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US 2015/0211886 A1Published application
Method and System for Reading Utility Meters
AssigneeBasic Electronics, Inc.
InventorsAlfiero F. Balzano, Armando Benavides
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a remote meter reading method and system of the type that may be poled by wireless communication. Other remote reading systems require a periodic change of batteries used to supply the power to the communication and other systems used in the remote meters. The present invention mitigates this need by using the water and gas flow into homes or other buildings to generate power used to recharge those batteries.
Claims19
A method for reading utility meters comprising of:
- configuring a plurality of utility meters, at a common location, for two-way local communication between the meters;
- configuring a first meter of the plurality of utility meters for two-way communication with a phone service provider;
- receiving a billing inquiry from the phone service provider at the first meter, the billing inquiry including destination information identifying at least one of the plurality of meters to which the billing inquiry is addressed;
- wirelessly communicating the billing inquiry from the first meter to each meter addressed by the inquiry;
- in response to receipt of the billing inquiry from the first meter, accessing meter usage information stored in each meter addressed by the inquiry;
- wirelessly communicating the meter usage information stored in each meter addressed by the billing inquiry to the first meter;
- communicating the meter usage information from the first meter to the phone service provider;
- and
- deriving energy to power a second meters from a fluid flow transducer disposed in fluid communication with a fluid flowing through a utility conduit associated with the second meter.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.