Identifying device state changes using power data and network data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11503386-B2
Application number	US-202117461378-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 30, 2021
Priority date	Feb 22, 2017
Publication date	Nov 15, 2022
Grant date	Nov 15, 2022

Abstract

Devices state changes in a building may be determined using a combination of power monitoring and network monitoring. Power monitoring may be performed by obtaining a power monitoring signal and processing the power monitoring signal with models to determine information about state changes of one or more devices in the building. Network monitoring may be performed by receiving information about network packets transmitted by devices in the building and processing the information about the network packets to determine information about state changes of one or more devices in the building. For some devices and some implementations, information about state changes of a device may be determined by using both power monitoring and network monitoring.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for determining states of devices in a building, the computer-implemented method comprising:
obtaining a power monitoring signal by measuring an electrical property of a power line to the building, wherein the power line provides power to the devices in the building, the devices in the building comprising a first device and a second device;
processing a first power event in the power monitoring signal with one or more power models to generate one or more scores;
determining a state of the first device using the one or more scores;
receiving a first network packet; and
determining, using information in the first network packet, a state of the second device.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the first network packet is a broadcast network packet.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , comprising:
transmitting a request for information to the second device; and
wherein receiving the first network packet comprises receiving a response to the request for information.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein transmitting the request for information comprises at least one of: polling the second device, requesting information using an API of the second device, or requesting information about services provided by the second device.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein determining the state of the second device comprises (1) processing the information in the first network packet with a plurality of network models, and (2) selecting a highest scoring network model.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein determining the state of the second device comprises processing the information in the first network packet with a plurality of rules, wherein each rule of the plurality of rules comprises comparing the information in the first network packet to at least one condition.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein determining the state of the second device comprises:
processing a second power event in the power monitoring signal with the one or more power models to generate one or more second scores;
processing the information about the first network packet with one or more network models to generate one or more third scores; and
wherein determining the state of the second device comprises using the one or more second scores and the one or more third scores.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein determining the state of the second device comprises:
generating a second score for each state change model of a plurality of state change models, wherein each state change model processes a second power event in the power monitoring signal and the information in the first network packet; and
determining the state of the second device using the second scores.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , comprising:
receiving a plurality of network packets; and
determining the state of the second device using information in the plurality of network packets.

10. A system for determining states of devices in a building, the system comprising:
at least one computer comprising at least one processor and at least one memory, the at least one computer configured to:
obtain a power monitoring signal by measuring an electrical property of a power line to the building, wherein the power line provides power to the devices in the building, the devices in the building comprising a first device and a second device;

process a first power event in the power monitoring signal with one or more power
models to generate one or more scores;
determine a state of the first device using the one or more scores;
receive a first network packet; and
determine, using information in the first network packet, a state of the second device.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the at least one computer is configured to transmit the state of the first device to a server computer.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the power monitoring signal indicates a current or voltage of the power line.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the system comprises a power monitor installed in the building and a server computer with a network connection to the power monitor.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein:
the server computer is configured to determine that a user device has a second network connection with the server computer;
the server computer is configured to send an indication to the power monitor that the user device has the second network connection with the server computer; and
the power monitor is configured to modify its processing in response to receiving the indication.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the power monitor is configured to modify its processing by changing a frequency of polling devices.

16. The system of claim 10 , wherein the at least one computer is configured to determine the state of the second device by:
processing a second power event in the power monitoring signal with the one or more power models to generate one or more second scores; and
wherein determining the state of the second device comprises using the one or more second scores.

17. The system of claim 10 , wherein the at least one computer is configured to:
obtain information about power consumption of the second device from a data store of device information using the state of the second device; and
transmit the information about the power consumption of the second device to a user device.

18. The system of claim 10 , wherein the at least one computer is configured to:
transmit the state of the first device and the state of the second device to a user device.

19. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform actions comprising:
obtaining a power monitoring signal by measuring an electrical property of a power line to a building, wherein the power line provides power to devices in the building, the devices in the building comprising a first device and a second device;
processing a first power event in the power monitoring signal with one or more power models to generate one or more scores;
determining a state of the first device using the one or more scores;
receiving a first network packet; and
determining, using information in the first network packet, a state of the second device.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 19 , the actions comprising transmitting, to a server computer, information about the state of the first device and the state of the second device.

21. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 19 , wherein the one or more power models comprise one or more of a device model, a transition model, or a wattage model.

22. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 19 , wherein determining the state of the second device comprises using a network address or identifier in the first network packet.

23. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 19 , wherein processing the first power event in the power monitoring signal with the one or more power models comprises:
computing a plurality of features using a portion of the power monitoring signal comprising the first power event; and
processing the plurality of features with the one or more power models.

Assignees

• Sense Labs Inc

Inventors

• Petri Jonah Wyman
• Micali Christopher M
• Phillips Michael S

Classifications

• H04Q2209/823

  where the data is sent when the measured values exceed a threshold, e.g. sending an alarm · CPC title

• H04Q2209/75

  by polling or interrogating the sub-stations · CPC title

• H04Q2209/60

  for transmitting utility meters data, i.e. transmission of data from the reader of the utility meter · CPC title

• H04Q9/00 Primary

  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 · CPC title