Prioritized reporting of metering data

• US 8,767,744 B2
• Filed: 05/04/2012
• Issued: 07/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Itron, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Itron, Inc.
• Inventors: Osterloh, Christopher Lloyd, Ogle, James Patrick, Holmdahl, Bret Gregory
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Brenda H
• Application Number:
  US13/464,678
• Publication Number:
  US 20130294237A1
• Time in Patent Office: 788 Days
• Field of Search: 370/328, 370/338, 370/349, 370/389, 370/395.42, 370/400, 370/236, 370/395.4
• US Class Current: 370/395.4
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/004 Remote reading of utility meters to a fixed location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/60 for transmitting utility meters data, i.e. transmission of data from the reader of the utility meter
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 90/20 Smart grids as enabling technology in buildings sector smart grids supporting the management or operation of end-user stationary applications in general, or like technologies with no associated climate change mitigation effect Y04S20/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/30 Smart metering, e.g. specially adapted for remote reading

Abstract

A utility company may schedule when and how endpoints report resource consumption data based on relative priorities of endpoints or the customers associated therewith. By associating endpoints with one of multiple different quality of service (QoS) levels, and sending each endpoint a reporting schedule based on its respective QoS level, the utility company may configure prioritized reporting of resource consumption data by endpoints of an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) with automatic meter reading (AMR).

Claims

1. A method comprising:

under control of a data collector of a utility communication network configured with computer-executable instructions;

receiving information about a plurality of endpoints for which resource consumption data is to be collected; and

communicating to each endpoint of the plurality of endpoints a reporting schedule of when, based on the received information, the respective endpoint is to report its resource consumption data to the data collector,

wherein the reporting schedule defines a frequency and a starting time at which each endpoint is to report resource consumption data to the data collector.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the received information comprises a master reporting schedule for the plurality of endpoints, specifying when each endpoint is to report its resource consumption data to the data collector.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the received information comprises an indication of:

a priority of each endpoint; and

multiple quality of service levels; and

the method further comprising determining a master reporting schedule for the plurality of endpoints based at least in part on the received information comprising the indication of the priority of each endpoint and the multiple quality of service levels.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the reporting schedule further defines a number of times each endpoint is to report resource consumption data to the data collector per day.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the information comprises an indication of priority and is received from the plurality of endpoints.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the information is received from a central office of the utility communication network.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving information from an endpoint of the plurality of endpoints having a first priority higher than a second priority of at least one other endpoint of the plurality of endpoints; and

transmitting the received information from the endpoint having the first priority to a central office of the utility communication network more promptly than the data collector would transmit received information from the at least one other endpoint having the second priority to the central office of the utility communication network.

8. A network computing device of a utility communication network comprising:

a radio; and

a processing unit configured to implement acts comprising;

receiving a communication via the radio indicating when the network computing device is to report its resource consumption data;

collecting resource consumption data; and

reporting the collected resource consumption data via the radio based at least in part on the received communication,

wherein the network computing device comprises a metering point of a utility mesh network, and the reporting comprises passing the resource consumption data to an upstream metering point in the utility mesh network.

9. The network computing device of claim 8, wherein the received communication defines a frequency and a starting time at which the network communication device is to report its resource consumption data, and a number of times the network communication device is to report resource consumption data per day.

10. The network computing device of claim 8, wherein the reporting comprises reporting the resource consumption data to a data collector.

11. The network computing device of claim 8, further comprising, prior to receiving the communication:

receiving an indication of a priority of the network computing device during installation of the network computing device; and

sending the indication of the priority of the network computing device to a data collector.

12. A method comprising:

under control of a network computing device of a utility communication network configured with computer-executable instructions;

receiving a communication indicating when the network computing device is to report its resource consumption data;

collecting resource consumption data; and

reporting the collected resource consumption data based at least in part on the received communication,

wherein the network computing device comprises a metering point of a utility mesh network, and the reporting comprises passing the resource consumption data to an upstream metering point in the utility mesh network.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the received communication defines a frequency and a starting time at which the network communication device is to report its resource consumption data, and a number of times the network communication device is to report resource consumption data per day.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the reporting comprises reporting the resource consumption data to a data collector.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising, prior to receiving the communication:

receiving an indication of a priority of the network computing device during installation of the network computing device; and

sending the indication of the priority of the network computing device to a data collector.