Intelligent electronic device for providing broadband internet access

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9678122-B2
Application number	US-201414561952-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 5, 2014
Priority date	Oct 28, 2005
Publication date	Jun 13, 2017
Grant date	Jun 13, 2017

Abstract

An intelligent electronic device for monitoring and determining an amount of electrical power usage by a consumer, or end user, and for providing broadband Internet access to the consumer. The intelligent electronic device includes at least one sensor coupled to an electric circuit configured for measuring at least one power parameter of the electrical circuit and generating at least one analog signal indicative of the at least one power parameter; at least one analog to digital converter coupled to the at least one sensor configured for receiving the at least one analog signal and converting the at least one analog signal to at least one digital signal; a processor configured for receiving the at least one digital signal and calculating energy consumption in the electrical circuit; and a gateway configured for receiving data transmissions imposed on the electrical circuit and for demodulating the imposed data transmission for providing data communications.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
at least one intelligent electronic device comprising:
a housing;
at least one sensor coupled to at least one utility power line of an electrical power distribution system and configured for measuring at least one power parameter of the at least one utility power line and generating at least one analog signal indicative of the at least one power parameter;
at least one analog to digital converter coupled to the at least one sensor, configured for receiving the at least one analog signal and converting the at least one analog signal to at least one digital signal;
at least one processor configured for receiving the at least one digital signal and calculating energy consumption in the at least one utility power line; and
a gateway configured for receiving broadband data transmissions, demodulating the broadband data transmission and routing the demodulated data onto a downstream portion of the at least one utility power line, wherein the at least one sensor, the at least analog to digital converter, the at least one processor, and the gateway are disposed in the housing; and

at least one adapter coupled to the downstream portion of the at least one utility power line, the at least one adapter configured for providing the demodulated data to at least one network device.

2. The system as in claim 1 , wherein the gateway is integrated into the at least one processor.

3. The system as in claim 2 , wherein the at least one network device is a computer.

4. The system as in claim 2 , wherein the at least one network device is a VoIP-enabled phone.

5. The system as in claim 2 , wherein the gateway is further configured for broadcasting the demodulated data wirelessly to at least one second network device.

6. The system as in claim 5 , wherein the at least one adapter comprises a wireless transceiver configured for receiving the demodulated data wirelessly and for providing the demodulated data to the at least one network device.

7. The system as in claim 6 , wherein the at least one network device is a computer.

8. The system as in claim 6 , wherein the at least network device is a VoIP-enabled phone.

9. The system as in claim 2 , wherein the gateway is configured for routing the demodulated data via a power line carrier protocol.

10. The system as in claim 2 , wherein the gateway is configured for routing the demodulated data in accordance with the HomePlug Powerline Alliance protocol.

11. The system as in claim 2 , wherein the gateway is configured for routing the demodulated data in accordance with the Universal Powerline Association protocol.

12. The system as in claim 2 , wherein the gateway is configured for routing the demodulated data in accordance with the IEEE P1675 protocol.

13. The system as in claim 2 , wherein the gateway of the at least one intelligent electronic device is further configured for receiving data transmissions from the at least one network device located downstream from the at least one intelligent electronic device and routing the received data transmissions to the Internet.

14. The system as in claim 2 , further comprising a switch coupled to the at least one utility power line, the switch configured for interrupting power delivery to a load, wherein the switch is activated by a command signal imposed on the at least one utility power line.

15. The system as in claim 14 , wherein the command signal is generated by the utility.

16. The system of claim 2 , wherein the at least one intelligent electronic device is a socket based revenue meter.

17. The system as in claim 16 , wherein the at least one intelligent electronic device further comprises a switch coupled to the at least one utility power line, the switch configured for interrupting power delivery to a load, wherein the switch is activated by a command signal transmitted via the at least one processor.

18. The system as in claim 17 , wherein the command signal is generated by the utility.

19. The system as in claim 2 , wherein the at least one adapter is coupled to the at least one network device via a USB connection.

20. The system as in claim 2 , wherein the at least one adapter is coupled to the at least one network device via a Ethernet-based connection.

21. The system as in claim 5 , further comprising at least one second adapter including a wireless transceiver configured for receiving the demodulated data wirelessly and for providing the demodulated data to at least one other network device.

22. The system as in claim 5 , wherein the at least one second network device includes a wireless transceiver configured for receiving the demodulated data wirelessly.

23. The system of claim 2 , wherein the at least one adapter is configured to be plugged into an electrical outlet connected to the downstream portion of the at least one utility power line.

24. A system comprising:
at least one intelligent electronic device comprising:
a housing;
at least one sensor coupled to at least one utility power line of an electrical power distribution system and configured for measuring at least one power parameter of the at least one utility power line and generating at least one analog signal indicative of the at least one power parameter;
at least one analog to digital converter coupled to the at least one sensor, configured for receiving the at least one analog signal and converting the at least one analog signal to at least one digital signal;
at least one processor configured for receiving the at least one digital signal and calculating energy consumption in the at least one utility power line; and
a communications device configured for receiving broadband data transmissions and routing the broadband data transmissions to at least one network device, wherein the at least one sensor, the at least analog to digital converter, the at least one processor, and the communications device are disposed in the housing.

25. The system of claim 24 , wherein the at least one network device is coupled to a downstream portion of the at least one utility power line and receives the routed broadband data transmissions from the downstream portion of the at least one utility power line.

26. The system as in claim 24 , wherein the communications device is configured for routing the broadband data transmissions to the at least one network device via a power line carrier protocol on a downstream portion of the at least one utility power line.

27. The system as in claim 24 , wherein the communications device is configured for routing the broadband data transmissions to the at least one network device via at least one of the HomePlug Powerline Alliance protocol, the Universal Powerline Association protocol and/or the IEEE P1675 protocol.

28. The system of claim 24 , wherein the at least one network device receives the routed broadband data transmissions wirelessly from the communications device.

29. The system as in claim 24 , wherein the communications device is configured for routing the broadband data transmissions wirelessly to the at least one network device.

30. The system as in claim 26 , wherein the communications device is further configured for routing the broadband data transmissions wirelessly to at least one second network device.

31. The system as in claim 24 , wherein the communications

Assignees

• Electro Industries/Gauge Tech

Inventors

• Kagan Erran

Classifications

• H04L12/58

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L2012/2843

  Mains power line · CPC title

• H04B3/542

  the information being in digital form · CPC title

• H04B2203/5458

  Monitor sensor; Alarm systems · CPC title

• H04L12/2898

  Subscriber equipments (DSL modems H04M11/062; cable modems H04L12/2801) · CPC title