Managing electricity usage for an appliance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9465376-B2
Application number	US-201313951901-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 26, 2013
Priority date	Jul 26, 2013
Publication date	Oct 11, 2016
Grant date	Oct 11, 2016

Abstract

Methods and arrangements for providing appliance power management. A connector arrangement is provided for interconnecting an appliance with a power supply. There is identified, with respect to the appliance connected to the power supply, at least one of: an appliance category, a current operating state of the appliance, and a current standby state of the appliance. In response to the identifying of the at least one of: an appliance category, an appliance operating state and an appliance standby state, there is detected at least one of: anomalous appliance behavior and deficient power quality. Also, a control action is undertaken relative to the detection of the at least one of: anomalous appliance behavior and deficient power quality. Other variants and embodiments are broadly contemplated herein.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of providing appliance power management, said method comprising:
providing a connector arrangement for interconnecting an appliance with a power supply;
utilizing at least one processor associated with the connector arrangement to execute computer code configured for:
receiving, via the connector arrangement, consumption information related to the appliance;
clustering, using g-means clustering, the power consumption information;
identifying, based on the clustered power consumption information, at least one of: an appliance category, a current operating state of the appliance, and a current standby state of the appliance; and
in response to the identifying of the at least one of: an appliance category, an appliance operating state and an appliance standby state:
detecting at least one of: anomalous appliance behavior and deficient power quality; and
undertaking a control action relative to the detection of the at least one of: anomalous appliance behavior and deficient power quality.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said undertaking of a control action comprises providing a warning to the user relative to the at least one of: anomalous appliance behavior and deficient power quality.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein an appliance category is identified via determining at least one of: energy usage mode of operation and duration of an energy usage mode.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein an appliance category is identified by communicating solely with the appliance.

5. The method according to claim 1 , comprising storing, in memory at the connector arrangement, data relating to appliance traits from manufacture.

6. The method according to claim 1 , comprising:
learning appliance performance traits during a predetermined period of initial usage of the appliance; and
storing, in memory at the connector arrangement, data related to the learned appliance performance traits.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:
said identifying comprises identifying a current standby state of the appliance;
said identifying of the current standby state comprises identifying, during appliance operation, at least one of: a standby mode and a mode with standby characteristics;
said detecting comprises detecting anomalous appliance behavior; and
said undertaking of a control action comprises performing at least one of: switching off the appliance and informing a user of the current standby state identified.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:
said detecting comprises detecting deficient power quality;
said detecting of the deficient power quality comprises detecting power quality deterioration relative to the appliance; and
said undertaking a control action comprises informing a user of the power quality deterioration and suggesting corrective action.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:
said detecting comprises detecting anomalous appliance behavior;
said detecting of the anomalous behavior comprises detecting, during appliance operation, at least one of: an unknown appliance state, an appliance state transition and a known appliance malfunctioning mode; and
said undertaking a control action comprises warning a user and suggesting corrective action.

10. An apparatus comprising:
at least one processor associated with a connector arrangement for interconnecting an appliance with a power supply; and
a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith and executable by the at least one processor, the computer readable program code comprising:
computer readable program code that receives, via the connector arrangement, consumption information related to the appliance;
computer readable program code that clusters, using g-means clustering, the power consumption information;
computer readable program that identifies, based on the clustered power consumption information, at least one of: an appliance category, a current operating state of the appliance, and a current standby state of the appliance; and
computer readable program code configured to, in response to the identifying of the at least one of: an appliance category, an appliance operating state and an appliance standby state:
detect at least one of: anomalous appliance behavior and deficient power quality; and
undertake a control action relative to the detection of the at least one of: anomalous appliance behavior and deficient power quality.

11. A computer program product comprising:
a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising:
computer readable program code that receives, via a connector arrangement, consumption information related to an appliance;
computer readable program code that clusters, using g-means clustering, the power consumption information;
computer readable program code that identifies, based on the clustered power consumption information, at least one of: an appliance category, a current operating state of the appliance, and a current standby state of the appliance; and
computer readable program code configured to, in response to the identifying of the at least one of: an appliance category, an appliance operating state and an appliance standby state:
detect at least one of: anomalous appliance behavior and deficient power quality; and
undertake a control action relative to the detection of the at least one of: anomalous appliance behavior and deficient power quality.

12. The computer program product according to claim 11 , wherein said computer readable program code is configured to provide a warning to the user relative to the at least one of: anomalous appliance behavior and deficient power quality.

13. The computer program product according to claim 11 , wherein said computer readable program code is configured to identify an appliance category via determining at least one of: energy usage mode of operation and duration of an energy usage mode.

14. The computer program product according to claim 11 , wherein said computer readable program code is configured to identify an appliance category via communicating solely with the appliance.

15. The computer program product according to claim 11 , wherein said computer readable program code is configured to store data relating to appliance traits from manufacture.

16. The computer program product according to claim 11 , wherein said computer readable program code is configured to:
learn appliance performance traits during a predetermined period of initial usage of the appliance; and
store data related to the learned appliance performance traits.

17. The computer program product according to claim 11 , wherein said computer readable program code is configured to:
identify a current standby state via identifying, during appliance operation, at least one of: a standby mode and a mode with standby characteristics;
detect anomalous appliance behavior; and
undertake a control action via performing at least one of: switching off the appliance and informing a user of the current standby state identified.

18. The computer program product according to claim 11 , wherein said computer readable program code is configured to:
detect deficient power quality via detecting power quality deterioration relative to the appliance; and
undertake a control action via informing a user of the power quality deterioration and suggesting corrective action.

19. The computer program product

Assignees

• IBM
• Univ Brunei Darussalam
• Univsersiti Brunei Darussalam

Inventors

• Arya Vijay
• Ganu Tanuja Hrishikesh
• Husain Saiful A
• Kalyanaraman Shivkumar
• Kumar Ashok Pon
• Liyanage Chandratilak De Silva
• Rahayu Dwi
• Seetharamakrishnan Devasenapathi Periagraharam

Classifications

• G05B2219/2642

  Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house · CPC title

• G05B2219/23316

  Standby, inactive, sleep or active, operation mode · CPC title

• G05B15/02 Primary

  electric · CPC title

• G05B23/0291 Primary

  Switching into safety or degraded mode, e.g. protection and supervision after failure · CPC title