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 verify a sender of the received data, to generate network data based on the data verified, 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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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.
78 Citations
38 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 verify a sender of the received data, to generate network data based on the data verified, 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 method of monitoring a commodity utilization in a network, the network having a commodity provider operable to provide a commodity, a gateway node, 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 at the gateway node;
retrieving an address of the measuring device based on the message;
verifying the address of the measuring device at the gateway node;
wirelessly transmitting a device reading message to the device using the verified address from the gateway node; and
wirelessly receiving the commodity utilization data from the measuring device at the gateway node. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. 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 (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. 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 verify a sender of the received data, to generate network data based on the data verified, 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 (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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Specification