Prioritized reporting of metering data

• US 9,485,325 B2
• Filed: 05/22/2014
• Issued: 11/01/2016
• 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:
  US14/285,290
• Publication Number:
  US 20140258544A1
• Time in Patent Office: 894 Days
• Field of Search: 370/395.21, 370/395.4, 370/395.41, 370/395.43, 370/329, 370/342, 370/348, 370/310.2, 370/322, 370/328
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 system for managing reporting of resource consumption data, the system comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory communicatively coupled to the one or more processors and storing instructions that, when executed, configure the one or more processors to perform acts comprising;

determining a plurality of endpoints from which to obtain resource consumption data;

determining a relative priority of each endpoint of the plurality of endpoints;

establishing multiple quality of service levels;

assigning each endpoint of the plurality of endpoints to one of the multiple quality of service levels based at least in part on the relative priority of the respective endpoint; and

communicating to each endpoint when, based on the respective quality of service level, the respective endpoint is to report its resource consumption data, the communicating comprising sending a message to a data collector associated with the respective endpoint.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein each quality of service level of the multiple quality of service levels is associated with one or more periods of time each day.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the multiple quality of service levels include at least a first quality of service level that is higher than a second quality of service level, and wherein fewer endpoints are assigned to a period of time associated with the first quality of service level than are assigned to a period of time associated with the second quality of service level.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the relative priority of each endpoint is based in part on a service level agreement between a customer and a company that operates the system.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein a reporting period comprises multiple different windows of time, each window of time being associated with one or more quality of service levels.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein assigning each endpoint of the plurality of endpoints to one of the multiple quality of service levels is further based on a number of endpoints served by a data collector serving the respective endpoint and a load on the data collector serving the respective endpoint.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the relative priority of each endpoint is based in part on a characteristic of a customer associated with the endpoint.

7. A method comprising:

under control of one or more processors programmed with executable instructions;

determining a plurality of endpoints from which to obtain resource consumption data;

determining a relative priority of each endpoint of the plurality of endpoints;

establishing multiple quality of service levels;

assigning each endpoint of the plurality of endpoints to one of the multiple quality of service levels based at least in part on;

the relative priority of the respective endpoint;

a number of endpoints served by a data collector serving the respective endpoint; and

a load on the data collector serving the respective endpoint; and

communicating to each endpoint when, based on the respective quality of service level, the respective endpoint is to report its resource consumption data.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein communicating to each endpoint when the respective endpoint is to report its resource consumption data comprises sending a message to a data collector associated with the respective endpoint.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein each quality of service level of the multiple quality of service levels is associated with one or more periods of time each day.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the multiple quality service levels include at least a first quality of service level that is higher than a second quality of service level, and wherein fewer endpoints are assigned to a period of time associated with the first quality of service level than are assigned to a period of time associated with the second quality of service level.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the relative priority of each endpoint is based in part on a service level agreement between a customer and a company that operates the system.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein a reporting period comprises multiple different windows of time, each window of time being associated with one or more quality of service levels.

18. The computing device of claim 7, wherein assigning each node of the plurality of nodes to one of the multiple quality of service levels is further based on a number of nodes served by a data collector serving the respective node and a load on the data collector serving the respective node.

19. The computing device of claim 7, wherein the relative priority of each node is based in part on a billing schedule of a customer associated with the node.

13. A computing device comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory communicatively coupled to the one or more processors storing instructions executable by the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

determining a plurality of nodes in a communication network from which to obtain resource consumption data;

determining a relative priority of each node of the plurality of nodes;

establishing multiple quality of service levels;

assigning each node of the plurality of nodes to one of the multiple quality of service levels based at least in part on the relative priority of the respective node, the multiple quality of service levels including at least a first quality of service level that is higher than a second quality of service level, wherein fewer nodes are assigned to a period of time associated with the first quality of service level than are assigned to a period of time associated with the second quality of service level; and

communicating to each node when, based on the respective quality of service level, the respective node is to report its resource consumption data.

14. The computing device of claim 13, wherein communicating to each node when the respective node is to report its resource consumption data comprises sending a message to the node.

15. The computing device of claim 13, wherein each quality of service level of the multiple quality of service levels is associated with one or more periods of time each day.

16. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the relative priority of each node is based in part on a service level agreement between a customer and a company that operates the system.

17. The computing device of claim 13, wherein a reporting period comprises multiple different windows of time, each window of time being associated with one or more quality of service levels.