Granted Patent B2

US 8,635,036 · App. 12/984,260 · Granted Jan 21, 2014

Abstract

Claims (49)

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a power meter in communication with an external device, a request for a graphical user interface associated with at least one of (i) operation of the power meter or (ii) provision of electrical power to one or more loads;

generating, by the power meter based at least in part on the received request, information associated with the graphical user interface;

communicating, by the power meter to the external device, the generated information associated with the graphical user interface; and

collecting information associated with at least one of (i) the operation of the power meter or (ii) one or more devices connected to the power meter, wherein at least a portion of the collected information is utilized to generate the information associated with the graphical user interface, wherein collecting information comprises collecting at least one of (i) an age of the power meter, (ii) identification information for the power meter, (iii) information associated with one or more environmental conditions, (iv) status information for one or more buttons associated with the power meter, (v) phase loading information associated with the power meter, (vi) status information for one or more load control relays, (vii) information associated with an operation of a utility meter in communication with the power meter, (viii) information associated with an electrical load profile, or (ix) information associated with provision of power to one or more external loads.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving a request comprises receiving a request via the Internet.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein collecting information comprises collecting information via at least one of (i) a Home Area Network (HAN) interface, (ii) a ZigBee interface, (iii) a radio frequency (RF) interface, (iv) a local area network (LAN) interface, or (v) a Wi-Fi interface.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, by the power meter from the external device, a command to alter one of (i) the operation of the power meter or (ii) the provision of electrical power; and

processing, by the power meter, the received command.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein receiving a command comprises receiving one of (i) a command to control one or more load control relays associated with the power meter, (ii) a command to control the operation of a utility meter in communication with the power meter, or (iii) a command to control the provision of electrical power to one or more external loads.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein:

receiving a command comprises receiving a command to take an instantaneous action, and

wherein processing the received command comprises processing the received command upon receipt of the command.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein receiving a command comprises receiving a command to take a delayed action, and further comprising:

determining, by the power meter based at least in part upon the received command, a point in time at which the command should be processed,

wherein processing the received command comprises processing the received command once the determined point in time has been reached.

8. The method of claim 4 , wherein receiving a command comprises receiving a conditional command, and further comprising:

identifying, by the power meter based at least in part upon the received command, one or more energy pricing parameters associated with the command; and

determining, by the power meter, that the one or more parameters have been satisfied,

wherein processing the received command comprises processing the received command based upon the determination that the one or more parameters have been satisfied in order to alter the provision of electrical power to one or more electrical loads associated with the command.

9. A power meter, comprising:

at least one memory configured to store computer-executable instructions; and

at least one processor configured to access the at least one memory and execute the computer-executable instructions to:

receive, from an external device, a request for a graphical user interface associated with at least one of (i) operation of the power meter or (ii) provision of electrical power to one or more loads;

generate, based at least in part on the received request, information associated with the graphical user interface;

direct communication of the generated information to the external device; and

collect information associated with at least one of (i) the operation of the power meter or (ii) one or more devices connected to the power meter, wherein at least a portion of the collected information is utilized to generate the information associated with the graphical user interface, wherein the collected information comprises at least one of (i) an age of the power meter, (ii) identification information for the power meter, (iii) information associated with one or more environmental conditions, (iv) status information for one or more buttons associated with the power meter, (v) phase loading information associated with the power meter, (vi) status information for one or more load control relays, (vii) information associated with an operation of a utility meter in communication with the power meter, (viii) information associated with an electrical load profile, or (ix) information associated with provision of power to one or more external loads.

10. The power meter of claim 9 , further comprising:

at least one communications interface configured to receive the request via the Internet.

11. The power meter of claim 9 , wherein the collected information is collected via at least one of (i) a Home Area Network (HAN) interface or (ii) a ZigBee interface, (iii) a radio frequency (RF) interface, (iv) a local area network (LAN) interface, or (v) a Wi-Fi interface.

12. The power meter of claim 9 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

receive, from the external device, a command to alter one of (i) the operation of the power meter or (ii) the provision of electrical power; and

process the received command.

13. The power meter of claim 12 , wherein the received command comprises one of (i) a command to control one or more load control relays associated with the power meter, (ii) a command to control the operation of a utility meter in communication with the power meter, or (iii) a command to control the provision of electrical power to one or more external loads.

14. The power meter of claim 12 , wherein:

the received command comprises a command to take an instantaneous action, and

the at least one processor is configured to process the received command upon receipt of the command.

15. The power meter of claim 12 , wherein:

the received command comprises a command to take a delayed action, and

the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

determine, based at least in part upon the received command, a point in time at which the command should be processed; and

process the received command once the determined point in time has been reached.

16. The power meter of claim 12 , wherein:

the received command comprises a conditional command, and

the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

identify, based at least in part upon the received command, one or more energy pricing parameters associated with the command;

determine that the one or more parameters have been satisfied; and

process the received command based upon the determination that the one or more parameters have been satisfied in order to alter the provision of electrical power to one or more electrical loads associated with the command.

Assignments (9)