Electronic electric meter for networked meter reading

Abstract

An electronic electric meter including a transducer for measuring commodity utilization; a microcontroller coupled to the transducer for interpreting the commodity utilization data; and a two-way wireless transceiver coupled to the microcontroller for transmitting commodity utilization data from the meter to a remote gateway node, and for receiving data requests from the remove gateway mode.

1 . An electronic electric meter comprising: 
 an electronic transducer for measuring commodity utilization and monitoring power quality;    a meter microcontroller coupled to said electronic transducer for interpreting said commodity utilization data and said power quality information;    a measurement microcontroller coupled to said meter microcontroller for processing said commodity utilization data and said power quality information;    a two-way wireless transceiver coupled to said measurement microcontroller for transmitting commodity utilization data and power quality information from the meter to a remote gateway node, and for receiving data requests from said remote gateway node; and    at least one communication network module coupled to said measurement microcontroller for transmitting commodity utilization data and power quality information from the meter to a utility service provider, and for receiving data requests from said utility service provider.    
     
     
         2 . The electric meter according to  claim 1  wherein the communication network module is removable from said meter and interchangeable with other communication network modules.  
     
     
         3 . The electric meter according to  claim 2  wherein the communication network module is a narrowband personal communication services (PCS) module.  
     
     
         4 . The electric meter according to  claim 2  wherein the communication network module is a power line carrier (PLC) module.  
     
     
         5 . An electronic electric meter comprising: 
 an electronic transducer for measuring commodity utilization and monitoring power quality;    a measurement microcontroller coupled to said electronic  5  transducer for processing said commodity utilization data and power quality information for communication to a utility service provider;    a two-way wireless transceiver coupled to said measurement microcontroller for transmitting commodity utilization data from the meter, and for receiving data requests from a remote communication node; and    at least one network interface module coupled to said measurement microcontroller for transmitting commodity utilization data and power quality information from the meter to the utility service provider, and for receiving data requests from said utility service provider.    
     
     
         6 . The electric meter according to  claim 5  wherein the communication network module is removable from said meter and interchangeable with other communication network modules.  
     
     
         7 . The electric meter according to  claim 6  wherein the communication network module is a narrowband personal communication services (PCS) module.  
     
     
         8 . The electric meter according to  claim 5  wherein the communication network module is a power line carrier (PLC) module.  
     
     
         9 . An automatic meter rea 4 ing data communication system for obtaining commodity utilization data from a commodity meter, said automatic meter reading data communication system comprising: 
 an electronic electric/meter having a local area network interface and a wide area network interface;    a gateway node located remotely from the electric meter and communicating with the electric meter over a two-way wireless local area network;    wherein said gateway node communicates with a utility service provider over a two-way fixed common carrier wide area network; and    wherein said meter communicates with said utility directly over a networked communication system.    
     
     
         10 . The data communication system according to  claim 9  wherein the gateway node includes an RF handler for transmitting interrogation signals to the electric meter and for receiving commodity utilization data from the electric meter, a wide area network handler for receiving data requests from the utility and for transmitting commodity utilization data to the utility, a message dispatcher for routing and processing interrogation signals and commodity utilization data, a data stores memory for storing utility information and meter information and a scheduler for storing a preprogrammed list of scheduled meter readings.  
     
     
         11 . The data communication system according to  claim 9  wherein the two-way wireless local area network utilizes a radio frequency spread spectrum communication technique.  
     
     
         12 . The data communication system according to  claim 9  wherein the wide area network handler utilizes commercially available fixed common carrier wide area network systems.  
     
     
         13 . The data communication system according to  claim 9  wherein said gateway node is capable of initiating communication in said data communication system responsive to a utility request message from said utility service provider.  
     
     
         14 . The data communication system according to  claim 10  wherein said gateway node is capable of initiating communication in said data communication system responsive to a preprogrammed scheduled reading message from said scheduler.  
     
