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Outage notification device and method

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1. United States Fischer et al US 20060055549A1 a2 Patent Application Publication Pub No US 2006 0055549 1 43 Pub Date Mar 16 2006 54 75 73 21 22 63 OUTAGE NOTIFICATION DEVICE AND METHOD Inventors Roger L Fischer Dallas TX US Russell B Schultz Colcord OK US Correspondence Address HUNTON amp WILLIAMS LLP INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DEPARTMENT 1900 K STREET N W SUITE 1200 WASHINGTON DC 20006 1109 US Assignee Basic Resources Inc Appl No 11 267 298 Filed Nov 7 2005 Related U S Application Data Continuation of application No 10 676 Sep 30 2003 now Pat No 6 963 285 MESSAGE TRAFFIC 655 filed on OUTAGE NOTIFICATION 60 Provisional application No 60 415 070 filed on Sep 30 2002 Publication Classification 51 Int 08 21 00 2006 01 sen ee eee tuae 340 635 57 ABSTRACT An outage notification system for detecting a power outage at a customer location is provided The outage notification system comprises a first outage notification device operably coupled to a first circuit at the customer location a second device operably coupled to a second circuit at the customer location The first device is operable to determine a status of power supply to the first circuit and communicate the status of power supply to the first circuit to the second device The second device is operable to determine
2. audible or visual signals may be provided by the indicator 96 with regard to a plurality of information such as when the devices 60 64 detect that power supply has been lost on the circuit being monitored The indicator 96 may provide sound or light sequences according to pre defined criterion that may be available in a user s manual or on the devices 60 64 so as to be readily available for the user to determine the meaning of the particular sequence In other embodiments the indicator 96 may produce recorded voice messages 0059 devices 60 64 also may be provided with a test button not shown to initiate a diagnostic routine to verify that all of the components of the devices 60 64 are working properly According to another embodiment pressing the test button may initiate communication with the system 16 and or modem data server 18 for diagnostic purposes or for immediately initiating an outage notification alert to the receiver system such as the IVR system 16 In one embodi ment the user depresses the test button not shown for several seconds such as for four seconds and the first outage notification device 60 begins sending RF packets In this embodiment a red LED indicator 96 flashes while packets are being sent In response the second outage notification device 62 and or the communication device 64 send an acknowledgment As RF communications are received by the first outage notification device 60 a green LED
3. manner This update capability allows for continuing functionality to be provided to the communication device 14 and outage detec tion devices 12 without the need to physically change out these devices in the event of a change in function or operation of the outage notification system 10 such as the telephone number where the communication device 14 calls US 2006 0055549 1 more major functionality such as to modify the funda mental manner and method by which the outage detection devices 12 communicate with one another for example 0035 In certain instances it may be more efficient to communicate certain data via one modem data server 18 instead of the IVR system 16 One example of such com munication is where the modem data server 18 provides the communication device 14 with updated information or soft ware or other programs or instructions related to the opera tion of the communication device 14 or outage detection devices 12 performing outage notification services at the customer location Accordingly the communication device 14 may be adapted to alternate between communication with the IVR system 16 and the modem data server 18 as appropriate or as needed 0036 Although the outage detection devices 12 described herein primarily in the context of detecting power outages at a customer location in various embodiments the outage detection devices 12 and or the detector controller device 13 may be configured wit
4. FIG 1 to provide the status of the communication device 64 Since the devices 60 64 may be provided with batteries 40 the devices 60 64 may begin announcing and communicating with one another even prior to being plugged into their respective outlets 76 In any event once the devices 60 64 are installed for outage notification the communication device 64 may also communicate with the IVR system 16 regarding the status of the first and second outage detection devices 60 62 as provided by the devices 60 62 0056 Each of the devices 60 64 may implement the microcontrollers 82 or other power detection circuitry known and available to one of ordinary skill in the art to monitor the external power being received via the AC adaptors 32 from the outlet 76 and wirelessly communicate information regarding the status of power supply to one another as well as to the communication device 64 In the illustrated example the communication device 64 has capa bilities for monitoring the power supply of the respective circuit 72 that are similar to the monitoring capabilities of the first and second outage detection devices 60 62 as well as having communication capabilities for communicating with the IVR 16 and or the modem data server 18 Although the illustrated outage notification system implements a single communication device 64 provided with this com munication capability for ease of discussion in other embodiments either or both of first and
5. a status of power supply to the second circuit or other desired parameter in an alternative embodiment and notify via a network a receiv ing system associated with the electric utility of a power outage at the customer location based at least in part on the statuses of power supply to the first and or second circuits BACK OFFICE SYSTEMS MODEM DATA SERVER DATABASE 3 PHASE OUTAGE INBOUND NOTIFICATION MESSAGE DATA PROFILING OUTBOUND MESSAGE DATA ENERGY APPLICATIONS ENERGY MANAGER APPLICATIONS DATA FLOW 0 US 2006 0055549 1 Patent Application Publication Mar 16 2006 Sheet 1 of 5 N10 SNOILVOllddV JU39VNVIN A9U3N3 SNOILVONdd A9U3N3 u3H10 39VSS3W GNNOSLNO 9NITI3OuUd 39vsn vivd 39VSS3WN NOILVOISILON GNNOSNI 39v1nO jSVHd t 3Svaviva u3AH3S vivd IN300N SIN31SAS 391330 WOVE JId3vul JOVSSIN NOLLVOISILON 9 1 0 e A Patent Application Publication Mar 16 2006 Sheet 2 of 5 US 2006 0055549 1 14 31 4 DETECTOR 4 CONTROLLER PRESS FOR TEST 7 NOTIFICATION P 35 PHONE POWER LINE 37 8 7 40 Patent Application Publication Mar 16 2006 Sheet 3 of 5 US 2006 0055549 1 TRANSCEIVER FIG 4 60 40 84 PARTNER Pq MICRO CONTROLLER 7 55 Patent Application Publication Mar 16 2006 Sheet 4 of 5 US 2
6. complete outage is detected or only the customer s repre sentatives may be contacted in the event of an outage on only one or more of the circuits 0093 Thus it is apparent that there has been provided in accordance with the present invention an outage notification system and method that satisfy one or more of the advan tages set forth above Although the preferred embodiment has been described in detail it should be understood that various changes substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the scope of the present invention even if all of the advantages identified above are not present For example the various elements or compo nents may be combined or integrated in another system or certain features may not be implemented 0094 Also the techniques systems subsystems and methods described and illustrated in the preferred embodi ment as discrete or separate may be combined or integrated with other systems modules techniques or methods with out departing from the scope of the present invention Other items shown as directly coupled to each other may be coupled through some other interface or device such that the items may no longer be considered directly coupled to each other but may still be in communication with one another Other examples of changes substitutions and alterations are readily ascertainable by one skilled in the art and could be made without departing from the spirit and scop
7. other embodiments an intelligent outage detection process may be performed by the IVR system 16 to more intelligently respond to outages of power supply at the customer location The IVR system 16 according to one embodiment may communicate with the modem data server 18 and determine an appropriate response to the outage notification at the customer location based on predefined criteria 0077 FIGS 6 and 7 illustrate logic charts that may be employed as firmware or software by the microcontroller 82 of the communication device 64 the IVR systems 16 modem data server 18 or applications 22 FIG 1 to determine when to initiate communications with the cus tomer and or the power supply provider in the event of an outage The logic chart of FIG 6 illustrates an exemplary decision chart based on input received from the first outage notification device 60 and the communication device 64 The logic chart of FIG 7 illustrates an exemplary decision chart based on input received from both outage devices 60 62 and the communication device 64 Those skilled in the art may expand the logic charts to include any number of outage detection devices using the teachings provided herein 0078 Column 110 refers to the status of power supply as detected by the communication device 64 and column 112 refers to the status of power supply as detected by the first outage notification device 60 Column 118 refers to the status of power supply as detected by
8. present invention provides a method for outage notification including providing an outage notification device such as described above The method includes providing the status of power supply at the first circuit to the communication device from the first device and further providing the status of power supply at Mar 16 2006 the second circuit to the communication device by the second device The method further includes analyzing the status of the first and second devices status of power supply of the first and second circuits by the processor to deter mine whether the outage is limited to only one of the first and second circuits or whether both the first and second circuits are without power supply indicating a complete loss of power supply at the customer location 0017 One advantage of the present invention is the capability to intelligently detect and analyze the status of power supply at the customer location to discern between a loss of power on an individual circuit as opposed to loss of power on all monitored circuits indicative of a complete loss of power supply at the customer location This allows for a more efficient response by dispatching the electric utility only when a complete outage has been detected or only notifying the customer or owner of the customer location when only some of the circuits have lost power supply 0018 The accompanying drawings which are incorpo rated in and constitute a part of this spe
9. second outage detection devices 60 62 may be provided with this addi tional communication capability 0057 In one embodiment the first and second outage detection devices 60 62 and the communication device 64 are further provided with an indicator 96 The indicator 96 may be a light such as a light emitting diode LED or a speaker for providing status information to the customer or a user of the outage notification device 10 It may be necessary to test or perform diagnostic routines on the devices 60 64 and will necessarily require feedback to the tester which may be achieved by the indicator 96 In one embodiment the indicator 96 may include both a speaker to sound when the battery is low for example and multiple LED lights such as a red and a green LED for communi cating information to the user of the present invention 0058 The devices 60 64 further may provide alarms to warn or advise the customers about the status of for example the battery In this event the microcontroller 82 may detect that the battery 40 is low The microcontroller 82 therefore may be configured to initiate a flashing of the LED US 2006 0055549 1 light in a particular sequence to identify to a user that the battery is low and should be replaced Where the indicator 96 is a speaker the microcontroller 82 may initiate a beeping or other sound such as a voice produced by the speaker to alert the user as to the status of the battery 40 Similar
10. telephone jack is not required and additional devices may utilize the same phone jack while the communication device 14 continues to have com munications access Fax machines telephones or modems are examples of devices that may be coupled to the second communication jack 36 Although FIG 2 illustrates one embodiment wherein the communication device 14 imple ments a connection to a telephone network for communica tions purposes in other embodiments the communication device 14 may implement a network interface to any of a variety of networks such as a coaxial cable jack for con nection to a cable network a Ethernet jack or other data network jack for communication via a dedicated data net work a modem chipset for data communications over a telephone network a wireless or satellite transceiver and the like 0044 It should be appreciated that while the communi cation device 14 is illustrated with the first jack 34 and an optional second jack 36 for adapting to a standard telephone line in other embodiments the communication device 14 may communicate with the receiving system e g modem data server 18 and IVR system 16 via the network 20 in a wireless cellular or other means of communication that would not require access to a wired analog or digital communication system As such the communication device 14 may be provided with wireless capabilities for commu nicating with the network 20 such as for example a 900 MHz or 2 4
11. the customer location the third device operable to communicate the status of the third device of power supply at the third circuit In this embodi ment the first device and the communication device may be integrated or contained within a single housing As such the first device may communicate with the communication device in an integrated communication manner while the second and third devices communicate with the communi cation device in a wireless manner in one embodiment or by utilizing the telephone lines power lines or other dedi cated wiring within the customer location according to other embodiments 0011 According to yet another embodiment of the present invention the first device may include an adaptor for powering the first device by coupling to an electric power outlet at the customer location The first device also having a battery for powering the first device in the event of an outage at the outlet at the customer location In one embodi ment the first device may further include an indicator system to indicate the status of the power supply of the first circuit as well as the status of the first device such as the status of a battery included with a first device The indicator in one US 2006 0055549 1 embodiment may be light while other embodiments the indicator may be a speaker The indicator or enunciator may be a light speaker or other device for indicating the status of the circuit s the dev
12. the outage This and other associated data may be accessible such as via the network 20 by users of the present invention 0088 In another embodiment the method 200 provides for coupling the communication device 64 to the outlet 76 or other connections to the circuits at the customer location and in response thereto the communication device 64 initiating a welcome communication to the IVR system 16 and or modem data server 18 indicating that the communi cation device 64 is operational Additional communications may include handshakes or announcements between the first and second outage detection devices 60 and 62 and the communication device 64 so that the communication device 64 provides status information to the IVR system 16 and or modem data server 18 relevant to the outage detection status of newly connected devices such as the first and second outage detection devices 60 62 0089 In some embodiments the communication between the first and second outage detection devices 60 62 and the communication device 64 may be via RF commu nication while in other embodiments the communication between these devices may occur via the power lines at the customer location or the telephone lines within the customer location In some embodiments the communication device 64 communicates with the IVR system 16 and modem data server 18 via the modem chipset 80 and possibly through a DTMF circuitry coupled to the communication device 64 via a st
13. 006 0055549 1 100 FIG 5 GB TXU Energy Device Nome Pet Store Location Nome Bedford Device ID 100000000000040 Device Version 0 Account Home Device Type AFX Service Level Basic Account Summary i Customer Service _ Using this Site Designoled Contocts Select Primary i 102a Admin Home Poge Who should we contoct Roger Logout How should we contact them ae What is the email FRoger email com phone fox or pager number How long should before o contacting 0 99 minutes 0 Ur Who should we contoct Roger paga 10201 How should we contact them Phone v 104b What is the email oddress 555 555 5555 phone fox or pager number How long should we wait before contacting 0 99 minutes E Minutes 108b S RES 102c Who should we Mey How should we contact them 104c What is the address phone fox or pager number 106c How long should we before contacting 0 99 minutes Jen Patent Application Publication Mar 16 2006 Sheet 5 of 5 US 2006 0055549 1 110 112 114a 116a CALL CALL P4 ELECTRIC m Unum CUSTOMER 1 200 PROVIDING AN OUTAGE NOTIFICATION SYSTEM 202 GRECE m p vs FIG POWER OFF 1 1 DETECTING THE STATUS OF POWER S
14. 4 may be provided with a real time clock such that when the communication device 64 communicates with the IVR system and or modem data server 18 the communica tion device 64 receive the current date and time When an outage is detected by the first or second outage detection devices 60 or 62 or the communication device 64 the communication device 64 may be able to log the exact time the outage occurred 0064 It will be appreciated that because the time and outages actually logged would otherwise be the time the communication device 64 reports the outage to the IVR system 16 which may be several minutes or longer in the event of difficulty obtaining access to the telephone system or network 20 When the communication device 64 is provided with a real time clock that is periodically updated such as during the heartbeat function the actual time the outage occurred may be communicated to the IVR system 16 regardless of when the communication device 64 actually establishes communication with the IVR system 16 0065 It will be appreciated that while the present system is described as utilized for detecting outage for power supply the first and second outage detection devices 60 62 and communication device 64 may also be employed as previously discussed for detecting or monitoring other information such as temperature or other values Such information may be easily monitored with the addition of thermometer capability or other desired capab
