Meter Register and Remote Meter Reader Utilizing a Stepper Motor
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Accused Products
Abstract
A meter for flowing material, e.g., water, has a meter register having an electronic display, e.g., an LED or LCD display, and a mechanical read-out display driven by a stepper motor to record units of water that flowed through the meter. In the event of an electrical power failure, the LED or LCD readout values are lost, however, the mechanical read-out values remain. Further, signals are transmitted to a microprocessor of a meter register to change the rotation of the stepper motor so that the meter register can be used with different types of meters. Still further, a meter generator co-acting with a meter register forwards an electrical pulse signal after a quantity of material or utility passes through a water meter to a microprocessor of a remote reader. The remote reader includes an odometer coupled to a stepper motor.
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Citations
46 Claims
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1-21. -21. (canceled)
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22. A retrofit meter register comprising:
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a signal receiver to receive transmitted signals from more than one type of meter defined as a group of meters, the transmitted signal from each one of the group of meters provides information to identify the volume of material passing through the meter associated with the transmitted signal; a microprocessor configured to receive the signals from the signal receiver, the microprocessor adapted to analyze the transmitted signals to measure volume of material passing through the meter associated with the transmitted signal to emulate a particular meter register for one of the meters of the group of meters; and a controller acting on the microprocessor to couple the microprocessor to the transmitted signal of the particular one of the meters of the group of meters to analyze the signal from the particular meter of the group of meters, wherein the microprocessor analyzes the transmitted signal from the particular meter of the group of meters and measures flow information of the particular meter of the group of meters. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A retrofit meter register, comprising:
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a signal receiver to receive transmitted signals from more than one type of meter defined as a group of meters, the transmitted signal from each one of the group of meters provides information to identify the volume of material passing through the meter associated with the transmitted signal; a microprocessor comprising means for (a) receiving information to configure a selected one of the transmitted signals to emulate a particular meter register of one of the group of meters, (b) configuring the microprocessor to receive the transmitted signals from the signal receiver, and (c) adapting the microprocessor to analyze the transmitted signals to measure volume of material passing through the meter associated with the transmitted signal to emulate a particular meter register for one of the meters of the group of meters; a controller acting on the microprocessor to couple the microprocessor to the transmitted signal of the particular one of the meters of the group of meters to analyze the signal from the particular meter of the group of meters, wherein the microprocessor analyzes the transmitted signal from the particular meter of the group of meters and measures flow information of the particular meter of the group of meters; and a means to make the measured flow rate of the particular meter available. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. A method of making a retrofit meter register comprising:
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providing a signal receiver to receive transmitted signals from more than one type of meter defined as a group of meters, the transmitted signal from each one of the group of meters provides information to identify the volume of material passing through the meter associated with the transmitted signal; providing a microprocessor comprising means for (a) receiving information to configure a selected one of the transmitted signals to emulate a particular meter register of one of the group of meters, (b) for configuring the microprocessor to receive the transmitted signals from the signal receiver, and (c) adapting the microprocessor to analyze the transmitted signals to measure volume of material passing through the meter associated with the transmitted signal to emulate a particular meter register for one of the meters of the group of meters; providing a controller adapted to act on the microprocessor to couple the microprocessor to the transmitted signal of the particular one of the meters of the group of meters to analyze the signal from the particular meter of the group of meters, wherein the microprocessor analyzes the transmitted signal from the particular meter of the group of meters and measures flow information of the particular meter of the group of meters, providing means to make the measured flow rate of the particular meter available; and transmitting a signal to the controller to energize the controller to act on the microprocessor to emulate a particular meter register of one of the group of meters. - View Dependent Claims (46)
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Specification