Identifying devices connected to a smart plug

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12495093-B2
Application number	US-202418923510-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 22, 2024
Priority date	Oct 2, 2018
Publication date	Dec 9, 2025
Grant date	Dec 9, 2025

Abstract

A smart circuit breaker may provide a smart-circuit-breaker power monitoring signal that includes information about power consumption of devices connected to the smart circuit breaker. The smart-circuit-breaker power monitoring signal may be used in conjunction with power monitoring signals from the electrical mains of the building for providing information about the operation of devices in the building. For example, the power monitoring signals may be used to (i) determine the main of the house that provides power to the smart circuit breaker, (ii) identify devices receiving power from the smart circuit breaker, (iii) improve the accuracy of identifying device state changes, and (iv) train mathematical models for identifying devices and device state changes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for determining that a device is connected to a smart plug, the method comprising:
receiving power consumption information from the smart plug; obtaining a main power monitoring signal corresponding to an electrical main powering the smart plug; identifying a smart plug power event using the power consumption information; determining that a main power event in the main power monitoring signal corresponds to the smart plug power event; determining that the main power event corresponds to the device by processing the main power event with at least one power model; and determining that the device is connected to the smart plug using the determination that the main power event corresponds to the device.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the smart plug is a car charger that charges an electric car.

3 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
establishing a network connection with the smart plug via establishing the network connection with a hub.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the network connection is on a mesh network.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the smart plug includes a relay to control power provided to the device.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the power consumption information comprises a smart plug power monitoring signal.

7 . An electrical meter comprising:
a sensor structured to measure an electrical property of an electrical main; and at least one processor configured to: receive power consumption information from a smart plug; obtain a main power monitoring signal from the sensor, the main power monitoring signal corresponding to the electrical main; identify a smart plug power event using the power consumption information; determine that a main power event in the main power monitoring signal corresponds to the smart plug power event; determine that the main power event corresponds to a device, powered by the electrical main, by processing the main power event with at least one power model; and determine that the device is connected to the smart plug using the determination that the main power event corresponds to the device.

8 . The electrical meter of claim 7 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to establish a network connection with the smart plug via establishing the network connection with a hub.

9 . The electrical meter of claim 8 , wherein the network connection is on a mesh network.

10 . The electrical meter of claim 8 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
establish a first network connection on a first computer network; and establish the network connection with the smart plug by establishing a second network connection on a second computer network.

11 . The electrical meter of claim 7 , wherein the smart plug includes a relay to control power provided to the device.

12 . The electrical meter of claim 7 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to establish a network connection with the smart plug via establishing the network connection with the smart plug.

13 . The electrical meter of claim 7 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to establish a network connection with the smart plug via establishing the network connection with a server external to a building containing the smart plug.

14 . An electrical panel comprising:
a sensor structured to measure an electrical property of an electrical main; and at least one processor configured to: receive power consumption information from a smart plug; obtain a main power monitoring signal from the sensor, the main power monitoring signal corresponding to the electrical main; identify a smart plug power event using the power consumption information; determine that a main power event in the main power monitoring signal corresponds to the smart plug power event; determine that the main power event corresponds to a device, powered by the electrical main, by processing the main power event with at least one power model; and determine that the device is connected to the smart plug using the determination that the main power event corresponds to the device.

15 . The electrical panel of claim 14 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to establish a network connection with the smart plug via establishing the network connection with a hub.

16 . The electrical panel of claim 15 , wherein the network connection is on a mesh network.

17 . The electrical panel of claim 15 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
establish a first network connection on a first computer network; and establish the network connection with the smart plug by establishing a second network connection on a second computer network.

18 . The electrical panel of claim 17 , wherein the first computer network is a Wi-Fi network and the second computer network is a Bluetooth network.

19 . The electrical panel of claim 15 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
establish a second network connection with a second smart plug; and receive second power consumption information from the second smart plug.

20 . The electrical panel of claim 14 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to establish a network connection with the smart plug via establishing the network connection with the smart plug.

Assignees

• Sense Labs Inc

Inventors

• Choueiter Ghinwa Fakhri
• Petri Jonah Wyman

Classifications

• H02J13/1311

  using the power network as support for the transmission · CPC title

• H02J13/34

  the equipment being switches, relays or circuit breakers · CPC title

• H04Q2209/84

  Measuring functions · CPC title

• H04Q9/00

  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

• H04L67/12

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title