Optical meter reader using a shadow
First Claim
1. A meter reader for reading a meter having a face and a pointer, the pointer having a relative position with respect to the face for indicating a meter readout, comprising:
- a light source disposed for shining a light toward said pointer;
a light detector disposed for receiving at least one reflection of said light from at least one section, respectively, of said face; and
a detection circuit, coupled to the light detector for detecting a variation in intensity of said reflection, said variation caused by a shadow made by said pointer from said light when said shadow passes over said section of said face, said shadow indicating said relative position of said pointer with respect to said face for indicating said meter readout.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A meter reader for reading a meter by reading a shadow made by a meter pointer on the face of the meter. The meter reader includes a light source for shining a light toward the meter, a pulse control circuit for pulsing the light source, two light sensors for receiving reflections of the pulsed light from two sections of the face, a detection circuit for detecting the intensity of the reflections received by each of the sensors, a microprocessor system for calculating an intensity relationship between the intensities received by each of the sensors, a counter for incrementing a meter readout count when the intensity relationship varies indicating that the shadow has passed over both sections of the meter face, and a transmitter for transmitting the meter readout count in a meter readout signal.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A meter reader for reading a meter having a face and a pointer, the pointer having a relative position with respect to the face for indicating a meter readout, comprising:
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a light source disposed for shining a light toward said pointer; a light detector disposed for receiving at least one reflection of said light from at least one section, respectively, of said face; and a detection circuit, coupled to the light detector for detecting a variation in intensity of said reflection, said variation caused by a shadow made by said pointer from said light when said shadow passes over said section of said face, said shadow indicating said relative position of said pointer with respect to said face for indicating said meter readout. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of reading a meter having a face and a pointer, said pointer having a relative position with respect to said face for indicating a meter readout, comprising steps of:
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shining a light toward said pointer; receiving at least one reflection of said light from at least one section, respectively, of said face; and detecting a variation in intensity of said reflection, said variation caused by a shadow made by said pointer from said light when said shadow falls on said section of said face, said shadow corresponding to said relative position of said pointer with respect to said face for indicating said meter readout. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification