Transparent Routing in a Power Line Carrier Network

• US 20100073193A1
• Filed: 09/21/2009
• Published: 03/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Itron Networked Solutions, Inc. (Itron, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Silver Spring Networks, Inc. (Itron, Inc.)
• Inventors: Flammer, George III
• Granted Patent: US 8,325,060 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/870.110
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2203/5433 Remote metering
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 3/546 Combination of signalling, telemetering, protection circuits for remote indication of supply or distribution network condition H02J13/00

Abstract

Meter nodes in a power line carrier (PLC) network may reliably communicate with an access point by alternate routes using additional media where available. A utility network may include one or more subnetworks. Each subnetwork may include one or more meter nodes and an access point configured to communicate with the meter nodes using PLC. Meter nodes operate as relays for other meter nodes to communicate with the access point. Some or all meter nodes may be configured to communicate using a power line carrier communications link and another communications link. The network may also include a node external to the subnetwork, e.g., a utility server. The access point may be configured to communicate with the node external to the subnetwork in addition to the meter nodes.

Claims

1. A utility network, comprising:

one or more subnetworks, each subnetwork comprising;

a plurality of meter nodes; and

an access point configured to communicate with the meter nodes using power line carrier communications links,

wherein at least some of the meter nodes are configured as relays to retransmit communications between the access point and at least one other meter node are using a power line carrier communications link; and

a node external to the subnetworks,

wherein each access point is configured to operate as an interface between the node external to the subnetworks and the meter nodes of its associated subnetwork.

2. The network of claim 1, wherein each meter node is configured to send or receive data to or from the access point representative of or controlling consumption of a commodity or its usage.

3. The network of claim 2, wherein the commodity is at least one of electricity, gas and water.

4. The network of claim 1 wherein the node external to the subnetwork is a utility server.

5. The network of claim 1, wherein the access point includes an interface for at least one of a cellular modem, a GPRS modem, a fiber optic link, an EV-DO link, a WiMAX link and a broadband internet connection configured to communicate with the node external to the subnetworks.

6. The network of claim 1, wherein at least one of said meter nodes that is configured as a relay is further configured to relay communications to and from another node by a communications link other than power line carrier.

7. The network of claim 6, wherein said at least one meter node is configured to communicate with the access point via said other communications link in the event that power line carrier signal quality reaches a predetermined value.

8. The network of claim 6, wherein said at least one meter node includes an RF transceiver configured to communicate with other meter nodes.

9. The network of claim 8, wherein the RF transceiver is configured to implement frequency-hopping spread spectrum communications.

10. The network of claim 6, wherein the other communications link used by said at least one meter node is configured to communicate with the node external to the subnetworks without communicating via the access point.

11. A utility network, comprising:

one or more subnetworks, each subnetwork comprising;

a plurality of meter nodes; and

an access point configured to communicate with the meter nodes using power line carrier communications links,

wherein at least one of the meter nodes is configured to relay communications between the access point and at least one other meter node by an alternative communications link other than power line carrier; and

a node external to the subnetworks,

wherein each access point is configured to operate as an interface between the node external to the subnetworks and the meter nodes of its associated subnetwork.

12. The network of claim 11, wherein each meter node is configured to send or receive data to or from the access point representative of or controlling consumption of a commodity or its usage.

13. The network of claim 12, wherein the commodity is at least one of electricity, gas and water.

14. The network of claim 11 wherein the node external to the subnetwork is a utility server.

15. The network of claim 11, wherein the access point includes an interface for at least one of a cellular modem, a GPRS modem, a fiber optic link, an EV-DO link, a WiMAX link and a broadband internet connection configured to communicate with the node external to the subnetworks.

16. The network of claim 11, wherein said at least one meter node is configured to communicate with the access point via said other communications link in the event that power line carrier signal quality reaches a predetermined value.

17. The network of claim 11, wherein said at least one meter node includes an RF transceiver configured to communicate with other meter nodes.

18. The network of claim 17, wherein the RF transceiver is configured to implement frequency-hopping spread spectrum communications.

19. The network of claim 11, wherein the other communications link used by said at least one meter node is configured to communicate with the node external to the subnetworks without communicating via the access point.

20. A method of communicating in a utility network having at least on subnetwork that includes a plurality of meter nodes and an access point that communicates with the meter nodes using power line carrier (PLC) communications links, comprising the following steps:

determining the value of a metric indicative of the quality of a PLC signal between the access point and a meter node; and

in response to said value falling below a predetermined threshold, relaying communications between the access point and said meter node by means of an alternative communications link other than power line carrier.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein each meter node sends or receives data to or from the access point representative of or controlling consumption of a commodity or its usage.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the commodity is at least one of electricity, gas and water.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein said at least one meter node communicates with other meter nodes by means of an RF link.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the RF link employs frequency-hopping spread spectrum communications.