Patents by Inventor Alfred Spiessens

Alfred Spiessens has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 9417673
    Abstract: A method of controlling power to a device which consumes energy from an energy network. The network has a renewable energy generator and a mains supply connected thereto to supply energy to the network. The method includes determining energy requirements of the device, and determining a renewable energy component of the supplied energy generated by the renewable energy generator. The method compares the energy requirements of the device with the renewable energy component of the supplied energy, and controls the energy to the device in accordance with the comparison between the energy requirements of the device with the renewable energy component of the supplied energy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2016
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Philip Marivoet, Yoeri Apts, Alfred Spiessens, Christopher Rutherford, Chris Minnoy, Hamish Guthrie
  • Publication number: 20140379099
    Abstract: A control device and a corresponding control method for controlling one or more electrical devices, each having a device profile including energy usage-related information of the device. The control device includes a profile input that obtains device profiles of electrical devices to be controlled from a device-specific storage location identified by a device-specific location identifier, an identifier input that receives device-specific location identifiers and/or device identifiers usable for generating respective device-specific location identifiers, a control unit that processes obtained device profiles and generates control commands for controlling the one or more electrical devices based on the obtained device profile, and a control output that provides the control commands.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 11, 2013
    Publication date: December 25, 2014
    Applicant: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Geert Premereur, Bert Robben, Michel Tilman, Chris Minnoy, Alfred Spiessens
  • Patent number: 8914159
    Abstract: A method of controlling power to a plurality of devices on an energy network, wherein each device has an identifier which uniquely identifies the device on the network, the method comprising: forming a group of devices from said plurality of devices; and controlling the power of other devices in said group in accordance with the state of the power supplied to a first device in said group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 16, 2014
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Philip Marivoet, Yoeri Apts, Alfred Spiessens, Christopher Rutherford, Chris Minnoy, Hamish Guthrie
  • Publication number: 20140228993
    Abstract: A control apparatus comprises a user control for setting one or more parameters determining the resource consumption and/or production of future resource-consuming and/or producing events by a specific resource consuming and/or production device, the one or more parameters including a time period, longer than the length of each resource-consuming and/or producing event itself, during which the user allows that resource-consuming and/or producing event to take place, the future resource-consuming and/or producing events being associated with a user reward; and a display for displaying, to the user, (i) performance data indicating the predicted effect of setting the parameters on the performance of the resource consuming and/or producing device relative to one or more predetermined user requirements, so that the displayed performance data varies with variations in the one or more parameters set by the user control, and (ii) the user reward associated with at least currently selected parameters.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 23, 2013
    Publication date: August 14, 2014
    Applicants: Sony Europe Limited, Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Chris MINNOY, Bert Robben, Geert Premereur, Jan Spooren, Alfred Spiessens
  • Publication number: 20130162650
    Abstract: A method of controlling power to a device which consumes energy from an energy network. The network has a renewable energy generator and a mains supply connected thereto to supply energy to the network. The method includes determining energy requirements of the device, and determining a renewable energy component of the supplied energy generated by the renewable energy generator. The method compares the energy requirements of the device with the renewable energy component of the supplied energy, and controls the energy to the device in accordance with the comparison between the energy requirements of the device with the renewable energy component of the supplied energy.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 1, 2011
    Publication date: June 27, 2013
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Philip Marivoet, Yoeri Apts, Alfred Spiessens, Christopher Rutherford, Chris Minnoy, Hamish Guthrie
  • Publication number: 20120059531
    Abstract: A method of controlling power to a plurality of devices on an energy network, wherein each device has an identifier which uniquely identifies the device on the network, the method comprising: generating a profile of the power associated with each device over a given time frame; and controlling the power to each device in accordance with the profile at a corresponding time frame on a different occasion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 16, 2011
    Publication date: March 8, 2012
    Applicant: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Philip MARIVOET, Yoeri Apts, Alfred Spiessens, Christopher Rutherford, Chris Minnoy, Hamish Guthrie
  • Publication number: 20120059529
    Abstract: A method of controlling power to a plurality of devices on an energy network, wherein each device has an identifier which uniquely identifies the device on the network, the method comprising: forming a group of devices from said plurality of devices; and controlling the power of other devices in said group in accordance with the state of the power supplied to a first device in said group.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 16, 2011
    Publication date: March 8, 2012
    Applicant: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Philip MARIVOET, Yoeri Apts, Alfred Spiessens, Christopher Rutherford, Chris Minnoy, Hamish Guthrie