Metering information collection

• US 9,104,917 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2013
• Issued: 08/11/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Kumar, Anil
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Nirav G
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEMIEUX, IAN L
• Application Number:
  US13/929,264
• Publication Number:
  US 20150003665A1
• Time in Patent Office: 775 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/62 Text, e.g. of license plates, overlay texts or captions on TV images
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 2201/02 Recognising information on displays, dials, clocks

Abstract

A computing device configured to gather utility metering information. In embodiments, the computing device may comprise a transceiver and an image processing module. The image processing module may be coupled to the transceiver and configured to receive an image utilizing the transceiver. The image may include one or more utility meters. The image processing module may be further configured to extract metering information from the one or more utility meters of the image and transmit this metering information to a utility provider associated with the utility meter Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

a transceiver configured to exchange data over a data connection with a utility meter accessory associated with utility meters for a plurality of utility service providers; and

one or more computing processors coupled to the transceiver, wherein the one or more computing processors are configured to;

receive, from the utility meter accessory, an image of the utility meters;

process the image of the utility meters to extract, from the image, metering information for the utility meters, wherein the one or more computing processors, when processing the image of the utility meters, are further configured to;

partition the image to identify respective portions of the image associated with the utility meters, wherein the respective portions of the image include a first portion associated with a first of the utility meters and a second portion associated with a second of the utility meters,

process the first portion and the second portion to determine a first attribute associated with the first utility meter and a second attribute associated with the second utility meter,

determine, based on the first attribute, a first meter type of a plurality of meter types associated with the first utility meter and a first utility service provider of the plurality of utility service providers associated with the first meter,

determine, based on the second attribute, a second meter type of the plurality of meter types associated with the second utility meter and a second utility service provider of the plurality of utility service providers associated with the second meter, wherein the first utility service provider and the second utility service provider are different,

select, from a plurality of metering information extraction processes and based on the first meter type and a second meter type, a first information extraction process for the first utility meter and a second information extraction process for the second utility meter,

perform the first metering information extraction process on the first portion to extract first metering information for the first utility meter, and

perform the second metering information extraction process on the second portion to extract second metering information for the second utility meter; and

transmit the first metering information and the second metering information to two or more of the plurality of utility service providers, wherein the one or more computing processors, when transmitting the first metering information and the second metering information, is further configured to;

transmit the first metering information to the first utility service provider, and

transmit the second metering information to the second utility service provider.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the data connection comprises a wireless data connection coupling the device and the utility meter accessory.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the one or more computing processors, when processing the image of the utility meters, are further configured to:

perform an optical character recognition (OCR) process on the image.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the first attribute includes one or more of:

a shape of the first utility meter,

a symbol displayed on the first utility meter,

a barcode displayed on the first utility meter,

an alphanumeric code displayed on the first utility meter,

a layout of the first utility meter,

a position of the first utility meter in the image, or

an identifier associated with the utility meter accessory.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is included in a set top box.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the data connection comprises an encrypted data connection.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the one or more computing processors are further configured to:

forward, via the data connection, a signal to the utility meter accessory, wherein the utility meter accessory acquires the image based on receiving the signal.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the one or more computing processors are further configured to:

determine a first delivery format associated with the first utility service provider and a second delivery format associated with the second utility service provider, wherein the first delivery format includes a first extensible markup language (XML) schema and the second delivery format includes a second XML schema,

generate the first metering information based on the first XML schema, and

generate the second metering information based on the second XML schema.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the utility meter accessory is included in a mobile device.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the first metering information includes the first portion of the image and the second metering information includes the second portion of the image.

11. A method comprising:

receiving, by a processor and from a utility meter accessory, an image of utility meters associated with one or more utility service providers, wherein the image is received from the utility meter accessory via a data connection;

processing, by the processor, the image of the utility meters to extract, from the image, metering information for the utility meters, wherein processing the image includes;

partitioning the image to identify respective portions of the image associated with the utility meters, wherein the respective portions of the image include a first portion associated with a first of the utility meters and a second portion associated with a second of the utility meters,

processing the first portion and the second portion to determine a first attribute associated with the first utility meter and a second attribute associated with the second utility meter,

determining, based on the first attribute, a first meter type of a plurality of meter types associated with the first utility meter,

determining, based on the second attribute, a second meter type of the plurality of meter types associated with the second utility meter,

selecting, from a plurality of metering information extraction processes and based on the first meter type and a second meter type, a first information extraction process for the first utility meter and a second information extraction process for the second utility meter,

performing the first metering information extraction process on the first portion to extract first metering information for the first utility meter, and

performing the second metering information extraction process on the second portion to extract second metering information for the second utility meter; and

transmitting, by the processor, the first metering information and the second metering information to the one or more utility service providers.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the data connection comprises a wireless data connection coupling a device associated with the processor and the utility meter accessory.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein processing the image of the utility meters includes:

performing an optical character recognition (OCR) process on the image.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the first attribute includes one or more of:

a shape of the first utility meter,

a symbol displayed on the first utility meter,

a barcode displayed on the first utility meter,

an alphanumeric code displayed on the first utility meter,

a layout of the first utility meter,

a position of the first utility meter in the image, or

an identifier associated with the utility meter accessory.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the processor is included in a set top box.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the data connection comprises an encrypted data connection.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

forwarding, via the data connection, a signal to the utility meter accessory, wherein the utility meter accessory acquires the image based on receiving the signal.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more utility service providers include a first utility service provider and a second utility service provider, wherein the first meter is associated with the first utility service provider and the second meter is associated with the second utility service provider, and wherein the method further comprises:

determining a first delivery format associated with the first utility service provider and a second delivery format associated with the second utility service provider, wherein the first delivery format includes a first extensible markup language (XML) schema and the second delivery format includes a second XML schema;

generating the first metering information based on the first XML schema; and

generating the second metering information based on the second XML schema.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the utility meter accessory is included in a mobile device.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the first metering information includes the first portion of the image and the second metering information includes the second portion of the image.

21. A non-transitory computer readable medium to store instructions, the instructions comprising:

one or more instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to;

obtain an image of utility meters associated with a plurality of utility service providers,

partition the image to identify respective portions of the image associated with the utility meters, wherein the respective portions of the image include a first portion associated with a first of the utility meters and a second portion associated with a second of the utility meters,

process the first portion and the second portion to determine a first attribute associated with the first utility meter and a second attribute associated with the second utility meter,

determine, based on the first attribute, a first meter type of a plurality of meter types associated with the first utility meter and a first utility service provider of the plurality of utility service providers associated with the first meter,

determine, based on the second attribute, a second meter type of the plurality of meter types associated with the second utility meter and a second utility service provider of the plurality of utility service providers associated with the second meter, wherein the first utility service provider and the second utility service provider are different,

select, from a plurality of metering information extraction processes and based on the first meter type and a second meter type, a first information extraction process for the first utility meter and a second information extraction process for the second utility meter,

perform the first metering information extraction process on the first portion to extract first metering information for the first utility meter,

perform the second metering information extraction process on the second portion to extract second metering information for the second utility meter, and

transmit the first metering information to the first utility service provider and the second metering information to the second utility service provider.

22. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the first attribute includes one or more of:

a shape of the first utility meter,

a symbol displayed on the first utility meter,

a barcode displayed on the first utility meter,

an alphanumeric code displayed on the first utility meter,

a layout of the first utility meter, or

a position of the first utility meter in the image.

23. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the image is received from an image capturing device, and wherein the one or more instructions further cause the processor to:

forward a signal to the image capturing device, wherein the signal causes the image capturing device to acquire the image and forward the image to the processor.

24. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the one or more instructions further cause the processor to:

determine a first delivery format associated with the first utility service provider and a second delivery format associated with the second utility service provider, wherein the first delivery format includes a first extensible markup language (XML) schema and the second delivery format includes a second XML schema,

generate the first metering information based on the first XML schema, and

generate the second metering information based on the second XML schema.

25. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the first metering information includes the first portion of the image and the second metering information includes the second portion of the image.