Bluetooth-enable intelligent electronic device

• US 8,515,348 B2
• Filed: 10/30/2006
• Issued: 08/20/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: EI Electronics LLC (Hubbell, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Electro Industries/Gaugetech
• Inventors: Kagan, Erran
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsvey, Gennadiy
• Application Number:
  US11/589,377
• Publication Number:
  US 20070096765A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,486 Days
• Field of Search: 702/62, 702/57, 702/189, 702/61, 709/221, 709/220, 709/222, 709/223, 709/228, 709/217
• US Class Current: 455/41.2
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 22/063 related to remote communication
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 22/10 using digital techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup

Abstract

An intelligent electronic device (IED), e.g., an electrical power meter, having wireless communication capabilities, e.g., Bluetooth connectivity, for transmitting and receiving data without a hardwire connection is provided. A system and method for retrieving revenue metering data from at least one IED, e.g., a revenue meter, are also provided. The system includes at least one intelligent electronic device including a transceiver configured for receiving calculated energy consumption data from a processor and transmitting the calculated energy consumption data via a spread-spectrum frequency hopping technique; and a data collection device configured for receiving the calculated energy consumption data from the at least one intelligent electronic device in response to supplying a pairing passkey to the intelligent electronic device.

Claims

1. An intelligent electronic device comprising:

at least one sensor coupled to an electrical circuit configured for measuring at least one power parameter of the electrical circuit and generating at least one analog signal indicative of the at least one power parameter;

at least one analog to digital converter coupled to the at least one sensor configured for receiving the at least one analog signal and converting the at least one analog signal to at least one digital signal;

a processor configured for receiving the at least one digital signal and calculating energy consumption data in the electrical circuit;

a transceiver configured for receiving the calculated energy consumption data from the processor and wirelessly transmitting the calculated energy consumption data via a spread-spectrum frequency hopping technique to a portable remote reading device, wherein the portable remote reading device is configured to be carried throughout a particular geographical area and wirelessly communicate with a plurality of intelligent electronic devices located within the particular geographical area, wherein the portable remote reading device is further configured to store records related to the plurality of intelligent electronic devices in the particular geographical area, wherein the stored records comprise a plurality of different identifiers, a plurality of different locations, and a plurality of different passkeys, each one of the identifiers identifying a specific one of the plurality of intelligent electronic devices, each one of the locations associated with a specific one of the plurality of intelligent electronic devices, and each one of the passkeys associated with a specific one of the plurality of intelligent electronic devices, wherein each intelligent electronic device has a passkey that is different from the other passkeys, wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit the calculated energy consumption data to the portable remote reading device in response to the portable remote reading device transmitting the passkey corresponding with the respective intelligent electronic device to the transceiver, and wherein the transceiver is further configured to wirelessly receive upgrade data from the portable remote reading device by a synchronous connection oriented (SCO) type data transmission, the upgrade data enabling the processor to upgrade software on the intelligent electronic device; and

a cryptographic module configured for establishing a secure wireless communication channel with the portable remote reading device, wherein the cryptographic module auto-negotiates with the portable remote reading device to allow communication between the intelligent electronic device and the portable remote reading device, wherein the cryptographic module is further configured to request a respective passkey associated with the intelligent electronic device and establish the secure wireless communication channel with the portable remote reading device after receiving the respective passkey from the portable remote reading device, and wherein the secure wireless communication channel enables the wireless transmission of the calculated energy consumption data and wireless receipt of upgrade data.

2. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 1, further comprising a memory for storing at least one protocol stack for enabling the spread-spectrum frequency hopping technique.

3. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 2, wherein the at least one protocol stack is a Bluetooth protocol stack.

4. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 1, wherein the transceiver transmits on a frequency of about 2.45 gigahertz.

5. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 1, wherein the transceiver transmits on a frequency of about 2.402 GHz to about 2.480 GHz.

6. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 1, wherein the cryptographic module is further configured for encrypting the calculated energy consumption data.

7. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 1, wherein the processor initiates transmission of data in response to receiving the respective passkey.

8. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 1, further comprising means for supplying a variable output power to the transceiver, wherein the variable output power is adjustable to allow a communication range of the transceiver to be varied.

9. The intelligent electronic device as in claim 6, wherein the cryptographic module encrypts the calculated energy consumption data using at least one of the security protocols comprising checksum, Data Encryption Standard (DES), Elliptical Curve Encryption (ECC), International Data Encryption Algorithm (IDEA), Message Digest 5 (MD5), Rivest Cipher, Rivest Shamir Adleman (RSA), Rijndael, Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA), Secure Socket Layer (SSL), and Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTPS).

10. A system for collecting data from at least one intelligent electronic device, the system comprising:

a plurality of intelligent electronic devices located within a particular geographic area, each intelligent electronic device comprising;

at least one sensor coupled to an electrical circuit configured for measuring at least one power parameter of the electrical circuit and generating at least one analog signal indicative of the at least one power parameter;

at least one analog to digital converter coupled to the at least one sensor configured for receiving the at least one analog signal and converting the at least one analog signal to at least one digital signal;

a processor configured for receiving the at least one digital signal and calculating energy consumption data in the electrical circuit;

a transceiver configured for receiving the calculated energy consumption data from the processor and wirelessly transmitting the calculated energy consumption data via a spread-spectrum frequency hopping technique; and

a memory for storing an identifier and a passkey, wherein the identifiers and passkeys are different for each of the plurality of intelligent electronic devices; and

a portable data collection device configured to store the identifier and the passkey associated with each of the plurality of intelligent electronic devices, the portable data collection device further configured for establishing a piconet with one or more of the plurality of intelligent electronic devices located within the particular geographical area, wirelessly receiving an identifier from each of the one or more intelligent electronic devices identifying the one or more intelligent electronic devices with which a piconet is established, retrieving a corresponding passkey for each of the one or more intelligent electronic devices based on the identifier received from each of the one or more intelligent electronic devices, wirelessly transmitting the corresponding passkey to each respective one of the one or more intelligent electronic devices, and wirelessly receiving the calculated energy consumption data from the one or more intelligent electronic devices via the spread-spectrum frequency hopping technique;

wherein the portable data collection device is further configured to upload the received energy consumption data associated with the one or more of the at least one intelligent electronic device to a server; and

wherein each transceiver is further configured to wirelessly receive upgrade data from the portable data collection device by a synchronous connection oriented (SCO) type data transmission, the upgrade data enabling the respective processor to upgrade software on the respective intelligent electronic device.

11. The system as in claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of intelligent electronic devices auto-negotiates with the portable data collection device.

12. The system as in claim 11, wherein the portable data collection device further comprises a billing module configured to store the received calculated energy consumption data for each of the one or more intelligent electronic devices.

13. The system as in claim 12, wherein the billing module is further configured to store the identifier and passkey associated with each of the plurality of intelligent electronic devices.

14. The system as in claim 10, wherein the portable data collection device transmits the received calculated energy consumption data to the server by e-mail.

15. The system as in claim 10, wherein the memory of each of the plurality of intelligent electronic devices is further configured for storing at least one protocol stack for enabling the spread-spectrum frequency hopping technique.

16. The system as in claim 15, wherein the at least one protocol stack is a Bluetooth protocol stack.

17. The system as in claim 10, wherein the transceiver transmits on a frequency of about 2.402 GHz to about 2.480 GHz.

18. The system as in claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of intelligent electronic devices further comprises a cryptographic module configured for encrypting the calculated energy consumption data.

19. The system as in claim 10, further comprising means for supplying a variable output power to the transceiver, wherein the variable output power is adjustable to allow a transmission range of the transceiver to be varied.

20. The system as in claim 10, wherein the portable data collection device is further configured to wirelessly transmit upgrade data to the one or more intelligent electronic devices via a synchronous connection oriented (SCO) type data transmission.