Methods and apparatus for meter I/O board addressing and communication
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsWarren R. Germer, Maurice J. Ouellette, Virginia H. Zinkowski
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Abstract
The present invention, in one embodiment, is a method for input/output (I/O) board addressing and communications in an electronic electric meter having a microcomputer. The method includes steps of providing interchangeable I/O boards of an electronic electric meter with type identifiers; and determining, using a microcomputer of the meter and the type identifier of the I/O board, a type of interchangeable I/O board being utilized in the meter.
Claims20
A method for input/output (I/O) board addressing and communications in an electronic electricity meter having a microcomputer, said method comprising the steps of:
- providing interchangeable I/O boards of an electronic electricity meter with type identifiers;
- and
- determining, using a microcomputer of the meter and the type identifier of the I/O board, a type of interchangeable I/O board being utilized in the meter.
A method for input/output (I/O) board addressing and communications in an electronic electricity meter having a microcomputer and an optical communications port utilizing a phototransistor to communicate, said method comprising the steps of
- maintaining a constant voltage across the phototransistor;
- and
- switching the phototransistor output to change between a first state and a second state while the constant voltage is maintained.
An electronic electricity meter having a microcomputer having an option connector configured to receive interchangeable input/output (I/O) boards having type identifiers, said meter being configured to determine, using said microcomputer and the type identifier of the I/O board, a type of I/O board being utilized in said meter.
An electronic electricity meter having a microcomputer and an optical communications port utilizing a phototransistor to communicate, said meter being configured to:
- maintain a constant voltage across said phototransistor;
- and
- switch said phototransistor output to change between a first state and a second state while said constant voltage is maintained.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.