Commodity Monitoring Network
First Claim
1. A commodity monitoring network comprising:
- an RF communication unit that interfaces with a device that measures a utilization characteristic of a commodity provided by a commodity provider, and that is operable to wirelessly transmit utilization data generated by said device; and
a gateway node including;
a transceiver section that wirelessly receives data including the utilization data and a channel selection transmitted from the RF communication unit,a network interface module that couples the gateway node to a communications network, anda programmable controller coupled to the transceiver section, to process the channel selection received by the transceiver section, and to set the transceiver section at a transceiver frequency corresponding to the channel selection.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic electric meter for use in a networked automatic meter reading environment. The meter includes 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 meter measures electricity usage and monitors power quality parameters for transmission to the utility over a 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.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A commodity monitoring network comprising:
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an RF communication unit that interfaces with a device that measures a utilization characteristic of a commodity provided by a commodity provider, and that is operable to wirelessly transmit utilization data generated by said device; and a gateway node including; a transceiver section that wirelessly receives data including the utilization data and a channel selection transmitted from the RF communication unit, a network interface module that couples the gateway node to a communications network, and a programmable controller coupled to the transceiver section, to process the channel selection received by the transceiver section, and to set the transceiver section at a transceiver frequency corresponding to the channel selection. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A commodity monitoring network comprising:
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an RF communication unit operable to wirelessly transmit utilization data generated by a device that measures a utilization characteristic of a commodity provided by a commodity provider; and a gateway node that receives data, including the utilization data and a channel selection, via a network, processes the received channel selection, and sets a transceiver frequency corresponding to the channel selection. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification