# US 12,224,584 B2 · Detecting hot socket conditions in utility electricity meters > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,224,584 B2 - Document ID: US12224584B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/735,457 - Filed: 2022-05-03 - Published: 2022-08-18 - Granted: 2025-02-11 - Earliest claimed: 2020-05-07 - Assignees: Itron, Inc. - Applicants: Itron, Inc. - Inventors: Vladimir Borisov; Matthieu Pichot - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12224584B2 ## CPC - H02J 13/333: the equipment forming part of substations - G01R 19/2513: {Arrangements for monitoring electric power systems, e.g. power lines or loads; Logging} - G01R 22/068: {Arrangements for indicating or signaling faults} - G06Q 50/06: Energy or water supply - G01R 31/69: of terminals at the end of a cable or a wire harness; of plugs; of sockets, e.g. wall sockets or power sockets in appliances - H02J 13/12: Monitoring network conditions, e.g. electrical magnitudes or operational status - H02J: ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY - G01R: MEASURING ELECTRIC VARIABLES; MEASURING MAGNETIC VARIABLES (indicating correct tuning of resonant circuits H03J3/12) - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR ## Abstract Techniques for detecting hot socket conditions in utility electricity meters include acquiring, by an electricity meter, first signal readings of one or more first signals associated with a first type of communications between the electricity meter and one or more first devices; acquiring, by the electricity meter, second signal readings for one or more second signals associated with a second type of communications between the electricity meter and one or more second devices, the second type of communications being different from the first type of communications; performing, by the electricity meter, one or more operations on the first signal readings and the second signal readings to determine whether a hot socket condition is present; and performing, by the electricity meter, a remedial operation in response to determining that the one or more operations indicate that the hot socket condition is present. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method comprising: acquiring, by an electricity meter, first signal readings of one or more first noise signals associated with a first type of network communications between the electricity meter and one or more first devices; acquiring, by the electricity meter, second signal readings for one or more second noise signals associated with a second type of network communications between the electricity meter and one or more second devices, the second type of network communications being different from the first type of network communications; performing, by the electricity meter, one or more operations on the first signal readings and the second signal readings to determine whether a hot socket condition is present; and performing, by the electricity meter, a remedial operation in response to determining that the one or more operations indicate that the hot socket condition is present. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein: the first type of network communications is power line communications (PLC); and the second type of network communications is radio frequency (RF) communications. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein a first frequency range of the first type of network communications is lower than a second frequency range of the second type of network communications. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more operations comprise determining that a correlation between the first signal readings and the second signal readings is above a threshold. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more operations comprise determining that a correlation between the first signal readings and the second signal readings is above a threshold over multiple power cycles. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the remedial operation comprises disconnecting one or more electrical circuits from an electrical utility via a service disconnect. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the remedial operation comprises transmitting at least one of the first signal readings or the second signal readings to a central office, an edge device, or another utility electricity meter. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the remedial operation comprises one or more of: transmitting a first message to a central office, an edge device, or another utility electricity meter indicating that the hot socket condition has been detected; generating an alert to inform a user of the hot socket condition; or illuminating an indicator on the electricity meter. ### Claim 9 One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing program instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of: receiving first samples of one or more first noise signals processed by a first network communications device coupling an electricity meter to one or more first devices; receiving second samples of one or more second noise signals processed by a second network communications device coupling the electricity meter to one or more second devices, wherein the one or more second noise signals are sampled on a different type of network communications than the one or more first noise signals; comparing the first samples and the second samples to determine whether a hot socket condition is present; and executing one or more remedial operations in response to determining that the comparing indicates that the hot socket condition is present. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein: the one or more first noise signals are sampled from power line communications (PLC) signals; and the one or more second noise signals are sampled from radio frequency (RF) signals. ### Claim 11 (depends on 9) The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein comparing the first samples to the second samples to determine whether a hot socket condition is present comprises determining that a correlation between the first samples and the second samples is above a threshold. ### Claim 12 (depends on 9) The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein comparing the first samples to the second samples to determine whether a hot socket condition is present comprises determining that a pattern of correlations between the first samples and the second samples that are above a correlation threshold occurs over a plurality of power cycles. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the pattern includes a correlation above the correlation threshold occurring in a configurable number of consecutive power cycles. ### Claim 14 (depends on 12) The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the pattern includes a correlation above the correlation threshold occurring in more than a configurable percentage of power cycles. ### Claim 15 (depends on 9) The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein the one or more remedial operations comprises one or more of: disconnecting one or more electrical circuits from an electrical utility via a service disconnect; transmitting at least one of the first samples or the second samples to a central office, an edge device, or another utility electricity meter; or alerting a user. ### Claim 16 An electricity meter comprising: one or more transceivers for transmitting and receiving messages; one or more processors; and a memory storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors causes the electricity meter to perform operations comprising: receiving first signal data for one or more first noise signals associated with a first network communications mode; receiving second signal data for one or more second noise signals associated with a second network communications mode; determining, based on a comparison between the first signal data and the second signal data, that a hot socket condition is present near the electricity meter; and performing a remedial action in response to determining that the hot socket condition is present. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The electricity meter of claim 16, wherein the one or more transceivers include a power line communications (PLC) module and a radio frequency (RF) transceiver. ### Claim 18 (depends on 16) The electricity meter of claim 16, wherein determining, based on the comparison between the first signal data and the second signal data, that the hot socket condition is present comprises determining that a correlation between the first signal data and the second signal data exceeds a threshold value. ### Claim 19 (depends on 16) The electricity meter of claim 16, wherein determining, based on the comparison between the first signal data and the second signal data, that the hot socket condition is present comprises determining that a pattern of correlations between the first signal data and the second signal data exceeding a threshold value occurs over multiple power cycles. ### Claim 20 (depends on 16) The electricity meter of claim 16, wherein the remedial action is selected from a group consisting of: disconnecting one or more electrical circuits from an electrical utility via a service disconnect; transmitting at least one of the first signal data or the second signal data to a central office, an edge device, or another electricity meter; or notifying a user.