Network for automated meter reading
First Claim
1. A communications node associated with a commodity meter that produces data relating to characteristics of a commodity that is provided to a premises, comprising:
- a first communication interface that is operable to exchange data between said meter and a provider-accessible first wireless network;
a second communication interface that is operable to exchange data between said node and a second network that is external to said node; and
an interface controller operably connected to said first and second communication interfaces for exchanging data between said interfaces, to thereby enable data to be transmitted to and/or received from said second network via said first, wireless network.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A networked automatic meter reading system includes a plurality of meters that measure commodity usage and monitor quality parameters for transmission to a utility over a two-way 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 can also provide direct communication to the utility over a commercially available network interface that plugs into the meter, bypassing the local area network communication link and gateway node. The meter also provides an interface to an in-premises network that communicates with consumer devices in a household or other facility. The gateway performs routing analysis of packets to determine preferred routing paths, and disseminates this information to the meters.
49 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A communications node associated with a commodity meter that produces data relating to characteristics of a commodity that is provided to a premises, comprising:
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a first communication interface that is operable to exchange data between said meter and a provider-accessible first wireless network; a second communication interface that is operable to exchange data between said node and a second network that is external to said node; and an interface controller operably connected to said first and second communication interfaces for exchanging data between said interfaces, to thereby enable data to be transmitted to and/or received from said second network via said first, wireless network. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A communications node, comprising:
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a first communications interface that is operable to exchange data between the communications node and a first wireless network; a second communications interface that is operable to exchange data between the communications node and a commodity meter; a third communications interface that is operable to exchange data between the communications node and devices within a premises associated with said commodity meter; a processor for exchanging data between the first communications interface, the second communication interface, and the third communications interface. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A communications node associated with a commodity meter that produces data relating to characteristics of a commodity that is provided to a premises, comprising:
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a first communication interface that is operable to exchange data between said meter and a provider of said commodity, via a wireless network; a second communication interface that is operable to exchange data between said node and an in-premise network connected to one or more devices within said premises; and an interface controller operably connected to said first and second communication interfaces for exchanging data between said interfaces, to thereby enable data to be transmitted to and/or received from devices within said premises via said wireless network. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method of operating a network node associated with a commodity meter that produces data relating to characteristics of a commodity that is provided to a premises, comprising:
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obtaining data produced by said meter that relates to characteristics of the commodity; providing said obtained data from the node to a provider of the commodity via a first network; communicating with the devices located in the premises associated with the commodity meter, via a second network; and exchanging data between said first and second networks in said node, to thereby enable communications to be conducted with devices located in the premises via said first network. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification