Power Outage Confirmation Using In-Home Device Logs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional power monitoring networks for communication station buildings fail to provide a power supply status when they themselves fail due to disasters or other issues.
Innovation Solution
A power outage confirmation device that includes a user confirmation unit, a subscription log confirmation unit, and a power outage determination unit, which acquires information on subscribed users, confirms logs from in-home devices, and determines if a power outage has occurred, even when the power monitoring network fails.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a power monitoring network is used to monitor power supply status, then power supply status can be monitored under normal conditions, but the monitoring system becomes unavailable when the network fails
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary alternative monitoring path using in-home devices and subscription logs as mediators. When the primary power monitoring network fails, the system uses these intermediaries to indirectly determine power supply status by checking whether in-home devices can communicate and whether subscription logs are being updated, thus maintaining monitoring availability without directly complicating the primary monitoring system
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by establishing alternative monitoring capabilities in advance. In-home devices are pre-configured to generate logs and maintain communication channels that can serve as backup indicators of power supply status, ensuring that monitoring capability exists before the primary system fails
2Loss of information
If conventional power monitoring is used, then monitoring is simple under normal conditions, but no information is obtained when network failure occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the monitoring system universal by enabling it to function through multiple paths: the primary power monitoring network for normal operation and the alternative path using in-home device logs and subscription information for when the network fails. This multi-functionality ensures continuous information availability without significantly complicating normal operation
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies partial action by using only the necessary alternative monitoring methods when needed. Instead of continuously using all monitoring paths, it activates the in-home device log checking and subscription information retrieval only when the primary monitoring network is detected as failed, maintaining simplicity during normal operation while ensuring information availability during failures
Data Source
AI summary
A power outage confirmation device that confirms whether a power outage has occurred in an area including a communication building and a plurality of subscribed users accommodated in the communication building includes: a user confirmation unit that acquires information on the plurality of subscribed users in a case where a communication abnormality is detected from a power monitoring device; a subscription log confirmation unit that confirms a log of an in-home device of each of the subscribed users on the basis of the information; and a power outage determination unit that determines whether a power outage has occurred in the area on the basis of the log.