notification server, and a networked interface device. The resource distributor generates a demand response action that is associated with a particular resource. The resource distributor is also communicatively coupled to a wide area network. The resource notification server, which is also communicatively coupled to the wide area network, receives and processes the demand response action and generates a demand response event signal that is communicated to a customer list. The networked interface device comprises at least one indicator. The networked interface device receives the demand response event signal that triggers at least one indicator corresponding to the demand response action generated by the resource distributor, wherein the indicator provides a real-time indication that corresponds to the usage of the particular resource.

CROSS REFERENCE

This application is related to provisional application No. 60/977,909 filed on Oct. 5, 2007, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a critical resource notification system and networked interface device. More particularly, the invention relates to a critical resource notification system and networked interface device for the distribution of resources including, but not limited to, electricity, water, and natural gas.

BACKGROUND

Effective resource management is especially critical when communities are confronted with a scarcity of the resource in question. Resources include electricity, water, gas and natural resources such as oil. The definition of resources may also be extended to include water quality and air quality, since adequate water quality and air quality are necessary to support a self-sustaining environment.

Resource management is necessary so that systems can optimize the use of a limited resource. Currently, there are various systems for managing resources in various environments such as buildings, apartments, industrial facilities, and computing systems. Regretfully, these solutions have not been extended to individuals or small businesses, which account for a substantial portion of each utility's customers.

For example, when the usage of a resource such as electricity becomes strained in response to supply conditions, the result may be a “rolling blackout.” A rolling blackout refers to an intentionally engineered electrical power outage that is caused by insufficient electrical power resources to meet demand for electricity. In California, rolling blackouts are triggered by unusually hot temperatures that cause a surge in demand resulting in heavy use of air conditioning. There are three emergency stages that identify the severity of the problem. In a Stage 1 emergency, a general call for voluntary conservation is issued. A Stage 2 emergency results in power being temporarily cut off to certain large users that have agreed to this arrangement in exchange for lower rates. When a Stage 3 emergency is issued, electric to one of the fourteen California grids is shut off for a fixed period of time that can range from 60 minutes to 2½ hours. If after this period of time the Stage 3 emergency still exists, power is restored to this grid but then the next grid in the sequence is blacked out, and so on, until the situation is stabilized. Thus, the blackout “rolls” from one grid to the next.

In California, each customer's electric bill includes the number of the power grid (from 1 to 14) that customer belongs to; this gives customers at least some advance notice of when their electricity might be turned off in the event of a Stage 3 emergency. The grids are set up in such a manner as to ensure that a large percentage of customers in the same neighborhood would not be blacked out concurrently, which could invite looting and other related problems. Normal electricity customers can fall within the areas reserved for emergency use if they are near a hospital or other critical infrastructure, in which case their electricity bill will indicate a power grid of 99 and they will not be affected by rolling blackouts.

One mechanism that is used to encourage customers to reduce demand and thereby reduce the peak demand for electricity is referred to as demand response (DR). DR refers to a mechanism to manage the demand for customers in response to supply conditions. For example, electricity customers must reduce their consumption at critical times or in response to market prices.

In demand response applications, customers shed loads in response to a request by a utility or market price conditions. Services are reduced according to a preplanned load prioritization scheme during critical timeframes. An alternative to load shedding is on-site generation of electricity to supplement the power grid. Under conditions of tight electricity supply, demand response can significantly reduce the peak price and, in general, electricity price volatility.

Generally, demand response technologies detect the need for load shedding, communicate the demand to participating users, automate load shedding, and verify compliance with demand-response programs. These systems are complex and costly to implement because they rely on controlling the usage of the resource.

Thus, there is a need for a system and device that does not rely on controlling the usage of the resource, that is cost effective to implement, and that satisfies the goals of a demand response application.

SUMMARY

A system and device that communicates critical resource information is described. The resource notification system comprises a resource distributor, a resource notification server, and a networked interface device. The resource distributor generates a demand response action that is associated with a particular resource. The resource distributor is also communicatively coupled to a wide area network. The resource notification server, which is also communicatively coupled to the wide area network, receives and processes the demand response action and generates a demand response event signal that is communicated to a customer list. Each customer has an associated networked interface device. The networked interface device comprises at least one indicator that is operatively coupled to at least one appliance. The networked interface device receives the demand response event signal that triggers the indicator corresponding to the demand response action generated by the resource distributor, wherein the indicator provides a real-time indication that corresponds to the usage of the particular resource.

The networked interface device communicates critical resource information. The networked interface device comprises at least one indicator that provides a real-time indication that corresponds to the usage of a particular resource. Additionally, the networked interface device comprises a means for being communicatively coupled to a wide area network and communicating with the resource notification server that receives a demand response action from the resource distributor as described above. Furthermore, the networked interface device comprises a means for interfacing with an appliance. Further still, the networked interface device comprises a means for processing the demand response event signal that triggers the indicator corresponding to the demand response action generated by the resource distributor.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Persons of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the following description is illustrative and not in any way limiting. Other embodiments of the claimed subject matter will readily suggest themselves to such skilled persons having the benefit of this disclosure. It shall be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the systems, and devices described hereinafter may vary as to configuration and as to details. Additionally, the methods may vary as to details, order of the actions, or other variations without departing from the illustrative method disclosed herein.

The solution described herein provides close integration of an automated system that allows both the utility and the customer to pre-program levels of demand, cost and processes. The solution supports changing configurations through a Web Service that can also monitor the dynamic process of the shed scenarios.

The system, device and methods can be used to send critical notification to customers concerning some resource they consume such as electricity, water, or natural gas. Customers are typically entities such as businesses or consumers that use and obtain some resource from a provider of that resource. Typically, the customer purchases the resource from the provider based upon an agreed upon rate. When either the price or availability of the resource changes in some critical fashion then it may become necessary for the providers of the resource to notify the customer of this change so that they can modify their use of the resource accordingly.

The system, device and methods described herein allow critical notification of the availability of a resource with the expectation that customers will reduce their consumption thus maintaining the availability of the resource. Examples include electricity usage where a small reduction of the energy load by the customers could result in the avoidance of so called rolling blackouts as described above.

Referring toFIG. 1there is shown an illustrative resource notification system and its associated elements. The illustrative notification comprises a resource distributor101and resource provider102that are communicatively coupled to the resource notification server103via a wide area network104. The wide area network may be the Internet, an Intranet, an Extranet, or any other such wide area network. By way of example and not of limitation the wide area network is the Internet and communications are performed using the TCP/IP protocol suite.

Typically, the resource distributor101is a utility company such as an electrical company, a water company, a gas company, or any other such utility company that manages a resource. For illustrative purposes only, the resource distributor101is an electric company. The resource provider102is a more inclusive term that includes private companies that sells or provides resources to the resource distributor101. An illustrative resource provider102is a private company generating electricity from solar power sells the electricity to the utility company.

The resource notification server103has a corresponding notification database105. The notification database105comprises a list of customers such as individuals or families living in apartments and houses, and “entities” such as workers operating in small businesses that lease office space. In general, the notification database105includes a list of utility customers that use or access some resource.

The resource notification server103provides an alert or notification regarding the resource to networked interface devices that are communicatively coupled to the resource notification server103. In operation, the resource notification server103communicates critical resource information to each of the networked interface device. By way of example and not of limitation, the critical resource information includes notification that there is a severe change in demand for the particular resource that results in an inability to use the resource. The critical resource information may also includes communicate a significant change in demand for the particular resource that precedes the severe change in demand. Thus, critical resource information may include a notification that the price of electricity is going to increase 20% if the customer elects to continue using a particular appliance.

In the illustrative embodiment, the networked interface devices include a desktop information system107, a mobile information system108, a facility management system109, a customer notification proxy110, and simple customer interface device111.

In operation, the resource distributor101or resource provider102sends a notification to the resource notification server103that indicates a “status” to resource notification server103. The resource notification server103interprets the notification and generates price levels and demand response event signals are published as services to each of the networked interface devices.

In the illustrative embodiment, the resource notification server operates as a Web Service. A Web Service is a software system that is designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interactions over a network. Generally, customers and servers communicate using XML messages that follow the Service Oriented Architecture Protocol (SOAP) standard. SOAP is an XML-based, extensible message envelope format, with bindings to underlying protocols. The primary protocols are HTTP and HTTPS, although bindings for other protocols shall be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.

Referring toFIG. 2there is shown an illustrative operation of the resource notification server described above. The resource distributor101or102generates a demand response action or notification that is associated with a particular resource. A server201or operator202may generate the demand response action that is communicated via a Web Service Interface203. The demand response action corresponds to a change in demand for a particular resource. In the illustrative embodiment, the Web Service Interface203is an XML interface with a predetermined mechanism that triggers the generation of the demand response action. The operator202may then proceed to confirm that the demand response action is the appropriate notification to be communicating to the resource notification server104. By way of example and not of limitation, the operator202provides this confirmation using a web browser interface204.

The resource notification server103that is also communicatively coupled to the wide area network receives and processes the demand response action and generates a demand response event signal that is communicated to a customer list that is extracted from the notification database105. Each customer has an associated networked interface device as described in further detail below.

A system operator205manages the resource notification server103with a web browser interface206. Depending on the particular application, the system operator205may operate remotely or may operate locally. Regardless, the web browser interface206provides a simple interface for the control of the resource notification server103.

FIG. 3shows an illustrative desktop information system that provides customer notification. The illustrative desktop information system107receives the critical resource information106. The critical resource information106comprises a demand response event signal generated by the resource notification server103. Thus, the demand response even signal is a subset of the critical resource information106. The demand response event signal corresponds to a change in demand for the particular resource.

In operation, the desktop information system107interfaces with the resource notification server103using a web browser interface301. The desktop information system107performs a variety of different tasks using router/proxy programs302, analysis programs303. Updates regarding the critical resource information are communicated using e-mail304, monitoring programs305, and RSS feeds306.

For example, when a utility or Independent System Operator (ISO) predicts a spike in energy demand based on ambient temperature. The utility then proceeds to signal a change in cost using a bid program alert through demand response application server such as the resource notification server103. The price-level and demand response event signals are transmitted to facilities and published as Web services. Polling customers having the appropriate CLIR and software request price-levels every minute. EMS and lighting control systems carry out a power demand shed. An interface to a Programmable Communicating Thermostat may accomplish this.

Referring toFIG. 4there is shown an illustrative mobile information system that provides customer notification. The mobile information system108may receive a notification via a web browser401, voice message402, SMS403, e-mail403, monitoring programs405, or other such notification means configured to be communicated to a mobile information system108. The mobile information system may be Wi-Fi enabled, enabled to communicate using cellular frequency bands, or a combination thereof.

Referring toFIG. 5there is shown an illustrative facility management system that provides customer notification. In this embodiment, the critical resource information is communicated from the resource notification server103to the facility management system109. The facility management system includes a simple interface501and facility automation programs502. The facility management system proceeds to generate control signals504that are communicated to facility equipment503that includes printers, lighting, server farms, refrigeration units, uninterruptible power supplies, and other such facility equipment.

The facility management system109provides a simple client interface that is used to control the facility equipment. For example, the facility management system109is configured to reduce power consumption by interfacing with the electrical controls in a building and providing pre-programmed routines to reduce the power load upon receipt of critical resource information.

Referring toFIG. 6there is shown an illustrative networked interface device. The illustrative networked device601comprises at least one indicator. By way of example and not of limitation, a plurality of visible indicators are utilized in an appliance alert system. The networked interface device601communicates critical resource information such as a demand response action directly to the customer. The indicators for the networked interface device include visible, auditory, or audio-visual indicators that provide a real-time indication that corresponds to the usage of a particular resource.

The illustrative networked interface device601comprises a first visible indicator602that is shown as green, a second visible indicator603that is represented by a yellow color, and a third visible indicator604that is red, a fourth visible indicator605and a button606. The illustrative button606is an on/off button and the fourth visible indicator605indicates that the networked device has network connectivity; so the visible indicator605may also blink at various frequencies and be solid to further indicate the degree or level of network connectivity that has been reached.

Additionally, the networked interface device601comprises a means for being communicatively coupled to a wide area network and communicating with the resource notification server that receives a demand response action from the resource distributor as described above.

Furthermore, the networked interface device601comprises a means for interfacing with an appliance. The appliance may be selected from a group of appliances consisting of an air conditioner, an oven, a heater, a refrigerator, a washer, a dryer, a range, a television, a computer, a water heater, a water cooler, a coffee maker, and a microwave.

Further still, the networked interface device601comprises a means for processing the demand response event signal that triggers at least one visible indicator corresponding to the demand response action generated by the resource distributor. In operation, the networked interface device601receives; the demand response event signal that triggers at least one visible indicator corresponding to the demand response action generated by the resource distributor. The visible indicator provides a real-time indication that corresponds to the usage of the particular resource.

For example, the red visible indicator604may communicate a severe change in demand for the particular resource that results in an inability to use the resource. More specifically, the red visible indicator604may indicate that use of the appliance is occurring during peak demand and shall result in a “brownout” or rolling blackout. Additionally the red visible indicator604may indicate that a severe price change shall take place such as a 15% increase in power for the next two-hour period. Thus, the red visible indicator604communicates to a customer that the use of the appliance is not recommended because the impact to the customer may be severe.

The yellow indicator603may communicate a significant change in demand for the particular resource. Typically, the yellow indicator603precedes the severe change in demand that is communicated with the red visible indicator604. For example, the yellow indicator603indicates that there is currently a high energy demand, or that there is an increased cost differential, or a combination thereof. The illustrative green indicator602may communicate that electrical demand is low and that operation of the appliance does not affect the availability of the resource.

Referring toFIG. 7there is shown two different embodiments of the networked interface device111for customer notification in communication with resource notification server103. In the first embodiment, the networked interface device111communicates with a resource notification server103using a hard wired network connection such a telephone line, a cable, or any other such physical interface. In the second embodiment, the networked device111is communicatively coupled to the resource notification server103using a wireless communication technology702. The wireless communication technology702includes, by way of example and not of limitation, CDMA, GSM or UMTS or any other wireless communication system such as Wi-Fi or WiMAX.

Referring toFIG. 8there is shown the use of a proxy device for customer notification. The proxy device110includes a user display701. Generally, the client notification proxy110is behind a firewall (not shown) and receives critical resource information106from the resource notification server103. The critical resource information106is communicated via the client notification proxy110to the facility management system109, desktop information system107, and the networked interface device111. The operations of the facility management system109, desktop information system107, and networked interface device have been described above.

In operation, the client notification proxy110is configured to communicate with the resource notification server103over the wide area network. The client notification proxy110then communicates the critical resource information to devices and systems that are in within its' local area network. The client notification proxy110may operate within a small commercial enterprise or residence.

It is to be understood that the detailed description of illustrative embodiments are provided for illustrative purposes. The scope of the claims is not limited to these specific embodiments or examples. For example, a networked interface device111has been described, however this solution may be extended to any source electronic device having the properties of the networked interface device described herein. Therefore, various elements, details, execution of any methods, and uses can differ from those just described, or be expanded on or implemented using technologies not yet commercially viable, and yet still be within the inventive concepts of the present disclosure. The scope of the invention is determined by the following claims and their legal equivalents.