System and method for collecting information from utility meters
AssigneeElster Electricity, LLC
InventorJohn R. Holt
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of communicating between a collector meter and back haul device is disclosed. The method provides the collector meter, the collector meter has a local communications means for communicating to a plurality of utility metering devices, the collector meter also has having a short haul communications means. The method further provides the back haul device. The back haul device having the short haul communication means and a wireless telephonic communication means. The method communicates information between the collector meter and the back haul device using the short haul communication means. The method further sends data from the back haul device to a utility receiving center using the wireless telephonic means.
Claims25
A method of communicating between a collector meter and cellular interface comprising:
- providing the collector meter, the collector meter having a first communications means for communicating to a plurality of utility metering devices, the collector meter having a second communications means;
- providing the cellular interface, the cellular interface having the second communication means and a wireless telephonic communication means;
- collecting utility usage data from the plurality of utility meters by the collector meter utilizing the first communication means;
- communicating the utility usage data from the collector meter to the cellular interface using the second communication means;
- and,
- sending the utility usage data from the cellular interface to a utility receiving center using the wireless telephonic means.
A collector metering device comprising:
- metering circuitry, the metering circuitry measuring an amount of resources used by a consumer,
- a local area network (LAN) communication circuit, wherein the collector meter communicates with other metering devices using the LAN communication circuit;
- an interface circuit;
- a short haul communication circuit, the interface circuit providing communication between the LAN communication circuit and the short haul communication circuit, the collector meter communicating with a cellular interface using the short haul communication circuit.
A cellular interface for communicating with a utility company, the cellular interface comprising:
- a cellular radio frequency (RF) circuit electrically coupled to an interface circuit, the interface circuit electrically coupled to a short haul RF circuit wherein the short haul RF circuit communicates with a collector meter, the collector meter transmitting customer usage information via the short haul RF circuit and the interface circuit passing the information on to the cellular RF circuit which communicates the customer usage information with the utility company using cell phone technology.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.