FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This invention relates to the smart meter devices metering the consumption of commodities such as water, gas, oil, electricity, etc. and more particularly, the invention relates to system and method for adding configurable communication capabilities to a utility meter.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Next generation utility metering adds two more dimensions to basic metering. These are communication and control. This makes the end product more complex, has high failure rate, is easy to tamper with and has shorter life span.

[0003] The preliminary components in smart energy meter addresses the functionality of measuring the energy consumption, controlling the supply to load and a communication module to exchange the meter data with Head End System. The multiple wireless and cellular communication technologies are available for communication in smart energy meter. The particular choice of technology depends on multiple factors. One of the objectives around smart energy meter is to reduce the human intervention for capturing billing details, the use of either wireless or cellular communication technology are best fits.

[0004] The proposed invention uses Low Power Radio Frequency (LPRF, ISM Band) for wireless communication and Global System for Mobile Communications/General Packet Radio Service (GSM/GPRS) for cellular communication. The term 'wireless communication' in this invention refers to Low Power Radio Frequency (LPRF, ISM Band) and GSM/GPRS and the like.

[0005] Each of these communication technologies has their own merits and demerits. As the deployment scale of smart energy meters in any geography is huge and every geographical location has its own infrastructure progress plan, dependency on a single communication technology is not right choice for smart energy meter. Further, the efforts required for identifying right communication technology for smart energy meter at the geographical level or at the place where this meter is getting installed are huge and requires human handling.

[0006] Developing the smart energy meter system with single communication technology suited for the geographical location where meter is getting installed is a preferable solution. Hence, multiple systems with different communication technologies need to develop, test and manufacture. The complete development cycle is long and hampers reusability which has direct positive impact on cost in terms of development and operational. Identifying the right technology and installing smart energy meters with suitable communication technology is a skilled art.

[0007] Giving out choice of communication technology to user to select is not appropriate as it may suffer from scalability issue and tamper attacks.

[0008] The communication technology is rapidly changing and ever increasing customer demands. With GSM/GPRS, customer's expectation on energy consumption analytics will continue increasing and thus the specification of Smart Energy Meter will keep evolving. Further, the life cycle for smart energy meter ranges from 5 years to 10 years. Having a smart energy meter with single communication will find difficulty with technology change and infrastructure update; thus increasing the chances of the system becoming absolute.

[0009] The present invention addresses all above issues and build a robust and reliable system for smart energy meters. The invention proposes a smart energy meter system with a two or more communication technologies and a method to enable one of the communication technology ensuring low power consumption by system. The invention further proposes a method to configure the communication technology to use in a smart energy meter helps to overcome the transient error conditions that occur in any of the communication technology.

[0010] The present invention seeks to overcome the disadvantages associated with single communication technology based smart energy meter system and devices by providing a configurable and more convenient alternative. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfils this need. In this respect, configurable communication smart energy meter system and devices according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides scalable and reusable system primarily developed for the purpose of smart utility metering applications.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0011] In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of communication technology based system and devices for smart energy meter application now present in the prior art, the present invention provides an improved scalable and configurable architecture, and overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages and drawbacks of the prior art. As such, the general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a new and improved configurable communication smart energy meter system which has all the advantages of the prior art mentioned heretofore and many novel features that result in shorter development time, highly reliable, highly scalable and configurable system which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by the prior art, either alone or in any combination thereof.

[0012] The present application describes the system and method for configurable communication smart energy meter.

[0013] The system proposed in this invention comprises of analog front end module, microcontroller, non-volatile memory, Low Power Radio Frequency (LPRF, ISM Band) module for wireless communication and GSM/GPRS module for cellular communication. The system uses two communication technologies of wireless communication. The system is also capable of choosing the best available communication technology and monitoring the infrastructure changes.

[0014] Smart meter are typically installed in harsh environments affecting the reliability of the communication system. To address anomalies associated with each communication technology, a method is proposed for choosing the best communication technology to be used in smart energy meter. The method for choosing the best fit communication technology is based on Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) measurement. RSSI indicates the strength of the incoming (received) signal in a receiver.

[0015] The method further proposes steps to put unused communication module to low power mode either by using pin control or issuing control commands. [0016] Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments, and from the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0017] Fig. 1 is a block diagram for a prior art smart transmitters for utility meters.

[0018] Fig. 2 is a perspective block diagram illustrating the use of GSMGPRS cellular communication and LPRF (ISM band) wireless communication in the utility meter in a configurable mode according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[0019] Fig. 3 is a perspective block diagram for configurable communication control according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[0020] Fig. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a process performed by a configurable communication control block of embodiment of the present invention.

[0021] Fig. 5 is a flow chart representation of one exemplary configurable communication reset control mode process.

[0022] Repeat use of reference characters throughout the present specification and appended drawings is intended to represent the same or analogous features or elements of the present technology.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0023] Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modification and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

[0024] While the particulars of the present invention may be adopted for use providing Configurable Communication capabilities and associated technology to utility meters metering the consumption of commodities such as water, gas, oil, electricity, etc., the examples discussed herein are preliminary in the context of electricity consumption.

[0025] The term 'smart energy meter' is broadly referred in the following description as a utility meters metering the consumption of electricity with ability to communicate with Head End System (HES) and performs multiple control operations such as connect/disconnect, load management functions and others.

[0026] Today's energy meters are smart due to communication and control capability addition. Addition of communication technology in the energy meters enables the control and information exchanges to and from HES. The energy consumed units by a consumer is communicated with HES and if billed amount is not paid, a connection is discontinued after receiving the instruction from HES. Though various communication technologies can be adopted; the present invention uses GSM/GPRS and LPRF (ISM Band) for illustrating configurable communication system and method.

[0027] Please refer Figure 1. Fig. 1 represents block diagram for a prior art smart transmitters for utility meters 100. It is a system proposed to provide Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) capabilities to utility meters metering the consumption of electricity. The system proposed in the prior art comprises of analog front end 104 for measuring the electrical quantities, microcontroller unit 102, non-volatile memory 106, wireless transceiver 108 and power amplifier 110. The analog front end module measures the electricity consumed with other associated parameters like period measurement, peak consumption and the like and communicates the usage information to microcontroller unit through data-cable 114. The data-cable is a three conductor cable comprising two data lines and a ground over which serial communication is conducted. It is appreciable that other wiring configurations and communication protocols can be used for data exchanges between modules presented in the prior art. The external clock oscillators 112 provides the accurate clocks to the analog front end module for measuring the electrical quantities, microcontroller unit, GSM/GPRS module, LPRF (ISM band) wireless transceiver and power amplifier. The microcontroller unit further comprises of microprocessor, instruction memory, data memory and multiple interfaces for data communication. Further the system uses non-volatile memory presented as a discrete component for data and code store. It is appreciable that system may use the non-volatile memory integrated with microprocessor for the same purpose. To provide Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) capabilities, system further comprises of LPRF (ISM band) transceiver module and RF power amplifier. The microcontroller unit reads the electricity consumed data from analog front end module and transmits data over data-cable to LPRF (ISM band) transceiver module. The packed data is sent wirelessly to Head End System (HES) directly or through other intermediate wireless systems.

[0028] The prior art presented in Fig. 1 uses LPRF (ISM band) 108 for wireless communication. With wireless communication addition to utility meter, the data flow is bi-directional with the HES. The line-of-sight and distance traversed is crucial factor for wireless communication reliability. In case of a housing structure where a smart energy meter is installed made up of complete concrete walls and slabs, the RF waves finds difficult to pass through. The reliability of the presented system in the prior art largely depends on the environment in which the utility meter is installed, transmit output power of the remote transceiver, frequency band and receiving strategies employed.

[0029] Please refer Figure 2. Fig. 2 represents the utility meter system with configurable communication 200. For the present embodiment of the invention, the proposed utility system uses GSM/GPRS cellular communication module and LPRF (ISM band) wireless module for communication. .The system discussed herein is preliminary in the context of smart energy meter metering the consumption of electricity but scope is not limited to it.

[0030] The proposed system in this invention comprises of analog front end module for measuring the electrical quantities 204, microcontroller unit 202, non-volatile memory 206, Infrared transceiver module 234, GSM/GPRS module 232, LPRF (ISM band) wireless transceiver 208 and power amplifier 210.

[0031] The analog front end module measures the electricity consumed with other associated parameters like period measurement, peak consumption and the like. Based on the information request from microcontroller unit, it communicates the usage information to microcontroller unit through I2C interface 216. The interrupt pin 218 is connected to microcontroller unit. The analog front end module comprises of inbuilt power-on-reset (POR) logic which resets the complete module each time power is switched on. The analog front end module is able to communicate with microcontroller unit about some erroneous conditions through interrupt pin 218.

[0032] The microcontroller unit is the main module in the proposed system and it comprises of 16-bit or 32-bit microprocessor, instruction memory, data memory and multiple interfaces for data communication. Using various serial interfaces, microcontroller unit exchanges data and control information with analog front end module 204, non-volatile memory 206, GSM/GPRS module 232, and LPRF (ISM band) transceiver module 208.

