Title of Invention

"AN APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR REMOTE AUTOMATIC METER READING"

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method and system for taking reading of the energy meters in a remote and wireless manner. The invention makes uses of the various witless technologies such as Bluetooth and optical interfaces so as to make communication possible between the handheld readers and the installed meters. Thereafter the stored readings can be used for various calculations such as tariff, theft detection etc.

Full Text

Field of the Invention: The present invention belongs to the field of electronic meters. More particularly the invention relates to an apparatus and method for wireless automatic meter reading, which can wirelessly and remotely download all the electrical parameters in the memory of an electronic meter. Background of the Invention: Meters are used in various industries like electricity, water and gas to determine the consumption by the customer and in turn bill them for the supply and the services. The meters can be analog as well as digital. Digital electronic meters are gaining prominence in the Indian market. Presently, the general practice of recording the reading of an electronic meter involves a meter reader to personally visit the site and read the meter. Namely, a meter reader has to record the checked value by hand, subtract the numerical value of the last month from the recorded value and issue the user a bill statement based on the resulting numerical value and an integrated amount-to-rate table. This process of meter reading process has the disadvantage that it requires a large amount of manpower to read the meter, process numerical data recorded by meter reader and using computers leading to many expenses. Also, the meter reader may erroneously record numerical values of energy meters, nobody may be present in visited houses, and persons in visited houses may refuse to permit the reading of energy meters. To overcome the aforementioned drawbacks the existing meters in the prevailing system were upgraded. The present electronics energy meter have been modified to include communication facility using a Common Meter Reading Instruments (CMRI), which was invented for downloading the data from the meter to the central computer. However the same problem persist as most of the time meter reader has to return without meter reading due to unavailability of the customer or approach to the meter is very crucial. IN order to meet this requirement, a large number of remote meter reading units have been developed. These meter reading units may be a direct meter reading unit or an automatic meter-reading (AMR) unit. The direct meter-reading unit comprises a plurality of sensors instead of a conventional wheel structure on which a numerical value is recorded. The sensors are used to record a read numerical value. The AMR unit comprises sensor means including analog and digital circuits for converting physical and electrical amounts varying every moment into electrical pulses. The sensor means has a variety of sensors, such as a photo-sensor, which are providing electrical signals produced by the electronics circuit inside for downloading and uploading the necessary commands. This AMR unit is adapted to continuously monitor the integrated numerical values in the memory chip and automatically transmit the integrated data upon receiving a meter-reading request. On the other hand, various approaches have been proposed for the transmission and reception of data between automatic meter reading terminals and meter reading centers. In particular, various radio frequency (RF) systems has been developed to solve an installation cost and management cost of a wired line, which is the biggest disadvantage of a wired system. US Patent Application Not 2002000148896 for "A system and method for wireless automatic meter reading" discloses the use of a photo sensor for picking up the image of the reading on the meter, convert it into electrical pulses and transmit it remotely using a Radio Frequency module. However the data present in the memory chip might not be the current/latest data. The aforementioned invention has the disadvantage that the photo sensor unit alongwith the radio transmitter hikes the cost of the unit and the reading not being the latest. Objectives and Summary of the Invention: The present invention has the objective to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks. The invention has the objective to provide a cost-effective way for remote automatic meter reading. The invention also has the objective to provide the latest reading for bill generation. To achieve the aforementioned objectives and to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art, the invention provides for an apparatus for reading the electronic meter and transmit the reading remotely. The apparatus has a optical interface that communicates with the optical interface of the electronic meter. The reading received using this interface is converted into bluetooth radio frequency spectrum and then transmitted using an antenna. The transmitted signals can be read and interpreted using any bluetooth enabled device, having the required software for its analysis. The invention provides for an apparatus for wireless, remote automatic meter reading of an electronic meter, comprising: an add-on unit connected to said electronic meter comprising: an optical interface for communicating with the optical interface of said electronic meter, an optical to digital converter for converting the optical data received into digital form, a bluetooth transmitter for transmitting the digital data and the add-on unit identifier in the bluetooth frequency spectrum, and a source for powering the components of the add-on unit, said add on unit communicating with one or more bluetooth enabled field computing devices for interpreting the transmitted data. The invention also provides for a method for wireless, remote automatic meter reading of an electronic meter, comprising the steps of: clipping a bluetooth enabled add-on unit to each said electronic meter, each said add-on unit having a unique 48 bit identifier, transfer of meter reading/s from said electronic meter to said add-on unit, conversion of said transferred reading into digital data, transmission of said digital data alongwith the add-on unit identifier in the bluetooth spectrum, loading the identifier of the meters to be read from a central computing device to a field computing device, activating the device to receive the digital meter data transmitted in the bluetooth spectrum by the add-on units, selecting the add-on unit identifier on the field computing device to receive and store the corresponding transmitted reading, repeating the above step till all the required meters are read, and processing the received data. The invention also provides for a computer program product comprising computer readable program code stored on a computer readable storage medium embodied therein for wireless, remote automatic meter reading of an electronic meter, comprising: computer readable program code means for transferring of meter reading/s from said electronic meter to a add-on unit, computer readable program code means for conversion of said transferred reading into digital data, computer readable program code means for transmission of said digital data alongwith the add-on unit identifier in the bluetooth spectrum, computer readable program code means for loading the identifier of the meters to be read from a central computing device to a field computing device, computer readable program code means for activating the device to receive the digital meter data transmitted in the bluetooth spectrum by the add-on units, computer readable program code means for selecting the add-on unit identifier on the field computing device to receive and store the corresponding transmitted reading, and computer readable program code means for processing the received data. Brief Description of the accompanying Figures: Figure 1 shows the schematic diagram of the whole system of wireless transmission of meter reading as per the invention. Figure 2 is a flowchart for the method for wireless automatic remote reading. Figure 3 is a depiction of the working of the invention. Detailed Description of the accompanying Drawings: The present invention uses the derivative of Radio Frequency (RF) i.e. Bluetooth. It doesn't require any extra license e.g. for GSM, frequency allocation in any band and third party component availability like modem. This invention is totally a new process consisting of the blue-tooth technology, which can serve the current requirement of Automatic Meter Reading without the intervention of any external third-party. It is a complete system consisting of software application embedded inside the blue-tooth core as a stack and the hardware that will satisfy the current requirement. This process can improve the automatic meter reading technique by giving the hassle-free wireless solution. For providing wireless automatic remote meter reading, the present invention adds an unit to the electronic meter. This unit interfaces with the optical interface of the existing electronic meter and reads the meter reading. This reading is converted into digital form and transmitted in the bluetooth spectrum. This data is then collected using any bluetooth-enabled device and analysed using the application specific software. Figure 1 shows the schematic diagram of the whole system. An add-on unit is attached to the already existing electrical meter (1.1). This add-on unit consists of the following component • Optical Interface (1.2) • Optical-Bluetooth data converter (1.3) • Bluetooth signal transmitter (1.4) • Power Source (1.5) The optical interface of the electrical meter (1.1) and the optical interface (1.2) of the add-on unit communicate using infrared light emitting diodes (IR LEDs) (1.6) and a photo transistor (1.7). The data received from the meter is converted into digital form using an Optical-Bluetooth data converter (1.3). This data is transmitted in the bluetooth signal spectrum via a bluetooth signal transmitter (1.4). The add-on unit also has a power source (1.5) in the form of batteries. The bluetooth signal transmitted by the add-on unit can be captured by a bluetooth enabled device (1.8) that can then analyse the received data according to the application installed on it. This bluetooth-enabled device can be a hand-held unit, a laptop, a desktop having a bluetooth interface or other similar devices having a bluetooth interface. Figure 2 is a flowchart for the method of wireless remote automatic meter reading, as per the preferred embodiment of the invention.. First and foremost, to each Electronic Energy Meter, an add on unit is clipped on (2.1). Each add-on unit and hence its corresponding meter, is identified by its 48 bit Bluetooth Identifier. Before going to the field where Electronic Energy Meters with communication ports are installed, the Meter Reader goes to a Central Computer to get the ID's (Bluetooth Address) of the meters of the to be read. This data is transferred to the Hand Held Unit (HHU) carried by him (2.2). He then goes to the field and activates the HHU (2.3). Once inside the area of influence, a list of Meter IDs (collected earlier) will be shown to him (2.4). He selects one Meter ID (2.5). A Bluetooth connection between the HHU and the addon unit clipped on the Electronic Energy Meter is established (2.6). All parameters are retrieved from the Electronic Energy Meter (2.7). Once all parameters have been retrieved, the connection is dropped (2.8). This cycle gets repeated with the next Meter ID in the list (2.9). This is repeated till all the Meters in the list have been covered. Later, the data accumulated is transferred to the Central Computer (2.10). Figure 3 is a schematic diagram that shows the working of the invention. 3.1 to 3.7 are various electronic meters clipped-on with an add-on bluetooth enabled unit. These units are capable of transmission of meter reading in the bluetooth spectrum. The Hand Held Unit (3.8) that is bluetooth enabled receives these signals and stores them. This data could either be analysed by the unit itself or transferred to a central computer. The present invention has the following advantages: ■ Blue-tooth works in license free ISM band at 2.4 GHz. ■ It is secure and efficient due to its feature of frequency hopping for packet transmission. ■ It supports more than one connection at a time, i.e. it supports Pico-net (Connect seven different devices at any instance) It doesn't require Line Of Sight for its connection, or data transfer. ■ It consumes low power for its usage i.e. transfer of data, when not in use it goes in sleep-mode. ■ It can be used in conjunction with optically isolated electronics energy meter for downloading the recorded data from energy meter's memory through wireless mode. ■ No mistakes for data-retrieval. No human intervention generating erroneous bills as a result Automatic Data Acquisition from the meters after one-time initialization of the process. • More than 10 times the data storage as compared to the current practice (CMRI). We Claim: 1. An apparatus for wireless, remote automatic meter reading of an electronic meter, comprising: an add-on unit connected to said electronic meter comprising: - an optical interface for communicating with the optical interface of said electronic meter, - an optical to digital converter for converting the optical data received into digital form, a bluetooth transmitter for transmitting the digital data and the add-on unit identifier in the bluetooth frequency spectrum, and a source for powering the components of the add-on unit, said add on unit communicating with one or more bluetooth enabled field computing devices for interpreting the transmitted data. 2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein each add-on unit has a 48 bit unique identifier. 3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein each add-on unit identifier and its corresponding data is stored on a central computing device. 4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said bluetooth enabled computing devices include Hand Held Units, Laptops, and computers with bluetooth connectivity. 5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein source for powering the said add-on unit is an electrical source. 6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein source for powering the said add-on unit is a battery source. 7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said add-on units can communicate with the said field computing devices within a range of 150 meters. 8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 3 further comprising of means for communication and transfer of data between the field computing device/s and the central computing device. 9. A method for wireless, remote automatic meter reading of an electronic meter, comprising the steps of: - clipping a bluetooth enabled add-on unit to each said electronic meter, each said add-on unit having a unique 48 bit identifier, - transfer of meter reading/s from said electronic meter to said add-on unit, conversion of said transferred reading into digital data, - transmission of said digital data alongwith the add-on unit identifier in the bluetooth spectrum, - loading the identifier of the meters to be read from a central computing device to a field computing device, - activating the device to receive the digital meter data transmitted in the bluetooth spectrum by the add-on units, - selecting the add-on unit identifier on the field computing device to receive and store the corresponding transmitted reading, - repeating the above step till all the required meters are read, and - processing the received data. 10. The method as claimed in claim 9 wherein the processing of said received data is performed by the field computing device. 11. The method as claimed in claim 9 wherein the processing of said received data is performed by the central computing device. 12. A computer program product comprising computer readable program code stored on a computer readable storage medium embodied therein for wireless, remote automatic meter reading of an electronic meter, comprising: computer readable program code means for transferring of meter reading/s from said electronic meter to a add-on unit, computer readable program code means for conversion of said transferred reading into digital data, - computer readable program code means for transmission of said digital data alongwith the add-on unit identifier in the bluetooth spectrum, - computer readable program code means for loading the identifier of the meters to be read from a central computing device to a field computing device, computer readable program code means for activating the device to receive the digital meter data transmitted in the bluetooth spectrum by the add-on units, - computer readable program code means for selecting the add-on unit identifier on the field computing device to receive and store the corresponding transmitted reading, and - computer readable program code means for processing the received data. 13. An apparatus for wireless, remote automatic meter reading of an electronic meter as and herein described with reference to the accompanying figures. 14. A method for wireless, remote automatic meter reading of an electronic meter as and herein described with reference to the accompanying figures. 15. A computer program product comprising computer readable program code stored on a computer readable storage medium embodied therein for wireless, remote automatic meter reading of an electronic meter as and herein described with reference to the accompanying figures.

Documents:

855-del-2003-abstract.pdf

855-del-2003-claims.pdf

855-del-2003-correspondence-others.pdf

855-del-2003-correspondence-po.pdf

855-del-2003-description (complete).pdf

855-del-2003-drawings.pdf

855-del-2003-form-1.pdf

855-del-2003-form-19.pdf

855-del-2003-form-2.pdf

855-del-2003-form-3.pdf

855-del-2003-gpa.pdf

855-del-2003-petition-137.pdf