15. GHz radio frequency RF transceiver com monly used in wireless telephones or a RF transceiver compliant with one or more wireless data network standards such as IEEE 802 11a b g Further in the illustrated example the communication device 14 is provided with modem capability for communicating via a telephone net work or cable network system capable of DTMF signaling with the IVR system 16 as well as negotiating a data connection such as via the Internet or a wide area network for communication with the modem data server 18 0045 communication device 14 the outage detec tion device 12 or the detector controller 13 may include a detector for detecting 0046 Referring to FIG 3 an exemplary back view of the communication device 14 shown in FIG 2 is illustrated in Mar 16 2006 accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention In the illustrated example the communication device 14 may be configured such that the housing 30 is provided with a battery compartment 38 configured to receive one or more batteries 40 e g a 9V battery The communication device 14 may be provided with a commu nication line 42 connected at a first end 44 to power the communication device 14 and at a second end 46 to an adaptor 48 coupleable to the battery 40 The housing 30 may also be provided with a battery cover 50 connectable to the housing 30 to cover the battery 40 when the battery is positioned within the battery compa
16. UPPLY ON A FIRST CIRCUIT 204 DETECTING THE STATUS OF POWER POWER ON 0 206 SUPPLY OF A SECOND CIRCUIT ANALYZING THE STATUS OF POWER SUPPLY ON THE 208 FIRST AND SECOND CIRCUITS _ NOTIFYING THE APPROPRIATE CONTACT BASED ON THE STATUS OF POWER SUPPLY ON THE FIRST 210 AND SECOND CIRCUITS 110 112 118 414b 116b l FIG 8 2 b gt d lt i 1 el el FIG 7 poweR OFF 1 POWER ON 0 US 2006 0055549 1 OUTAGE NOTIFICATION DEVICE AND METHOD CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 0001 The present invention claims benefit of U S Pro visional Application No 60 415 070 filed Sep 30 2002 the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein for all purposes FIELD OF THE INVENTION 0002 The present invention relates in general to the field of notification and detection devices and more particularly but not by way of limitation to a power outage notification system and method to report information related to the loss of power supply at a customer location BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 0003 When a customer of an electric utility suffers a power outage the customer typically must notify the electric utility of the power outage In the event that the power out age occurs in the middle of the night or when the customer is otherwise unable to detect the outage the residence or facility may go without electricity for a con side
17. andard telephone network while in other embodiments the communication device 64 may communicate wirelessly with the IVR system 16 and modem data server 18 0090 The method 200 may also include detecting for power supply while in other embodiments the method may provide for monitoring temperature or other desired values at the residence or business customer location In one embodiment the communication device 64 is operable to initiate communications with the IVR system 16 and or modem data server 18 while in other embodiments the communication device 64 is able to receive communications initiated by the IVR system 16 and or modem data server 18 0091 As previously discussed the method 200 may include the communication device 64 initiating a heartbeat Mar 16 2006 function to periodically communicate with the IVR system 16 and modem data server 18 at pre determined time inter vals During such heartbeat communications the IVR sys tem 16 may designate the time and priority of communi cation to be established between the communication device 64 and the modem data server 18 for receiving for example programmable parameters to change settings or receive upgrades from the modem data server 18 0092 Based upon the type of outage that is detected the outage notification system 10 may access the databases 26 28 and initiate a communication with the appropriate con tact For example the electric utility may be contacted when a
18. cification illustrate various embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 0019 The present invention can be understood more completely by reading the following Detailed Description of the Invention in conjunction with the accompanying draw ings in which 0020 FIG 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary outage notification system in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention 0021 FIG 2 is a front view of an exemplary outage detection device adapted for use in the exemplary outage notification system of FIG 1 in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention 0022 FIG 3 is a back view of the exemplary outage detection device of FIG 2 illustrating a battery backup for use when power supply is unavailable in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention 0023 FIG 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary arrangement of outage detection devices and communication devices with respect to a plurality of elec trical circuits at a customer location in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention 0024 FIG 5 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary webpage or input interface for inputting contact information in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention 0025 FIGS 6 and 7 are logic charts illus
19. d 64 will the electric utility be notified Thus the outage notification system 10 may intelligently discern when a complete power outage has occurred at the customer location 0080 The logic chart of FIG 7 further illustrates the efficiency of the present invention by producing only one contact to the electric utility out of the eight possible scenarios of power supply when detecting three circuits The addition of numerous circuits monitored numerous outage detection devices generates a large number of potential scenarios of the power supply at a particular customer location that could produce false alarms or calls to the electric utility reporting of an outage when in fact only a particular circuit or circuits have actually lost power Thus the present invention provides for more efficient and effec tive responses to detection and notification in the event of electrical power outage 0081 Referring now to FIG 8 an exemplary outage notification method 200 is illustrated in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention The method 200 initiates at block 202 whereby the outage notification system 10 is provided as described above One or more outage detection devices 60 62 and or communication devices 64 may be provided at a business or residential customer location for monitoring a source of power 0082 The method provides at block 204 for detecting the status of power supply on the first circuit 68 by the
20. d outage detection device Mar 16 2006 33 The outage detection device of claim 25 wherein the network includes a cable network 34 The outage detection device of claim 25 wherein the network includes a telephone network 35 The outage detection device of claim 34 wherein the receiving system includes a modem data server and wherein the means for notifying the electric utility of a power outage includes a modem chipset adapted to communicate with the modem data server via the telephone network 36 The outage detection device of claim 34 wherein the receiving system includes an integrated voice response IVR system and wherein the means for notifying the electric utility of a power outage includes means for com municating with the integrated voice response IVR system via the telephone network using at least one dual tone multifrequency DTMF signal 37 A method for notifying a customer of a power outage at a customer location comprising determining a status of power supply to each of a plurality of circuits at the customer location using a plurality of outage detection devices each outage detection device operably coupled to a respective circuit of the plurality of circuits and notifying at least one representative of the customer of a power outage at the customer location when the sta tuses of power supply to the plurality of circuits indi cate an unavailability of power supply to least one of the plurality of circ
21. data from local energy consumption meter vi humidity vii carbon monoxide dioxide levels viii smoke ix air pressure x outages of specific equipment xi building security system malfunctions xii heat xiii fire and xiv any of a variety of environmental readings To implement such a system the detector controller device 13 will inter face with or can be implemented to include detectors as desired Such an implementation could be achieved by one of ordinary skill in the art It should also be understood that the outage detection devices 12 or the detector controller devices 13 may be implemented to include devices to remotely control other equipment such as HVAC systems boilers security systems and virtually any device system or network capable of receiving electronic control signals The detector controller devices 13 may be programmed or pro vided data using one or more of the modules or applications of applications 22 in communication with the receiver system such as the IVR system 16 and the modem data Mar 16 2006 server 18 and or through the information stored in the various databases of modem data server 18 0038 The present invention may include a peer to peer communications protocol or system that allows the various outage detection devices 12 to communicate with one another in addition to communicating with communications device 14 Similarly the various detector controller devices 13 may communica
22. dated software or other information to the communication devices 14 or the outage notification devices 12 To illus trate the receiver system may include for example an IVR integrated voice response system 16 and or a modem data server 18 Communication between the communication device 14 and the IVR system 16 or modem data server 18 may be accomplished via a network 20 such as a standard telephone network e g a public switched telephone net work or PSTN an integrated digital services network ISDN or a data network such as a wide area network WAN a local area network LAN the Internet a wireless or satellite network or a combination thereof 0032 The communication device 14 communicates information to the IVR system 16 indicating the status of the power supply at the customer location as detected by the plurality of outage detection devices 12 In one embodiment the communication device 14 and the IVR system 16 may be provided with dual tone multifrequency DTMF commu nication capabilities to reduce the amount of data commu nicated between the communication device 14 and the IVR system 16 over the network 20 and also to reduce the setup time to establish communications The communication device 14 also may be provided with modem capabilities to facilitate communication with the modem data server 18 via the network 20 In one embodiment the communication device 14 may be capable of communication with both the IVR syste
