CONTROL OF A DISTRIBUTION NETWORK

Abstract

Provided is a bilateral transfer comprising the provision of a performance and a counter-performance, the provision of the performance necessitating the transport of a performance object by means of a distribution network, wherein a change frame indicates the range in which the performance and/or the counter-performance can be modified. Also provided is a method for controlling the transfer which includes steps of recording the performance, the counter-performance, and the change frame; transporting the performance object by means of the distribution network in dependence on an operational state of the distribution network; and determining the counter-performance based on the performance provided within the change frame.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a bilateral transfer, which comprises a provision of a service and a return, wherein the provision of the service requires a transport of a service object by means of a distribution network, the method comprising: recording the service and the return; recording a modification framework, which specifies a range in which the service and/or the return can be modified; transporting the service object by means of the distribution network as a function of an operating state of the distribution network; and determining the return on a basis of the service provided within the modification framework.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transporting comprises feeding in the service object at a source location and extracting the service object at a destination location.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein an availability of the service object in the distribution network at a time of the transport is determined and the service is modified according to the availability.

4. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein a utilization of a component of the distribution network at a time of the transport is determined and the service is modified according to the utilization.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the modification framework comprises an upper limit and/or a lower limit for a service parameter in terms of the service object.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a relationship between the service and the return is defined within an overall modification framework by means of a function.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the service is provided by a first party and the return is provided by a second party, wherein the transportation is controlled by a third party and only the third party determines the return as a function of parameters of the service object during the transport thereof.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the service, the return and the modification framework are defined by means of a smart contract.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transaction is secured by means of a blockchain.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the return comprises a transfer of a digital means of payment.

11. An apparatus for controlling a bilateral transfer, which comprises a provision of a service and a return, wherein the provision of the service requires the transporting of a service object by means of a distribution network, the apparatus comprising: a first interface for accepting details of the service, the return and a modification framework, wherein the modification framework specifies a range in which the service and/or the return can be modified; a second interface for accepting an operating state of the distribution network; and a processing device, which is configured: to record the transport of the service object, and to determine the return on a basis of a service delivered within the modification framework.

12. A system for controlling a bilateral transfer, which comprises a provision of a service and a return, wherein the provision of the service requires the transporting of a service object by means of a distribution network, the system comprising: a distribution network, which is configured to feed in a service object at a source location and to provide the service object at a destination location; an apparatus for determining an operating state of the distribution network; and a processing device, which is configured: to record the service, the return, and a modification framework, wherein the modification framework specifies a range in which the service and/or the return can be modified; to record a transporting of the service object by means of the distribution network as a function of an operating state of the distribution network; and to determine the return on the basis of the service provided within the modification framework.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

[0026] Some of the embodiments will be described in detail, with references to the following Figures, wherein like designations denote like members, wherein:

[0027] FIG. 1 shows an example system; and

[0028] FIG. 2 a flow chart of a method.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] FIG. 1 shows an example system 100. The system 100 comprises a distribution network 105, which is configured for transporting a service object 110 and comprises at least one component 115. The distribution network 105 is connected to one or more first parties 120, here also referred to as suppliers 120, which can feed the service object 110 into the distribution network 105, and one or more second parties 125, which can extract the service object 110 from the distribution network 105 and are also referred to here as consumers 125. The distribution network 105 can be controlled by a third party 130, which here is also called an operator 130.

[0030] In the embodiment shown the supply network 105 is configured for transporting electrical energy (electric current), in other embodiments, however, another substance, a medium, in particular a fluid, or any other form of energy can also be transported. In each case, the supply network 105 is a technical-physical facility, without which the transport cannot be performed. The component 115 can be assigned a capacity, which indicates how much of the service object 110 the component is able to transport. The capacity can determine the usability of the supply network 105.

[0031] The operator 130 comprises or controls an apparatus 135, which can comprise a processing device 140 and, optionally, a storage device 145. By means of an optional first interface 150, the apparatus 135 can accept information, in particular via a contract which will be described in more detail below, and by means of a second interface 155 it can determine an operating state of the distribution network 105. For this purpose the second interface 155 can be attached to a scanning device 160 on or in the distribution network 105, on a component 115, on the supplier 120, on the consumer 125, or between the supply network 105 and the supplier 120 or the consumer 125.

[0032] By means of the scanning device 160, the third party 130 can function as an oracle with respect to a contract 165. The third party 130 acts as a neutral authority that provides a parameter which affects the execution of a contract 165, as will be explained in more detail below.

[0033] The transport of the service object 110 in the distribution network 105 is based on a contract 165, which can ultimately represent a contract or an agreement which the parties 120-130 involved have agreed upon. The contract 165 comprises a service 170, a return 175 and a modification framework 180. The service 170 consists of the provision of the service object 110, wherein the service 170 can be assigned a time, a feed-in location, an extraction location, an amount, a quality, a current or volume flow or different or additional attributes. The return 175 can be defined virtually in any desired way, typically it relates in particular to the transfer of a means of payment, in particular a digital one, for example a crypto-currency, from the consumer 125 to the supplier 120. Usually a portion of the return 175 is also allocated to the operator 130.

[0034] The contract 165 also defines the relationship that should exist between the service 170 and the return 175. The relationship can be specified as a fixed value or be defined as a function of one or more of the above-mentioned parameters. This relationship can also be called a price, although the return 175 does not need to be in a monetary form.

[0035] The contract 165 is usually set at a time at which not all of the conditions under which it will be fulfilled are known. For example, a delivery timeor a delivery time framecan be in the future, wherein the capability of the supplier 120 to provide the service object 120 is not known exactly. Also, it cannot be known exactly in which operating state the distribution network 105 is at the time the service is provided. There are often technical reasons prevailing which are inherent in the design, characteristics or utilization of the distribution network 105, and which influence the way in which the contract can be fulfilled.

[0036] Such reasons can be attributed to the operating state of the distribution network 105. The operating state can relate, in particular, to an availability of the service object 120 at the time in question or to the utilization of a component 115. For example, if there is a surplus of electricity in the distribution network 105 illustrated, then under certain circumstances the infeed of additional electricity is not feasible or not possible for technical reasons. If the capacity of a component 115 is exhausted, a transport by the component 115 can be restricted, risky or even impossible.

[0037] It is proposed to define the service 170 and the return 175 such that their conditions or their interaction can be modified by the operator 130 if there is a technical requirement to do so at the time of the provision of the service 170. In particular, the relationship between the service 170 and the return 175, which is commonly also known as the price, can be modified in order to prefer or make more attractive the infeed or the extraction of the service object 120. In this case, on conclusion of the contract 165 the conditions can be specified under which all parties 120, 125, 130 are still prepared to fulfill the contract 165. For example, if the price drops below a predetermined threshold, the supplier 120 may have no further interest in the performance of the contract 165. If the price rises above a different threshold, then the consumer 125 may lose interest in the contract 165. If a problem arises in the area of the energy distribution network 105, then the operator 130 can no longer fulfill the contract 165.

[0038] The price can be specified as a function of a parameter of the energy distribution network 105. The function can have a linear, polynomial or other form and is defined at least in the range of the conditions under which the contract 165 is to be fulfilled.

[0039] The contract 165 can be secured by means of a blockchain procedure, so that it cannot be changed unnoticed after its conclusion. The parties 120-130 can thereby be bound to the contract 165 in an improved way. The execution of the contract 165 can be fully automatic. In this context, the return 175 can be implemented, enabled or at least defined. The return 175 may require a money transfer or a credit note. This may require a further authority which acts as a trustee and manages an account, for example, or a similar entity. This authority may coincide with the operator 130.

[0040] The administration of the smart contract 165 can comprise negotiating conditions, the storage of an approval by the parties and the validation of the contract 165 by another trusted party. This other party may be formed, in particular, by the third party 130.

[0041] For the administration of contracts 165 a separate infrastructure may be necessary in order to ensure a sufficient degree of security, availability and trustworthiness. This may involve, in particular, maintaining an asset register, in other words, a list of the component parts of a contract 165 or a plurality of contracts 165. The asset register can be mirrored, in other words its content is updated synchronously on a periodic or event-controlled basis at different facilities. The mirroring is carried out in a fault-tolerant manner. The execution of a contract 165 can be secured using hash chains, in particular by means of a blockchain procedure in which all transactions are chained together using cryptographic methods.

[0042] FIG. 2 shows a flow diagram of a method 200 for controlling a bilateral transfer.

[0043] The method 200 is configured to control the system 100 of FIG. 1 or one or more of its parts.

[0044] In a step 205, the service 170, the return 175 and the modification framework 180, which are usually included in a contract 165, are recorded. Further conditions may be specified which comprise, for example, a variable price, i.e. a parameter-dependent relationship between the service 170 and the return 175. The parameter in this case refers primarily to the distribution network 105, one of its components 115 or properties, or the transport process with which the service object 120 is transported by the distribution network 105. One or more conditions can also be specified under which the contract 165 is to be executed in general. These conditions can comprise, for example, a time, a time interval or a price. Usually, all specified conditions must be met for the contract 165 to be executed.

[0045] In a step 210, a check is made to determine whether the one or more conditions are met. If this is the case, in a step 215 the transporting of the service object 110 can be recorded. To achieve this, for example, one of the scanning devices 160 can be queried, which record the flow of the service object 110 into, through or out of the distribution network 105.

[0046] An operating state of the distribution network 105, which can affect the transport process, is determined in parallel with the transport process in a step 220.

[0047] The operating state can determine whether and in what way and/or to what extent the contract 165 is modified from its original parameters. To this end, in a step 225 on the basis of the determined operating state and the observed transport it can be determined which service 170 has been provided, and how the service 165 provided is to be valued.

[0048] Accordingly, in a step 230, on the basis of the contract 165 and the applicable parameters it can be determined which return 175 should be assigned to the service 170. In so doing, the originally concluded contract 165 can be modified within the modification framework 180. In one embodiment, for example, the operating state of the distribution network 105 affects the price, which describes the relationship between service 170 and return 175. In one embodiment, the amount of the service object accepted or provided by the distribution network 105 (possibly, per unit time) is based on the operating state.

[0049] The return 175 usually flows from the consumer 125 to the supplier 120, wherein a portion of the return 175 can flow to the operator 130. Variations of this are also possible, for example, the operator 130 can also owe a return to the supplier 120 if the in-feed had to be reduced or denied on the basis of the operating state of the distribution network 105.

[0050] The method 200 can return to step 210 and be executed again. If in step 210 it was determined that the conditions of the contract 165 are not fulfilled, the transport can be aborted in a step 240. The currently applicable conditions can continue to be monitored in order to restart the transport at a later time if necessary, as described above.

SUMMARY

[0051] In the following explanation, the contract 175 is also referred to as a contract or smart contract. The supplier 120 is called A and the consumer 125 is called B. The operator 130 can coincide with a party TP. The service object 110 is called G.

[0052] A smart contract usually comprises a protocol that can be implemented by one or more computers or other devices and represents a contract. A standard smart ontract usually has the abstract form

C(A,B,$)

[0053] which can be expressed as: Entity A pays entity B the amount $ in an electronic currency. The currency may comprise, in particular, a crypto-currency such as Bitcoin.

[0054] In one variant the smart contract exists in the form

C(A,B,G)

[0055] which can be expressed as Entity A transfers the ownership over the service object G to entity B.

[0056] There are also other types of smart contracts, in which a deposit is paid (which can be paid back if a predefined event occurs) or a multiple payment of a plurality of instances is effected (and the smart ontract can be withdrawn or confirmed depending on decisions of the entities, and possibly on external conditions).

[0057] It is not of concern here how a smart contract is enforced, only what the smart contract can express and how it can be automatically modified after its conclusion on the basis of a condition.

[0058] The preferred method for a smart contract is termed an oracle, where the oracle represents an online service that provides certain data, such as the football results, the value of a share, etc. An oracle is usually replicated by multiple providers, to increase its reliability and security. Here, the smart contract can be specified as an expression of the form

C (A, B, $ [location G], c),
which can be expressed as Entity A gives the amount $ [or the ownership of the service object G] to entity B, if the condition c is true (within a predefined time window) and if the transaction is not then invalid. Other types of smart contracts support auctions, finding the highest bidder and revoking the transactions of all other bidders.

