IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,537,387
Granted Patent B2
US 12,537,387 · App. 17/959,948 · Granted Jan 27, 2026

Privacy-preserving configuration of location-specific electrical load models

Inventors: Phillip Ellsworth Stahlfeld (Mountain View, CA); Ananya Gupta (San Francisco, CA); Xinyue Li (San Mateo, CA); Lucas Michael Ackerknecht (San Francisco, CA)
Assignee: X Development LLC
H02J13/00002G05B13/0265G05B13/042H02J2203/20
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,537,387
App. No.
17/959,948
Granted
Jan 27, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including medium-encoded computer program products, for configuring location-specific electrical load models while preserving privacy. A first machine learning model configured to predict electrical load curves of an electrical utility grid can be obtained from a server. Load values associated with a particular region of the electrical utility grid can be obtained. The load values can be applied as calibration input to the first machine learning model to produce first adjustment parameters for the first machine learning model. The first adjustment parameters can be provided to the server.

Claims (46)

1 . A computer implemented method implemented on one or more computing devices, the method comprising:

obtaining, by a first server and from a second server, a first machine learning model configured to predict electrical load curves of an electrical utility grid, wherein the first server is associated with a particular region of the electrical utility grid;

obtaining, by the first server and from a plurality of electric meters within the particular region, load values associated with the particular region of the electrical utility grid;

applying, by the first server, the load values as calibration input to the first machine learning model to produce first adjustment parameters for the first machine learning model; and

providing, to the second server, the first adjustment parameters without disclosing the load values to the second server, thereby, preserving privacy of customers associated with the load values;

configuring, by the first server, the first machine learning model according to the first adjustment parameters; and

processing an input using the first machine learning model to produce a predicted electrical load curve at the particular region of the electrical utility grid.

2 . The computer implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing the electrical load curve.

3 . The computer implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

obtaining, from the second server, second adjustment parameters; and

configuring, by the first server, the first machine learning model according to the second adjustment parameters.

4 . The computer implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

obtaining, from the second server, a second machine learning model configured, at least in part, according to the first adjustment parameters.

5 . The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the first adjustment parameters include one or more gradients.

6 . The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining, by the first server and from a plurality of electric meters within the particular region, load values associated with the particular region of the electrical utility grid comprises: receiving data from a meter over a network.

7 . The computer implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the meter is an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) meter.

8 . The computer implemented method of claim 7 , wherein at least a subset of the load values are provided by an automated meter reading (AMR) system.

9 . The computer implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising obtaining load values associated with the particular region of the electrical utility grid by reading data stored on a storage device or on a storage system.

10 . The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the first machine learning model is trained to predict generalized electrical load curves for a generic electrical utility grid.

11 . The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein the number of applied load values used as calibration input to the first machine learning model does not exceed ten million.

12 . A system comprising one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that when executed by the one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

obtaining, by a first server and from a second server, a first machine learning model configured to predict electrical load curves of an electrical utility grid, wherein the first server is associated with a particular region of the electrical utility grid;

obtaining, by the first server and from a plurality of electric meters within the particular region, load values associated with the particular region of the electrical utility grid;

applying, by the first server, the load values as calibration input to the first machine learning model to produce first adjustment parameters for the first machine learning model; and

providing, to the second server, the first adjustment parameters without disclosing the load values to the second server, thereby, preserving privacy of customers associated with the load values;

configuring, by the first server, the first machine learning model according to the first adjustment parameters; and

processing an input using the first machine learning model to produce a predicted electrical load curve at the particular region of the electrical utility grid.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise:

providing the electrical load curve.

14 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise:

obtaining, from the second server, second adjustment parameters; and

configuring, by the first server, the first machine learning model according to the second adjustment parameters.

15 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise:

obtaining, from the second server, a second machine learning model configured, at least in part, according to the first adjustment parameters.

16 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the first adjustment parameters include one or more gradients.

17 . The system of claim 12 , wherein obtaining, by the first server and from a plurality of electric meters within the particular region, load values associated with the particular region of the electrical utility grid comprises: receiving data from a meter over a network.

18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the meter is an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) meter.

19 . The system of claim 12 , further comprising obtaining load values associated with the particular region of the electrical utility grid by reading data stored on a storage device or on a storage system.

