Methods And Systems For Blind Analysis of Resource Consumption

A system for analyzing gross resource consumption data to determine resource consumption of individual devices, said system comprising:

• a power consumption measurement module for obtaining a time series of a gross resource consumption for a location, said time series including resource consumption of a plurality of devices at the location, said time series representing a first data;
• a power consumption database including resource consumption signatures for each of said plurality of devices and known average resource consumption data for each of said plurality of devices, said resource consumption signatures representing a second data;
• and
• a power consumption analysis module for using blind signal separation techniques to analyze said first and second data to develop a sequence of events each of which are attributed to one of said plurality of devices, said sequence comprising a third data, and using said third data, determining a portion of said gross resource consumption consumed by each of said plurality of devices.

A metering apparatus for analyzing gross resource consumption data to determine resource consumption of individual devices, said apparatus comprising:

• a housing;
• a mechanism for connecting said apparatus with a location for obtaining a first data that includes a time series of a gross resource consumption for said location, said time series including resource consumption of a plurality of devices at said location;
• a computer processor;
• a database in communication with said computer processor, said database including resource consumption signatures for each of said plurality of devices and known average resource consumption data for each of said plurality of devices, said resource consumption signatures and said known average resource consumption data representing second and third data, respectively;
• and
• a computer-readable medium having the following computer-executable instructions that are executed by said computer processor:
• using blind signal separation techniques, analyzing said first and second data to develop a sequence of events each of which are attributed to one of said plurality of devices, said sequence comprising a fourth data;
• and
• using said third and fourth data, determining a portion of said gross resource consumption consumed by each of said plurality of devices.