# US 8,788,415 B2 · Using one-way communications in a market-based resource allocation system > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 8,788,415 B2 - Document ID: US8788415B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 12/587,006 - Filed: 2009-09-29 - Published: 2010-04-29 - Granted: 2014-07-22 - Earliest claimed: 2008-09-29 - Assignees: Battelle Memorial Institute - Applicants: David P. Chassin; Robert G. Pratt - Inventors: David P. Chassin; Robert G. Pratt - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8788415B2 ## CPC - G06Q 30/08: Auctions - G06Q 20/102: {Bill distribution or payments} - G06Q 40/04: Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange - G06Q 50/06: Energy or water supply - G06Q 30/0611: {Request for offers or quotes} - Y04S 10/50: Systems or methods supporting the power network operation or management, involving a certain degree of interaction with the load-side end user applications - Y04S 50/10: Energy trading, including energy flowing from end-user application to grid - Y04S 50/12: Billing, invoicing, buying or selling transactions or other related activities, e.g. cost or usage evaluation - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR - Y04S: SYSTEMS INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO POWER NETWORK OPERATION, COMMUNICATION OR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR IMPROVING THE ELECTRICAL POWER GENERATION, TRANSMISSION, DISTRIBUTION, MANAGEMENT OR USAGE, i.e. SMART GRIDS ## Abstract Disclosed herein are representative embodiments of methods, apparatus, and systems for distributing a resource (such as electricity) using a resource allocation system. In one exemplary embodiment, a plurality of requests for electricity are received from a plurality of end-use consumers. The requests indicate a requested quantity of electricity and a consumer-requested index value indicative of a maximum price a respective end-use consumer will pay for the requested quantity of electricity. A plurality of offers for supplying electricity are received from a plurality of resource suppliers. The offers indicate an offered quantity of electricity and a supplier-requested index value indicative of a minimum price for which a respective supplier will produce the offered quantity of electricity. A dispatched index value is computed at which electricity is to be supplied based at least in part on the consumer-requested index values and the supplier-requested index values. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of operating an electrical device in a market-based resource allocation system, comprising: receiving, by a computing device, a user comfort setting selected by a user, the user comfort setting being selected from at least a first user comfort setting and a second user comfort setting, the first user comfort setting indicating the user's willingness to pay more to achieve a desired performance level for an electrical device relative to the second user comfort setting; computing, by the computing device, an average dispatched value using multiple dispatched values from a previous time period, the multiple dispatched values representing values at which electricity was dispatched by the market-based resource allocation system during the previous time period; computing, by the computing device, a probability value of operating the electrical device based on at least the user comfort setting and the average dispatched value; and based at least in part on the computed probability value, generating a signal for operating the electrical device. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises computing a standard deviation of the multiple dispatched values from the previous time period, and wherein the probability value is additionally based on the standard deviation. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the previous time period is 24 hours or less. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises periodically receiving dispatched values from a central computer in the resource allocation system. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: generating a random number; determining whether to operate the electrical device by comparing the random number to the probability value; and generating a signal for causing the electrical device to operate based on the comparison. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the selected comfort setting is associated with a weighting factor kw. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The method of claim 6, wherein the probability value is computed according to the following equation: r = k W ⁡ [ 1 2 ⁢ ⁢ π ⁢ σ ⁢ ∫ - ∞ P clear ⁢ ⅇ - ( P _ - x ) 2 2 ⁢ ⁢ σ 2 ⁢ ⁢ ⅆ x - 1 2 ] = k W ⁡ [ N ⁡ ( P clear , P _ , σ ) - 0.5 ] ; r ≥ 0 r = 0 ; otherwise where N is the cumulative normal distribution, Pclear is a current dispatched value, P is the average dispatched value over the time period, and σ is the standard deviation of the dispatched value over the time period. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the electrical device is a hot water heater. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the electrical device is an air-conditioning unit; heating unit; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system; hot water heater; refrigerator; dish washer; washing machine; dryer; oven; microwave oven; pump; home lighting system; electrical charger, electric vehicle charger; or home electrical system. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device comprises a computer processor or an integrated circuit. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising repeating the computing at fixed time periods. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the fixed time periods are periods of 15 minutes or less. ### Claim 13 One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-readable instructions for causing a computer to perform a method, the method comprising: receiving, by the computer, a user comfort setting selected by a user, the user comfort setting being selected from at least a first user comfort setting and a second user comfort setting, the first user comfort setting indicating the user's willingness to pay more to achieve a desired performance level for an electrical device relative to the second user comfort setting; computing, by the computer, an average dispatched value using multiple dispatched values from a previous time period, the multiple dispatched values representing values at which electricity was dispatched by a market-based resource allocation system during the previous time period; computing, by the computer, a probability value of operating the electrical device based on at least the user comfort setting and the average dispatched value; and based at least in part on the computed probability value, generating a signal for operating the electrical device. ### Claim 14 A system comprising: computing hardware; and an electrical device, the system being configured to: receive, by the computing hardware, a user comfort setting selected by a user, the user comfort setting being selected from at least a first user comfort setting and a second user comfort setting, the first user comfort setting indicating the user's willingness to pay more to achieve a desired performance level for the electrical device relative to the second user comfort setting; compute, by the computing hardware, an average dispatched value using multiple dispatched values from a previous time period, the multiple dispatched values representing values at which electricity was dispatched by a market-based resource allocation system during the previous time period; compute, by the computing hardware, a probability value of operating the electrical device based on at least the user comfort setting and the average dispatched value; and based at least in part on the computed probability value, generating a signal for operating the electrical device. