UTILITY METER INTELLIGENT FIRMWARE UPDATE SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20150227358A1
• Filed: 02/10/2014
• Published: 08/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Lavoie, Gregory Paul, Lee, Robert Edward Jr., Lafond, Guy P., Perron, Jason Lee, Subirana, Jason Ignasi
• Granted Patent: US 9,891,905 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/002 Remote reading of utility meters
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/654 using techniques specially adapted for alterable solid state memories, e.g. for EEPROM or flash memories
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/66 of program code stored in read-only memory [ROM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• 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

One embodiment describes a utility metering system. The utility metering system includes a utility meter that is communicatively coupled to a utility service provider, in which the utility meter includes firmware. The utility meter stores a firmware update downloaded from the utility service provider, determines a particular time to update the firmware with the firmware update, in which the particular time is determined based at least in part on historical time of use data, time of use pricing rates, or a combination thereof. The historical time of use data includes utility consumption by a consumer over time and the time of use pricing rates includes the price per unit of utility charged to the consumer. Additionally, the utility meter updates the firmware at the particular time.

Claims

1. A utility metering system, comprising:

a utility meter configured to communicatively couple to a utility service provider, wherein the utility meter comprises firmware and is configured to;

store a firmware update downloaded from the utility service provider;

determine a particular time to update the firmware with the firmware update, wherein the particular time is determined based at least in part on one of historical time of use data, time of use pricing rates, or a combination thereof; and

update the firmware at the particular time.

2. The utility metering system of claim 1, wherein the historical time of use data comprises utility consumption by a consumer over time and the time of use pricing rates comprises the price per unit of utility charged to the consumer.

3. The utility metering system of claim 1, wherein the utility meter is configured to determine the particular time by predicting when utility usage by the consumer will be low based at least in part on the historical time of use data.

4. The utility metering system of claim 1, wherein the utility meter is configured to determine the particular time by determining when a time of use pricing rate is lowest based on the time of use pricing rates, wherein the utility meter is configured to retrieve the time of use pricing rates from the utility service provider.

5. The utility metering system of claim 1, wherein the utility meter is configured to determine the particular time by:

predicting a first time when utility usage by the consumer is expected to be low based at least in part on the historical time of use data;

determining a second time when a time of use pricing is lowest based on the time of use pricing rates; and

taking a weighted average of the first time and the second time.

6. The utility metering system of claim 1, wherein the utility meter comprises a communication card, wherein the communication card is configured to store the firmware update and determine the particular time to update the firmware.

7. The utility metering system of claim 1, wherein the utility meter is configured to determine a time period from which to select the particular time to update the firmware.

8. The utility metering system of claim 1, wherein the utility meter is configured to determine the particular time by receiving the particular time from the utility service provider.

9. The utility metering system of claim 1, wherein the utility meter is configured to determine the particular time based at least in part on an importance of the firmware update.

10. A non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium storing a plurality of instructions executable by a processor of a utility meter, the instructions configured to:

store a firmware update in a memory of the utility meter;

determine historical time of use data, wherein the historical time of use data comprises utility consumption by a consumer over time;

determine time of use pricing rates based on a price per unit of utility charged to the consumer at a plurality of times, dates, or a combination thereof;

determine a particular time to update firmware of the utility meter with the firmware update, wherein the particular time is based at least in part on the historical time of use data, the time of use pricing rates, or both; and

update the firmware at the particular time.

11. The medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions configured to determine the particular time comprises instructions configured to predict when utility usage by the consumer will be low based at least in part on the historical time of use data.

12. The medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions configured to determine the particular time comprises instructions configured to determine when a time of use pricing rate is lowest, wherein the time of use pricing rates are communicated from a utility service provider.

13. The medium of claim 10, wherein the instruction configured to determine the particular time comprises instructions configured to:

predict a first time when the utility usage by the consumer is expected to be low based at least in part on the historical time of use data;

determine a second time when a time of use pricing rate is lowest based on the time of use pricing rates; and

take a weighted average of the first time and the second time.

14. The medium of claim 10, comprising instructions configured to schedule a firmware update event at the particular time in a calendar.

15. A utility meter, comprising:

a non-volatile memory configured to store firmware of the utility meter;

a volatile memory configured to store a firmware update; and

a processor configured to;

determine current utility usage; and

execute the firmware update to update the firmware when the utility usage falls below a usage threshold.

16. The utility meter of claim 15, wherein the usage threshold is set by a utility provider.

17. The utility meter of claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to determine the current utility usage based at least in part on the firmware.

18. The utility meter of claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to stop determining the utility usage when the firmware is being updated and to resume determining the utility usage after the firmware is updated.

19. The utility meter of claim 15, wherein the volatile memory is configured to receive the firmware update from a utility service provider.

20. The utility meter of claim 15, comprising a communication card, wherein the communication card comprises the volatile memory.