Detecting user-driven operating states of electronic devices from a single sensing point

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10641810-B2
Application number	US-201515506619-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 4, 2015
Priority date	Sep 4, 2014
Publication date	May 5, 2020
Grant date	May 5, 2020

Abstract

An apparatus including a sensing device configured to be coupled to an electrical outlet is provided. The sensing device can include a data acquisition receiver configured to receive electrical noise via the electrical outlet when the sensing device is coupled to the electrical outlet. The electrical outlet can be electrically coupled to an electrical power infrastructure. One or more electrical devices can be coupled to the electrical power infrastructure and can generate at least a portion of the electrical noise on the electrical power infrastructure. The data acquisition receiver can be configured to convert the electrical noise into one or more first data signals. The apparatus also can include a processing module configured to run on a processor of a computational unit. The sensing device can be in communication with the computational unit. The processing module can be further configured to identify each of two or more operating states of each of the one or more electrical devices at least in part using the one or more first data signals. The two or more operating states of each electrical device of the one or more electrical devices can be each different user-driven operating states of the electrical device when the electrical device is in an on-power state. Other embodiments are provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a sensing device configured to be coupled to an electrical outlet, the sensing device comprising:
a data acquisition receiver configured to receive electrical noise via the electrical outlet when the sensing device is coupled to the electrical outlet, the electrical outlet being electrically coupled to an electrical power infrastructure, one or more electrical devices being coupled to the electrical power infrastructure and generating at least a portion of the electrical noise on the electrical power infrastructure, and the data acquisition receiver being configured to convert the electrical noise into one or more first data signals; and

a processing module configured to run on a processor of a computational unit, the sensing device being in communication with the computational unit, the processing module being configured to perform:
extracting frames from the one or more first data signals;
extracting a respective eight-tuple feature vector for each extracted frame of the frames, wherein the respective eight-tuple feature vector for the each extracted frame comprises:
a respective mean magnitude of a peak electromagnetic interference (EMI) of the each extracted frame;
a respective maximum magnitude of the peak EMI of the each extracted frame;
a respective minimum magnitude of the peak EMI of the each extracted frame;
a respective mean frequency of the peak EMI of the each extracted frame;
a respective maximum frequency of the peak EMI of the each extracted frame;
a respective minimum frequency of the peak EMI of the each extracted frame;
a frequency gap between two dominant EMI peaks of the each extracted frame; and
an overall mean energy of the each extracted frame;

identifying each of two or more operating states of each of the one or more electrical devices at least in part using the respective eight-tuple feature vectors of the frames, wherein the two or more operating states of each electrical device of the one or more electrical devices are each different user-driven operating states of the electrical device when the electrical device is in an on-power state; and
notifying a user when the each electrical device of the one or more electrical devices are in an operating state of the two or more operating states.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the electrical noise comprises:
first identifiable electrical noise on the electrical power infrastructure during a first time period corresponding to a first operating state of the two or more operating states; and
second identifiable electrical noise on the electrical power infrastructure during a second time period corresponding to a second operating state of the two or more operating states; and

the processing module is further configured to distinguish the first identifiable electrical noise from the second identifiable electrical noise to identify the two or more operating states of each of the one or more electrical devices.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein:
the first identifiable electrical noise and the second identifiable electrical noise each comprise substantially continuous electrical noise on the electrical power infrastructure; and
the substantially continuous electrical noise comprises at least one of (a) first electrical noise that is identifiable on the electrical power infrastructure for a first length of time that is greater than one alternating current electrical cycle, or (b) second electrical noise that is identifiable on the electrical power infrastructure for a second length of time that is less than one alternating current electrical cycle but the second electrical noise is repeated in three or more alternating current electrical cycles.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein:
the first time period is at least 1 second; and
the second time period is at least 1 second.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the data acquisition receiver comprises a filter configured to pass the electrical noise that is above approximately 5.3 kilohertz.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the processing module is further configured to classify the electrical noise into the two or more operating states of each electrical device of the one or more electrical devices using an expectation maximization clustering algorithm based on the respective eight-tuple feature vectors of the frames.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the one or more electrical devices comprise one or more motor-based appliances each configured to be manually switched to two or more different rotational speeds; and
each of the two or more operating states of the one or more motor-based appliances correspond to a different one of the two or more different rotational speeds.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein:
the one or more motor-based appliances comprise at least one of a blender or a food mixer.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the one or more electrical devices comprise a motor-based vacuum;
a first operating state of the two or more operating states corresponds to idling the motor-based vacuum on a rug;
a second operating state of the two or more operating states corresponds to moving the motor-based vacuum on the rug; and
a third operating state of the two or more operating states corresponds to using the motor-based vacuum on a hard floor.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the one or more electrical devices comprise one or more SMPS-based appliances each comprising an oscillator and each configured to operate at two or more different switching frequencies; and
each of the two or more operating states correspond to a different one of the two or more different switching frequencies.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein:
the one or more SMPS-based appliances comprise a computer comprising a central processing unit; and
each of the two or more different switching frequencies correspond to a different load of the central processing unit.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein:
the one or more SMPS-based appliances comprise a television;
a first frequency of the two or more different switching frequencies corresponds to displaying a television channel on the television; and
a second frequency of the two or more different switching frequencies corresponds to a transient channel change operation of the television.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the one or more electrical devices comprise one or more appliances each comprising two or more different switched resistive loads;
each of the two or more operating states correspond to a different one of the two or more different switched resistive loads; and
the one or more appliances comprise at least one of a hair dryer or a fan heater.

14. A method comprising:
capturing, at a sensing device coupled to an electrical outlet, electrical noise via the electrical outlet, the electrical outlet being coupled to an electrical power infrastructure, and one or more electrical devices being coupled to the electrical power infrastructure and generating at least a portion of the electrical noise on the electrical power infrastructure;
converting, at the sensing device, the electrical noise into one or more first data signals;
transmitting the one or more first data signals from the sensing device to a computational unit;
extracting frames from the one or more first data signals;
extracting a respective eight-tuple feature vector for each extracted frame of the frames, wherein the respective eight-tuple feature vector for the each extracted frame comprises:
a respective mean magnitude of a peak electromagnetic interfer

Assignees

• Univ Washington

Inventors

• Gupta Sidhant
• Chen Ke-Yu
• Patel Shwetak N

Classifications

• G05B23/021 Primary

  adopting a different treatment of each operating region or a different mode of the monitored system, e.g. transient modes; different operating configurations of monitored system · CPC title

• G01R31/001 Primary

  Measuring interference from external sources to, or emission from, the device under test, e.g. EMC, EMI, EMP or ESD testing (measuring electromagnetic fields G01R29/08; circuits for generating HV pulses in dielectric strength testing G01R31/14) · CPC title

• G01R29/08

  Measuring electromagnetic field characteristics · CPC title