Intelligent electronic device capable of operating as a USB master device and a USB slave device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9885739-B2
Application number	US-62863609-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 1, 2009
Priority date	Dec 29, 2006
Publication date	Feb 6, 2018
Grant date	Feb 6, 2018

Abstract

An intelligent electronic device (IED), e.g., an electrical power meter, having at least one removable memory device for storing data sensed and generated by the intelligent electronic device is provided. The IED includes a housing; at least one sensor; at least one analog-to-digital converter; at least one processing unit coupled to the at least one analog-to-digital converter configured to receive the digital data and store the digital data in a removable memory; and at least one device controller coupled to the at least one processing unit, the at least one device controller including an interface disposed on the housing for interfacing with the removable memory, wherein the at least one device controller is operative as a USB master or USB slave device controller.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An intelligent electronic device comprising:
a meter housing configured to be mounted on an electrical switchgear panel, the meter housing including at least a front panel;
at least one sensor configured for sensing at least one electrical parameter distributed to a load;
at least one analog-to-digital converter coupled to the at least one sensor and configured for converting an analog signal output from the at least one sensor to digital data;
at least one processing unit coupled to the at least one analog-to-digital converter, the at least one processing unit configured to receive the digital data;
at least one device controller coupled to the at least one processing unit, the at least one device controller including a first Universal Serial Bus (USB) external device interface disposed on the front panel of the meter housing, the first USB external device interface configured for removably interfacing with a first external device that is external to the meter housing;
memory configured for storing a master driver and a slave driver, the master driver enabling the at least one device controller to operate in a master mode and the slave driver enabling the at least one device controller to operate in a slave mode;
a power supply for supplying power to the at least one device controller; and
a switch external from the at least on device controller, the switch transmits a signal to the at least one device controller that switches the at least one device controller to the master mode and disconnect the power supply from the at least one device controller, the switch further transmits a second signal to the at least one device controller that switches the at least one device controller to the slave mode and connects the power supply to the at least one device controller;
wherein the at least one processing unit is configured to retrieve the master driver from the memory and load the master driver into the at least one device controller to operate the at least one device controller in the master mode;
wherein the at least one processing unit is configured to retrieve the slave driver from the memory and load the slave driver into the at least one device controller to operate the at least one device controller in the slave mode;
wherein the at least one device controller enables the intelligent electronic device to act as a slave device when the at least one device controller is in the master mode and the at least one device controller enables the intelligent electronic device to act as a master device when the at least one device controller is in the slave mode.

2. The intelligent electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one device controller is electrically isolated from the at least one processing unit by an optoisolator.

3. The intelligent electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first USB external device interface is located behind a door within the meter housing.

4. The intelligent electronic device of claim 3 , wherein the door further includes a security device for preventing tampering.

5. The intelligent electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising a security device for preventing tampering with the first USB external device interface.

6. The intelligent electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising a removable memory coupled to the first USB interface that stores at least one of historical trending data, waveform sample data, and meter diagnostic data.

7. The intelligent electronic device of claim 6 , wherein the data stored in the removable memory is in comma separated value format.

8. The intelligent electronic device of claim 6 , wherein the data stored in the removable memory is in a Comtrade format.

9. The intelligent electronic device of claim 6 , wherein the data stored in the removable memory is in a PQDIF format.

10. The intelligent electronic device of claim 6 , wherein the data stored in the removable memory is in binary format.

11. The intelligent electronic device of claim 1 , wherein, when the first external device is connected to the first USB external device interface, the power supply is disabled and power is received from the first external device.

12. The intelligent electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first external device is a generally rectangular memory stick and the meter housing further includes a recess configured to fully accept the memory stick.

13. The intelligent electronic device of claim 12 , wherein the recess includes a door to prevent tampering of the memory stick.

14. The intelligent electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a display for displaying the sensed and processed data; and
an input device coupled to the first USB external device interface to navigate the display.

15. The intelligent electronic device of claim 14 , wherein the input device is one of a mouse, a joystick, and a keyboard.

16. The intelligent electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising a hub coupled to the first USB external device interface, the hub enabling coupling of 127 external slave devices to the intelligent electronic device.

17. The intelligent electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the switch changes modes of the at least one device controller based on an input received from an input device disposed on the housing.

18. The intelligent electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the switch changes modes of the at least one device controller based on an input signal received from the at least one processor.

19. The intelligent electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the switch changes modes of the at least one device controller based on an input signal received from the at least one device controller.

20. The intelligent electronic device of claim 19 , wherein the at least one device controller generates the input signal that is transmitted to the switch based on the first external device coupled to the first USB external device interface.

21. The intelligent electronic device of claim 20 , wherein the at least one device controller determines the type of first external device via a signal change detection scheme.

22. The intelligent electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising a user interface including:
a display that displays at least one of sensed and processed data; and at least one input device that inputs data.

23. An intelligent electronic device comprising:
a meter housing;
at least one sensor disposed in the meter housing and coupled to an electrical power distribution system, the at least one sensor configured for sensing at least one electrical parameter distributed to a load;
at least one analog-to-digital converter disposed in the meter housing and coupled to the at least one sensor and configured for converting an analog signal output from the at least one sensor to digital data;
at least one processing unit disposed in the meter housing and coupled to the at least one analog-to-digital converter, the at least one processing unit configured to receive the digital data and process the digital data;
a Universal Serial Bus (USB) device controller disposed in the meter housing and coupled to the at least one processing unit, the USB device controller including a USB interface disposed on a surface of the meter housing for removably interfacing with a first external device that is external to the meter housing, the USB device controller operating as a master device controller or a slave device controller based on a type of the first external device

Assignees

• Kagan Erran
• Electro Industries/Gauge Tech

Inventors

• Kagan Erran

Classifications

• G06F13/102

  where the program performs an interfacing function, e.g. device driver (G06F13/105 takes precedence; contention policies within device drivers G06F9/4881; scheduling within device drivers G06F9/52) · CPC title

• G01R19/2513 Primary

  Arrangements for monitoring electric power systems, e.g. power lines or loads; Logging · CPC title

• G01R21/133

  by using digital technique · CPC title

• G06F1/263

  Arrangements for using multiple switchable power supplies, e.g. battery and AC (G06F1/30 takes precedence) · CPC title