Operating smart sensors using distributed ledgers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020005404-A1
Application number	US-201816024652-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 29, 2018
Priority date	Jun 29, 2018
Publication date	Jan 2, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

A distributed ledger based utility system architecture may be configured to enable secure payments, data transmission, and meter configuration of smart sensors. The utility system architecture may be a tiered architecture including multiple nodes at different levels of the architecture where each level may contain a different portion of the distributed ledger. As information is added to the distributed ledger, each portion of the distributed ledger may be updated based on whether the information is relevant to that node. The information may include rate contract transactions, meter configuration data transactions, payment transactions, or the like.

First claim

1 . A method implemented by a smart utility meter, the method comprising:
identifying load data including a plurality of loads associated with the smart utility meter; sending the load data to a broker node; receiving a first transmission from a broker node; determining that the transmission indicates a first update to a distributed ledger associated with the smart utility meter, the first update to the distributed ledger including an activity instruction for the smart utility meter to perform an action, the action including altering an amount of resource provided to at least one load of the plurality of loads; and sending, to the broker node, a second transmission indicating performance of the action by the smart utility meter, the second transmission causing the broker node to perform a second update to the distributed ledger.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of loads include at least one of an appliance, an electric vehicle charging station, a lighting system, an HVAC system, or a sprinkler system.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the smart utility meter is further configured to collect load disaggregation data by determining an amount of load consumed by each individual load of the plurality of loads and to send the load disaggregation data to the broker node.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the smart utility meter is further configured to receive a third transmission indicating a third update to the distributed ledger associated with the smart utility meter, the third update including an additional activity instruction to update a balance associated with the smart utility meter.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the activity instruction further indicates which loads of the plurality of loads to refrain from providing the resource.

6 . A smart utility meter comprising:
at least one processor; and a memory storing instructions that cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising: identifying load data including a plurality of loads associated with the smart utility meter; sending the load data to a broker node; receiving a first transmission from a broker node; determining that the first transmission indicates a first update to a distributed ledger associated with the smart utility meter, the first update to the distributed ledger including an activity instruction for the smart utility meter to perform an action, the action including altering an amount of resource provided to at least one load of the plurality of loads; and sending, to the broker node, a second transmission indicating performance of the action by the smart utility meter, the second transmission causing the broker node to perform a second update to the distributed ledger.

7 . The smart utility meter of claim 6 , wherein the plurality of loads include at least one of an appliance, an electric vehicle charging station, a lighting system, an HVAC system, or a sprinkler system.

8 . The smart utility meter of claim 6 , wherein the smart utility meter is further configured to collect load disaggregation by determining an amount of load consumed by each individual load of the plurality of loads and to send the load disaggregation data to the broker node.

9 . The smart utility meter of claim 6 , wherein the smart utility meter is further configured to receive a third transmission indicating a third update to the distributed ledger associated with the smart utility meter, the third update including an additional activity instruction to update a balance associated with the smart utility meter.

10 . The smart utility meter of claim 6 , wherein the activity instruction further indicates which loads of the plurality of loads to refrain from providing the resource.

11 . A utility network system comprising:
a master node including a master node distributed ledger, the master node configured to receive a customer transaction and to update the instance of the master node distributed ledger indicating occurrence of the customer transaction; a plurality of broker nodes, each broker node including a broker node distributed ledger that is applicable to the respective broker node; and a plurality of smart utility meters configured to:
identify load data including one or more loads of a plurality of loads associated with each of the respective smart utility meters;
send the load data to at least one broker node of the plurality of broker nodes;
receive a demand response instruction to participate in a demand response event;
altering an amount of resource provided to at least one load of the plurality of loads; and
sending, to the broker node, a transmission indicating participation, by the smart utility meter, in the demand response event.

12 . The utility network system of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of loads include at least one of an appliance, an electric vehicle charging station, a lighting system, an HVAC system a sprinkler system.

13 . The utility network system of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of smart utility meters are further configured to collect load disaggregation by determining an amount of load consumed by each individual load of the plurality of loads and to send the load disaggregation data to the broker node.

14 . The utility network system of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of broker nodes are further configured to catalog the plurality of loads and to prioritize individual loads of the plurality of loads.

15 . The utility network system of claim 11 , wherein the demand response instruction includes an indication of the amount of the resource to alter, and the plurality of broker nodes are further configured to receive the demand response instruction and to determine which loads of the plurality of loads are needed to be altered in order to fulfill the amount of the resource indicated in the demand response instruction.

16 . The utility network system of claim 11 , wherein the respective smart utility meter alters the amount of resource provided to at least one load of the plurality of loads in response to a user turning off the at least one load.

17 . The utility network system of claim 11 , further comprising a user device configured to receive a demand response offer from a supplier of the resource and wherein the customer transaction includes an indication that the supplier of the resource received a pledge from the user device to participate in the demand response event and the supplier of the resource is configured to register the respective smart utility meter to participate in the demand response event in response to receiving the pledge from the user device to participate in the demand response event.

18 . The utility network system of claim 17 , wherein the master node is further configured to:
determine that a predetermined threshold of an amount of utility has been met; determine that the pledge received from the user device has been fulfilled; and transfer funds to update a balance associated with the smart utility meter.

19 . The utility network system of claim 17 , wherein the demand response offer includes an indication of a credit to be provided to a smart utility meter associated with a user of the user device in response to the user agreeing to participate in the demand response event and the operations further comprise providing the credit to the smart utility meter and updating the instance of the broker node distributed ledger indicating occurrence of providing the credit.

20 . The utility network system of claim 11 , wherein the ma

Assignees

• Itron Inc

Inventors

• Patterson Tim
• Scheidler Lucas

Classifications

• G06F8/65

  Updates (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57) · CPC title

• G06F9/4411

  Configuring for operating with peripheral devices; Loading of device drivers · CPC title

• G06Q50/06 Primary

  Energy or water supply · CPC title

• G06Q20/10

  specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems · CPC title

• G07F15/08

  with means for varying the tariff or changing the price · CPC title