23. e method of claim 45 wherein the receiving system includes an integrated voice response IVR system and wherein communicating the indication of a power outage to the electric utility includes communicating the indication of a power outage to the IVR system via the telephone network using at least one dual tone multifrequency DTMF signal US 2006 0055549 1 47 The method of claim 45 wherein the receiving system includes a modem data server and wherein communicating the indication of a power outage to the electric utility includes communicating the indication of a power outage to the modem data via the telephone network 48 method of claim 37 wherein determining a status of power supply to each of a plurality of circuits at the customer location includes coupling for each of the plurality of circuits an alternat ing current AC adaptor to an outlet associated with the circuit and determining for each of the plurality of circuits an availability of power supply to the circuit based at least in part on an output of the AC adaptor coupled to the outlet associated with the circuit 49 A method for detecting a power outage a customer location the method comprising coupling an alternating current AC adaptor to an outlet associated with a first circuit at the customer location Mar 16 2006 determining a status of power supply to the first circuit based at least in part on an output of the AC adaptor receivin
24. e of the present invention 0095 The present invention is not to be limited in scope by the specific embodiments described herein Indeed vari ous modifications of the present invention in addition to those described herein will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art from the foregoing description and accom panying drawings Thus such modifications are intended to fall within the scope of the following appended claims Further although the present invention has been described herein in the context of a particular implementation in a particular environment for a particular purpose those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that its usefulness is not limited thereto and that the present invention can be beneficially implemented in any number of environments for any number of purposes Accordingly the claims set forth below should be construed in view of the full breath and spirit of the present invention as disclosed herein 1 18 canceled 19 An outage detection device for detecting a power outage in a circuit comprising a circuit interface operably coupleable to the circuit means for determining a status of power supply to the circuit via the circuit interface and US 2006 0055549 1 means for communicating the status of power supply to at least one other outage detection device 20 The outage detection device of claim 19 wherein the circuit interface includes an alternating current AC adaptor op
25. e present invention may be employed for monitoring power in front of and behind the meter not shown or in front of the fuse boxes 66 or at various locations about the customer s residence or business without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as disclosed herein 0052 As previously discussed the communication device 14 may be provided with modem capabilities such as by providing a modem chipset 80 that is in communication with the first jack 34 which may receive a connection to a standard analog digital or other telephone system for com munication purposes via for example wall jack 35 The communication device 14 may also be provided with DTMF communication capabilities The communication device 14 as well as the first and second outage detection devices 60 62 also may be provided with one or more microcontrollers 82 or processors and in the illustrated embodiment an RF transceiver 84 and antenna 86 The microcontrollers 82 may include internal memory or the devices may include exter nal memory which is not specifically shown in FIG 4 0053 In one embodiment peer to peer wireless tech niques may be implemented to facilitate communications between the first and second outage detection devices 60 62 and communication device 64 Accordingly the microcon trollers 82 may be programmed to implement various fea tures in accordance with peer to peer wireless techniques such as self addressing and a
26. erably coupleable to an outlet associated with the circuit 21 The outage detection device of claim 20 wherein the means for determining a status of power supply to the circuit includes a microcontroller operably coupled to the AC adaptor and operable to determine the status of the power supply of the circuit based at least in part on an output of the AC adaptor 22 The outage detection device of claim 20 wherein the outage detection device is powered by an output of the AC adaptor when power supply to the circuit is available 23 The outage detection device of claim 22 further comprising a battery for providing power to the outage detection device when power supply to the circuit is unavail able 24 The outage detection device of claim 19 wherein the means for communicating the status includes a wireless transceiver operable to transmit a signal representative of the status of the power supply to the circuit 25 An outage detection device for detecting a power outage at a customer location comprising a circuit interface operably coupleable to a first circuit at the customer location means for determining a status of power supply to the first circuit via the circuit interface means for receiving a status of power supply to a second circuit at the customer location and means for notifying a receiving system associated with the electric utility of a power outage at the customer location via a network based at least in part
27. f a power outage at the customer location To illustrate by way of example assume that the customer identifies two employees Roger and Mary as contacts in the event of a power outage at the customer location Also assume that the customer indicates that Roger is to be contacted by email immediately after a detected power outage and by phone fifteen minutes after the detected power outage as indicated by input provided by the cus tomer in fields 102a 1025 104a 1045 106a 106b 108a and 108b of the webpage 100 Further the event that the power outage continues for at least thirty five minutes the customer may indicate that Mary is to be notified by fax by providing the corresponding information in fields 102c 104c 106c and 108c Upon indication of a power outage at the customer location received via the outage notification system 10 FIG 1 the receiving system or other system associated with the electric utility may begin the process of notifying the customer s representatives in accordance with the process indicated by the customer via the webpage 100 0074 The website or a telephone information network also may provide additional information to the customer such as a log of prior events or a current status of the outage notification system 10 To illustrate the customer may be interested in knowing when a particular circuit has lost power such as when a circuit provides power to devices that are critical to the business o
28. first outage notification device 60 At block 206 the method provides for detecting the status of power supply at the second circuit 70 by the second outage notification device 62 It will be appreciated however that in some embodi ments the second outage notification device 62 may be eliminated and only the communication device 64 may be utilized when employing the method of the present inven tion In this instance the communication device 64 may be employed to monitor the second circuit 70 in instances where only two devices 60 64 are employed 0083 At block 208 the communication device 64 ana lyzes the status of power supply as detected on the first and second circuits 60 and 70 to determine whether an outage event or other monitored event has occurred At block 210 the method further includes notifying such as by the com munication device 64 the appropriate contact based on the status of power supply on the first and second circuits 68 and 70 0084 In such instances the communication device 64 may communicate with the IVR system 16 utilizing as previously discussed DTMF to perform this communication exchange In addition the communication device 64 may communicate with the modem data server 18 when appro priate for transmitting and receiving additional information related to the operation and service of the first and second outage detection devices 60 62 and communication device 64 or to provide detailed information
29. g a status of power supply to a second circuit at the customer location and communicating via a network the statuses of power supply to the first and second circuits to a receiving system connected to the network and associated with an electric utility 50 The method of claim 49 wherein the network includes a cable network 51 The method of claim 49 wherein the network includes a telephone network 52 The method of claim 51 wherein the receiving system includes a modem data server connected to the telephone network 53 The method of claim 51 wherein the receiving system includes an integrated voice response IVR system con nected to the telephone networks
30. h one or more additional or alternate detection or measurement components for moni toring or controlling other aspects of the customer location such as for example the temperature and or humidity of one or more areas of the customer location the presence and or concentration of one or more chemical components e g carbon monoxide in the environment of the customer location the electric consumption or other utility consump tion of the customer location and the like To illustrate where the detector controller device 13 is employed to monitor temperature a temperature monitoring device may be provided to monitor the temperature such as in a large industrial refrigerator or food at a particular customer loca tion or within a room or area requiring a certain temperature for performance such as a computer clean room or food storage room These additional monitoring capabilities or other services may be provided as applications 22 in com munication with the receiver system such as the IVR system 16 and the modem data server 18 0037 It should be understood that the detector controller devices 13 may be implemented to detect or read virtually any desired type of information For example detectors or transducers may be implemented in any such device to detect or read such information or conditions as i outage of a 3 phase electric power circuit ii temperature iii instan taneous power consumption iv energy consumption v
31. ication device receives the actual current time from the receiving system This allows the first device to communicate the status of power supply of the first circuit including the time at which the first device detected a loss of the power supply at a particular circuit In the embodiment where the first device is unitarily contained within the housing along with the communication device the real time clock may be provided in the housing with the communication device and the first device while in other embodiments the second device may also include a real time clock In one embodiment the customer location is a house or consumer or customer residence while in other embodiments the customer location is a manufacturing or business facility 0015 According to another embodiment the present invention provides a first device including a processor a battery an RF transceiver an antenna and an external unit coupleable to the first circuit In one embodiment the first device and the second device communicate with one another in a wireless peer to peer fashion such as in the unlicensed ISM band which includes 900 MHz Virtually any available wireless or wired technology and protocols may be imple mented with the present invention including without limi tation cellular paging rf modulation infrared IEEE 802 11x BLUETOOTH MINIONNET ethernet Internet data protocols and power line carrier technology 0016 In one embodiment the
32. ice s or its battery and may utilize an audible such as recorded voice message for such status information 0012 one embodiment the receiving system may be an integrated voice response system IVR and the commu nication device may be operable to communicate a dual tone multi frequency DTMF signal to the receiving system to communicate information regarding status of the first and second devices and the processor In another embodiment the receiving system may be operable to notify the electric utility or the customer of the customer location via e mail or in other embodiments via pager fax telephone whether wireless cellular or standard telephone system utilizing an automated voice response system 0013 Such notification may include the duration of the outage and whether both the first and second circuits have lost power supply or whether only one of the circuits is without power In one embodiment the power including the current voltage of each circuit may be monitored by the first and second devices analyzed by the processor and communicated to the receiving system via the communica tion device In another embodiment the notification may include when the outage occurred as well as when power was restored 0014 In one embodiment the first device and or the communication device may be provided with a real time clock such that when the communication device communi cates with the receiving system the commun
33. ility operably provided on the devices 60 64 0066 Furthermore the communication device 64 may be in communication with a programmable thermostat such that communication between the communication device 64 and the IVR system 16 or the modem data server 18 may adjust the thermostat or other appliances or devices such as equipment or systems within the customer location In this manner a customer returning from a vacation having pre viously set the thermostat in a high energy conserving mode for example may contact the IVR system 16 with regard to the time the customer is returning and a desired thermostat setting The IVR system 16 may initiate a communication to the communication device 64 which would operably adjust the desired appliance or equipment 0067 Similarly the first and second outage detection devices 60 62 may be coupled to other programmable or US 2006 0055549 1 controllable appliances or equipment and such adjustments may be communicated from the communication device 64 to the first and second outage detection devices 60 62 and the appropriate or desired changes would be made to the pro grammable settings of these coupled appliances or equip ment 0068 present embodiment the microcontroller 82 of the communication device 64 may receive information from both the first and second outage detection devices 60 62 and intelligently process this information to determine the status of power supply a
34. indicator 96 flashes to indicate that communications are being successfully received In this manner the 2 way communication of the first outage notification device 60 may be easily tested 0060 According to one embodiment the communication device 64 may be provided with a heartbeat function for the communication device 64 to initiate communication with the IVR system 16 at a pre determined minimum interval such as every 25 to 27 days to provide routine interval status in the event no other information or contacts have been made between the communication device 64 and the IVR system 16 during that time period During these communications the IVR system 16 may direct the communication device 64 to initiate a digital communication with the modem data server 18 which typically would require disconnecting from the IVR system 16 connection and establishing a connection with the modem data server 18 The IVR system 16 however may be in communication with the databases 26 28 and obtain information to pass to the communication device 64 during the heartbeat function During the com munication between the communication device 64 and the modem data server 18 diagnostics may be performed on the communication device 64 as well as the first and second outage detection devices 60 62 In addition the modem data server 18 may provide the communication device 64 with updated software or instructions for more efficient operation or to modify specific ca
35. m 16 e g using DTMF and the modem data server 18 e g using modem techniques In this instance the communication device 14 may be directed to initially attempt to communication with one of the system 16 or the modem data server 18 and if the attempt fails or if the communication device 14 is otherwise directed the com munication device 14 may then attempt to communicate with the other receiving system 0033 Further the outage detection devices 12 or com munication devices 14 may be adapted to receive and implement software updates or other data provided by the modem data server 18 Accordingly the modem data server 18 may include for example one or more databases such as an inbound database 26 to receive data from the communi cation device 14 and outage detection devices 12 and an outbound database 28 including data to be transmitted to the communication device 14 outage detection devices 12 and possibly one or more of the detector controller device 13 for performing updates or providing additional information data software or other functionality for the communication devices 14 outage detection devices 12 or the detector controller device 13 0034 The modem data server 18 and the databases 26 28 provide a high degree of functionality in that the commu nication devices 14 and outage detection devices 12 may be programmed updated or otherwise interact with the outage notification system 10 in an on the fly
36. ng normal operation and in the event of a loss of power supply at the customer location or on a particular circuit the devices 60 62 and 64 may be each configured to switch to battery 40 power during an inter ruption 0050 As with most customer locations such as private residences or business locations power typically is received from the electric utility through a meter and into a main breaker box or fuse box 66 Although there are a number of configurations of power supply such as single and three phase systems utilizing various amounts of current and voltage and having a number of fuse boxes meters or mains a single fuse box 66 having a first circuit 68 a second circuit 70 and a third circuit 72 will be described for purposes of clarity and simplicity herein A plurality of devices or appliances 74 may exist on each of the circuits 68 70 and 72 which may include outlets 76 into which the AC adaptors 32 may be plugged to receive power and monitor the power supply on the respective circuits 68 70 and 72 0051 It will be appreciated that while the first and second outage detection devices 60 62 and communication device 64 are shown coupled in this manner additional circuits 78 and additional outage detection devices 60 62 may be provided in various configurations such that all of the US 2006 0055549 1 circuits at the customer location may be monitored alternatively only critical circuits may be monitored Also th
