Patent Publication Number: US-2015073613-A1

Title: Smart cloud service power outlet with surge protection and cloud service power consumption monitoring system

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This disclosure relates to remote power consumption management, and more particularly to a smart cloud service power outlet with surge protection and a cloud service power consumption monitoring system. 
     2. Related Art 
     A smart power outlet enables and disables power supply according to a schedule. Meanwhile, the smart power outlet can be monitored and operated by a remote end, so that the remote end can generate a power consumption log. Usually, the aforementioned schedule only contains short term power management, for example a power management plan for one day, that is long term power management can not be done. 
     Commercial smart power outlets include simple smart power outlets which are directly sold to end user. However, when a remote end device attempts to access a smart power outlet via internet like the abovementioned smart power outlet, a correct IP address is required to establish connection. Management for considerable number of smart power outlets is difficult to execute with such a design. A data service platform is usually in absence, therefore a power consumption logging function is also in absence and graphic analysis chart is unable to be obtained. Generally, such kind of smart power outlet only contains remote control function, and lakes power consumption detecting function. 
     A smart power outlet for a green building is usually operated via a management platform of a service provider. The service of the management platform requires scheduled payment. The status of the smart power outlet is transmitted to the management platform. A user can use a smart phone or a PC to connect the management platform, so as to access require data and control the smart power outlet remotely. 
     The management platform is useful to monitor and control the smart power outlet. However, when the connection interrupted, the smart power outlet fails to update the latest power supply schedule and remote control function also fails. Moreover, the development of the smart power outlet focus on eco electricity, and the development of electrical safety awareness are usually neglected. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of the insufficiency in power management and monitoring function of the smart power outlet in the prior art, this disclosure provide a smart cloud service power outlet with surge protection and a cloud service power consumption monitoring system to improve power management and monitoring function. 
     The smart cloud service power outlet with surge protection of this disclosure establishes communication with a cloud service platform via a wide-area-network (WAN). The smart cloud service power outlet includes a power supplying interface, a power consumption detector, a control system, a switch, and a bypass signal generator. 
     The power supplying interface connects to an external power source and is equipped with power output nodes. 
     The power consumption detector connects to the power supplying interface and the external power source, to detect power consumption of the power supplying interface and generate a power consumption result. 
     The control system includes a controller, a storage unit, and a wireless transceiver module. The controller connects to the power consumption detector to receive the power consumption result, so as to monitor the power usage status of the power supplying interface. The storage unit stores a power supplying schedule and the power consumption result. The controller enables or disables the power supply of the power supplying interface according to the power supplying schedule, wherein the power supplying schedule includes power supplying plan for plural days. The wireless transceiver module connects to a wireless bridging device through a local-area-network (LAN) protocol, so as to connect to a WAN. Then the wireless transceiver module establishes connection to the cloud service platform to download the power supplying schedule to the storage unit and upload power consumption result to the cloud service platform, so as to generate a power consumption log. 
     The switch is disposed between the power supplying interface and the external power source. And the switch connects to the controller to be controlled by the controller, wherein the controller controls the power supplying interface to break or recover the connection between the power supplying interface and the external power source, so as to enable or disable the power supply of the power supplying interface. 
     The bypass signal generator is triggered to generate a bypass signal; when the controller receives the bypass signal, the bypass signal override the current power supplying schedule and the controller perform a switching action opposite to the current power supply status. 
     In this disclosure, the power supplying schedule includes power supplying plan for plural days, for example power supplying plan for a week. When the network connection fails for long time, a complete power supplying schedule for long term can be well executed before network connection is recovered. Furthermore, through the bypass signal generator, the user can manually change the power supply status without restriction of the power supplying schedule. 
     This disclosure further provides cloud service power consumption monitoring system, which detects the presence of the smart cloud service power outlet via a presence server, so as to prevent unnecessary data package transmission between the cloud service platform and the cloud service power outlet. Therefore, the bandwidth speed of the cloud service platform is improved, and capacity of management of the cloud service platform is increased. 