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the electrical device is an air-conditioning unit. ### Claim 16 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the electrical device is a heating unit. ### Claim 17 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the electrical device is a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system. ### Claim 18 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the electrical device is a hot water heater. ### Claim 19 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the electrical device is a refrigerator. ### Claim 20 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the electrical device is a dish washer. ### Claim 21 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the electrical device is a washing machine. ### Claim 22 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the electrical device is a dryer. ### Claim 23 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the electrical device is an oven. ### Claim 24 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the electrical device is a microwave oven. ### Claim 25 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the electrical device is a pump. ### Claim 26 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the electrical device is a home lighting system. ### Claim 27 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the electrical device is an electric vehicle charger. ### Claim 28 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the electrical device is a home electrical system. ### Claim 29 A method of operating an electrical charger in a market-based resource allocation system, comprising: receiving a user comfort setting selected by a user, the user comfort setting being selected from at least a first user comfort setting and a second user comfort setting, the first user comfort setting indicating the user's willingness to pay more to achieve a desired performance level for the electrical charger relative to the second user comfort setting; computing an average dispatched value using multiple dispatched values from a previous time period, the multiple dispatched values representing values at which electricity was dispatched by a market-based resource allocation system during the previous time period; computing, by computing hardware, a current rate of charge at which the electrical charger is to operate based on at least the user comfort setting and the average dispatched value; and generating, by a signal generator, a signal for controlling the electrical charger such that the electrical charger provides a charge at the current rate of charge. ### Claim 30 (depends on 29) The method of claim 29, wherein the method further comprises computing a standard deviation of the multiple dispatched values from the previous time period, and wherein the current rate of charge is additionally based on the standard deviation. ### Claim 31 (depends on 29) The method of claim 29, wherein the method further comprises periodically receiving dispatched values from a central computer in the resource allocation system. ### Claim 32 (depends on 29) The method of claim 29, wherein the current rate of charge is computed according to the following: ROCset=ROCdes(1−kPdev) where ROCset is the current rate of charge, ROCdes is a desired rate of charge such that ROC des = ( SOC final - SOC obs ) n hours where SOCfinal is the final state of charge, SOCobs is the current state of charge observed, nhours is the number of hours remaining before the SOCfinal is to be achieved, k is the user comfort setting, with 0≦k≦∞, Pdev is the price deviation such that P dev = P now - P avg P std wherein Pnow is a current price, Pavg is the average daily clearing price for energy, and Pstd is the daily standard deviation of the price. ### Claim 33 (depends on 29) The method of claim 29, wherein the computing hardware is a computer processor or an integrated circuit. ### Claim 34 (depends on 29) The method of claim 29, further comprising repeating the computing at fixed time periods. ### Claim 35 One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-readable instructions for causing a computer to perform a method, the method comprising: receiving a user comfort setting selected by a user, the user comfort setting being selected from at least a first user comfort setting and a second user comfort setting, the first user comfort setting indicating the user's willingness to pay more to achieve a desired performance level for an electrical charger relative to the second user comfort setting; computing an average dispatched value using multiple dispatched values from a previous time period, the multiple dispatched values representing values at which electricity was dispatched by a market-based resource allocation system during the previous time period; computing, by the computer, a current rate of charge at which the electrical charger is to operate based on at least the user comfort setting and the average dispatched value; and generating, by the computer, a signal for controlling the electrical charger such that the electrical charger provides a charge at the current rate of charge. ### Claim 36 A system comprising: computing hardware; signal generation hardware; and an electrical charger, the system being configured to: receive a user comfort setting selected by a user, the user comfort setting being selected from at least a first user comfort setting and a second user comfort setting, the first user comfort setting indicating the user's willingness to pay more to achieve a desired performance level for the electrical charger relative to the second user comfort setting; compute an average dispatched value using multiple dispatched values from a previous time period, the multiple dispatched values representing values at which electricity was dispatched by the market-based resource allocation system during the previous time period; compute, by the computing hardware, a current rate of charge at which the electrical charger is to operate based on at least the user comfort setting and the average dispatched value; and generate, by the signal generation hardware, a signal for controlling the electrical charger such that the electrical charger provides a charge at the current rate of charge.