37. om local energy consumption meter v humidity vi carbon monoxide dioxide levels vii smoke and viii air pressure The outage notification system 10 may be implemented to provide the values read or detected by the detector controller device 13 to a user when at certain intervals when requested or when certain conditions or limits are met In still other embodiments the detector controller device 13 may be used to control a device such as the temperature set point for an HVAC system 0030 outage notification system 10 further may include one or more communication devices 14 operable to communicate with one or more of the outage detection devices 12 at the customer location and further operable to communicate the status information relating to the power supply at the customer location to a receiver system asso ciated with the electric utility In at least one embodiment the communication devices 14 implement some or all of the features of the outage detection devices 12 with the addi tional capability of communicating with the receiver system Accordingly reference to an outage detection device applies to a communication device and vice versa unless otherwise noted Mar 16 2006 0031 The receiver system may include any of a variety of communications systems that may be operated by or on behalf of an electric utility to receive indications of the status of power supply to the customer location and or to provide up
38. on the status of the power supply to the first and second circuits 26 The outage detection device of claim 25 wherein the circuit interface includes an alternating current AC adaptor operably coupleable to an outlet associated with the first circuit 27 The outage detection device of claim 26 wherein the means for determining a status of power supply to the first circuit includes a microcontroller operably coupled to the AC adaptor and operable to determine the status of the power supply to the first circuit based at least in part on an output of the AC adaptor 28 The outage detection device of claim 26 wherein the outage detection device is powered by an output of the AC adaptor when power supply to the circuit is available 29 The outage detection device of claim 28 further comprising a battery for providing power to the outage detection device when power supply to the circuit is unavail able 30 The outage detection device of claim 29 further comprising an indicator for indicating a status of the battery 31 The outage detection device of claim 25 wherein the means for receiving the status of the power supply to the second circuit includes a wireless transceiver operable to receive a signal representative of the status of the power supply to the second circuit 32 The outage detection device of claim 31 wherein the signal representative of the status of the power supply to the second circuit is transmitted from a secon
39. pabilities or functionality of the communication device 64 or the first and second outage detection devices 60 62 0061 IVR system 16 according to one embodiment initiates a communication with the communication device 64 such as by calling the communication device 64 directly via the network 20 During any communication between the Mar 16 2006 communication device 64 and the IVR system 16 updated information including when to update and the priority of the update with the modem data server 18 may be provided as well The communication device 64 may be further provided with a memory device operable for receiving and storing information from the first and second outage detection devices 60 62 as well as outage detection information detected by the communication device 64 0062 The first and second outage detection devices 60 62 and the communication device 64 may include a plurality of programmable parameters such as to change the phone number and time at which communications are established For example one parameter establishes the minimum dura tion of an outage before initiating a communication with the IVR system 16 or modem data server 18 such as outages lasting for 10 seconds or perhaps 60 minutes prior to reporting the outage A number of other programmable parameters may be included as desired and implemented by one of ordinary skill in the art 0063 According to one embodiment the communication device 6
40. powering the commu nication device 14 Although illustrated as separated from the housing 30 the AC adaptor 32 alternatively may be configured to be integral with the housing 30 US 2006 0055549 1 0042 Further in at least one embodiment the DC output or absence thereof of the AC adaptor 32 may be used by the communication device 14 to monitor the status of power supply for the circuit to which the AC adaptor 32 is attached To illustrate while DC power is received by the AC adaptor 32 the communication device 14 may regard the status of the power supply as available 1 power is available in the respective circuit However when supply of DC power from the AC adaptor 32 ceases or is absent the communi cation device 14 may regard the status of the power supply as unavailable there is a power outage on the circuit 0043 The communication device 14 further may include one or more network interfaces e g communication jacks 34 36 for coupling to a network such as a standard analog digital cable or other phone or communications lines In the illustrated embodiment the communication jack 34 includes an analog telephone jack e g a RJ 11 jack used by the communication device 14 to communicate over a telephone or other network via e g phone cord 37 connected to for example a wall telephone jack 35 Likewise the commu nication jack 36 may be provided for the convenience of the customer so that a dedicated
41. r residence or the customer may desired information about the devices 60 64 such as oper ating status or battery charge status In this instance the website may provide such information based on information received from the devices 60 64 0075 Referring again to FIG 4 the outage notification system 10 may be configured one or more of the customer s indicated representatives or the electric utility based at least in part on the overall status of the power supply at the customer location For example a power outage occurring on only one of the circuits such as the first circuit 68 often indicates that the problem causing the power outage is local to the customer location and typically is not a result of a US 2006 0055549 1 failure on the electric grid of the electric utility Accordingly the outage notification system 10 may be configured to initiate a contact with the customer but not with the electric utility in such instances since a complete power outage has not occurred and the loss of the power supply on the first circuit 68 is likely only a breaker or other localized problem to the customer location Alternatively this information may be provided by the customer to an electric utility represen tative via telephone communications or one or more mailed forms 0076 According to one embodiment an intelligent out age detection process may be performed by the microcon troller 82 of the communication device 64 while in
42. rable amount of time In instances where the continuous supply of power is crucial to the customer such as for hospitals manufacturing facilities and food storage facili ties this conventional outage notification process can severely affect the customer s operations 0004 Accordingly a number of complex and expensive devices have been employed in the past to detect power outages and report them to the electric utilities Such devices may implement a connection to the power supply at the customer location coupled to the serial port of personal computers dedicated for outage notification Once an outage is detected at the serial port and a communication from the personal computer has been received by the electric utility the electric utility may dispatch the appropriate technicians to re establish power or repair the problem causing the outage Unfortunately such systems suffer from severe limitations with respect to efficiently and cost effectively dealing with power outages at the customer location To illustrate the use of such systems typically require the use of a personal computer or workstation either of which generally are expensive to purchase and maintain Further such systems typically notify the electric utility in the event that power supply is lost on any circuit resulting in wasted time and effort on the electric utility s part when the cause of the power outage to the circuit results from a local cause at the customer loca
43. requested Mar 16 2006 type of customer notification To illustrate the website may include a webpage not shown whereby a customer may input a customer ID and password to gain access to infor mation and features associated with the customer The website further may include a webpage 100 for inputting contact information for one or more entities associated with the customer that are to be contacted in the event of a detected power outage The input contact information may include for example the contacts names via name fields 102a 102c methods of contacting the contacts e g auto mated telephone call email fax pager etc via contact method fields 104a 104c and contact address associated with the selected methods of contact e g the contact s telephone fax or pager number email address etc via address fields 106a 106c Further in at least one embodi ment the customer may indicate a desired delay after a power outage before the respective entity is contacted by entering a value representing the desired delay in the cor responding delay fields 108a 108c Additional or alternate information and input fields may be implemented by the webpage 100 without departing from the spirit or the scope of the present invention 0073 After providing the contact information the cus tomer may submit the information via the website to the electric utility for use in contacting the customer s repre sentatives in the event o
