Apparatus for detecting possible defeat of systems for remote metering of utilities
First Claim
1. In a remotely readable, automatic utility metering system of the type including a plurality of rates and apparatus for indicating the amount of the utility consumed at each rate, and shed controlled appliances with shed commands and rate change commands being issued from a remote central reading station, apparatus for monitoring the metering of the utility comprising a plurality of event registers each connected for storing the number of occurrences of a different event in a predetermined period of time and means for determining the stored number of occurrences at the central reading station.
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Abstract
In remotely readable utility metering systems of the type including a plurality of rates and apparatus for indicating the amount of the utility consumed at each rate and shed controlled appliances with shed commands and rate change commands being issued from a remote central reading station, apparatus and method for monitoring the metering of the utility which includes monitoring a variety of events, e.g., counting the number of rate change and/or shed commands received by the metering system, to determine whether the metering system is operating correctly.
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Citations
11 Claims
- 1. In a remotely readable, automatic utility metering system of the type including a plurality of rates and apparatus for indicating the amount of the utility consumed at each rate, and shed controlled appliances with shed commands and rate change commands being issued from a remote central reading station, apparatus for monitoring the metering of the utility comprising a plurality of event registers each connected for storing the number of occurrences of a different event in a predetermined period of time and means for determining the stored number of occurrences at the central reading station.
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7. In a remotely readable, automatic utility metering system of the type including a plurality of rates and apparatus for indicating the amount of the utility consumed at each rate, and shed controlled appliances with shed commands and rate change commands being issued from a remote central reading station, apparatus for monitoring the metering of the utility comprising:
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(a) a first register connected to receive the rate change commands and store the number of rate change commands received; (b) a second register connected to receive the shed commands and store the number of shed commands received; (c) shed indication means including a timer, first and second counters, a comparator and a shed indication register connected for measuring the amount of the utility consumed for a predetermined period during and after a shed mode and storing a count in the shed indication register each time the measured amount increases a predetermined amount after the shed mode; and (d) means for communicating the stored numbers in the first, second and shed indication registers to the central reading station.
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8. In a remotely readable, automatic utility metering system of the type including a plurality of rates and apparatus for indicating the amount of the utility consumed at each rate, and shed controlled appliances with shed commands and rate change commands being issued from a remote central reading station, a method of monitoring the metering of the utility comprising the steps of:
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(a) counting the number of shed commands received; (b) counting the number of rate change commands received; and (c) comparing the number of shed commands and rate change commands received with the number issued. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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Specification