Power consumption measurement and control apparatus, method, and non-transitory computer readable storage medium thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9570944-B2
Application number	US-201314104867-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 12, 2013
Priority date	Nov 25, 2013
Publication date	Feb 14, 2017
Grant date	Feb 14, 2017

Abstract

A power consumption measurement and control apparatus, method, and non-transitory computer readable storage medium thereof are provided. The power consumption measurement and control apparatus includes a power input line, a power output line, a sensing interface, a processing unit, a button, and a power consumption measurement and control unit. The power consumption measurement and control unit has a logic switch. When the logic switch is off and the processing unit receives an identification signal from the sensing interface, the logic switch is turned on. When the logic switch is on and one of the following conditions happens, the logic switch is turned off: (a) another identification signal from the sensing interface is received, and (b) the power consumption amount flowing out the power output line is below a predetermined threshold over a predetermined time interval.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A power consumption measurement and control apparatus comprising:
a power input line;
a power output line;
a sensing interface;
a power consumption measurement and control unit, comprising a logic switch connected to the power input line and the power output line, wherein the power consumption measurement and control unit further measures a power consumption amount flowing out the power output line;
a processing unit, being electrically connected to the sensing interface and the power consumption measurement and control unit; and
a storage unit, being stored with a user list and a power consumption recording table, wherein a user number and a user identification list is recorded in the user list,
wherein the processing unit transmits a first control signal to the power consumption measurement and control unit and the logic switch is turned on in response to the first control signal when the logic switch is off and the processing unit receives a first identification signal from the sensing interface,
wherein the processing unit transmits a second control signal to the power consumption measurement and control unit and the logic switch is turned off in response to the second control signal when the logic switch is on and one of the following conditions happens: (a) the processing unit receives a second identification signal from the sensing interface and (b) the processing unit determines that the power consumption amount is below a predetermined threshold over a predetermined time interval,
wherein the processing unit further receives a plurality of identification signals from the sensing interface,
wherein for each of the identification signals: (c) the processing unit further compares an identification code carried by the identification signal with the user identification list after the processing unit receives the identification signal from the sensing interface, (d) when the identification code is not included in the user identification list, the processing unit writes the identification code into the user identification list and increases the user number by one, and (e) when the identification code is included in the user identification list, the processing unit removes the identification code from the user identification list and decreases the user number by one.

2. The power consumption measurement and control apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
a button, being electrically connected to the processing unit,
wherein the processing unit transmits the second control signal to the power consumption measurement and control unit and the logic switch is turned off in response to the second control signal when the logic switch is on and the processing unit receives a triggering signal from the button.

3. The power consumption measurement and control apparatus as claimed in claim 2 ,
wherein after the processing unit receives the first identification signal from the sensing interface, the processing unit further adds a first identification code carried by the first identification signal into the user identification list and the processing unit increases the user number by one,
wherein the processing unit deletes the content of the user identification list and sets the user number to zero when one of the following conditions happens: the processing unit receives the triggering signal from the button and the processing unit determines that the power consumption amount is below the predetermined threshold over the predetermined time interval.

4. The power consumption measurement and control apparatus as claimed in claim 1 ,
wherein after the processing unit receives the first identification signal from the sensing interface, the processing unit further adds a first identification code carried by the first identification signal into the user identification list and the processing unit increases the user number by one,
wherein when the logic switch is on and the processing unit receives the second identification signal from the sensing interface, the switch logic will be turned off when the following conditions happen: (f) the processing unit determines that an identification code carried by the second identification signal has been stored in the user identification list and (g) the processing unit determines that the user number is one, and wherein the processing unit further deletes the content of the user identification list and sets the user number to zero.

5. The power consumption measurement and control apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the power input line is connected to a power source and the power consumption measurement and control unit sets a basic power value when the logic switch is turned off so that the power source supplies the basic power value to an electric appliance, wherein the basic power value is a power value that allows the electric appliance to perform one of a hot standby operation, a cooling operation, and a combination thereof.

6. The power consumption measurement and control apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
the storage unit is further stored with a key,
the processing unit performs a verification procedure on a verification datum carried by the first identification signal by using the key when the processing unit receives the first identification signal from the sensing interface, and the logic switch is turned on when the verification data passes the verification procedure.

7. The power consumption measurement and control apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the logic switch is on over a time interval and the power consumption measurement and control unit further records an interval power consumption amount flowing out the power output line within the time interval.

8. The power consumption measurement and control apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the logic switch is on over a plurality of time intervals, the power consumption measurement and control unit further records an interval power consumption amount flowing out the power output line within each of the time intervals, and the processing unit further cumulates the interval power consumption amounts into an accumulative power consumption amount.

9. The power consumption measurement and control apparatus as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the processing unit further individually defines a time point when one of the following conditions happens: when the processing unit receives each of the identification signals from the sensing interface, when the processing unit receives the triggering signal from the button, and when the processing unit determines that the power consumption amount is below the predetermined threshold over the predetermined time interval, wherein the processing unit further defines a plurality of time intervals according to the time points,
wherein the power consumption measurement and control unit further measures an interval power consumption amount flowing out the power output line within each of the time intervals and the processing unit performs the following operations for each of the time intervals: (f) calculating an interval individual power consumption amount according to the interval power consumption amount and the user number of the time interval, (g) retrieving at least one personal power consumption record from the power consumption recording table according to at least one identification code recorded in the user identification list, wherein the at least one personal power consumption record corresponds to the at least one identification code, and (h) adding the interval individual power consumption amount into the at least one personal power consumption record.

10. The power consumption measurement and control apparatus as clai

Assignees

• Inst Information Ind

Inventors

• Wu Jui-Ming

Classifications

• H02J13/13

  characterised by the transmission of data to equipment in the power network · CPC title

• H02J13/10

  characterised by displaying of information or by user interaction, e.g. supervisory control and data acquisition [SCADA] systems · CPC title

• H02J13/12

  Monitoring network conditions, e.g. electrical magnitudes or operational status · CPC title

• Y04S20/327

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y02B90/244

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic