System and method to manage utility meter communications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10520332-B2
Application number	US-201214342270-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 30, 2012
Priority date	Aug 30, 2011
Publication date	Dec 31, 2019
Grant date	Dec 31, 2019

Abstract

A method for managing communications within a network comprising utility meters, each associated and connected to at least one utility management center through at least one intermediate data concentrator. A message is sent by a utility meter to the destination data concentrator. This message includes metering data measurement reported by said utility meter, its utility meter identifier, the destination data concentrator identifier and the management center identifier. Then, on the basis of several metering data measurements, a metering counter differential consumption value is calculated by difference of two metering counter consumption indexes measured by the utility meter within a time period interval. Then, a report containing at least the metering counter differential consumption value is sent from the destination data concentrator towards the utility management center to which said utility meter is associated.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for managing utility meter communications within a network comprising a plurality of utility meters each associated and connected to a plurality of utility management centers through a plurality of intermediate data concentrators, each utility meter being identified by a utility meter identifier and being adapted to produced and send utility meter messages to a destination data concentrator identified by a destination data concentrator identifier, each destination data concentrator being adapted to produce and send reports to at least one of the plurality of utility management centers identified by a utility management center identifier, said method comprising steps of:
sending utility meter messages from a utility meter to said data concentrator, each utility meter message including a metering data measurement reported by said utility meter, said utility meter identifier, said destination data concentrator identifier and said utility management center identifier;
determining metering counter differential consumption values, each based on a difference of two metering counter consumption indexes measured by said utility meter within a time period interval;
sending, from the destination data concentrator towards a utility management center to which said utility meter is associated, a report containing a collection of said metering counter differential consumption values together with the utility meter identifier to which the metering counter differential consumption values refer.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of calculated consumption values are collected during a reporting period of time and stored in a memory of the destination data concentrator before being sent, at the end of said reporting period of time, from said destination data concentrator towards the utility management center to which said utility meter is associated, within said report.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein each of said consumption values is stored in said memory with the respective utility meter identifier to which the consumption values correspond, and said consumption values relate to all utility meters associated to a single utility management center and processed by said destination data concentrator.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said report further comprises a detailed tariff computation calculated on the basis of at least one tariffs table given several tariffs depending of different time slots, said tariffs table being processed by the destination data concentrator and being updated by the utility management center.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein all of said messages or reports are secured before being sent by a signature for authenticity and integrity purposes and/or by encryption/decryption keys.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein signed messages or reports received by said destination data concentrator or by said utility management center, respectively, are processed only if they are identified, on receipt, as being authenticated by said signature.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising a step of sending an acknowledgment from said destination data concentrator towards said utility meter, in response to a reception of said utility meter message sent by the said utility meter.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein sending of said utility meter message is performed by the utility meter on request of the destination data concentrator after having received a transmission query from the destination data concentrator.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the destination data concentrator sends a configuration message to said utility meter in order to update a reporting rate of the utility meter messages.

10. A system for utility meter communications comprising:
a plurality of utility management centers, each utility management center being identified by a utility management center identifier;
a plurality of intermediate data concentrators, each intermediate data concentrator being connected to at least two of said plurality of utility management centers;
a plurality of utility meters, each utility meter being connected to at least one of said plurality of intermediate data concentrators, each utility meter being identified by a utility meter identifier;
wherein each of the utility meters is adapted to
determine a metering data measurement by reading a counter consumption index at each utility meter;
generate utility meter messages, each of said utility meter messages comprising said metering data measurement, said utility meter identifier, a destination data concentrator identifier identifying a destination data concentrator among said plurality of intermediate data concentrators and a utility management center identifier, and
transmit said utility meter messages to said destination data concentrator; and

wherein said destination data concentrator is adapted to
determine, for each utility meter, on the basis of at least two meter data measurements measured by said utility meter, a metering counter differential consumption value for said utility meter within a time period interval; and
transmit to a utility management center identified in said utility meter messages a report containing a collection of said metering counter differential consumption values together with the utility meter identifier to which these metering counter differential consumption values refer.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein each utility meter further comprises a clock, each utility meter further being adapted to associate a time and date to said metering data measurement.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein said intermediate destination data concentrator comprises a memory for collecting, during a reporting period of time, a plurality of calculated consumption values to be sent within said report at the end of said reporting period of time.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein said intermediate destination data concentrator is further adapted to secure said communications by means of signatures or encryption applied to said report, and wherein each of said plurality of utility meters is further adapted to secure said utility meter messages by means of signature or encryption.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the metering data measurement included in the utility meter message includes the metering counter differential consumption value, and wherein the metering counter differential consumption value is calculated by the utility meter.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the metering data measurement included in the utility meter message includes at least one of the two metering count consumption indexes, and wherein the metering counter differential consumption value is calculated by the destination data concentrator.

16. A system for utility meter communications comprising:
a plurality of utility management centers, each utility management center being identified by a utility management center identifier;
a plurality of intermediate data concentrators, each intermediate data concentrator being connected to at least one of said plurality of utility management centers;
a plurality of utility meters, each utility meter being connected to at least one of said plurality of intermediate data concentrators, each utility meter being identified by a utility meter identifier;
wherein each of the utility meters is adapted to
determine metering data measurements by reading a counter consumption index at different times;
determine, for each utility meter, on the basis of at least two metering data measurements determined by said utility meter, a metering counter differential

Assignees

• Wenger Joel
• Le Buhan Corinne
• Nagravision Sa

Inventors

• Wenger Joel
• Le Buhan Corinne

Classifications

• G01D4/002 Primary

  Remote reading of utility meters · CPC title

• Y04S20/32

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y02B90/241

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y04S20/42

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y02B90/246

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic