Embedded antenna apparatus for utility metering applications
First Claim
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1. A utility meter for monitoring or controlling the distribution of a utility product or service to a customer, said utility meter comprising:
- at least one internal housing component for protecting selected electronics and other internal components of a utility meter;
a faceplate attached to the front of said at least one internal housing component, said faceplate characterized by an inner and an outer surface thereof; and
a patterned radio frequency (RF) antenna formed on a selected surface of said faceplate, said patterned RF antenna configured to provide a generally uniform cardioidal radiation pattern to transmit RF signals from a communications module associated with said utility meter.
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Abstract
An embedded antenna for facilitating wireless transmission of utility meter data is disclosed, where in one embodiment an RF antenna is a part of the faceplate of the utility meter. In another embodiment the utility meter faceplate is a single-layer or a multi-layer printed circuit board (PCB) with the RF antenna printed on any desired layer. Such faceplates may be labeled to be viewable from outside of the meter housing and/or have openings to accommodate visual access to an output display of the meter consumption information.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. A utility meter for monitoring or controlling the distribution of a utility product or service to a customer, said utility meter comprising:
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at least one internal housing component for protecting selected electronics and other internal components of a utility meter; a faceplate attached to the front of said at least one internal housing component, said faceplate characterized by an inner and an outer surface thereof; and a patterned radio frequency (RF) antenna formed on a selected surface of said faceplate, said patterned RF antenna configured to provide a generally uniform cardioidal radiation pattern to transmit RF signals from a communications module associated with said utility meter. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification