Fluid meter communicating with an electromechanical valve

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11804972-B2
Application number	US-202017061328-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 1, 2020
Priority date	Oct 15, 2019
Publication date	Oct 31, 2023
Grant date	Oct 31, 2023

Abstract

A fluid meter includes communication means arranged to receive an external opening or closing command to open or close an electromechanical valve suitable for being included in a cut-off unit mounted in the proximity of the fluid meter, authentication means arranged to authenticate a control frame including the opening or closing command, and a first communication interface arranged to transmit both the control frame and electrical energy to a second communication interface of the cut-off unit via a wireless link. The electrical energy is suitable for electrically powering the second communication interface of the cut-off unit.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A fluid meter comprising:
communication means arranged to receive an external opening or closing command to open or close an electromechanical valve included in a cut-off unit mounted in a proximity of the fluid meter;
authentication means arranged to authenticate a control frame including the opening or closing command; and
a first communication interface arranged to transmit both the control frame and electrical energy to a second communication interface of the cut-off unit via a wireless link, the electrical energy being suitable for electrically powering the second communication interface of the cut-off unit.

2. The fluid meter according to claim 1 , wherein the first communication interface is arranged to write the control frame in a memory of the cut-off unit and to read an acknowledgement frame in the memory of the cut-off unit.

3. The fluid meter according to claim 1 , wherein the authentication means are arranged to encrypt the control frame, at least in part.

4. The fluid meter according to claim 3 , wherein the authentication means are arranged to use an encryption algorithm having a symmetrical encryption key that is stored in a memory of the fluid meter and in the memory of the cut-off unit.

5. The fluid meter according to claim 4 , wherein the encryption algorithm is an advanced encryption standard (AES) encryption algorithm using a Galois counter mode (GCM) of operation.

6. The fluid meter according to claim 4 , wherein the first communication interface is arranged to receive a key-change frame transmitted by a mobile appliance brought into the proximity of the fluid meter, the fluid meter being arranged to decrypt the key-change frame and to replace the symmetrical encryption key stored in the memory of the fluid meter with a new symmetrical encryption key included in the key-change frame.

7. The fluid meter according to claim 1 , wherein the control frame includes a current value of a control frame counter that is incremented each time a control frame is transmitted by the fluid meter to the cut-off unit.

8. A cut-off unit suitable for being mounted in the proximity of a fluid meter, the cut-off unit comprising:
an electromechanical valve;
a memory;
a second communication interface arranged to receive a control frame via a wireless link and to store it in the memory, the control frame being transmitted by the fluid meter and including an opening or closing command to open or close the electromechanical valve, the second communication interface also being arranged to receive electrical energy transmitted BY the fluid meter via the wireless link, and to be powered thereby;
a processor component arranged to acquire the control frame in the memory, to decrypt the control frame and extract the opening or closing command therefrom, to cause the electromechanical valve to open or close, and to write an acknowledgement frame in the memory;
a symmetrical encryption key of an encryption algorithm being stored in the memory of the cut-off unit, the processor component being arranged to decrypt the control frame by using the symmetrical encryption key.

9. The cut-off unit according to claim 8 , wherein the processor component is to be found by default in a standby mode, and the second communication interface is arranged to produce an activation signal for activating the processor component when the second communication interface receives electrical energy.

10. The cut-off unit according to claim 8 , wherein the second communication interface is arranged to receive a key-change frame transmitted by a mobile appliance brought into the proximity of the cut-off unit, the processor component being arranged to decrypt the key-change frame and to replace the symmetrical encryption key stored in the memory of the cut-off unit with a new symmetrical encryption key included in the key-change frame.

11. A measurement system, comprising:
a cut-off unit; and
a fluid meter, comprising:
communication means arranged to receive an external opening or closing command to open or close an electromechanical valve included in a cut-off unit mounted in a proximity of the fluid meter;
authentication means arranged to authenticate a control frame including the opening or closing command; and
a first communication interface arranged to transmit both the control frame and electrical energy to a second communication interface of the cut-off unit via a wireless link, the electrical energy being suitable for electrically powering the second communication interface of the cut-off unit.

12. A transmission method for transmitting an opening or closing command to open or close an electromechanical valve included in a cut-off unit positioned in the proximity of a fluid meter, the transmission method being performed by a processor component of the fluid meter, comprising communication means arranged to receive an external opening or closing command to open or close an electromechanical valve included in a cut-off unit mounted in a proximity of the fluid meter; authentication means arranged to authenticate a control frame including the opening or closing command; and a first communication interface arranged to transmit both the control frame and electrical energy to a second communication interface of the cut-off unit via a wireless link, the electrical energy being suitable for electrically powering the second communication interface of the cut-off unit, and the method comprising the steps of:
acquiring the opening or closing command;
authenticating a control frame including the opening or closing command; and
causing the first communication interface to transmit both the control frame and electrical energy to a second communication interface of the cut-off unit via a wireless link, the electrical energy being suitable for electrically powering the second communication interface of the cut-off unit.

13. The transmission method according to claim 12 , further comprising:
storing a symmetrical encryption key in a memory of the fluid meter;
acquiring a key-change frame transmitted by a mobile appliance brought into the proximity of the fluid meter, the key-change frame including a new symmetrical encryption key and being encrypted using the symmetrical encryption key stored in the memory of the fluid meter;
decrypting the key-change frame; and
replacing the symmetrical encryption key stored in the memory of the fluid meter with the new symmetrical encryption key.

14. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that execute a transmission method for transmitting an opening or closing command to open or close an electromechanical valve included in a cut-off unit positioned in the proximity of a fluid meter, the transmission method being performed by a processor component of the fluid meter, comprising communication means arranged to receive an external opening or closing command to open or close an electromechanical valve included in a cut-off unit mounted in a proximity of the fluid meter; authentication means arranged to authenticate a control frame including the opening or closing command; and a first communication interface arranged to transmit both the control frame and electrical energy to a second communication interface of the cut-off unit via a wireless link, the electrical energy being suitable for electrically powering the second communication interface of the cut-off unit, and the method comprising the steps of:
acquiring the opening or closing command;
authenticating a control frame including the opening or closing command; and
causing the first communication interface to transmit both th

Assignees

• Sagemcom Energy & Telecom Sas

Inventors

• Teboulle Henri
• Lecappon Jean-Paul

Classifications

• H04L9/38 Primary

  Encryption being effected by mechanical apparatus, e.g. rotating cams, switches, keytape punchers · CPC title

• E03B7/07

  Arrangement of devices, e.g. filters, flow controls, measuring devices, siphons or valves, in the pipe systems · CPC title

• H04L9/0631

  Substitution permutation network [SPN], i.e. cipher composed of a number of stages or rounds each involving linear and nonlinear transformations, e.g. AES algorithms · CPC title

• H04L9/0637

  Modes of operation, e.g. cipher block chaining [CBC], electronic codebook [ECB] or Galois/counter mode [GCM] · CPC title

• H04L9/32

  including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system {or for message authentication, e.g. authorization, entity authentication, data integrity or data verification, non-repudiation, key authentication or verification of credentials} · CPC title