Electrical meter with multiple modes of operation

Abstract

An electrical meter may process measurements of a power line to a building to determine information about devices in the building, such as a state change of a device or power consumption of an individual device. The electrical meter may have more than one mode of operation to provide improved functionality for end users. For example, a first mode of operation may provide higher accuracy in determining information about devices but may also have higher latency in making determinations (e.g., identifying state changes of devices), and a second mode of operation may have lower accuracy but also lower latency to provide information more quickly to end users. The mode of operation of the power monitor may change depending on whether an end user is currently viewing information about devices.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system, comprising:
 an electrical meter comprising at least one processor and at least one memory, the electrical meter configured to:
 obtain a power monitoring signal by measuring an electrical property of a power line to a building, wherein the power line provides power to devices in the building, 
 process the power monitoring signal in a first mode of operation during a first time period to determine first information about a first device in the building, 
 transmit the first information to at least one server computer, 
 receive from the at least one server computer an instruction to change to a second mode of operation; 
 process the power monitoring signal in the second mode of operation during a second time period to determine second information about a second device in the building, and 
 transmit the second information to the at least one server computer; and 
   the at least one server computer comprising at least one processor and at least one memory, the at least one server computer configured to:
 receive the first information from the electrical meter, 
 transmit the instruction to the electrical meter to change to the second mode of operation, and 
 receive the second information from the electrical meter. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , comprising:
 a user device comprising at least one processor and at least one memory, the user device configured to:
 receive an input from a user to view information about devices in the building; 
 present the first information to the user, wherein the first information was determined by the electrical meter before the user device received the input from the user; and 
 present the second information to the user, wherein the second information was determined by the electrical meter after the user device received the input from the user. 
   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the input from the user comprises the user opening an application installed on the user device. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein:
 the user device is configured to receive a second input from the user to stop viewing information about devices in the building; and   the at least one server computer is configured to cause the electrical meter to change from the second mode of operation to the first mode of operation after the user device receives the second input from the user.   
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the at least one server computer comprises a first server computer and a second server computer, and wherein:
 the first server computer receives the first information from the electrical meter and transmits the first information to the user device; and   the second server computer receives the second information from the electrical meter and transmits the second information to the user device.   
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein a network connection between the electrical meter and the second server computer is a continuous network connection. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the first time period and the second time period do not overlap. 
     
     
         8 . A computer-implemented method for providing information about devices in a building, the method implemented by at least one server computer and comprising:
 receiving first information about a first device in the building from an electrical meter, wherein the electrical meter determined the first information by operating in a first mode of operation and by measuring an electrical property of a power line to the building;   storing the first information;   receiving a message from a user device wherein the message indicates that a user of the user device is requesting to view information about devices in the building;   causing the electrical meter to change from the first mode of operation to a second mode of operation;   retrieving the stored first information and transmitting the first information to the user device;   receiving second information about a second device in the building from the electrical meter, wherein the electrical meter determined the second information by operating in the second mode of operation and by measuring the electrical property of the power line to the building; and   transmitting the second information to the user device.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the first information comprises information about a state change of the first device and the second information comprises information about power usage of the second device. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the second information is transmitted from the electrical meter to the user device in real time. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , comprising modifying the first information before transmitting the first information to the user device. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein:
 a first server computer receives the first information from the electrical meter and transmits the first information to the user device; and   a second server computer receives the second information from the electrical meter and transmits the second information to the user device.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8 , comprising:
 receiving a second message from a user device wherein the second message indicates that a user of the user device is requesting to stop viewing information about devices in the building; and   causing the electrical meter to change from the second mode of operation to the first mode of operation.   
     
     
         14 . An electrical meter, comprising:
 a sensor for measuring an electrical property of an electrical main, wherein the electrical main provides power to devices in a building;   a network interface; and   at least one processor configured to:
 obtain a power monitoring signal from the sensor, 
 process the power monitoring signal in a first mode of operation during a first time period to determine first information about a first device in the building, 
 receive via the network interface an instruction to change to a second mode of operation, 
 process the power monitoring signal in the second mode of operation during a second time period to determine second information about a second device in the building, 
 receive via the network interface an instruction to change to the first mode of operation, and 
 process the power monitoring signal in the first mode of operation during a third time period to determine third information about a third device in the building. 
   
     
     
         15 . The electrical meter of  claim 14 , wherein the electrical meter comprises a second sensor for measuring an electrical property of a second electrical main, wherein the second electrical main provides power to devices in the building. 
     
     
         16 . The electrical meter of  claim 14 , wherein:
 the first mode of operation comprises a historical mode of operation that operates at a higher accuracy and a higher latency; and   the second mode of operation comprises a real-time mode of operation that operates at a lower accuracy and a lower latency.   
     
     
         17 . The electrical meter of  claim 14 , wherein the first mode of operation processes a search graph using a first configuration and the second mode of operation processes the search graph using a second configuration. 
     
     
         18 . The electrical meter of  claim 14 , wherein the first information comprises at least one of power consumption of the first device or a state change of the first device. 
     
     
         19 . The electrical meter of  claim 14 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
 transmit the first information to a server computer; and   transmit the second information to a server computer.   
     
     
         20 . The electrical meter of  claim 14 , wherein the first mode of operation processes a larger number of features than the second mode of operation, or the first mode of operation adds a larger number of nodes to a search graph than the second mode of operation. 
     
     
         21 . The electrical meter of  claim 14 , wherein the electrical meter determines the first information by processing the power monitoring signal with a plurality of mathematical models.