Automated communication of electricity meter data
First Claim
1. An electricity meter for measuring energy consumption of a load, comprising:
- voltage and current sensors for generating signals representative of current and voltage at the load;
a microcomputer coupled to said sensors, said microcomputer comprising a random access memory;
a display coupled to said microcomputer for displaying metering values; and
a communication port coupled to said microcomputer;
said microcomputer configured to test operation of the display by;
writing data to the random access memory of the display,reading the data from the display random access memory, andcommunicating at least the read data to the communication port.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An electricity meter which, in one embodiment, includes a microcomputer coupled to both a liquid crystal display (LCD) and an optical port. The LCD includes an on board controller and an LCD random access memory (RAM), and in accordance with the present invention, the microcomputer is programmed to communicate the contents of the LCD RAM to the optical port during selected times of meter operation. Generally, and in an exemplary embodiment, when the LCD RAM data is updated by the microcomputer during meter operation, the microcomputer communicates such updated data to the optical port. In one specific implementation, a user selectable flag may be set to 1 or 0. If the user sets the flag to 0, then the communications feature is not enabled. If the flag is set to 1, then the communications feature is enabled. In operation, and upon receipt of a display quantity command, the microcomputer writes data to the LCD RAM. The microcomputer then checks whether the communications feature is selected (i.e., whether the flag is set to 0 or 1), and if the feature is not selected, processing proceeds as is known. If the flag is set to 1, then the microcomputer reads the data stored in the LCD RAM and communicates such data to the optical port.
45 Citations
15 Claims
-
1. An electricity meter for measuring energy consumption of a load, comprising:
-
voltage and current sensors for generating signals representative of current and voltage at the load; a microcomputer coupled to said sensors, said microcomputer comprising a random access memory; a display coupled to said microcomputer for displaying metering values; and a communication port coupled to said microcomputer; said microcomputer configured to test operation of the display by; writing data to the random access memory of the display, reading the data from the display random access memory, and communicating at least the read data to the communication port. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
-
-
5. A method of operating a microcomputer of a meter including voltage and current sensors for generating signals representative of current and voltage at the load, the microcomputer coupled to the sensors and including a memory having at least one memory location designated for storage of at least one flag, the meter further including a display coupled to the microcomputer for displaying metering values and a communication port coupled to the microcomputer, said method comprising the steps of:
-
upon receipt of a display quantity command, writing data to the display; checking the flag status, and if the flag has a first status, reading the data written to the display and communicating at least the read data to the port. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7)
-
-
8. An electricity meter for measuring energy consumption of a load, comprising:
-
a microcomputer; a display coupled to said microcomputer for displaying metering values; and a communication port coupled to said microcomputer; said microcomputer programmed to communicate data to said communication port at least upon the occurrence of a set of predetermined conditions to test operation of said display, at least one of said conditions being that data is written to said display, and wherein to communicate data to said communication port, said microcomputer reads data from said display and communicates said data to said port. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A microcomputer for an electricity meter including a communication port and a display, the display including a random access memory, said microcomputer configured to test operation of the display by:
-
writing data to the random access memory of the display, reading the data from the display random access memory, and communicating at least the read data to the communication port. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
-
Specification