UNIVERSAL SOFTWARE DEFINED HOME GATEWAY
First Claim
1. A system for communicating energy related information to a remotely located utility provider, the system comprising:
- a plurality of devices positioned in a home, the devices each being configured to communicate using one of a plurality of RF protocols;
a home gateway positioned in the home and operable to communicate with the plurality of devices over an RF local area network (LAN) and to the utility over a wide area network (WAN),wherein the home gateway comprises a multi-band, software defined radio and a protocol emulator, wherein the protocol emulator controls the operation of the radio to communicate using the plurality of RF protocols.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for communicating energy or water consumption related information from a plurality of RF enabled peripheral devices in a home, such as utility meters, thermostats, appliances and load controllers. The system includes a home gateway that enables wireless RF peripheral devices in a home to communicate to a WAN network, such as the internet. The home gateway contains a RF multi-band software defined radio that is fully programmable and configurable so that it is capable of emulating, transmitting, and receiving any of a plurality of RF protocols over multiple RF channels. The home gateway supports commonly used interfaces for communicating to the public WAN network. The system also supports future peripherals that do not exist today due to the flexibility of the home gateway.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A system for communicating energy related information to a remotely located utility provider, the system comprising:
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a plurality of devices positioned in a home, the devices each being configured to communicate using one of a plurality of RF protocols; a home gateway positioned in the home and operable to communicate with the plurality of devices over an RF local area network (LAN) and to the utility over a wide area network (WAN), wherein the home gateway comprises a multi-band, software defined radio and a protocol emulator, wherein the protocol emulator controls the operation of the radio to communicate using the plurality of RF protocols. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. An automated utility meter reading system for obtaining utility usage information from a plurality of meters, comprising:
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at least one utility gateway operable to communicate with a utility provider over a wide area network (WAN) and to communicate with the plurality of meters utilizing RF communication over a first local area network (LAN); and a home gateway operable to communicate with at least one utility meter in a home using RF communication over a second local area network (LAN) and to communicate with the utility over the wide area network, wherein the utility provider can communicate with at least one of the plurality of meters utilizing both the utility gateway and the home gateway. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9)
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10. A home gateway for communication with a plurality of RF enabled devices and a utility, the home gateway comprising:
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a multi-band RF transceiver; a digital signal processor (DSP) coupled to the RF transceiver to control the transmission and reception of RF signals by the RF transceiver, wherein the DSP is operable to control the transmission and reception of RF signals utilizing a plurality of RF protocols; a protocol emulator in communication with the DSP to control the transmission and receipt of the RF signal, wherein the protocol emulator includes a plurality of stored RF protocols and is operable to receive additional RF communication protocols; and a WAN communication module operable to receive and transmit information from the DSP over a wide area network (WAN) to the utility. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of operating a home gateway to communicate between a plurality of RF enabled devices and a utility, the method comprising the steps of:
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positioning the home gateway in a home; configuring a protocol emulator of the home gateway to operate a multi-band radio of the home gateway to communicate with the plurality of RF enabled devices; positioning the plurality of RF-enabled devices within communication range of the home gateway; configuring the protocol emulator to communicate using a plurality of RF protocols assigned to the plurality of devices; transmitting information between the home gateway and the plurality of devices utilizing the RF protocol assigned to each of the devices; operating the multi-band radio to communicate information to and from the plurality of RF enabled devices; and communicating the received information from the plurality of RF enabled devices to the utility over a wide area network. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification