FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention is related to a method of preparing a GSM BASED FUSE FOR PREPAID ELECTRICITY BILLING SYSTEM, wherein it comprises a GSM based fuse consist micro-controller unit, a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), Real Time Clock (RTC), an Energy Measuring Module (EMM), Tamper detection unit, Latching Relay (LR), SIM card, GSM modem, Finger proof reader and a fuse consists essentially of a strip of low-melting alloy enclosed in a suitable housing. It is connected in series with the circuit it is to protect. It is a state-of-the art technology for prepaid electricity billing system. This system consists of GSM BASED FUSE placed at consumer end, which will be connected in series with the circuit it is to protect. It takes pulses from meter as input and accordingly decrements the number of units. The number of units will be displayed on 9-seg display. The supply will be circulated in the house through relay. An alarm indication is provided to indicate low balance and when balance becomes zero the supply to the load will be get cut off.

For recharging, the meter number and recharge code from currency cards or vouchers can be sent as a SMS, using Handset. The Server at electricity board will receive this SMS and compare meter no. and recharge code with its data base. When it finds the meter number and code it will send message to GSM based fuse connected at consumer unit. When this message will be received the recharge will be done and the electricity supply to the load will get started.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The energy utility companies had carried out the traditional reading and elaboration of invoices to collect the supplying services after these services had been used by the consumer-client. Recently, tiiere had been proposed state of the art prepayment systems techniques for the supply of public services for example: light, water or gas, like a form of overcoming some of the inconveniences of the traditional collection systems.

A sort of prepayment system was designed of such form that the purchase of the supply of electricity (water or gas) is done directly from a central station and the information regarding the bought amount then is communicated to die client's site where this supply is consumed. In the consumption point (local, establishment, home, etc.) of the client, a measuring device is installed and it receives the information of the prepayment communication and it also confirms the bought amount to the central station. Typically, the electricity measuring device is installed in the exterior of the business or home and a terminal that reads the prepayment information is placed along with the meter or is connected by means of a cable or by the electric supply cables to the meter, which is instead located in the inside. A disadvantage with these type of prepayment systems is that are difficult to install and expensive. Another problem with this typical prepayment system is that it doesn't provide information about tampering done to the meter.

Another sort of well-known prepayment systems is also based on the purchase of the electricity supply directly from a sales point previously determined, being the information of the supply bought amount stored in a magnetic card or in contact intelligent cards. This particular prepayment system requires the use of an electronic meter that includes a card reading device or a magnetic key and a series of additional control devices to manage the supplying of the electric energy.

Examples of the type of prepayment system above mentioned are disclosed in The U.S. Pat. No. 4,240,030 titled "Intelligent Electric utility meter" granted to Jess R. Baterman and collaborators on Dec. 16, 1960, which describes an intelligent meter that uses an insertable magnetic card to regulate the energy supply. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,629,874 titled "Prepayment metering system" granted on Dec. 16, 1980, describes a system that uses an intelligent card and additional elements to determine the credit to regulate the supply of energy. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,575 "Prepayment metering system using encoded purchase cards" granted on Mar. 15, 1988 to Joseph W. Sloan, discloses a system that uses coded magnetic ribbon cards to transfer the purchase information from the collection office to the consumer. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,892 "Pre-paid commodity system" issued on Jan. 3,1989, given to CIC Systems, Inc., consists of a system that uses a prepayment activated by a selling card for the supply of electricity, water, gas, etc. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,803,632 titled "Intelligent utility system" granted to Utility Systems Corp., issued on Feb. 7,1989, describes a type of an external data processor meter that has a screen that uses reader equipment to accede and recover information, and a card payment reader device included in the LCD located inside the property. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,908,769 titled "Commodity metering systems" granted to Schlumberger Electronics (UK) Ltd., on Mar. 13,1990, discloses a measurement system by prepayment that includes an electronic key and a slot to receive this electronic key. The U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,047 titled "Prepayment metering system using encoded purchase cards from multiple locations" granted to CIC Systems, Inc., on Sep. 8,1992, is related with a prepayment system to supply public services using magnetic ribbon cards. The U.S. Pat. No. 5,668,538 titled "Modular electricity meter" arrangement has remotely controllable switch" granted to Siemens Measurements Ltd., on Sep. 16, 1997, describes a meter disposition that includes a prepayment module that has a slot to insert intelligent cards, memory cards, etc. The U.S. Pat. No. 6,529,883 titled "Prepayment energy metering system with two-way smart card communications" granted to David M. Yee and collaborators on Mar. 4,2003, describes a prepayment energy measurement system that uses an intelligent card to provide two way data communication to send information of the client to the supplier of the service.
However, a disadvantage with this type of prepayment meters with magnetic card reader or contact intelligent card lies on while the reader is being exposed to receive the prepayment cards, it turns vulnerable to damages (intentionally or not intentionally) by the user or due to saline atmospheres or high relative humidity. Another problem arises when the card reader is connected by a cable to the meter, since this cable is also susceptible to suffer damages. As well when the reader is incorporated to the meter, the meter has to undergo to important physical changes increasing its volume and turning it vulnerable to damages by exposing part of it to the environment, independently of turning them incompatible to the market existent connectors as the connectors S or A type.

There is still another type of prepayment systems to control the supply of electric energy, are mose that incorporate ways of shutting off the supply when the credit has been finished. An example of such system is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,959,549 titled "Communal metering system" granted to Andreas J. Synesiou and collaborators, on Sep. 28,1999, which describes a measuring system that supplies electricity previously paid to a plurality of clients, where the supply and the energy shut off is done in a remote way. A disadvantage of this type of prepayment systems for electric energy supply control is that they require equipments for transmission and reception of information (for example, MODEM) toward and from the power station, besides of being expensive. Another problem with this system is that doesn't provide information about meter tampering.

Keeping in mind the defects of the previous technique is a purpose of the present invention to provide a prepayment system to control efficiently the supply of electric energy in electronic meters installed in the client's site.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a prepayment measurement system of energy that uses a meter and an intelligent GSM based electronic fuse.

Yet more, another object of the present invention is to provide an energy prepayment measurement system that incorporates an automatic device for energy supply shut off.
Is still another object of the present invention to provide an energy prepayment system for measurement that by means of the use of contactless intelligent electronic fuse could provide information to the supplier about the consumption, how the credit is being used, where or what meter is using the credit, and information about illicit and tampering done the electronic fuse.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an electric energy supply prepayment method by means of a contactless prepaid GSM operated electronic fuse.

In conventional electricity billing system, the bill is taken after the utilization of energy. This system has many problems such as the human errors in taking readings and during keeping records. To overcome all such problems we are developing the GSM BASED FUSE for prepaid electricity billing system. This system consists of GSM BASED FUSE placed at consumer end, which will be connected to the meter. It takes pulses from meter as input and accordingly decrements the number of units. The number of units will be displayed on 9-seg display. The supply will be circulated in the house through relay.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

Referring to the drawings Fig.l shows an GSM based Electrical Fuse in which Fig 1(a) shows a set up of Electrical meter, Circuit breaker & GSM based electrical fuse. Fig 1(b) shows the GSM based Electrical Fuse in which it contains Tl, T2, Fuse wire & Fuse holder as a common contents of Electrical fuse. Whereas our GSM based electrical fuse equipped with PCB with all essential electronic components like micro-controller unit, a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), Real Time Clock (RTC), an Energy Measuring Module (EMM), Tamper detection unit, Latching Relay (LR), SIM card & GSM modem.

The Fig 2 shows the lateral view of GSM electronic fuse set up, and Fig 3 shows the Anterior view of GSM electronic fuse set up

This GSM based Electrical Fuse will be communicated with the server for prepaid electricity billing.

OBJECTS OF INVENTION

The principal object of the present invention is to develop an GSM BASED FUSE for prepaid electricity billing system, wherein it comprises a GSM based fuse consist micro-controller unit, a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), Real Time Clock (RTC), an Energy Measuring Module (EMM), Tamper detection unit, Latching Relay (LR), SIM card, GSM modem and a fuse consists essentially of a strip of low-melting alloy enclosed in a suitable housing. It is connected in series with the circuit it is to protect. It is a state-of-the art technology for prepaid electricity billing system. This system consists of GSM BASED FUSE placed at consumer end, which will be connected in series with the circuit it is to protect. It takes pulses from meter as input and accordingly decrements the number of units. The number of units will be displayed on 9-seg display. The supply will be circulated in the house through relay. An alarm indication is provided to indicate low balance and when balance becomes zero the supply to the load will be get cut off. This invention also relates to the application of this GSM BASED FUSE for the management or consolidation of existing electricity supply system. It means without disturbing the existing electricity supply system we can implement the technology of prepaid electricity billing system. Here only we need to replace the existing FUSE with GSM based Fuse. Which will perform dual functions like protecting the circuit and GSM function for prepaid billing.

STATEMENT OF INVENTION

This invention is related to a method of preparing a GSM BASED FUSE FOR PREPAID ELECTRICITY BILLING SYSTEM, wherein it comprises a GSM based fuse consist micro-controller unit, a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), Real Time Clock (RTC), an Energy Measuring Module (EMM), Tamper detection unit, Latching Relay (LR), SIM card, GSM modem and a fuse consists essentially of a strip of low-melting alloy enclosed in a suitable housing. It is connected in series with the circuit it is to protect. It is a state-of-the art technology for prepaid electricity billing system. This system consists of GSM BASED FUSE placed at consumer end, which will be connected in series with the circuit it is to protect. It takes pulses from meter as input and accordingly decrements the number of units. The number of units will be displayed on 9-seg display. The supply will be circulated in the house through relay. An alarm indication is provided to indicate low balance and when balance becomes zero the supply to the load will be get cut off. For recharging, the meter number and recharge code from currency cards or vouchers can be sent as a SMS, using Handset. The Server at electricity board will receive this SMS and compare meter no. and recharge code with its data base. When it finds the meter number and code it will send message to GSM based fuse connected at consumer unit. When this message will be received the recharge will be done and the electricity supply to the load will get started.

Claims:

1. GSM BASED FUSE FOR PREPAID ELECTRICITY BILLING SYSTEM, using: i) a GSM based electronic fuse having microcontroller with a memory storing a credit value for an amount of prepaid electrical energy to be purchased; ii) a network including a terminal of sale point having a pair of security modules, a server connected by a communication interface to a collect system that maintains information about a clients' bills and of information stored in a data base of a supplier; the method comprising the steps of: emitting a radiofrequency signal from the prepayment control board; detecting a presence of a prepayment GSM based electronic fuse, authenticating the GSM based electronic fuse and the internal reader-writer means of GSM based electronic fuse, in mutual form, by two or more digital signatures and a serial number of the fuse; determining if the GSM based electronic fuse has a credit value greater than zero of the amount of prepaid electrical energy; discharging a part or the total amount of the credit value from the contact less prepayment GSM based electronic fuse; receiving and storing the part or the total amount of the credit value of prepaid electrical energy into the memory of the GSM based electronic fuse; reading remaining credit in the GSM based electronic fuse; and storing the new value of the prepaid credit in the memory of the GSM based electronic fuse; generating information about the state of the electricity meter; and recording the information generated about the state of the electricity meter into the contact less prepayment GSM based electronic fuse, wherein the information comprises energy consumed by the user, a credit of the meter, meter and fuse tampering, and a number of disconnections, interruptions, derivations, energy accumulated during use during the derivations and the inversions.

2. The GSM BASED FUSE FOR PREPAID ELECTRICITY BILLING SYSTEM according to claim 1, wherein it comprises a GSM based fuse consist micro-controller unit, a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), Real Time Clock (RTC), an Energy Measuring Module (EMM), Tamper detection unit, Latching Relay (LR), SIM card, GSM modem, Finger proofreader and a fuse consists essentially of a strip of low-melting alloy enclosed in a suitable housing.

3. The GSM BASED FUSE FOR PREPAID ELECTRICITY BILLING SYSTEM according to claim 1, wherein it comprises a Finger proofreader and automatic locking system. The moment we place the Fuse in fuse holder it locked. The lock will open on melting or breakdown of alloy or the owner or client need to use his finger print reader to open the lock.

4. The prepayment method of electric energy according to claim 1, wherein information transferred from the electricity meter and recorded in the GSM based electronic fuse further comprises power factor, quality of the line, and disconnections, inversions, presence of derivations and similar actions.

5. The GSM BASED FUSE FOR PREPAID ELECTRICITY BILLING SYSTEM, according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of: reading the remaining credit in the memory of the embedded fuse to provide a prepayment credit read; verifying if the remaining credit is greater than 0; verifying a state of an automatic supply shut off device to determine if it is opened or closed; and generating a signal to open or close the automatic supply shut off device based on the GSM based embedded technology; wherein when the remaining credit is greater than 0 a signal is generated to close the automatic supply shut off device to allow electric energy supply.to the electricity meter, and when the credit is not greater than 0, a signal is generated to open the automatic device for supply shut off to suspend the electric energy supply to the electricity meter.

6. The GSM BASED FUSE FOR PREPAID ELECTRICITY BILLING SYSTEM, according to claim 1, wherein the information generated about the state of the electricity meter and GSM based fuse, data related with the energy supply and electricity meter and GSM BASED FUSE tampering, are stored in the memory of the GSM BASED FUSE FOR PREPAID ELECTRICITY BILLING SYSTEM; and wherein the information recorded in this GSM BASED FUSE is transmitted into a data base through a point of sale for a further analysis by an energy utilities company every time mat the user recharges with prepaid electrical energy.