Method and system of reading utility meter data over a network

• US 20090079584A1
• Filed: 07/18/2007
• Published: 03/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Itron Networked Solutions, Inc. (Itron, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Silver Spring Networks, Inc. (Itron, Inc.)
• Inventors: Grady, Brian Douglas, Pace, James, Vaswani, Raj
• Granted Patent: US 9,464,917 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/870.20
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/004 Remote reading of utility meters to a fixed location
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 90/20 Smart grids as enabling technology in buildings sector smart grids supporting the management or operation of end-user stationary applications in general, or like technologies with no associated climate change mitigation effect Y04S20/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/30 Smart metering, e.g. specially adapted for remote reading

Abstract

A utility meter may be read by sending a request to read the meter from a meter reading application, which may be located on a utility server or on an access point to a network, to a communications module associated with the utility meter. The communications module initiates a session with the utility meter, makes requests for data from the associated utility meter, receives the responses to requests for data from the utility meter, and terminates the session after receiving all the requested data from the meter. It then formats the responses with the data received from the utility meter, and transmits the formatted response to the meter reading application.

Claims

1. A system associated with a utility network, the system comprising:

a plurality of utility meters capable of reading commodity meter information;

a plurality of utility network nodes arranged in a utility network and capable of interfacing with the utility meters and receiving the commodity meter information from the utility meters and transferring that information to a pre-specified network address;

wherein at least one of the utility nodes, in response to receiving a read meter request from a meter read program;

initializes a session with the at least one utility meter, makes a plurality of meter data requests to the at least one utility meter, receives responses to the meter data requests from the utility meter, formats the received responses to the meter data requests into a meter read request response, and transmits the meter read request response to a pre-specified network address associated with the received meter read request.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the utility network node is capable of engaging the utility meter it is associated with in an off-net or on-net session involving two-way exchange of request/response messages according to a pre-designated protocol format.

3. The system of claims 1 wherein the format of the meter read request response is based on either ANSI C12.19 or C12.18.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the protocol used by the utility network in the session with the utility meter operating in a C12.19 format is based on the ANSI 12.18 protocol format.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the high level message protocol used by the utility server and the utility node in exchanging messages regarding meter-reading requests includes definition of a set of primitives that are a simple pass-thru of the simple C12.18 read primitives.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the transmitted read meter request response includes at least one prepended annotation for use in interpreting the commodity meter information included in the transmitted meter read request response.

7. The system of claim 5 wherein the higher protocol message with the meter read data request sent by the server to the utility network node may be in the form of one of IPv4, IPv6.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the higher level protocol message with the meter read data response sent by the utility network node to the server may be in the form of one of IPv4 or IPv6.

9. The system of claim 5 wherein the pre-specified network address associated with the received meter read request corresponds to a utility server.

10. The system of claim 5 wherein the pre-specified network address associated with the received meter read request corresponds to an access point to the utility network, and wherein the meter reading program resides on the access point associated with the network address.

11. The system of claim 5 wherein the data collected by the utility network node via one or more C12.18 sessions with the commodity meter is based on a set of TLV vales (time, length, value)

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the response message from the utility network node to the utility server will include the requested data as a series of run-length encoded sections with an option for omitting any particular TLV from the response, and including a header that describes the type of data and the length of the data portion immediately following the header.

13. A method of responding to a request to read a utility meter, comprising:

receiving a meter read request from a meter reading application by a communication node associated with a utility meter;

initiating a session with a utility meter, the session being between the communications module and the utility meter;

making a plurality of data requests to the utility meter;

receiving a plurality of responses corresponding to the plurality of data requests to the utility meter by the communications module;

formatting a response to the read meter request from the meter reading application by the communications module; and

transmitting the response to the meter reading application.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the received meter read request from a meter reading application is compliant with C12.18.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the utility meter is a C12.19 compliant utility meter, and wherein the plurality of data requests to the C12.19 compliant utility meter are C12.18 compliant.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the utility network node is capable of conducting a standalone C12.18 session with the C12.19 compliant utility meter.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the formatting of the response to the meter reading application includes interpretation information.

18. A communications module for use in a utility network, comprising:

an interface to a utility meter,

memory for storing instructions;

a processor for processing instructions; and

a RF radio for communicating with a meter reading application using an RF network,

wherein the processor executes the instructions of;

initiating a session with a utility meter in response to a received meter read request from a meter reading application,

making a plurality of data requests to the utility meter;

formatting a response to the meter read request from the meter reading application by the communications module using at least some of a plurality of received responses corresponding to the plurality of data requests to the utility meter by the communications module; and

transmitting the response to the meter reading application.

19. The communications module of claim 18, wherein the received meter read request from a meter reading application is compliant with C12.18.

20. The communications module of claim 19, wherein the utility meter is a C12.19 compliant utility meter, and wherein the plurality of data requests to the C12.19 compliant utility meter are C12.18 compliant.

21. The communications module of claim 20, wherein the utility network node is capable of conducting a standalone C12.18 session with the C12.19 compliant utility meter.

22. The communications module of claim 20, wherein formatting the response to the meter reading application includes interpretation information.

23. The communications module of claim 20, wherein the RF radio transmits messages using IP based protocols.

24. The communications module of claim 20, wherein the IP based protocols include at least one of the protocols IPv6 or IPv4.

25. The communications module of claim 20 wherein the RF radio receives meter reading data requests from the meter reading application in an IP protocol format.

26. The communications module of claim 20 wherein the IP based protocols include at least one of the protocols IPv6 and IPv4.