     The present invention will become more obvious from the following description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below for illustration only, and thus not limitative of the present invention, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of the smart cloud service power outlet with surge protection of this disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram showing the connection among the remote end device, the smart cloud service power outlet, the cloud service platform, and the presence server. 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram showing the connection between the remote end device and the smart cloud service power outlet in LAN. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Please refer to  FIG. 1 , the smart cloud service power outlet  100  with surge protection of this disclosure includes a power supplying interface  10 , a power consumption detector  20 , a control system  30 , a switch  40 , a bypass signal generator  50 , and a surge protection circuit  60 . 
     Please refer to  FIG. 1 , the power supplying interface  10  connects to an external power source S and is equipped with power output nodes. The power supplying interface  10  can be but not limited to an outlet for household which is connected to an external AC power source and connected by a plug, so as to output power through the plug. 
     The power consumption detector  20  is connected to the power supplying interface  10  and the external power source, to construct a power supply and monitoring circuit loop. In this circuit loop, the power consumption detector  20  detects current or power consumed by the power supplying interface  10 , and generates a power consumption result. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the control system  30  includes a controller  32 , a storage unit  34 , and a wireless transceiver module  36 . 
     The controller  32  connects to the power consumption detector  20  to receive the power consumption result, so as to monitor the power usage status of the power supplying interface  10 . 
     The storage unit  34  stores programming codes, power supplying schedule, and so on. The storage unit  34  can be but not limited to a flash memory module, so as to store or update programming codes and power supplying schedule quickly, and keeps data when power of the flash memory module is cut off. The controller  32  enables or disables the power supply of the power supplying interface  10  according to the power supplying schedule. And the power supplying schedule includes power supplying plan for plural days. 
     The wireless transceiver module  36  connects to a wireless bridging device through a LAN protocol, so as to connect to a wide-area-network (WAN). Then the wireless transceiver module  36  establishes connection to the cloud service platform  200  via the WAN. The LAN protocol can be but not limited to Wi-Fi, Zigbee, or Bluetooth. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 1 ; the switch  40  is disposed between the power supplying interface  10  and the external power source S. And the switch  40  connects to the controller  32  to be controlled by the controller  32 . The controller  32  controls the power supplying interface  10  to break or recover the connection between the power supplying interface  10  and the external power source S. The switch  40  can be but not limited to a relay. 
     In detail, the controller  32  loads the power supplying schedule from the storage unit  34 , and then the controller  32  drives the switch  40  to enables or disables the power supply of the power supplying interface  10  according to the power supplying schedule. Through connecting to the cloud service platform  200  with the wireless transceiver module  36 , the smart cloud service power outlet  100  downloads power supplying schedule from the cloud service platform  200  to the storage unit. According to the power supplying schedule, the controller  32  drives the switch  40  to enables or disables the power supply of the power supplying interface  10 . The power supplying schedule includes power supplying plan for plural days, therefore connection interrupted between the smart cloud service power outlet  100  and the cloud service platform  200  for days will not affect the switching of power supply. 
     The smart cloud service power outlet  10  uploads the power consumption result to the cloud service platform via the WAN, so as to generate a power consumption log. When the remote end device  300  connects to the cloud service platform  200 , the remote end device  300  can access the current power consumption result and power consumption log, so as to analysis the power output of the power supplying interface  10  as a reference for eco electricity management. 
     Furthermore, the controller  32  can continuously monitors power loading of the power supplying interface through the power consumption detector  20 . When the power loading of the power supplying interface  10  higher than a power loading threshold, the controller  32  drives the switch  40  to disables the power supply of the power supplying interface  10 . Meanwhile, the controller  32  uploads the overloading event that the power loading is higher than the power loading threshold to the cloud service platform  20  by the wireless transceiver module  36 . The cloud service platform  200  can send the overloading event to a designated e-mail address through e-mail; or through application installed in the remote end device  300 , the cloud service platform  200  establishes peer-to-peer communication, and pushes the overloading event to the remote end device  300 . 
     The power supplying interface  10  can connect to a leakage current detecting circuit  70  having a grounding line, for example a resistor having high resistance connected to a current detector, and detect current leakage through the power supplying interface  70 . When the controller  32  obtains leakage event through the leakage current detecting circuit  70 , the controller  32  drives the switch to disables the power supply of the power supplying interface  10 , to prevent the user from electric shock. Similar, the leakage is also transmitted to the cloud service platform  200 . The cloud service platform  200  can send the leakage event to a designated e-mail address through e-mail; or through application installed in the remote end device  300 , the cloud service platform  200  establishes peer-to-peer communication, and pushes the leakage event to the remote end device  300 . 
     Moreover, the controlling policy of the controller  32  is that the external control signal overrides the power supplying schedule. The external signal can be a switch signal received through the wireless transceiver module or a bypass signal generated by the bypass signal generator  50 . 
     The controller  32  connects to the cloud service platform  200  via the wireless transceiver module  36 , and the controller  32  sends a device ID to the cloud service platform  200  for the cloud service platform  200  to identify the smart cloud service power outlet  100 . The remote end device  300  can be a smart phone or a PC. The remote end device  300  connects to the cloud service platform  200  via the WAN. Through the device ID or other identification mechanism related to the device ID, the remote end device  300  requests and accesses the current power consumption result and the power consumption history. The remote end device  300  can also issue an enabling signal or a disabling signal, Received by the controller  32 , the enabling signal or the disabling signal will override the power supplying schedule to force the controller  32  to enable or disable the power supply of the power supplying interface  10 . 
     The bypass signal generator  50  can be but not limited to a button type trigger to be triggered to generate the bypass signal. The bypass signal generator  50  connects to the controller  32 . When the controller  32  receives the bypass signal generated by the bypass signal generator  50 , the bypass signal overrides the current power supplying schedule and the controller  32  perform a switching action opposite to the current power supply status. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the surge protection circuit  60  connects to the power supplying interface  10 . When the power supplying interface  10  receives a voltage or current higher than a surge threshold, the surge protection circuit  60  performs surge protection, so as to prevent the smart cloud service power outlet  100  or the electric accessory connected thereto from being damaged by the surge. 
     The surge protection circuit  60  can be a circuit breaker, which breaks the circuit loop when receiving the surge; or the surge protection circuit  60  can be an optional grounding device. For example, a Zener diode connected to a grounding line; when the voltage or the surge is higher than the breakdown voltage, the Zener diode bypasses the large current to the grounding line. The smart cloud service power outlet  100  further includes a surge status indicator  62  connected to the controller  32 . When the surge protection circuit  60  performs surge protection, the controller  32  drives the surge status indicator  62  to indicate surge protection event, for the user to determine wherein to cut off power manually. The surge protection event can be uploaded to the cloud service platform  200  via the wireless transceiver module  36 , so as to be send to the designated e-mail address through e-mail; or pushed to the remote end device  300 . 
     Please refer to  FIG. 2 , which shows a cloud service power consumption monitoring system according to this disclosure. 
     When the smart cloud service power outlet  100  is activated and connects to the WAN via the wireless transceiver module, the smart cloud service power outlet  100  establishes connection with a presence server  210 . The presence server  210  continuously or periodically syncs with the smart cloud service power outlet  100 , such as issuing Heat Beat, such that the online status monitoring server  210  determines whether the smart cloud service power outlet  100  is connected to the WAN according to the sync request; The smart cloud service power outlet  100  only establishes connection with the cloud service platform  200  under the following the circumstance, uploading power consumption results or downloading the power supplying schedule. 
     The cloud service platform includes a web server, used to transform the data uploaded by the smart cloud service power outlet  100  into web contents. When the remote end device  300  requires to accesses data of power consumption, the remote end device  300  connects to the cloud service platform  200  according to HTTP protocol and process the web contents. When the remote end device  300  connects to the cloud service platform  200  via the web browser, the cloud service platform  200  obtains the online status of the smart cloud service power outlet  100  via the presence server  210 . If the smart cloud service power outlet  100  is online, the cloud service platform  200  establishes direct connection with the smart cloud service power outlet  100 , and obtains the current and buffered power consumption results. And the cloud service platform  200  transforms accessed data into web contents to be loaded by the web browser of the remote end device  300 . No matter whether the smart cloud service power outlet  100  is online or not, the cloud service platform  200  transforms the previously stored power consumption results into a power consumption log, and transforms this power consumption log into web contents to be loaded by the remote end device  300 . 
     Instead of detecting online status of the smart cloud service power outlet  100  by cloud service platform  200  adopting HTTP protocols; this disclosure adopts the presence server  210  syncing with the smart cloud service power outlet  100 . By such an approach, unnecessary data package transmission between the cloud service platform  200  and the cloud service power outlet  100  is reduced and the bandwidth speed of the cloud service platform  200  is improved. Capacity of management of the cloud service platform is increased without limited to 65535 ports. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 3 , the smart cloud service power outlet  100  continuously or periodically broadcasts UDP data by UPNP component, and the smart cloud service power outlet  100  also provides HTTP service, so as to receive requests and provide data via CGI/HTML protocol. 
     The remote end device  300  also has UPNP component for retrieving broadcasted UDP data. When the remote end device  300  and the smart cloud service power outlet  100  are in the same LAN, for example both connecting to same wireless gateway, the remote end device  300  can receive the UDP data of the smart cloud service power outlet  100 , so as to find out the smart cloud power outlet  100  which can be controlled by the remote end  300 , and then the remote end device  300  establishes direct connection with the smart cloud service power outlet  100  within the LAN. 
     Through the HTTP service of the smart cloud service power outlet  100 , The remote end device  300  directly controls the hardware abstraction layer (HAL) of the smart cloud service power outlet  100 , so as to directly access the power supplying status of the smart cloud service power outlet  100 , control the switch  40 , or modify the power supplying schedule. 
     In one or more example, the remote end device  300  includes wireless connection function. When the remote end device  300  is located within the Wi-Fi connection range, the remote end device  300  can execute a Wi-Fi scan program to scan Wi-Fi signal to locate nearby Wi-Fi source. Meanwhile, the smart cloud service power outlet  100  transmits designated ID and MAC data carried by Wi-Fi signal (or other wireless signal according to the other protocol) via the wireless transceiver module  36 . Through identification mechanism of the Wi-Fi scan program, the remote end device  300  picks up the Wi-Fi signal of the smart cloud service power outlet  100  according to the designated ID and MAC data, and then the remote end device  300  establishes peer-to-peer connection with the smart cloud service power outlet  100 . Then, the remote end device  300  directly access the power supplying status of the smart cloud service power outlet  100 , control the switch  40 , or modify the power supplying schedule. 
     Through the power supplying schedule, the smart cloud service power outlet  100  enables and disables power supply, so as to manage electric power usage. The power supplying schedule includes power supplying plan for plural days, for example power supplying plan for a week. When the network connection fails for long time, a complete power supplying schedule for long term can be well executed before network connection is recovered. 
     Furthermore, through the bypass signal generator  50 , the user can manually change the power supply status without restriction of the power supplying schedule. 
     In this disclosure, the presence of the smart cloud service power outlet  100  is detected via the presence server  210 , so as to prevent unnecessary data package transmission between the cloud service platform  200  and the cloud service power outlet  100 . Therefore, the bandwidth speed of the cloud service platform  200  is improved, and capacity of management of the cloud service platform  200  is increased.