Traffic management and remote configuration in a gateway-based network
First Claim
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1. An Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), comprising:
- a plurality of remotely configurable gateways;
a plurality of consumption measuring devices coupled for communications with the plurality of remotely configurable gateways, wherein each consumption measuring device is assigned to a group that is associated with one of the plurality of remotely configurable gateways; and
at least one central facility server coupled for communications over one or more IP-based communications networks, wherein the at least one central facility server is configured to;
multicast configuration information from the at least one central facility server to the plurality of remotely configurable gateways; and
reconfigure a selected gateway from among the plurality of remotely configurable gateways from being configured to report consumption data from a respective group of one or more consumption measuring devices associated with the selected gateway, to being configured to report consumption data from all consumption measuring devices it hears, wherein the consumption measuring devices that the selected gateway hears and is reconfigured to report on include consumption measuring devices that are not paired with the selected gateway.
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Abstract
Disclosed are apparatus and methodology for remotely configuring gateway devices in a gateway-based Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) network. Remotely configurable gateway devices are provided for Internet Protocol (IP) communications between consumption measuring devices and a utility central facility. Communications between the gateway device and central facility may be by way of wired or wireless communications and may include configuration information multicast from the central facility to selected gateway devices.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. An Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), comprising:
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a plurality of remotely configurable gateways; a plurality of consumption measuring devices coupled for communications with the plurality of remotely configurable gateways, wherein each consumption measuring device is assigned to a group that is associated with one of the plurality of remotely configurable gateways; and at least one central facility server coupled for communications over one or more IP-based communications networks, wherein the at least one central facility server is configured to; multicast configuration information from the at least one central facility server to the plurality of remotely configurable gateways; and reconfigure a selected gateway from among the plurality of remotely configurable gateways from being configured to report consumption data from a respective group of one or more consumption measuring devices associated with the selected gateway, to being configured to report consumption data from all consumption measuring devices it hears, wherein the consumption measuring devices that the selected gateway hears and is reconfigured to report on include consumption measuring devices that are not paired with the selected gateway. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for changing a configuration of a remotely configurable gateway, wherein the remotely configurable gateway is coupled between one or more utility consumption measuring devices and a utility provider, the method comprising:
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communicating with at least one utility consumption measuring device using Internet Protocol (IP) based communications; communicating with the utility provider; and receiving configuration information via multicast from the utility provider, wherein the configuration information reconfigures the remotely configurable gateway from reporting consumption data from a group of one or more utility consumption measuring devices associated with the remotely configurable gateway to reporting consumption data from all of the utility consumption measuring devices that are heard by the remotely configurable gateway, wherein the utility consumption measuring devices that are heard by the remotely configurable gateway, and are to be reported on by the remotely configurable gateway, include utility consumption measuring devices that are not paired with the remotely configurable gateway. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method by which a computing device of a utility provider sends configuration information to a plurality of remotely configurable gateways, the remotely configurable gateways in communication with one or more utility consumption measuring devices in an Internet Protocol (IP) based communications network, the method comprising:
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multicasting configuration information to the plurality of remotely configurable gateways; and reconfiguring a selected gateway of the plurality of remotely configurable gateways according to the configuration information from reception of consumption information from only utility consumption measuring devices in a respective group associated with the selected gateway to reception of consumption information from all utility consumption measuring devices that are heard by the selected gateway, wherein the utility consumption measuring devices that the selected gateway hears and from which the selected gateway is reconfigured to receive consumption information, include utility consumption measuring devices that are not paired with the selected gateway. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification