TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to methods and devices for receiving electricity. In particular the invention relates to methods and devices facilitating transfer of electricity for charging an electrically powered vehicle.

BACKGROUND

Today, major vehicle vendors are currently investigating and investing in solutions to replace or complement conventional fossil fuel engines with electrical motors driven by electricity stored in efficient, re-chargeable batteries. One of the underlying reasons is the limitation on CO2 emissions currently being enforced in at least parts of the world. Another reason is the high cost of burning of fossil fuel in internal combustion engines. Limited fossil fuel resources are also a huge challenge for the world, and battery-technology is therefore developing rapidly.

The electrical car batteries available today, offer only a limited driving range compared to fossil fuel engines. However, a major fraction of car trips are short, meaning that the use of electrical engines driven by battery charged energy is possible, provided there is a simple and efficient battery re-charging system available. Thus, there is a strong demand for a system by which car batteries can be recharged whenever the car stands unused.

Still, a number of challenging problems remains to be solved before electrically driven cars can be widely used for all types of transportation. For example, one problem with car battery charging is the lack of infrastructure for charging and/or battery replacement systems. Electricity power suppliers are currently developing dedicated posts or stations for charging or battery replacement at "power-stations", which are similar to gas-stations as known today. However, this approach has some severe drawbacks: - It requires a completely new infrastructure of charging posts before car users can trust that they will be able to re-charge the batteries at remote locations. This "chicken and egg" problem may delay the introduction of electrically operated road vehicles, and reduce the use of electrical power in hybrid road vehicles.

- Battery charging takes considerably longer than gasoline refueling, and consumers may not have the patience or possibility to recharge their car for hours at dedicated re-charging stations.

- Replacement batteries at "power-stations" have the drawback that batteries wear out: It is questionable if a consumer is willing to replace his brand-new well-charging battery with an unknown, recycled battery at the replacement station. In addition, changing batteries may limit development of new battery technologies because the batteries have to be standard and vehicle owners are reluctant to invest in a device that can be replaced with a worse one.

Hence there exists a problem of how to provide methods and devices enabling recharging of electricity in electrically driven vehicles in an efficient manner. In particular, such methods and devices should be user- friendly and require low investments in new infrastructure.

SUMMARY

It is an object of the invention to provide improved methods and devices to address the problems as outlined above.

This object and others are obtained by the methods and devices as set out in the appended claims. The electrical power grid is well developed and reaches almost everywhere, and it would be very beneficial if the existing electrical distribution system could be used for vehicle charging without any major investments in new electricity infrastructure. In accordance with the present invention a reliable power supply system providing support for payment of electricity whereby a consumer easily access electricity consumed at remote locations is provided. In addition a system whereby the consumer can be billed in an efficient manner is provided.

In accordance with one embodiment a method of receiving electricity from an electrical outlet using a consumer device is provided where a receiving entity, i.e. the person/device responsible for paying the received electricity, such as a consumer a device associated with a credit or prepaid account, is identified together with a power outlet from which power is to be received. The method further involves transmitting at least one message to a central system node comprising information relating to a pair of identified consumer device and power outlet requesting access to electricity via the identified power outlet. Hereby the central system node is enabled to take proper measures for letting the consumer receive electricity through the identified outlet. Such steps can include authenticating the consumer/ a consumer device, switching on and off power in the electrical outlet in response to a determination if the consumer /consumer device is authenticated and/ or is found to have credit with the central node. The steps can also include roaming in a network for a power supplier with which the consumer/consumer device is associated for billing the 'home' power supply network provider of the consumer, which provider in turn can bill the consumer. The invention also extends to a device for transmitting a message comprising information relating to a pair of identified consumer device and power outlet, requesting billing of received electricity to an account connected to the consumer device.

In accordance with one embodiment a method of billing electricity to a consumer is provided. The method comprises transmitting a request comprising information relating to a pair of identified consumer device and power outlet, and billing the electricity received by the consumer to an account connected to the consumer identity. In accordance with one embodiment an authentication procedure is used for authenticating the receiving entity. The authentication procedure can be any suitable authentication procedure for example a procedure as described in the technical specifications of third generation partnership project (3 GPP).

