Method and system for utilizing a broadband gateway to provide energy efficient management in a home network

Abstract

A broadband gateway may provide energy management service within a home network. The energy management service may enable reducing and/or enhancing energy consumption within the home network. The energy management service may comprise managing one or more devices in the home network by the broadband gateway. The energy management service may be performed based on energy-related information associated with devices, and the information may be stored by the broadband gateway. At least some of the energy-related information may be acquired from the managed devices. The energy management service may comprise controlling and/or configuring the managed devices, and/or communications between the managed devices within the home network. The broadband gateway may track actual energy usage by the managed devices. Information corresponding to energy-related activities and/or usage may be displayed via a user interface. The information may also be reported to entities external to the home network.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 in a broadband gateway communicatively coupled to a plurality of devices and operable to handle at least one physical layer connection to at least one corresponding network access service provider:
 providing an energy management service to the plurality of devices, wherein the energy management service:
 stores, in the broadband gateway, energy-related information associated with one or more of the plurality of devices; and 
 manages a network communication of the one or more of the plurality of devices based on the energy-related information, via adjustment of a setting corresponding to the network communication. 
 
   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , comprising configuring the one or more of the plurality of devices during management of the operation of network communication of the one or more of the plurality of devices. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , comprising controlling or configuring communications between at least some of the one or more of the plurality of devices during management of the network communication of the one or more of the plurality of devices. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1 , comprising tracking energy use in the one or more of the plurality of devices. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 4 , comprising updating or modifying the stored energy-related information based on tracked energy use. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the stored energy-related information comprises a device profile corresponding to each of the one or more of the plurality of devices, the device profile comprising a plurality of settings for controlling or managing energy use in an associated device. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 6 , wherein the device profile is configurable and configuration of the device profile comprises initializing or modifying one or more of a plurality of settings for controlling or managing energy use in an associated device. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 1 , comprising displaying activity associated with the energy management service via a user interface. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the energy-related information comprises an energy requirement, an energy limitations, a device use pattern, or an item of temporal related use data. 
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 1 , comprising communicating an energy-related message based on an energy-specific protocol by the energy management service. 
     
     
         11 . A system comprising:
 one or more circuits, one or more processors, or any combination thereof, communicatively coupled to a plurality of devices and operable to handle at least one physical layer connection to at least one corresponding network access service provider and provide an energy management service to the plurality of devices, the energy management service operable to:
 determine that one or more of the plurality of devices may have an energy consumption controlled or configured by the system; 
 store energy-related information associated with a network communication of the one or more of the plurality of devices; and 
 manage an operation of the network communication based on the energy-related information via adjustment of a setting corresponding to the network communications to control or configure the energy consumption of the one or more of the plurality of devices. 
   
     
     
         12 . The system according to  claim 11 , wherein the one or more circuits or processors are operable to control or configure the network communication during the operation of the network communication. 
     
     
         13 . The system according to  claim 11 , wherein the one or more circuits or processors are operable to track the energy consumption in the one or more of the plurality of devices. 
     
     
         14 . The system according to  claim 13  wherein the one or more circuits or processors are operable to update or modify the energy-related information based on the tracking. 
     
     
         15 . The system according to  claim 11 , wherein the stored energy-related information comprises a device profile corresponding to individual ones of the plurality of devices, the device profile comprising a plurality of settings for controlling or managing the energy consumption. 
     
     
         16 . The system according to  claim 15 , wherein the energy management service further comprises logic that modifies one or more of the plurality of settings. 
     
     
         17 . The system according to  claim 11 , wherein the one or more circuits or processors are operable to display an activity associated with the energy management service via a user interface. 
     
     
         18 . The system according to  claim 11 , wherein the energy-related information comprises an energy requirement, an energy limitation, a device use pattern, and temporal related use data. 
     
     
         19 . The system according to  claim 11 , wherein the one or more circuits or processors are operable to communicate energy-related messages based on an energy-specific protocol provided by the energy management service. 
     
     
         20 . A non-transitory, computer-readable medium having a program that, when executed by processing circuitry operable to handle at least one physical layer connection to at least one corresponding network access service provider, causes the processing circuitry to provide an energy management service that comprises:
 monitoring energy-related information associated with a network communication of a computing device;   storing the energy-related information associated with the computing device; and   adjusting a setting associated with the network communication of the computing device based at least upon the energy-related information.