Intelligent Electronic Device Having Improved Analog Output Resolution
First Claim
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1. A method for improving the resolution of an analog signal relative to a digital signal, the analog and digital signals representative of a numerical value, the method comprising:
- forming, from one or more sensors operatively coupled with an AC electrical service, one or more first analog signals representative of at least a voltage or a current of the AC electrical service;
converting the one or more first analog signals into one or more first digital signals representative of the one or more analog signals;
receiving the one or more first digital signals;
determining, from at least one of the one or more first digital signals a value of a parameter of the AC electrical service;
transmitting a second digital signal indicative of the value of the parameter of the AC electrical service, the second digital signal comprising a plurality of datagrams, each datagram having a first resolution; and
receiving the second digital signal indicative of the value of the parameter of the AC electrical service,wherein the plurality of datagrams have an average value indicative of the value of the parameter, the average value having a second resolution exceeding the first resolution.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus provides improved resolution in an analog signal, relative to the resolution of a digital-to-analog converter producing the signal. In one embodiment, a digital electrical power and energy meter varies a digital input to a digital-to-analog converter such that an average of the output of the digital-to-analog converter indicates a value with greater resolution than the instantaneous resolution of the digital-to-analog converter.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method for improving the resolution of an analog signal relative to a digital signal, the analog and digital signals representative of a numerical value, the method comprising:
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forming, from one or more sensors operatively coupled with an AC electrical service, one or more first analog signals representative of at least a voltage or a current of the AC electrical service; converting the one or more first analog signals into one or more first digital signals representative of the one or more analog signals; receiving the one or more first digital signals; determining, from at least one of the one or more first digital signals a value of a parameter of the AC electrical service; transmitting a second digital signal indicative of the value of the parameter of the AC electrical service, the second digital signal comprising a plurality of datagrams, each datagram having a first resolution; and receiving the second digital signal indicative of the value of the parameter of the AC electrical service, wherein the plurality of datagrams have an average value indicative of the value of the parameter, the average value having a second resolution exceeding the first resolution. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A digital electrical power and energy meter comprising:
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a sensor coupled to an AC electrical service and generating a first analog signal representative of a voltage or a current of the AC electrical service; an analog-to-digital converter, for converting the first analog signal to a first digital signal; and a processor for determining, from at least the first digital signal, a value of a parameter of the AC electrical service, and for outputting a second digital signal indicative of the value of the parameter of the AC electrical service, the second digital signal comprising a plurality of datagrams, each datagram having a first resolution, wherein the plurality of datagrams have an average value indicative of the value of the parameter of the AC electrical service, the average value having a second resolution exceeding the first resolution. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6)
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7. A digital electrical power and energy meter comprising:
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a sensor coupled to an AC electrical service and generating a first analog signal representative of at least a voltage or a current of the AC electrical service; an analog-to-digital converter, for converting the first analog signal to a first digital signal; and a processor for determining, from at least the first digital signal, a value of a parameter of the AC electrical service, and for outputting a second digital signal indicative of the value of the parameter for the AC electrical service, wherein the second digital signal comprises a series of digital representations of the value of the parameter of the AC electrical service, and wherein the processor varies the value of the series of digital representations of the value of the parameter of the AC electrical service, such that the average of the series of digital representations of the value of the parameter of the AC electrical service has a higher resolution than each of the series of digital representations of the second digital signal. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9)
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10. A digital electrical power and energy meter comprising:
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a sensor coupled to an AC electrical service and generating a first analog signal representative of at least a voltage or a current of the AC electrical service; an analog-to-digital converter, for converting the first analog signal to a first digital signal, the first digital signal comprising a plurality of data points; and a processor for determining, from at least the first digital signal, a value of a parameter of the AC electrical service for at least one of the plurality of data points, and for outputting a second digital signal, the second digital signal indicative of the value of the parameter of the AC electrical service for the at least one data point, wherein the second digital signal comprises a plurality of datagrams for each of the at least one data points, each datagram having a first resolution, and wherein the average of the plurality of datagrams has a second resolution greater than the first resolution. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12)
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13. A method for communicating a value of a parameter of an AC electrical service from a digital electrical power and energy meter to an external device, the method comprising:
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forming a first analog signal representative of at least a voltage or a current of an AC electrical service; converting the first analog signal into a first digital signal representative of the first analog signal, the first digital signal comprising a plurality of data points; receiving the first digital signal; determining, from at least the first digital signal, a value of a parameter of the AC electrical service for at least one of the plurality of data points; transmitting a second digital signal indicative of the value of the parameter of the AC electrical service for the at least one data point, the second digital signal having a first resolution; and receiving the second digital signal indicative of the value of the parameter of the AC electrical service for the at least one data point, wherein the second digital signal comprises a plurality of datagrams for each of the at least one data points, each datagram having the first resolution, and wherein the average value of the datagrams has a second resolution greater than the first resolution. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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Specification