Electronic electric meter for networked meter reading

Abstract

An electronic electric meter for use in a networked automatic meter reading environment. The electric meter retrofits into existing meter sockets and is available for new meter installations for both single phase and three phase electric power connections. The electric meter utilizes a modular design which allows the interface modules to be changed depending upon the desired communication network interface. The meter measures electricity usage and monitors power quality parameters for transmission to the utility. The gateway node transmits this data to the utility over a commercially available fixed wide area network (WAN). The meter also provides direct communication to the utility over a commercially available network interface that plugs into the meter's backplane or bus system bypassing the local area network communication link and gateway node.

1 . A method of operating a portion of a commodity monitoring network for promoting communication between a commodity provider and a measuring device, the commodity provider operable to provide a commodity and the measuring device operable to measure a utilization characteristic of the commodity, the method comprising: 
 coupling the portion to a first network;    coupling the portion to a second network different from the first network;    receiving a first message from the first network, the first message having a format and first data originating from the commodity provider;    creating a second message including a format and second data, the second data including at least a portion of the first data, the portion of the first data including data intended for the measuring device; and    wirelessly transmitting the second message to the second network.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the format of the first message is different from the format of the second message.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the commodity provider is coupled to the first network and the measuring device is coupled to the second network.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first network includes a wide area network.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second network includes a local area network.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the coupling the portion to the first network includes interconnecting the portion to the first network.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the coupling the portion to the second network includes interconnecting the portion to the second network.  
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the portion is disposed at a gateway node distinct from the commodity provider and the measuring device.  
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the creating the second message includes relaying the portion of the first data intended for the measuring device.  
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the creating the second message includes determining routing data for transmitting the second message towards the measuring device, and wherein the second data includes the routing data.  
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second data includes an address, and wherein the transmitting the second message includes transmitting the second message based on the address.  
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving a scheduled request, and wherein the second message is in response to the scheduled request.  
   
   
       13 . A method of operating a portion of a commodity monitoring network for promoting communication between a commodity providing and a measuring device, the commodity operable to provide a commodity and the measuring device operable to measure a utilization characteristic of the commodity, the method comprising: 
 wirelessly receiving a first message having a first format and first data originating from the measuring device;    creating a second message including a second format and second data, the second format being different from the first format and the second data including at least a portion of the first data, the portion including data intended for the commodity provider; and    transmitting the second message.    
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising interconnecting the portion to a first network supporting the first format and coupling the portion to a second network supporting the second format, and wherein the wirelessly receiving a first message is from the first network and the transmitting the second message is to the second network.  
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising coupling the portion to a first network supporting the first format and coupling the portion to a second network supporting the second format, and wherein the wirelessly receiving a first message is from the first network and the transmitting the second message is to the second network.  
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the first message includes a device identification, and further comprising retrieving a provider identification based on the device identification, and wherein the second message includes the provider identification.