The invention also extends to a central system node adapted to support billing of electricity to a consumer. The central node can for example be configured to transmit a request comprising message comprising information relating to a pair of identified consumer device and power outlet. The central system node can be further configured to support billing of the electricity received by the consumer to an account connected to the consumer identity.

In accordance with one embodiment a central node is provided to control the reception of electricity. The central system node can control reception of electricity by a consumer, using a controller for example in the form of a computer operating on a set of computer program instructions stored on a memory, by switching on and off the power of a power outlet in response to a message received from a consumer device and transmitted to the central system node. The message comprises information relating to a pair of identified consumer device and power outlet. In accordance with one embodiment the central node comprises a module for electricity roaming with a second power supplier.

In accordance with one embodiment an electrical power outlet device is provided. The power outlet device can comprise a module associated with an identity or subscription number, and a switch, e.g. an electrical switch, adapted to switch on and off electricity in response to the outcome of an authentication process.

The payment system can in accordance with one exemplary embodiment be implemented such that a consumer having a power supply agreement with one power supplier can receive electrical power from any power outlet, where the power outlet may be supported by another power supplier. A consumer authentication and payment system collects electricity payment records for all charges of electricity. In accordance with one embodiment a clearing facility, such as a clearing house is provided by means of which charged electricity is cleared between different power suppliers.

Using such a system for charging of electrically driven cars will facilitate and simplify charging of electrical cars, such that a user of an electrical charged car can refill his battery almost anywhere without major investment in new infrastructure. Also the consumer can receive a cumulative bill containing all his charging records for electricity consumed regardless of where the electricity is received. It should be noted that although charging of electrically driven cars/vehicles is used as an example in the description, the solution can also be used to receive electricity to any electrically powered device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described in more detail by way of non- limiting examples and with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which: - Fig. 1 is a general view illustrating a system providing charging of electricity,

- Fig. 2a is a view of a consumer device for electrical charging,

- Fig. 2b is a flowchart illustrating some exemplary procedural steps performed by a consumer device,

- Fig. 3a is a view of a central node in a system providing electrical charging,

- Fig. 3b is a flowchart illustrating some exemplary procedural steps performed by a central node,

- Fig. 4 is a view of a power outlet device,

- Fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating some exemplary procedural steps performed when charging electricity from a power outlet, and - Fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating some procedural steps performed when supporting billing of electricity to a consumer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It is desirable that a road vehicle, such as a car, heavy truck and bus, could be re-charged at any location whenever it stands idle, as long as there is an electrical outlet available.

However, the consumer needs to be able to pay for the electricity when charging his car in an efficient manner, as illustrated by the examples below. Example 1:

When visiting a friend and the battery of the mobile phone runs empty, you will not hesitate to charge the battery from an outlet at your friends place, since cost of the consumed electricity is deemed as irrelevant by most people. However, you may indeed hesitate to ask for charging your electrically powered car, since the cost for reloading the car battery, or other energy sources such as super capacitors developed for vehicles, is most likely not an irrelevant expenditure. Thus, it would be very practical if you can receive the cost yourself, on your own electrical bill with which you are already familiar.

Example 2:

Similarly to example 1, it would be very practical if the car can be charged while standing idle at the parking place at the office, such that all the weekly car rides, which typically are of short distance, could be performed with electricity as the only source of energy. In Nordic countries in particular, there is often already a well developed infrastructure of electrical outlets provided, today intended for car pre-heating. Such outlets are often also available at private residences. This infrastructure can easily be adapted for charging. However, similar to the friend in Example 1 , it is not clear that employers or such are generally willing to take all the costs of reloading batteries of their employees. Example 3:

It would further be beneficial if a car owner can charge the car at any public location where electrical outlets could easily be made available, such as public parking places and parking houses, shopping centers and similar. With such a system, the car would always be charged with electricity when the owner returns to the car.