     
         15 . The data communication system according to  claim 9  wherein said electric meter is capable of initiating communication in said data communication system responsive to an alarm outage or tamper condition.  
     
     
         16 . The data communication system according to  claim 9  wherein the gateway node stores utility identification information, meter identification and scheduled meter readings in memory.  
     
     
         17 . An electronic electric meter comprising: 
 an electronic transducer for measuring commodity utilization and monitoring power quality; and    a two-way wireless transceiver coupled to said electronic transducer for transmitting commodity utilization data and power quality information from the meter and for receiving data requests from the gateway node.    
     
     
         18 . The electric meter according to  claim 17  wherein the electronic transducer includes a current transducer and a voltage transducer for sensing commodity usage.  
     
     
         19 . The electric meter according to  claim 17  wherein said two-way wireless transceiver includes a spread spectrum processor coupled to said communications microcontroller for enabling said electric meter to transmit and receive data utilizing a spread spectrum communication technique, and an RF transceiver coupled to said spread spectrum processor and said communication microcontroller for transmitting commodity utilization data from the meter and for receiving interrogation signals from the gateway  
     
     
         20 . The electric meter according to  claim 17  wherein said electric meter is programmable.  
     
     
         21 . A gateway node suitable for use with an electronic electric meter for providing interrogation signals to the electric meter and for receiving commodity utilization data and power quality information from the electric meter, said gateway node comprising: 
 an RF handler for transmitting interrogation signals to the electric meter and for receiving commodity utilization data and power quality information from the electric meter;    a wide area network handler for receiving data requests from a utility and for transmitting commodity utilization data and power quality information to the utility;    a message dispatcher for routing and processing interrogation signals, commodity utilization data and power quality information;    a data stores memory for storing utility information and meter information and    a scheduler having a preprogrammed list of scheduled meter readings.    
     
     
         22 . The gateway node according to  claim 21  wherein the RF handler includes a two-way wireless RF transceiver interface utilizing a spread spectrum communication technique.  
     
     
         23 . The gateway node according to  claim 21  wherein the wide area network handler includes a commercially available two-way fixed common carrier wide area network interface.  
     
     
         24 . The gateway node according to  claim 21  wherein the message dispatcher includes an initialization microcontroller and a spread spectrum processor for routing and processing data transmission and requests from the RF handler and wide area network handler.  
     
     
         25 . The gateway nod according to  claim 21  wherein the data stores memory is coupled to the WAN handler for utility ID verification, coupled to the message dispatcher for electric meter identification verification and coupled to the scheduler for electric meter information  
     
     
         26 . The gateway node according to  claim 21  wherein the scheduler is coupled to the data stores memory and the RF handler for performing scheduled meter readings.  
     
     
         27 . A gateway node suitable for use with an electronic electric meter for providing interrogation signals to the electric meter and for receiving commodity utilization data and power quality information from the electric meter, said gateway node comprising: 
 an RF transceiver for transmitting interrogation signals to the electric meter and for receiving commodity utilization data and power quality information signals therefrom;    a spread spectrum processor coupled to said RF transceiver for enabling said gateway node to transmit and receive data utilizing spread spectrum communication technique;    an interface module coupled to said spread spectrum processor for transmitting data to said spread spectrum processor and for receiving data from said spread spectrum processor; and    an initialization microcontroller interposed between said interface module and said spread spectrum processor for controlling the operation of said spread spectrum processor.    
     
     
         28 . A method for automatically reading data from a commodity meter and transmitting that data over a two-way wireless communication link, the method comprising the steps of: 
 installing an electronic electric meter having an RF transceiver for transmitting and receiving measured commodity utilization data and power quality information;    interrogating the electric meter with a gateway node located remotely from the electric meter over a two-way wireless RF spread spectrum local area network;    responding to the interrogation signal by providing an RF message over the local area network to the gateway node; and    transmitting the requested data from the gateway node to a utility service provider over a fixed two-way common carrier wide area network.