System and method for utility meter activation

• US 9,294,825 B2
• Filed: 10/08/2012
• Issued: 03/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Bharat, Bruce, Yasko, Christopher Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): Bee, Andrew
• Application Number:
  US13/647,364
• Publication Number:
  US 20140097965A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,261 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/002 Remote reading of utility meters
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/008 Modifications to installed utility meters to enable remote reading
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/50 using a mobile data collecting device, e.g. walk by or drive by
• 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 network includes a utility meter capable of measuring a property of the network once installed and capable of communicating the measurement to a server once activated. The network also includes an access point configured to communicatively couple to the utility meter and to the server and configured to notify the server when the utility meter has been bound to the access point. The network further includes a mobile device configured to notify the server when the utility meter has been installed, configured to request the server to add the utility meter to a queue of utility meters to be activated by the server, and configured to receive a response from the server when the utility meter is activated.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a utility meter capable of measuring a property of a utility network and capable of communicating a measurement of the property of the network to a server; and

a mobile device configured to notify the server when the utility meter has been installed and to request the server to add the utility meter to a queue of utility meters to be activated by the server, the mobile device comprising a display for displaying a response from the server, the response comprising a subset of the queue of utility meters, the subset identifying one or more utility meters that have failed to successfully activate.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is configured to activate the queue of utility meters and to notify the mobile device when the utility meter has been activated.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the subset of the queue only identifies the one or more utility meters that have failed to successfully activate.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is configured to receive periodic updates of at least a portion of the queue from the server.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising an access point communicatively coupled to the utility meter and to the server using at least one of a wired, a wireless, or a power-line communication technique, the access point configured to notify the server when the utility meter is bound to the access point.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the utility meter is configured to only directly bind to the access point and no other devices.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the utility meter and the access point are configured to communicate with one another over an encrypted channel after exchanging security credentials.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the access point and the server are configured to communicatively couple to one another via a private wide area network (WAN), a cellular data WAN, or a combination thereof.

9. The system of claim 5, wherein the utility meter, the access point, or both are configured to detect unauthorized access or unauthorized communication, and configured to notify the server of the unauthorized access or unauthorized communication.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the server comprises an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) server.

11. A method, comprising:

receiving instructions from a mobile device to activate a utility meter that has been installed in a network;

adding the utility meter to a queue of utility meters to be activated;

receiving notification from an access point that the utility meter has been bound by the access point in response to a coupling request;

transmitting, to the mobile device, identification of one or more utility meters that have failed to successfully activate; and

displaying on the mobile device, a subset of the queue, the subset of the queue indicating the one or more utility meters that have failed to successfully activate.

12. The method of claim 11, comprising notifying the mobile device of an activation status of the utility meter.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein notifying the mobile device comprises sending to the mobile device an updated queue, wherein the activation status of the meter comprises successfully activated, unsuccessfully activated, and pending.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the mobile device is not configured to bind to the utility meter.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein receiving notification from the access point comprises receiving information from the access point via a public or private wide area network.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the utility meter comprises a power meter and the network comprises a power distribution network.

17. A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing a plurality of instructions executable by a processor of an electronic device, the instructions comprising:

instructions to receive user input when a utility meter has been installed in a utility network;

instructions to notify a server that the utility meter has been installed, wherein the utility meter is capable of measuring a property of the network and communicating a measurement of the property of the network to the server once installed;

instructions to receive notification from the server that the utility meter has been added to a queue of utility meters to be activated by the server;

instructions to provide user notification that the utility meter has been added to the queue;

instructions to receive from the server, an indication comprising one or more utility meters that have failed to successfully activate; and

instructions to display on the mobile device, a subset of the queue, the subset of the queue indicating the one or more utility meters that have failed to successfully activate.

18. The medium of claim 17, wherein the utility meter comprises a power meter, the network comprises a power distribution network, and the server comprises an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) server.