In all the above examples a system where the car user/owner can be billed for the charged electricity is desired. Below an exemplary embodiment of such a system is described. In Fig. 1 a general view of an exemplary system 100 is depicted. The system 100 comprises a consumer device 101 for identifying the consumer towards a central system node 105 of the system 100. The system further comprises power outlets devices 103. The system can comprise one or many central system nodes 105 for controlling the power outlets and for managing authentication of consumers and also for managing payments and billing. The different parts of an exemplary system will now be described in more detail.

In Fig. 2a, a consumer device 101 is depicted: The consumer device can comprise a removable Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) 121 that uniquely identifies a subscription to a service offered by a first power supplier. The consumer device can also include a unit 123 for measuring electrical energy. The consumer device can also include a unit 125 for letting the consumer device to communicate wirelessly or via fixed connectivity with the rest of the system 100. The communication preferably includes an authentication procedure and procedures for reporting of measurement records. The consumer device comprises means for performing tasks within the consumer device. In accordance with one embodiment the means are provided in the form of a controller unit 126, e.g. in the form of a microcontroller or a microprocessor, adapted to operate on a set of computer program instructions stored in a memory 124 of the consumer device 101 for providing the functionality performed by the consumer device 101. Authentication can be provided using the SIM 121. In addition the consumer device 101 can comprise a module 122 for automatically identifying a power outlet as is described below. In accordance with one embodiment the consumer device can include a switch (not shown) to control charging on/off in the consumer device. Using the switch electricity charging can be switched on and off, for example so that charging can be switched off when the consumer has reached in particular charging limit. This can be useful when the power outlet is passive, i.e. is only associated with an Id-tag. In this scenario, the switch in the customer device can be configured to only allow reception of electricity when the outlet id is identified and authentication signaling is completed.

Using the consumer device a consumer is enabled to identify himself so that electricity only is supplied to a correctly identified party. This in turn makes it possible for an owner of a power outlet to open up the power outlet to anyone that can be identified because the cost for the charged electricity can then be charged to the entity associated with the consumer device and not to the owner of the power outlet. The set of computer program instructions stored in the memory 124 can thus for example be programmed to cause the consumer device to perform the following operations as depicted in Fig. 2b when executed by the controller unit 126. First in a step 21 a receiving entity is identified. Next, in a step 23 a power outlet is identified. Thereupon, in step 25 at least one message is transmitted to a central system node for initiating reception of electricity, where the message comprises information relating to a pair of identified consumer device and power outlet, requesting billing of received electricity to an account connected to the consumer device. Hereby, the central system is provided with information enabling the central system to initiate power transfer to the consumer via the identified power outlet. The set of computer program instructions stored in the memory 124 can also comprise other computer code sequences for implementing the other procedural steps as described herein.

Each consumer associated with the system 100 has at least one such consumer device 101. The unit 123 for measuring electrical energy can for example be a measurement device that is configured to measure the consumed energy in appropriate unit, e.g. kWh. The measured result can be signaled to the server in the form of a measurement record, which contains e.g. charging time, user ID, charging pole ID and the consumed energy in kWh. The

authentication can for example be performed through an authentication protocol specified by Third Generation Partnership Program (3GPP), based on a secret key stored in the SIM module.

In Fig. 3a, a central node 105 associated with a power supplier associated with a consumer that is a holder of a consumer device 101 is depicted. In Fig.3 all functions of the central node are depicted in one node. However it is envisaged that the functions performed by the central system node 105 can be performed by different distributed nodes in the system.

In accordance with one embodiment, the central node 105 can comprise a module 140 for identifying and authenticating the identity and subscription of the SIM of consumer devices. In addition the central system node 105 comprises means, such as in the form of a module 150, for collecting billing records received from remote consumer devices 101. The node 105 can also comprise means, such as in the form of a module, 160 to deduct the electricity consumed by the holder of the consumer device 101 from the total measured electricity of the account of the electrical outlet owner. The modules 150 and 160 can be implemented using a controller unit 170, e.g. in the form of a microcontroller or a micro processor, operating on a set of computer instructions stored on a memory 180 in the central node 105.

The set of computer program instructions stored in the memory 180 can thus for example be programmed to cause the central to perform the following operations as depicted in Fig. 3b when executed by the controller unit 170. First in a step 31 a message comprising information relating to a pair of identified consumer device and power outlet is received from a consumer device. Next, in a step 33 the power of the power outlet to switched on and off in response to a message received from a consumer device. In accordance with one embodiment the central node 105 further comprises a module for creating cumulative bills out of multiple billing records received from consumer devices. In accordance with one embodiment the node comprises a module for directly billing records received from a consumer device from an account or a credit card associated with the consumer device. In one embodiment, the account may be a pre-paid account associated with one power supplier.

In accordance with one embodiment the central node comprises a module for electricity roaming with a second power supplier. The electricity roaming module can for example be included in the module 160. Using the module for electricity roaming, the consumer device 101 can belong to a different power supplier than the holder of the power outlet. In one exemplary embodiment when the consumer device is connected to a power supply not belonging to the provider which the consumer has an agreement, the central node of the network notices that the device is not registered with its own system, and attempts to identify its home power supply network. If there is no roaming agreement between the providers of the two power supply networks, maintenance of service is impossible, and service is denied by the visited power supply network. If there is a roaming agreement, the visited power supply network contacts the home power supply network and requests service information, that can including whether or not the consumer device should be allowed to roam about the consumer device using an identity received from the consumer device. If successful, the visited power supply network allows for power to be transferred to the consumer device. In an alternative embodiment, in the case there is no roaming agreement between the supplier of the two power supply networks, the system may prompt the user of the consumer device to pay a fee to the owner of the power supply by inputting a credit card number via the consumer device. In yet an alternative embodiment, in the case there is no roaming agreement between the providers of the two power supply networks and that the consumer device is a mobile phone, the system may ask the user of the consumer device whether he/she wants to be billed by the owner of the power supply via the bill from the telecommunications network operator of the user. This embodiment of course typically requires a business agreement between the power provider and the telecommunications network operator.

The central system node 105 of the customer device 101 collects billing records and using roaming, the central system node 105 of the customer device 101 can contact the central system node 105 of the holder of the power outlet to exchange billing records. The central system node 105 can further comprise a credit limit module for informing a second power supplier of the power credit, i.e., the pre-paid balance, of a consumer and especially for informing when the consumer no longer has pre-paid electricity left on his/hers account.

Each power supplier may have one or several such central system nodes 105 in its network, where each central node controls one or many subscriptions associated with the power supplier. A power supplier in this context does not necessarily have to be a generator of electricity . It can also be e.g. a department store offering charging possibilities at its consumer parking. In this case, the power supplier of the department store would not be involved in the transaction. Hence, the transaction is between the department store and the consumer. This gives the department store the freedom to apply own pricing on the charging service, and to generate profit from that.

In Fig. 4, power outlet device 103 is depicted. The power outlet device 103 is associated with a service or subscription offered by a power supplier, which can be the first power supplier or a second power supplier. The power outlet device can be co-located with the physical power outlet, or the power outlet device can be placed centrally, such that it controls multiple power outlets. The power outlet device or subscription is associated with an identity or subscription number, and the outlet device can include a SIM 131 for authenticating the service or subscription associated with the power supplier supplying electricity to the physical power outlet. In addition, the power outlet device can also include an electrical switch 133, by which electricity can be switched on and off, depending e.g. on the outcome of an authentication process, as further described below. The outlet device can also include a module 135 for measuring electricity measurements, and a module 135 for reporting measurement records. The measurements record can e.g. be a text file containing the charging date and time and the total amount charged in kWh. Furthermore, the power outlet device can be provided with a module for measuring when a consumer has used a prepaid amount of electricity as informed from the consumer's primary power supplier. The power outlet device can further include means 137 for the power outlet device to

communicate wirelessly or via a wire line connection with devices and nodes external to the power outlet device, such as a central system node 105.

For better understanding of the invention an exemplary procedure including some of the above features is described in conjunction with Fig. 5. First in a step 501 a consumer, here denoted Consumer "A" arrives in an at least partly electrically powered vehicle, for example a car, to a power outlet. The power outlet can for example be located at a friend's house, the office, a parking house, or a shopping center. The car includes the aforementioned first consumer device 101. The first consumer device can be built into, i.e. being embedded in, the car and to its vehicle internal communication network, which may comprise a telematics unit for wireless communication between the vehicle and a telecommunications network, and a display unit via which the consumer device can communicate with the consumer, or it may be a separate unit connectable to the car via e.g. a USB interface or wirelessly via e.g. a short range wireless radio communications system such as IEEE 802. 15 (Bluetooth) or IEEE 802.11 (WLAN) using e.g. DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) compatible technology. Such a unit could be a UE (user equipment) in the form of a mobile phone. Modern mobile phones are already typically equipped with such technology and may also be equipped with an NFC (Near Field Communication) reader and a camera which together with client applications makes the UE able to read and send e.g. barcode information.

Alternatively the consumer device may be the telematics unit itself. At the parking place, consumer "A" positions his car for charging in the parking lot in a step 503. The car can receive electrical energy in any suitable manner including but not limited to a wired connection or via a wireless connection such as via induction. Next, in a step 505, the consumer device starts an identification process of authenticating the subscription of consumer A. The authentication process includes signaling between the consumer device and a first central node or nodes 105 associated with the power supplier offering services to consumer A. The authentication procedure can in accordance with one embodiment be the same authentication process applied in Mobile Networks, or it can be an authentication process different from authentication solutions adopted in mobile networks, as long as the subscription of the consumer device is uniquely identifiable and authenticated by the central node. The process can in one exemplary embodiment include the use of a SIM as described above. Further, the authentication process may take place via communication over a wireless connection, such that messages associated with the authentication process can be passed between the consumer device and the aforementioned central node or nodes 105. Alternatively, any other communication method can be used, e.g. communication via the electrical grid itself. Provided that a successful outcome of the authentication process has occurred, the consumer subscription is now uniquely identified, such that any measurement records related to electricity consumption can be associated and billed on consumer A's account.

Next, or in parallel with the authentication of the consumer subscription, the power outlet and/or power supplier associated with the power outlet is identified in a step 507. The identification can be performed in multiple ways. For example:

- In close vicinity to the outlet, there may be a subscription or outlet number, a ID or 2D bar code, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) such as an NFC (Near Field Communication) tag, or optically readable identity that identifies the outlet and/or the power supplier of the outlet. - The identity may be optically or automatically read by the consumer device, e.g. in the embodiment where the consumer device is the UE, or the consumer may manually feed the identity that identifies the outlet into the consumer device. Regardless of method for identifying the outlet and/or power supplier of the outlet, the consumer device now has information of the outlet and/or the supplier of electricity to the outlet.

Next, in a step 509, the consumer device sends a request message including the

identification of the outlet, subscription or power supplier from which the electricity is to be received. The message is sent to a central system node 105.

The central system node 105 then in a step 511 provides for billing of the electricity consumed by the consumer. For example, the identity can be connected to a credit card to be billed for the consumed electricity or the identity can be connected to a mobile telephony subscription account or an electricity subscription account.

In accordance with one embodiment the billing procedure can be performed as follows: The request message sent in step 509 is sent to a central node 105 of the power supplier of consumer A (first central node). The request message thus includes a request to receive electricity from the outlet identified by the identity of the message in step 509. The request may also specify certain characteristics of the charging procedure, e.g. charging voltage, requested current, requested amount of power wanted (for pre-paid consumers). The information in the message of step 509 is then received by the central node of subscription A. If the identification number is identified as being associated with a subscription that is offered by a power supplier that is different from the power supplier of subscription A, then the following steps can be performed. After identifying the subscription associated with the outlet, the first central node now sends a request for electricity roaming to a second central node. The second central node now checks the request, and may communicate with the power-outlet device to authenticate the power-outlet device and its availability for offering electricity to the consumer A with the requested characteristics. If a change in the characteristics of the charging process is needed, a second handshake with the consumer device may be necessary and can be performed to e.g. negotiate a maximum current draw, or reject the charging procedure in case of incompatibility. If no roaming applies, then the second central node may be the same as the first central node. If the check of the request was successful, and provided that the outlet device includes a switch, the switch may now be switched to "on", such that electricity can be used for charging through the outlet. This step may include signaling between the second central node and the power outlet device. In accordance with one embodiment a response message may be sent from the second central node to the first central node indicating the success or failure of the request. A response message can be sent from the first central node to the consumer device indicating whether the request was a success or a failure.

Once electrical charging has been approved by the system the consumer can start charging the battery. For example the consumer device can receive a message indicating that the request to receive electricity was successful, whereupon the reception of electricity from the outlet can start.

In accordance with one embodiment measurement of received electricity can be recorded in the consumer device. Records including such measurements can be reported to the central system node 105. The measurements can be reported periodically, on request from the system, or on triggers related to the amount of electricity received, or when the reception of electricity is halted over the consumer device or based on some other condition. The records can in one embodiment be sent to a node associated with the power supplier of the consumer, i.e. the first node in the above example. Also, during the offering of electricity, the power outlet device can measure the amount of offered electricity, and report records of such measurements to the system node 105. The records can in one embodiment be sent to a node associated with the power supplier of the power outlet, i.e. the second node in the above example. The measurements may be reported periodically, on request from the second central node, or on triggers related to the amount of electricity offered over the outlet, or when the offering of electricity is halted over the outlet or based on some other condition.

Measurement records from the consumer device and the outlet device may be compared, and if the records indicate a mismatch an alarm may be issued. The comparison may be performed in a node of the system 100, e.g. in one of the central nodes 105 using suitable computer program instructions stored in the memory 180. A mismatch between

measurement reports from the outlet and consumer devices may indicate measurement errors, fraud, or other technical problems. If an alarm is issued, the offering of electricity may be halted by sending a message initiating the halting the offering of electricity to at least one of the outlet device and the consumer device. The reception or offering of electricity may then be halted by one or both of the devices. The reception of electricity over the outlet to the consumer device may be halted based on a request from the first or second central node, or based on an indication in the consumer product, such as a battery in a car being fully charged, or based on a timer in any of the devices. The reception may also be halted when a pre-determined amount of electricity has been received over the outlet and the consumer devices, respectively. The reception may also be halted if the consumer product, or the central node detects a stop or a pause in the received/transmitted power, e.g. due to a 3 ^rd party trying to interfere with the charging process and potentially steal power.

In Fig. 6 a flow chart illustrating some procedural steps that can be performed when billing electricity in a system as described herein are shown. First, in a step 601, a request comprising a pair of identified consumer device and power outlet from a consumer is received. Next, in a step 603, electricity received by the consumer via the power outlet is billed to an account connected to the consumer identity.

In accordance with one embodiment during or after the aforementioned process of receiving electricity according to the description below, billing records can be constructed in the first and second central nodes 105. The billing records can be compared, and a cost for the reception of electricity is added to the power bill of consumer A. Alternatively, the costs could be forwarded to the consumer's mobile subscription bill or any other billing system, such as credit card, electronic money, etc. Similarly, the records for billing of the consumer offering the outlet are updated, such that a withdrawal is created, such that no or limited costs associated with the electricity offered to consumer A are added to the billing records of the owner of the used power outlet. In one embodiment the owner of the power outlet can be given a kick back so that the use of the power outlet results in an income for the owner of the power outlet. By this mechanism, it is ensured that the friend, the employer, the holder of the parking house or other "owner" of the outlet is not receiving any, or only limited, costs or even an income for the charging of the car battery of consumer A.

Using the methods and devices as described above will facilitate and simplify charging of electrical vehicles by providing a means enabling a user of an electrically powered vehicle to refill the battery almost anywhere. This is achieved by enabling re-use of parts of the electrical grid. Thus, a distributed electricity payment system is provided whereby a consumer can have his bill for received electricity bill to him wherever he chooses to receive electricity. The cost for the charged electricity can then be billed to the consumer. The cost can be billed to a credit card or to an account associated with a mobile telephony subscription.

Also the consumer can receive a cumulative bill containing all his charging records for electricity consumed regardless of where the electricity is received.