Methods And Systems Of Proactive Monitoring And Metering Of Lighting Devices

Abstract

Various embodiments of methods and systems of proactive monitoring and metering of lighting devices are described herein. A light monitoring and metering system may include a specification database that stores the technical specification of the lighting device, a usage database that records the usage data of the lighting device, a data acquisition subsystem that obtains the identity of the lighting device in use, and a data processing subsystem that meters the usage or calculates the lumen output of the lighting device or the remaining lifetime of the driver of the light device.

Claims

1. A light monitoring and metering system, comprising: a usage database capable of storing usage data of at least one lighting device; a data acquisition subsystem capable of obtaining an identity of the at least one lighting device; and a data processing subsystem capable of metering the usage data of the at least one lighting device and storing the usage data in the usage database.

2. The light monitoring and metering system of claim 1, further comprising: a specification database capable of storing technical specification data of at least lumen maintenance data of the at least one lighting device or a lifetime of a driver of the at least one lighting device, wherein the data processing subsystem is further configured to calculate a lumen output of the at least one lighting device or a remaining lifetime of the driver of the at least one lighting device by using the usage data in the usage database and the technical specification data associated with the at least one lighting device in the specification database.

3. The light monitoring and metering system of claim 2, wherein the usage database is further configured to record additional hours-per-day usage data, and wherein the data processing subsystem is further configured to calculate an actual total usage hour of the at least one lighting device based at least in part on the additional hours-per-day usage data.

4. The light monitoring and metering system of claim 3, wherein the usage database is further configured to record light dimming information, and wherein the data processing subsystem is further configured to calculate an effective daily usage time of the at least one lighting device based at least in part on the light dimming information.

5. The light monitoring and metering system of claim 1, wherein the at least one lighting device is physically external to the lighting monitoring and metering system.

6. The light monitoring and metering system of claim 1, wherein the data acquisition subsystem and the data processing subsystem are partially or wholly embedded in the at least one lighting device.

7. The light monitoring and metering system of claim 6, wherein the data acquisition subsystem and the data processing subsystem are physically combined into a single subsystem.

8. The light monitoring and metering system of claim 7, wherein an identity of the combined single subsystem is used as the identity of the at least one lighting device.

9. The light monitoring and metering system of claim 2, wherein at least some of the specification database, the usage database, the data acquisition subsystem, and the data processing subsystem communicate with each other through a point-to-point communication mechanism, a local area network, a wide area network, the Internet, or a combination thereof in either or both of wired and wireless ways.

10. The light monitoring and metering system of claim 1, wherein the usage data of the at least one lighting device stored in the usage database is reported by the data processing subsystem to an external billing system in either or both of wired and wireless ways to calculate a usage charge of the at least one lighting device.

11. The light monitoring and metering system of claim 1, wherein a usage allowance of the at least one lighting device, in terms of time, a monetary amount, energy consumption, or any other form of credit, is configured and enforced by the data processing subsystem.

12. A method of proactive monitoring and metering of lighting devices, comprising: storing, in a usage database, usage data of at least one lighting device; obtaining, by a data acquisition subsystem, an identity of the at least one lighting device; and metering, by a data processing subsystem, the usage data of the at least one lighting device to save the usage data in the usage database.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising: storing, by a specification database, technical specification data of at least the lumen maintenance data of the at least one lighting device or a lifetime of a driver of the at least one lighting device; and calculating, by the data processing subsystem, a lumen output of the at least one lighting device or a remaining lifetime of the driver of the at least one lighting device by using the usage data in the usage database and the technical specification data associated with the at least one lighting device in the specification database.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising: recording, by the usage database, additional hours-per-day usage data; and calculating, by the data processing subsystem, an actual total usage hour of the at least one lighting device based at least in part on the additional hours-per-day usage data.

15. The method of claims 14, further comprising: recording, by the usage database, light dimming information; and calculating, by the data processing subsystem, an effective daily usage time of the at least one lighting device based at least in part on the light dimming information.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising: reporting, by the data processing subsystem, the usage data of the at least one lighting device stored in the usage database to an external billing system in either or both of wired and wireless ways to calculate a usage charge of the at least one lighting device.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising: configuring, by the data processing subsystem, a usage allowance of the at least one lighting device; and enforcing, by the data processing subsystem, the usage allowance of the at least one lighting device in terms of time, a monetary amount, energy consumption, or any other form of credit.

18. A usage metering system, comprising: an identity of the system; a usage database; and a data processing subsystem, wherein: the data processing subsystem has access to a power supply line to an electrical equipment; the data processing subsystem is configured to meter usage data of the electrical equipment through the access to the power supply line to the electrical equipment, and save the usage data in the usage database; and the data processing subsystem reports the usage data and the identity of system to an external billing system in either or both of wired and wireless ways to calculate a usage charge of the electrical equipment.

19. The usage metering system of claim 18, wherein the usage metering system physically resides inside the electrical equipment to meter the electrical equipment.

20. A usage allowance enforcement system, comprising: an identity of the system; a usage database; and a data processing subsystem, wherein: the data processing subsystem has access to a power supply line to an electrical equipment; the data processing subsystem is configured to accept a usage allowance of the electrical equipment where the usage allowance is in the form of a monetary amount, time duration, an energy consumption measure, or any other form of usage credit; the data processing subsystem is configured to enforce the usage allowance through the access to the power supply line to the at least one electrical equipment by turning on, off, or partially on the electrical equipment; and the usage allowance is optionally associated with the identity of the system.

21. The usage allowance enforcement system of claim 20, wherein the system resides inside the electrical equipment to enforce the usage allowance on the electrical equipment.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] The accompanying drawings are included to aid further understanding of the present disclosure, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of the present disclosure. The drawings illustrate a select number of embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the detailed description below, serve to explain the principles of the present disclosure. It is appreciable that the drawings are not necessarily in scale as some components may be shown to be out of proportion than the size in actual implementation in order to clearly illustrate the concept of the present disclosure.

[0026] FIG. 1 schematically depicts an embodiment of the present disclosure wherein the monitoring and metering system comprises of one specification database, one usage database, one data processing subsystem, and one data acquisition subsystem, and the subsystems are physically external to the lighting device in use.

[0027] FIG. 2 schematically depicts an embodiment of the present disclosure wherein the monitoring and metering system is embedded in the lighting device in use, and the data acquisition subsystem and the data processing subsystem are physically combined into a single subsystem.

[0028] FIG. 3 schematically depicts an embodiment of the present disclosure wherein the usage data is reported to an external billing system for calculating the usage charge of the lighting device in use. Moreover, the external system can set the usage allowance of the lighting device in use through the monitoring and metering system.

[0029] FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an example process in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0030] Various implementations of the present disclosure and related inventive concepts are described below. It should be acknowledged, however, that the present disclosure is not limited to any particular manner of implementation, and that the various embodiments discussed explicitly herein are primarily for purposes of illustration.

[0031] FIG. 1 illustrates one non-limiting example of a system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. The monitoring and metering system 100 includes one specification database 101, one usage database 102, one data processing subsystem 103, and one data acquisition subsystem 104.

[0032] The specification database 101 contains the specification information of the light device and its driver to be monitored by the present disclosure. The information includes, but is not limited to, the model information of the light lighting device and the lumen maintenance decay data, and the model information of each driver and its lifetime data.

[0033] The usage database 102 includes, but is not limited to, the start time, the daily operation hour, the dimming information, and the effective daily usage hour of LED lamps and drivers. The usage database 102 may also contains the energy consumption data such KWH data.

[0034] In a simplified embodiment of the present disclosure where only the metering of the lighting device is needed, but not the detailed monitoring, the specification database 101 may be omitted.

[0035] The data processing subsystem 103 collects the usage data, stores the data in the usage database 102, computes the total operation hours and the effective daily usage hours of a lighting device and compares it with the corresponding lumen maintenance decay data in the specification database 101 to determine the current lumen output level of the lighting device. The data processing subsystem 103 also computes total operation hours of a lighting device driver and compares them with the corresponding driver lifetime data in the specification database 101 to determine the remaining lifetime of the driver.

[0036] Though not shown in the figure, the data processing subsystem 103 may have a user interface for a user to enter the data, such as the start date, current date, the daily operation hours, the dimming information, and the usage allowance into the subsystem.

[0037] The subsystems of the embodiment 100 may run on one or more personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone, or any other computing device or equipment with data entry, processing, and storage capabilities, and when running on more than one physical computing devices, the components of the system are connected via wired or wireless or the combination thereof communication mechanism through point-to-point, local area network, wide area network, or internet.

[0038] In FIG. 1, the embodiment of the present disclosure resides externally to the lighting device 105 being monitored. However, this is not necessarily the case. FIG. 2 illustrates another example embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein the monitoring and metering system 200 is embedded inside the lighting device 106 in use. Moreover, the data acquisition subsystem and the data processing subsystem are merged into one combined data acquisition/processing subsystem 107. In this case of embedding the monitoring and metering system in the lighting device in use, the system may only monitor one lighting device. Thus, there is a one-to-one relationship between the identity of the lighting device 106 and the identity of the combined data acquisition/processing subsystem 107. In this case the identity of the combined data acquisition/processing subsystem 107 can be used in place of the identity of the lighting device 106.

[0039] FIG. 3 illustrates another aspect of the present disclosure wherein the monitoring and metering system 100 reports the usage data of a lighting device in use to an external billing system 300. With the usage data, the external billing system 300 may calculate the charge of the lighting device based on the actual usage, similar to a household is charged on its electricity according to the actual usage of the electricity. Additionally, the external billing system 300 may set an allowance of a lighting device through the monitoring and metering system 100, and the system enforces the allowance by monitoring the usage of the light device in use. The usage allowance may be in terms of time (e.g., hours), a monetary amount, energy consumption (e.g., KWH), or any other form of credit. In the even that allowance is reached, the system 100 may turn off the lighting device, alert the user, or lower the lighting level. It is not required to set the usage allowance through the external billing system. The usage allowance may be configured directly by the monitoring and metering system through, for example, the user interface of the data acquisition subsystem or a cash card reader.

[0040] In at least some embodiments, example process 400 may store the technical specification of the lighting device and its driver in a specification database 410, store the usage data in a usage database 420, obtain the identity of the lighting device 430, meter the usage and the light output and the lifetime of the lighting device driver 440, and report the usage data 450.

[0041] When light output of the lighting device and the lifetime of the lighting device driver are not required, the process of storing technical specification in the specification database 410 may be omitted, and the process 440 may be reduced to only meter the usage of the lighting device.

[0042] Although the techniques have been described in language specific to certain applications, it is to be understood that the appended claims are not necessarily limited to the specific features or applications described herein. Rather, the specific features and examples are disclosed as non-limiting exemplary forms of implementing such techniques.

[0043] As used in this application, the term “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or” rather than an exclusive “or.” That is, unless specified otherwise or clear from context, “X employs A or B” is intended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations. That is, if X employs A; X employs B; or X employs both A and B, then “X employs A or B” is satisfied under any of the foregoing instances. In addition, the articles “a” and “an” as used in this application and the appended claims should generally be construed to mean “one or more,” unless specified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singular form.

[0044] For the purposes of this disclosure and the claims that follow, the terms “coupled” and “connected” may have been used to describe how various elements interface. Such described interfacing of various elements may be either direct or indirect.