[0059] It is proposed to set up a smart contract between at least two entities A and B in such a way that the smart contract can be modified in a specified manner by a trusted third party TP (trusted party) before the transaction is accepted as valid. In the case of a Smart Grid 105 for the distribution of energy a user A (supplier 120) can decide to sell a certain quantity # of electrical energy (the service object 110, expressed in kWh, for example) at a specific price $ to another entity B at a specific time or within a specific time window T. The smart contract would then appear as follows:

C(A,B, #, $, T)

[0060] This does not describe how the contract between A and B has come into being, for example, by means of an auction or another method. A method is now proposed to conclude the contract with two extensions:

[0061] 1.) A meta-contract sets out the conditions under which a smart contract C is valid and how its conditions can be changed in an approval phase. The meta-contract specifies the modification framework for the actual contract.

[0062] 2.) A modified contract specifies how the confirmed and modified contract was concluded. Expressed another way, the modified contract defines which specific contract, which originated from a meta-contract on the basis of a predefined condition, actually applies. In the following, variables with an apostrophe designate the modified variable in each case; for example, V is modified to V.

[0063] A valid contract C can be created as follows:

[0064] 1.) An entity T creates a meta-contract M, which can be used by the other entities later as a framework contract or master agreement. The entity T can be a trusted authority, which can be formed or operated, in particular, by the operator 130. The meta-contract M has the form:

M=C(T3P, c, R(#, $, T, #, $, T, c, c)),
where T3P is the trusted authority or a member of a group of trusted authorities, which is allowed to modify and confirm a proposed contract, c is a fixed (static) condition, R is a program (executable program code) which outputs TRUE or FALSE (or 0 or 1), depending on whether a pre-defined condition Rcond on (#, $, T, #, $, T, c, c) is TRUE.

[0065] R thus ensures that the old values #, $, T, the modified values #, $, T, the statically expressed condition c and the additional condition c satisfy the pre-defined relation Rcond. In the case of a Smart Grid, R can be as simple as #<=#, which means that the modified value of the transported electrical energy is less than or equal to the contractually accepted value. This kind of clause can be useful in preventing an overloading of the exchange network 105.

[0066] 2.) The entities A and B agree on the conditions of a proposed contract M: C=C (A, B, M, #, $, T), which can be expressed as A commits to sell a certain amount # of electrical energy (e.g. in kWh) to another entity B at a certain time or in a certain time interval T for a particular value $, wherein the contract is dependent on the additional conditions of the meta-contract M. The meta-contract M therefore defines the modification framework in which the concluded contract C can be modified.

[0067] In one implementation, M need not be a copy of a meta-contract but may simply be a kind of pointer or reference to the meta-contract, in particular a hash pointer to M.

[0068] 3.) In order for this contract to be valid, a trusted third party (for example, the third party 130), which is authorized by the meta-contract M to perform this role, can amend the contract C before validating it. This is achieved by a new amended contract:

RC(C(A, B, M, #, $, T), T3P, #, T, c)=RC (C, T3P, #, $, T, c), which can be expressed as: TP validates and accepts the contract C (A, B, M, #, T) which was proposed by A and B, but modifies the values of # to #, $ to $ and T to T. In the case of the Smart Grid it appears useful to have the operator 130 modify the amount # of electrical energy or to add an additional condition c in order to ensure the stability of the electrical exchange network 105.

[0069] The manner in which the values of #, $ and T are modified by T3P and the additional condition c is added must be in accordance with the meta-contract C, which is referred to in the contract. That this is indeed the case, i.e. that an authorized party has amended and approved the contract in an authorized manner, should be reviewed by the entities participating in the system as part of their verification task in the context of smart contracts. In one implementation C does not need to be a copy of the proposed contract, but can be simply a kind of pointer or reference to the contract C.

[0070] Although the present invention has been disclosed in the form of preferred embodiments and variations thereon, it will be understood that numerous additional modifications and variations could be made thereto without departing from the scope of the intention.

[0071] For the sake of clarity, it is to be understood that the use of a or an throughout this application does not exclude a plurality, and comprising does not exclude other steps or elements. The mention of a unit or a module does not preclude the use of more than one unit or module.