Gateway-Controlled Communications With a Meter In a Utility Network

Abstract

An electronic electric meter for use in a networked automatic meter reading environment. The meter includes a meter microcontroller, a measurement microcontroller, a communication microcontroller and spread spectrum processor, and a plurality of other communication interface modules for communicating commodity utilization and power quality data to a utility. The meter measures electricity usage and monitors power quality parameters for transmission to the utility over a spread spectrum local area network (LAN) to a remotely located gateway node. 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 communicating messages between utility meters and at least one utility via a network, comprising the following steps:
 storing, in a gateway node on the network that provides an interface between meters and a utility, data comprising (i) identification of each utility that registers with the gateway node, (ii) identification of each meter that registers with the gateway node, and (iii) associations between individual meter identifications and utility identifications;   in response to receipt of a message from a meter, determining the identification of a utility that is associated with said meter, based upon said stored data; and   forwarding data in the received message to the identified utility.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , further including the step, in response to receipt of the message, of verifying whether said meter is a registered meter, based upon said stored data. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said gateway node communicates with the meters via a first network, and communicates with a utility via a second network, and wherein said step of forwarding data in the received message includes the step of converting a data stream from a format associated with the first network into a data stream associated with the second network. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 3  wherein said first network is a wireless network, and the message received from the meter comprises a radio frequency data stream. 
   
   
       5 . A method of communicating messages between utility meters and at least one utility via a network, comprising the following steps:
 storing, in a gateway node on the network that provides an interface between meters and a utility, data comprising (i) identification of each utility that registers with the gateway node, (ii) identification of each meter that registers with the gateway node, and (iii) associations between individual meter identifications and utility identifications;   in response to a request to send a message to a meter, verifying whether said meter is a registered meter, based upon said stored data; and   sending the message to the meter if it is verified to be a registered meter.   
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein said request is received from a utility, and further including the step of verifying whether the utility is registered, based upon said stored data. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein said gateway node communicates with the meters via a first network, and communicates with a utility via a second network, and wherein said step of sending the message includes the step of converting a data stream from a format associated with the second network into a data stream associated with the first network. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 7  wherein said first network is a wireless network, and the message sent to the meter comprises a radio frequency data stream. 
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein said request is generated within the gateway in response to a predetermined condition. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the data stored in the gateway further includes a schedule of times for sending messages to meters, and said predetermined condition comprises the occurrence of a scheduled time. 
   
   
       11 . A method of obtaining data from utility meters via a network, comprising the following steps:
 storing, in a gateway node on the network that provides an interface between meters and a utility, data comprising (i) identification of each meter that registers with the gateway node, and (ii) a schedule for sending messages to meters;   in response to a condition specified in said schedule, retrieving stored data relating to meters identified in said schedule that are associated with said condition; and   sending a message to each identified meter, requesting data from the identified meter.   
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 11 , further including the steps of receiving data from meters to which the message was sent, and forwarding said received data to a utility connected to the gateway via the network. 
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the data stored in the gateway further includes (iii) identification of each utility that registers with the gateway node, and (iv) associations between individual meter identifications and utility identifications, and wherein the step of forwarding received data includes determining the identification of a utility that is associated with a meter from which data was received, based upon said stored data, and forwarding the received data to the identified utility. 
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein said condition comprises the occurrence of a scheduled reading time. 
   
   
       15 . A gateway node that provides an interface between meters and a utility in a utility network, said gateway node comprising:
 a data store containing (i) identification of each utility that registers with the gateway node, (ii) identification of each meter that registers with the gateway node, and (iii) associations between individual meter identifications and utility identifications; and   a processor that is responsive to receipt of a message from a meter, to determine the identification of a utility that is associated with said meter, based upon said stored data, and forward data in the received message to the identified utility.   
   
   
       16 . The gateway node of  claim 15 , wherein said processor is further responsive to receipt of the message, to verify whether said meter is a registered meter, based upon said stored data. 
   
   
       17 . The gateway node of  claim 15 , wherein said gateway node communicates with the meters via a first network, and communicates with a utility via a second network, and wherein said processor converts a data stream from a format associated with the first network into a data stream associated with the second network. 
   
   
       18 . The gateway node of  claim 17  wherein said first network is a wireless network, and the message received from the meter comprises a radio frequency data stream. 
   
   
       19 . A gateway node that provides an interface between meters and a utility in a utility network, said gateway node comprising:
 a data store containing (i) identification of each utility that registers with the gateway node, (ii) identification of each meter that registers with the gateway node, and (iii) associations between individual meter identifications and utility identifications; and   a processor that is responsive to a request to send a message to a meter, to verify whether said meter is a registered meter, based upon said stored data, and send the message to the meter if it is verified to be a registered meter.   
   
   
       20 . The gateway node of  claim 19 , wherein said request is received from a utility, and wherein said processor verifies whether the utility is registered, based upon said stored data. 
   
   
       21 . The gateway node of  claim 20 , wherein said gateway node communicates with the meters via a first network, and communicates with a utility via a second network, and wherein said processor converts a data stream from a format associated with the second network into a data stream associated with the first network. 
   
   
       22 . The gateway node of  claim 21  wherein said first network is a wireless network, and the message sent to the meter comprises a radio frequency data stream. 
   
   
       23 . The gateway node of  claim 19 , wherein said request is generated within the gateway node in response to a predetermined condition. 
   
   
       24 . The gateway node of  claim 23 , wherein the data stored in the gateway node further includes a schedule of times for sending messages to meters, and said predetermined condition comprises the occurrence of a scheduled time. 
   
   
       25 . A gateway node that provides an interface between meters and a utility in a utility network, said gateway node comprising:
 a data store containing (i) identification of each meter that registers with the gateway node, and (ii) a schedule for sending messages to meters; and   a processor that is responsive to a condition specified in said schedule, to retrieve stored data relating to meters identified in said schedule that are associated with said condition, and send a message to the identified meters requesting data from the identified meters.   
   
   
       26 . The gateway node of  claim 25 , wherein said gateway node receives data from meters to which the message was sent, and said processor forwards said received data to a utility connected to the gateway node via the network. 
   
   
       27 . The gateway node of  claim 26 , wherein the data stored in the gateway node further includes (iii) identification of each utility that registers with the gateway node, and (iv) associations between individual meter identifications and utility identifications, and wherein the processor determines the identification of a utility that is associated with a meter from which data was received, based upon said stored data, and forwards the received data to the identified utility. 
   
   
       28 . The gateway node of  claim 25 , wherein said condition comprises the occurrence of a scheduled reading time. 
   
   
       29 . A gateway node in a utility network that provides communication between at least one utility and a plurality of meters, the gateway node having stored therein a data structure containing:
 an identifier for each utility that registers with the gateway node, for access by the gateway node to verify whether a received message was sent by a registered utility; and   an identifier for each meter that registers with the gateway node, for access by the gateway node to verify whether a received message was sent by a registered meter.   
   
   
       30 . The gateway node of  claim 29 , wherein said stored data structure further contains associations between individual meter identifiers and utility identifiers, for access by the gateway node to associate a received message from a meter with a target utility to which data in the message is to be forwarded.