44. rtment 38 0047 During normal operation when power supply is available at the customer location the communication device 14 may receive power primarily from the outlet 33 via the AC adaptor 32 FIG 2 In the event of a loss of power supply on the circuit being monitored by the com munication device 14 the communication device 14 may switch to receive power from the battery 40 to continue operation 0048 Referring now to FIG 4 an exemplary arrange ment of outage detection devices to form a particular imple mentation of the outage notification system 10 is illustrated in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention In the illustrated example the outage notification system 10 includes a first outage notification device 60 and a second outage notification device 62 which are similar to the outage detection devices 12 illustrated in FIG 1 and which are referred to as partner or P1 devices herein The illustrated outage notification system 10 also includes a communication device 64 substantially similar to the com munication device 14 illustrated in FIGS 1 3 Each of the first and second outage detection devices 60 and communi cation device 64 may be provided with batteries 40 and AC adaptors 32 as discussed above 0049 The first and second outage detection devices 60 62 and the communication device 64 may be arranged to receive electric power from respective circuits at the cus tomer location duri
45. s mentioned above the communication device 64 and or the outage detection devices 60 and 62 may include a panic or emergency button to dispatch emergency person nel such as fire or ambulance when pushed This may be achieved using the IVR system 16 or the modem data server 18 through the network 20 so that emergency personnel may be dispatched to the address associated with the device This provides the significant advantage of providing emergency panic buttons throughout a facility 0071 Referring now to FIG 5 an exemplary interface or webpage 100 provided by an electric utility or other service provider is illustrated in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention As described in detail herein a customer may request that the outage notification system 10 notify the customer or the customer s represen tative of a power outage When a customer requests outage notification service the customer may provide information relevant to the outage notification such as contact informa tion for the appropriate individual s to be contacted where the contact information may include for example fax numbers telephone numbers pager numbers or email addresses to contact in the event of an outage 0072 In at least one embodiment the electric utility may provide a website whereby this information may be input by the customer at one or more webpages of the website and then utilized by the electric utility to provide the
46. s one advantage of the present invention to promote easy installation and configuration of the outage notification system 10 and allow communication between the devices 60 64 may then continue uninterrupted in a wireless manner For example the first outage notifi cation device 60 generates a message by the microcontroller 82 and transmits via the RF transceiver 84 and antenna 86 a signal intended for the second outage notification device 62 The second outage notification device 62 receives the message via the antenna 86 and RF transceiver 84 and Mar 16 2006 communicates the message to the microcontroller 82 of the second outage notification device 62 The communication between the devices 60 64 may occur in a serial manner such that the first outage notification device 60 communi cates with the second outage notification device 62 infor mation intended to be communicated to the communication device 64 The second outage notification device 62 then transmits the information to the communication device 64 In other embodiments each of the devices 60 62 and 64 may communicate with one another independently 0055 In one embodiment when the communication device 64 is initialized for use such as by removing it from its shipping container and plugging it into the outlet 76 and a telephone jack 35 via a phone cord 37 the communication device 64 may be configured to initiate a call with or send a welcome message to the IVR system 16
47. status of the first and second devices of the power supply at the first and second circuits received by the first and second devices to determine whether power supply may have been lost to the facility or customer premises The outage notification device may also include a network interface or communi cation device operable to communicate with a receiving system 0008 According to one embodiment of the present inven tion the communication device is operable to report on the outage of power supply at the customer location to the receiving system when the microcontroller determines that power supply is lost at the first and second circuits Accord ing to another embodiment of the present invention the communication device is operable to report on the outage of power supply at the customer location to the receiving system when the microcontroller determines that power supply is unavailable at one of the first or second circuits 0009 In other embodiments the outage notification sys tem may further include a dedicated communication link between the first or second device and the microcontroller In this instance the communication link may be a wireless communication link while in other embodiments the com munication link may utilize telephone lines or power lines at the customer location 0010 In one embodiment the outage notification system includes a third device operable to detect the loss of power supply at a third circuit of
48. t the customer location For example in the event the first outage notification device 60 detects loss of power supply on the circuit 68 the first outage notification device 60 may then communicate this informa tion to at least the communication device 64 The second outage notification device 62 may verify the status of power supply on the second circuit 70 and determine whether the second circuit 70 has power supply available The second outage notification device 62 may then communicate the status of power supply at the second circuit 70 to the communication device 64 The communication device 64 may determine the status of power supply at the third circuit 72 and determine whether power supply at the third circuit 72 also is available Using the status information regarding the three circuits 68 72 the microcontroller 82 of the communication device 64 may determine whether a power outage affects the entire electrical system at the customer location or only a subset of circuits of the electrical system 0069 In any event the communication device 64 according to one embodiment may initiate a communication with the system 16 via the network 20 based on any power outage detected on any of the circuits 68 70 or 72 by any of the devices 60 64 The communication device 64 may then communicate the status of power supply detected by each of the devices 60 64 to the system 16 using DTMF or other appropriate techniques 0070 A
49. tation illustrated and described herein 0029 Referring now to FIG 1 an exemplary outage notification system 10 for detection and notification in the disruption of power supply at a customer location is illus trated in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention In the illustrated example the outage notification system 10 includes a plurality of outage detec tion devices 12 capable of detecting the loss of power supply on one or more circuits at the customer location The outage detection devices 12 are operable to communicate a status of power supply at the circuit being monitored as either avail able or unavailable In this manner a number of outage detection devices 12 may be utilized at various positions at the customer location based upon the electrical topology within a particular structure so that one or more electric circuits may be monitored by one or more outage detection devices 12 In one embodiment a detector controller device 13 is illustrated in communication with various detection devices 12 The detector controller device 13 may be imple mented to include any available device operable or capable of interfacing with or including a transducer to detect a value and or control some value For example and without limi tation the detector controller device 13 may be operable to read or detect such values as 1 temperature ii instanta neous power consumption iii energy consumption iv data fr
50. te with one another or with the outage detection devices in a peer to peer manner in addition to communicating with communications device 14 In yet another embodiment an outage detection device 12 or a detector controller device 13 may be equipped to serve as a local telephone outlet while only being plugged into a local electrical outlet In another embodiment an outage detection device 12 or a detector controller device 13 may be designed to function as a panic or emergency button to dispatch emergency personnel such as fire or ambulance when pushed Such a system in certain embodiments may include a battery backup and function even if power has been lost at the facility Emergency personnel would be notified through the outage notification system 10 using the receiver system 0039 Referring now to FIG 2 an exemplary front view of the communication device 14 is illustrated in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention As noted above the communication device 14 and outage detection device 12 in one embodiment are substantially similar except that the communication device 14 preferably includes an additional capability of communicating with a receiving system via a network For ease of illustration an exemplary communication device 14 is discussed in detail below Some or all of the following description however also may apply to the outage detection devices 12 and or the detector controller devices 13 witho
51. the second outage notification device 62 Columns 114a 116a of the logic chart of FIG 6 refer to the decision whether to contact the electric utility and the customer s representatives respec tively based on the corresponding statuses from columns 110 and 112 Similarly columns 114b and 1165 of the logic chart of FIG 7 refer to the decision whether to contact the electric utility and the customer s representatives respec tively based on the corresponding statuses from columns 110 112 and 118 When these devices 60 64 detect that power is available or on a 0 may be indicated and when power is detected as unavailable or off a 1 may be indicated in the corresponding columns 110 112 and 118 The corresponding decision to contact the electric utility or customer may be indicated by a Y yes or N no in the respective columns 1144 1145 and 1162 1162 0079 the logic chart of FIG 6 illustrates a number of different power configurations may be detected by both the first outage notification device 60 and communication device 64 but only one of which would yield a call to the electric utility This is another advantage of the outage notification device 10 in that a number of power detection scenarios may yield notifications to the customers or their representatives such as when a particular circuit or circuits Mar 16 2006 are without power but only when outages have been detected by all of the devices 60 an
52. tion and not from a problem for which the electric utility is responsible SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 0005 Thus a need exists for an improved outage noti fication system outage detection device and method that overcomes the disadvantages of prior outage notification systems and provides a more useful and cost efficient outage notification system 0006 Embodiments of the present invention overcome one or more of the problems noted above and realize one or more additional advantages The present invention provides an outage notification system for detecting outage of power supply at a customer location The outage notification sys Mar 16 2006 tem or device comprises a first device operable to detect the loss of power supply at a first circuit of the customer location the first device operable to communicate a status of the first device of power supply at the first circuit as either available or not available 0007 The outage notification device may also include a second device operable to detect the loss of power supply or some other information at a second circuit of the customer location the second device operable to communicate a status of the second device of power supply or other desired information at the second circuit as either available or not available The outage notification device may also include a microcontroller in communication with the first and second devices The microcontroller operable to analyze the
53. to the modem data server 18 0085 In one embodiment the method 200 may further include diagnostic routines such as by pressing a test button either unilaterally or in response to the indicator 96 prompt ing a response by the user The test initiating a diagnostic routine of the outage prompting the communication device US 2006 0055549 1 64 to initiate communication with the system 16 and or modem data server 18 for these purposes 0086 In another embodiment the transfer of information between the modem data server 18 and the communication device 64 may include updates or upgrades to the micro controller 82 or instructions utilized by the microcontroller 82 of the communication device 64 or the first and second outage detection devices 60 and 62 In one embodiment the method 200 includes indicating by the indicator 96 a sequence of perceptible light or sounds and associating a meaning to the sequences 0087 The method 200 further may include the customer of the outage notification system 10 providing contact information such as email pager or telephone contact information via a webpage telephone or other means The outage notification system 10 via the receiver system may contact the customer in the event of an outage detected The databases 26 and 28 of the outage notification system 10 may be used for tracking or logging each event such as a low battery power outage including the date time and duration of
54. trating exem plary responses based on a status of power supply to various circuits of the customer location as detected by multiple outage detection devices in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention 0026 FIG 8 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary outage notification method according to at least one embodi ment of the present invention DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 0027 The following description is intended to convey a thorough understanding of the invention by providing a US 2006 0055549 1 number of specific embodiments and details related to power outage notification It is understood however that the invention is not limited to these specific embodiments and details which are exemplary only It is further understood that one possessing ordinary skill in the art in light of known systems and methods would appreciate the use of the invention for its intended purposes and benefits in any number of alternative embodiments depending upon spe cific design and other needs 0028 It should be understood at the outset that although an exemplary implementation of the present invention is illustrated below the present invention may be implemented using any number of techniques whether currently known or in existence The present invention should in no way be limited to the exemplary implementations drawings and techniques illustrated below including the exemplary design and implemen
55. uits 38 The method of claim 37 wherein notifying the at least one representative of the customer includes transmitting an email to at least one email address associated with the at least one representative 39 The method of claim 37 wherein notifying the at least one representative of the customer includes transmitting a facsimile to at least one facsimile number associated with the at least one representative 40 The method of claim 37 wherein notifying the at least one representative of the customer includes transmitting a voice message to at least one telephone number associated with the at least one representative 41 The method of claim 37 wherein notifying the at least one representative of the customer includes transmitting a page to at least one pager number associated with the at least one representative 42 The method of claim 37 further comprising notifying an electric utility of a power outage at the customer location when the statuses of power supply to the plurality of circuits indicate an unavailability of power supply to each of the plurality of circuits 43 The method of claim 42 wherein notifying the electric utility of a power outage at the customer location includes communicating an indication of a power outage to the electric utility via a network 44 The method of claim 43 wherein the network includes a cable network 45 The method of claim 43 wherein the network includes a telephone network 46 Th
56. ut departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention 0040 As illustrated the communication device 14 may include a housing 30 constructed from any of a variety of materials such as plastic or polymeric materials steel aluminum or other well known materials Although the housing 30 is illustrated as a substantially rectangular box it will be appreciated that the housing 30 may be configured in a number of shapes or dimensions as appropriate or desirable for these purposes 0041 In at least one embodiment the communication device 14 may include not only the communication func tionality so as to communicate with the modem data server 18 and or IVR system 16 as described above but also to perform outage detection functionality provided by the outage detection devices 12 Accordingly the communica tion device 14 further may be provided with a circuit interface for connecting the communication device 14 to the respective circuit The circuit interface may include any of a variety of devices that may be utilized to couple to a circuit and to detect the presence or absence of electrical power on the circuit In one embodiment the circuit interface includes an AC adaptor 32 operable to be received by an outlet 33 e g a standard home wall power outlet connected to a circuit at the customer location to obtain alternating current AC power from the circuit and transform the AC current to direct current DC current for use in
57. utomatic communications ini tiation with other devices 60 64 by utilizing a communica tion protocol such as BLUETOOTH IEEE 802 11a b g or in the present embodiment utilizing technology described and disclosed in International Patent Application PCT US00 14240 filed May 24 2000 entitled Wireless Trans ceiver Network Employing Node to Node Data Messag ing the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein which may be referred to as MINIONNET technol ogy The wireless communication disclosed in the above referenced patent application is preferable to achieve wire less networking of intelligent transceiver nodes that employ local processing and node to node data messaging to hand off messages from an origination point to a destination point Utilizing such technology the first outage notification device 60 when retrieved from the shipping container and brought within a certain range such as three hundred feet may begin to communicate via a radio frequency such as 900 MHz or 2 4 GHz Such communication may be encrypted or unencrypted as necessary or desirable 0054 The first outage notification device 60 may self address with respect to the other devices 62 and 64 in use at the customer location without the need to hardwire an address according to one embodiment This enables a number of devices to be dynamically employed without the need to configure the devices 60 64 in advance of the installation This provide

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