Electronic electric meter for networked meter reading
First Claim
1. A commodity monitoring network comprising:
- a commodity provider operable to provide a commodity;
at least one measuring device being operable to measure a utilization characteristic of the commodity provided by the commodity provider, and to generate utilization data based on the characteristic; and
a gateway node including a network handler and a communication handler, the network handler being operable to receive data from the commodity provider, to generate network data based on the data received, and to send the network data to the communication handler, the communication handler being operable to receive the network data sent from the network handler, to generate communication data based on the received network data, to wirelessly transmit the communication data to the measuring device, and to wirelessly receive data including the utilization data from the measuring device.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic electric meter for use in a networked automatic meter reading environment. The electric meter retrofits into existing meter sockets and is available for new meter installations for both single phase and three phase electric power connections. The meter utilizes an all electronic design including a meter microcontroller, a measurement microcontroller, a communication microcontroller and spread spectrum processor, and a plurality of other communication interface modules for communicating commodity utilization and power quality data to a utility. The electric meter utilizes a modular design which allows the interface modules to be changed depending upon the desired communication network interface. The meter measures electricity usage and monitors power quality parameters for transmission to the utility over a two-way 900 MHz spread spectrum local area network (LAN) to a remotely located gateway node. The gateway node transmits this data to the utility over a commercially available fixed wide area network (WAN). The meter also provides direct communication to the utility over a commercially available network interface that plugs into the meter'"'"'s backplane or bus system bypassing the local area network communication link and gateway node.
47 Citations
59 Claims
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1. A commodity monitoring network comprising:
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a commodity provider operable to provide a commodity;
at least one measuring device being operable to measure a utilization characteristic of the commodity provided by the commodity provider, and to generate utilization data based on the characteristic; and
a gateway node including a network handler and a communication handler, the network handler being operable to receive data from the commodity provider, to generate network data based on the data received, and to send the network data to the communication handler, the communication handler being operable to receive the network data sent from the network handler, to generate communication data based on the received network data, to wirelessly transmit the communication data to the measuring device, and to wirelessly receive data including the utilization data from the measuring device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A commodity monitoring network comprising:
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a commodity provider operable to provide a commodity;
at least one measuring device being operable to measure a utilization characteristic of the commodity provided by the commodity provider, and to generate utilization data based on the characteristic; and
a gateway node including a transceiver section, a network interface module and a programmable controller, the transceiver section having a plurality of communication channels and wirelessly receiving data including the utilization data and a channel selection from the device, the network interface module being operable to be coupled to the transceiver section, and the programmable controller operable to be coupled to the transceiver section, to process the channel selection from the transceiver section, and to set the transceiver section at a transceiver frequency corresponding to the channel selection. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A commodity monitoring network comprising:
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a commodity provider operable to provide a commodity;
at least one measuring device being operable to measure a utilization characteristic of the commodity provided by the commodity provider, and to generate utilization data based on the characteristic; and
gateway node means for receiving data including the utilization data and a channel selection over a network, for processing the received channel selection, for receiving the processed channel selection, and for setting a transceiver frequency corresponding to the channel selection. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A method of monitoring a commodity utilization in a network, the network having a commodity provider operable to provide a commodity, and at least one measuring device being operable to measure a utilization characteristic of the commodity provided by the commodity provider, and to generate utilization data based on the characteristic, the method comprising:
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receiving a commodity message from the provider;
retrieving an address of the measuring device based on the message;
wirelessly transmitting a device reading message to the device using the address; and
wirelessly receiving the commodity utilization data from the measuring device. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A commodity monitoring network comprising:
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a commodity provider operable to provide a commodity;
at least one measuring device being operable to measure a utilization characteristic of the commodity provided by the commodity provider, and to generate utilization data based on the characteristic; and
a gateway node receiving routing data from the commodity provider and having a scheduler operable to program a scheduled reading list using the routing data, to retrieve a scheduled measuring device data from the scheduled reading list, and to initiate a scheduled meter reading using the scheduled measuring device data. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
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50. A utility monitoring network comprising:
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a utility provider operable to provide a utility;
at least one measuring device being operable to measure a utilization characteristic of the utility provided by the utility provider, and to generate utilization data based on the characteristic; and
a gateway node including a network handler and a communication handler, the network handler being operable to receive data from the utility provider, to generate network data based on the data received, and to send the network data, the communication handler being operable to receive the network data sent from the network handler, to generate communication data based on the received network data, to wirelessly transmit the communication data to the measuring device, and to wirelessly receive data including the utilization data from the measuring device. - View Dependent Claims (51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59)
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Specification