Method to determine utility consumption of individual appliances in a household from periodic measurements of aggregate utility consumption

A method for determining the utility consumption of a collection of appliances by measuring only the aggregate utility consumption of these appliances, the method comprising of:

• (q) determining the utility consumption of various modes of each appliance,
• (r) determining a measurement interval, and measuring aggregate utility consumption at the said periodic interval,
• (s) determining if the change in aggregate utility consumption in an interval is due to change in status (ON or OFF) of one of the appliances
• (t) determining if the change in aggregate consumption is due to a change in status of a pair of appliances
• (u) determining if change in aggregate consumption is due to change in status of a triplet of appliances, and
• (v) breaking ties, if necessary among candidate singletons, candidate pairs and candidate triplets, and
• (w) determining total utility consumption of an appliance from the utility consumption of the said appliance in each measurement interval.

A system that determines the utility consumption of each appliance in a collection of appliances by measuring only the aggregate utility consumption of these appliances, comprising:

• (x) a measuring unit to measure aggregate utility consumption at periodic intervals,
• (y) 1-appliance solver for first determining if the change in aggregate utility consumption in an interval is due to change in status (ON or OFF) of one of the appliances
• (z) 2-appliance solver for determining if the change in aggregate consumption is due to a change in status of a pair of appliances
• (aa) 3-appliance solver for determining if change in aggregate consumption is due to change in status of a triplet of appliances, and
• (bb) an analytics unit for calculating total utility consumption of an appliance from the utility consumption of the said appliance in each measurement interval.

A computer program product including a computer readable medium with instructions, said instructions enabling a computer to determine utility consumption of each appliance in a collection of appliances by using measurements of aggregate utility consumption, said instructions comprising:

• (cc) a measuring unit to receive utility consumption at periodic intervals,
• (dd) 1-appliance solver for first determining if the change in aggregate utility consumption in an interval is due to change in status (ON or OFF) of one of the appliances
• (ee) 2-appliance solver for determining if the change in aggregate consumption is due to a change in status of a pair of appliances
• (ff) 3-appliance solver for determining if change in aggregate consumption is due to change in status of a triplet of appliances, and
• (gg) an analytics unit for calculating total utility consumption of an appliance from the utility consumption of the said appliance in each measurement interval.