SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR LOCATION DETERMINATION OF DEVICES USING NETWORK FINGERPRINTS FOR POWER MANAGEMENT
A system and methods that enables the determination of the location of a device using a network fingerprint of a known location on the electrical grid. A collection of communication based information is utilized to construct a network fingerprint that is subsequently used to determine whether a device is at a previously known or unknown location. By detecting differences in some or all of this set of information, a system determines whether an electric car has moved from one known location to another or otherwise left a known location. Determining a change in the location of a device, the device or a server take further actions, such as: notifying a user, notifying another server, initiating a configuration process, or operating in different modes. Knowledge about network location assist with assessing the overall load characteristics of a given area of a power grid, and with determining billing related matters.
1 . A method for determining the location of devices on power flow management system using network fingerprints, comprising:
receiving network information, wherein the network information is associated with a plurality of electric devices;
generating a network fingerprint based on the network information; storing the network fingerprint in a database;
detecting a change in device information of at least one of the plurality of electric devices;
comparing the changed device information of the at least one of the plurality of electric devices with the network fingerprint; and
determining a location of the at least one of the plurality of electric devices based on the network fingerprint.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the network information is received by a power flow management system.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the network information is received by at least one of the plurality of electric devices.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the database is stored by a power flow management system.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the database is stored by at least one of the plurality of electric devices.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the network fingerprint is generated using an approach selected from a group consisting of Global Positioning System (GPS) or cellular tower based Location Based Services (LBS).
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the device information of the at least one of the plurality of electric devices is information selected from a group consisting of a MAC addresses, IP addresses, or trace routes.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the changed device information and the network fingerprint is compared using pattern matching.
9 . (canceled)
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the location of the at least one of the plurality of electric devices is a network reference.
11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: assigning a random location identifier.