20 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

obtaining, by a first server and from a second server, a first machine learning model configured to predict electrical load curves of an electrical utility grid, wherein the first server is associated with a particular region of the electrical utility grid;

obtaining, by the first server and from a plurality of electric meters within the particular region, load values associated with the particular region of the electrical utility grid;

applying, by the first server, the load values as calibration input to the first machine learning model to produce first adjustment parameters for the first machine learning model; and

providing, to the second server, the first adjustment parameters without disclosing the load values to the second server, thereby, preserving privacy of customers associated with the load values;

configuring, by the first server, the first machine learning model according to the first adjustment parameters; and

processing an input using the first machine learning model to produce a predicted electrical load curve at the particular region of the electrical utility grid.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 1, 2023
From: STAHLFELD, PHILLIP ELLSWORTH; GUPTA, ANANYA; LI, XINYUE; ACKERKNECHT, LUCAS MICHAEL
To: X DEVELOPMENT LLC
Reel/Frame 062564/0010 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20240113555A1 · Apr 4, 2024
References Cited (31)
US 8359124B2 · Zhou et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 9671843B2 · Ellis et al. · 2017 [cited by applicant]
US 10755295B2 · Illic et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 11139961B2 · Angel et al. · 2021 [cited by applicant]
US 11188791B2 · Choudhury et al. · 2021 [cited by applicant]
US 11373115B2 · Kopp · 2022 [cited by examiner]
US 20160042049A1 · Shilts · 2016 [cited by examiner]
US 20190236725A1 · Benjamin · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 20190297395A1 · Huang · 2019 [cited by examiner]
US 20200293887A1 · Brouwer et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 20200379494A1 · Wong et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 20220092346A1 · Jones · 2022 [cited by examiner]
US 20230177349A1 · Balakrishnan · 2023 [cited by examiner]
US 20230359907A1 · Augenstein · 2023 [cited by examiner]
US 20240063637A1 · Chen · 2024 [cited by examiner]
CN 113609521 · 2021 [cited by applicant]
CN 114202070A · 2022 [cited by examiner]
WO WO2021118452 · 2021 [cited by applicant]
Arif et al., “Load modeling—A review,” IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, Nov. 2018, 9(6):5986-5999. [cited by applicant]
Chamikara et al., “Privacy preserving distributed machine learning with federated learning,” Computer Communications, Apr. 2021, 171:112-125. [cited by applicant]
Chen et al., “Electrical load modeling with considering distribution network,” 2007 iREP Symposium-Bulk Power System Dynamics and Control-VII. Revitalizing Operational Reliability, Aug. 2007, 6 pages. [cited by applicant]
Eia.gov [online], “How many smart meters are installed in the United States, and who has them?,” last updated Nov. 2, 2021, retrieved on Aug. 17, 2022, retrieved from URL<https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=108&t-… [cited by applicant]
Fan et al., “Federated Few-Shot Learning with Adversarial Learning,” 2021 19th International Symposium on Modeling and Optimization in Mobile, Ad hoc, and Wireless Networks (WiOpt), Oct. 2021, 10 pages. [cited by applicant]
Ju et al., “Load modeling for wide area power system,” International Journal of Electrical Power & Energy Systems, May 2011, 33(4):909-917. [cited by applicant]
Kosterev et al., “Load modeling in power system studies: WECC progress update,” 2008 IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting-Conversion and Delivery of Electrical Energy in the 21st Century, Jul. 2008, 8 pages. [cited by applicant]
Li et al., “Federated Learning Systems: Vision, Hype and Reality for Data Privacy and Protection,” CoRR, Jul. 2019, arxiv.org/abs/1907.09693, 44 pages. [cited by applicant]
Milanovic et al., “International industry practice on power system load modeling,” IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, Aug. 2013, 28(3):3038-3046. [cited by applicant]
Muthukumar, “Few-Shot Learning Text Classification in Federated Environments,” 2021 Smart Technologies, Communication and Robotics (STCR), Oct. 2021, pp. 1-3. [cited by applicant]
Snell et al., “Prototypical networks for few-shot learning,” Advances in neural information processing systems 30, 2017, 11 pages. [cited by applicant]
Truex et al., “A hybrid approach to privacy-preserving federated learning,” AISec'19 Proceedings of the 12th ACM workshop on artificial intelligence and security, Nov. 2019, pp. 1-11. [cited by applicant]
Wang et al., “Generalizing from a few examples: A survey on few-shot learning,” ACM computing surveys, May 2021, 53(3):1-34. [cited by applicant]