Patent Issued for Computer Monitoring System, Apparatus And Method For Monitoring Appliance Operation (USPTO 10,965,487)

2021 APR 08 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx journalists, a patent by the inventors Devereaux, Ramsey (San Antonio, TX); Gray, Cristin (San Antonio, TX); Tracey, Shane (San Antonio, TX); Buehrle, Amber K. (Phoenix, AZ), filed on November 22, 2019, was published online on April 12, 2021.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 10,965,487, is United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “With regards to electrical, water and gas appliances, a primary problem exists with regards to damage caused by faulty appliances and/or inefficient operation. A tertiary problem is that a device does not currently exist which monitors various appliances and appliance types in a household over time to determine if their fitness is deteriorating, determine their level of operating efficiency and ways to improve it and/or provide intelligence on the failing appliance sub-component and how to repair it.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The purpose and advantages of the below described illustrated embodiments will be set forth in and apparent from the description that follows. Additional advantages of the illustrated embodiments will be realized and attained by the devices, systems and methods particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof, as well as from the appended drawings.

“To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the illustrated embodiments, in one aspect, a system and method to monitor individual appliance performance is described in which a monitor module is provided for aggregating data from a plurality of appliances wherein the module includes. Included in the monitor device is a gateway device configured to capture operational data relating to each of the plurality of appliances and an analyzing device configured to determine individual operational characteristics for each of the appliances from analysis of the captured operational data. A notification device is further provided which is configured to provide information to a user regarding the determined operational characteristics for each of the appliances.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed is:

“1. A system for monitoring individual appliance performance for aggregating data from a plurality of appliances, comprising: a gateway device configured to capture operational data relating to each of the plurality of appliances associated with a user; an analyzing device configured to determine individual operational characteristics for each of the appliances associated with the user from analysis of the captured operational data; and a gaming module configured to provide electronic gameplay whereby the determined appliance individual operational characteristics associated with the user is compared against predetermined expected power consumption thresholds for each of plurality of appliances associated with the user.

“2. The system as recited in claim 1, whereby the electronic gameplay further includes comparing the determined appliance individual operational characteristics associated with the user against determined appliance individual operational characteristics associated with at least one other user.

“3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the gateway device is communicatively coupled to a circuit breaker device which is communicatively coupled to each of the plurality of appliances.

“4. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the gateway device is communicatively coupled to a computer server which is communicatively coupled to each of the plurality of appliances.

“5. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the appliances are chosen from the group consisting of at least a lighting system/component, clothes dryer, washing machine, dishwasher, video/audio device and HVAC device.

“6. The system as recited in claim 1, further including a database having prescribed operating appliance thresholds regarding resource consumption and operating time data, wherein the database is operational to interact with the notification device such that the notification device alerts a user upon determined variation of individualized operational data from expected operating thresholds regarding appliance operation.

“7. The system as recited in claim 1, further including a control module operatively coupled to the monitor module for controlling an operational aspect for each of the coupled appliances.

“8. The system as recited in claim 7, further comprising a graphical user interface and data processing apparatus, wherein the graphical user interface is configured to: gather contextual information related to user activity for each coupled appliance; gather information regarding user appliance service preferences; display appliance resource consumption; and display alternative modes of operation for the coupled appliances to mitigate resource consumption.

“9. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the monitoring device is further configured to detect and determine a life event change regarding a user for one of the coupled appliances by detecting certain usage variations regarding at least one coupled appliance.

“10. The system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a notification device configured to provide information to a user regarding the determined operational characteristics for each of the appliances.

“11. A method for monitor individual appliance performance for aggregating data from a plurality of appliances, comprising: capturing operational electronic data relating to each of the plurality of appliances associated with a user; determining individual operational characteristics for each of the appliances associated with the user from analysis of the captured operational data; and providing the captured operational electronic data and the determined individual operational characteristics to a gaming module configured to provide electronic gameplay whereby the determined appliance individual operational characteristics associated with the user is compared against predetermined expected power consumption thresholds for each of plurality of appliances associated with the user.

“12. The method as recited in claim 11, whereby the electronic gameplay further includes comparing the determined appliance individual operational characteristics associated with the user against determined appliance individual operational characteristics associated with at least one other user.

“13. The method as recited in claim 11, further including providing a gateway device communicatively coupled to a circuit breaker device which is communicatively coupled to each of the plurality of appliances.

“14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the gateway device is communicatively coupled to a computer server which is communicatively coupled to each of the plurality of appliances.

“15. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the appliances are chosen from the group consisting of at least a lighting system/component, clothes dryer, washing machine, dishwasher, video/audio device and HVAC device.

“16. The method as recited in claim 11, further including a database having prescribed operating appliance thresholds regarding resource consumption and operating time data, wherein the database is operational to interact with the notification device such that the notification device alerts a user upon determined variation of individualized operational data from expected operating thresholds regarding appliance operation.

“17. The system as recited in claim 11, further including a control module operatively coupled to a monitor module for controlling an operational aspect for each of the coupled appliances.

“18. The system as recited in claim 17, further comprising a graphical user interface and data processing apparatus, wherein the graphical user interface is configured to: gather contextual information related to user activity for each coupled appliance; gather information regarding user appliance service preferences; display appliance resource consumption; and display alternative modes of operation for the coupled appliances to mitigate resource consumption.

“19. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein the monitoring device is further configured to detect and determine a life event change regarding a user for one of the coupled appliances by detecting certain usage variations regarding at least one coupled appliance.

“20. The method as recited in claim 11, further comprising a notification device configured to provide information to a user regarding the determined operational characteristics for each of the appliances.”

For more information, see this patent: Devereaux, Ramsey; Gray, Cristin; Tracey, Shane; Buehrle, Amber K. Computer Monitoring System, Apparatus And Method For Monitoring Appliance Operation. U.S. Patent Number 10,965,487, filed November 22, 2019, and published online on April 12, 2021. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=10,965,487.PN.&OS=PN/10,965,487RS=PN/10,965,487

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