[0033] Further microcontroller unit is connected to the non-volatile memory through Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) 214 presented as a discrete component for data and code store. The non-volatile memory is used as meter data logger unit storing the snapshot of critical parameters periodically. It also provides extra space for code store in case software features expansions are beneficial.

[0034] The Infrared Data Association (IrDA) transceiver 234 comprises of a PIN photodiode, infrared emitter, and a control IC in a single package. It transmits the data wirelessly for a short distance. The infrared transceiver module is connected to the microcontroller unit through UART interface 220 and support low baud rate data rate. [0035] The LPRF (ISM band) transceiver module 208 is connected to the microcontroller unit through SPI interface 224. It receives the data from microcontroller unit and transfers it wirelessly at ISM band. To increase transmit output power, an RF power amplifier 210 is connected. The control information is communicated with microcontroller unit through interrupt pin 226. The LPRF (ISM band) transceiver module comprises of in-built power-on-reset module and is maintained in reset mode by writing onto control and status registers bits through SPI interface.

[0036] The GSM/GPRS module 232 is connected to the microcontroller unit through UART 9-pin interface 222. It receives the data from microcontroller unit. It is possible to use low pin-count UART interface with partial flow control or software flow control configuration to the GSM/GPRS module. To enable hardware reset to the GSM/GPRS module, a reset pin 228 is connected to microcontroller unit.

[0037] The GSM/GPRS module further comprises of baseband, RF transceiver, power management unit, and power amplifier.

[0038] The external clock oscillators 212 provides the accurate clocks to the analog front end module for measuring the electrical quantities, microcontroller unit, GSM/GPRS module, LPRF (ISM band) wireless transceiver and power amplifier.

[0039] The reliability of communication is significantly improved with addition of one more communication module into the utility meters. The invention proposes to use GSM/GPRS module and LPRF (ISM band) wireless transceiver module onto utility meter system in a configurable mode. Further the system is highly economical as one time engineering cost is utilised in a single system development and has positive impact on product development time.

[0040] The connection of GSM/GPRS module and LPRF (ISM band) wireless transceiver module with microcontroller unit ensures configurability. The detailed algorithm for configurable communication module is explained further.

[0041] Please refer Figure 3. Fig. 3 illustrates one of an unlimited number of embodiments for implementing the functionality described in relation to Figure 4 and/or Figure 5. As shown in Figure 3, the configurable communication control block 300 comprises of microprocessor 304, non-volatile memory 306, random access memory 308, communication interfaces 310 and a storage device 312, which are electrically coupled via one or more communications mechanisms (shown as a bus for illustrative purpose) 320.

[0042] The non-volatile memory 306 and random access memory 308 presented in configurable communication control block 300 is one type of computer-readable medium and typically comprises random access memory (RAM), non-volatile memory (ROM and/or Flash), integrated circuits, and/or other memory components. Memory typically stores computer-executable instruction and/or code to be executed by microprocessor and/or data which is manipulated by microprocessor for implementing functionality in accordance with the present invention.

[0043] The microcontroller unit 302 presented in configurable communication control block comprises of microprocessor, memory, communication interfaces, power management unit and the like.

[0044] The external storage device 312 presented in configurable communication control block is one type of computer-readable medium and typically comprises random access memory (RAM), non-volatile memory (ROM and/or Flash), integrated circuits, and/or other memory components. The external storage device typically stores computer-executable instruction and/or code to be executed by microprocessor and/or data which is manipulated by microprocessor for implementing functionality in accordance with the present invention. Further, the microprocessor exchanges the code and /or data available in external storage device through SPI interface. This external storage device is used to store the electricity consumed parameters periodically, tampering event details and other control and status information.

[0045] Please refer Figure 4 and Figure 5. The configurable communication control processes of present embodiment are further described by the flow diagrams illustrated in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 respectively. Processing by the configurable communication control process of one embodiment begins at process block 400, and proceeds to process block 402 wherein the configurable communication control process is initialized which typically includes power on sequence of the modules presented in the proposed system of the invention, bringing out the analog front end module, microcontroller unit, GSM/GPRS module and LPRF (ISM band) wireless transceiver module from reset, setting all control flags to false and associated configurations of communication modules. Next, as determined in process block 404, if a communication priority flag is set to true, the processing then enters the process block 420 otherwise enters the process block 440. The communication priority flag setting is based on the law of land where the utility meter is being installed, communication cost, available infrastructure, technology knowledge available and the like.

[0046] In process block 420, microcontroller unit sends a Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) measurement command to the LPRF (ISM band) wireless transceiver module through SPI interface and processing then returns to process block 422. Generally, the higher the RSSI level is the stronger the signal. Process block 422 checks the RSSI measurement command response meets the regulatory value set for LPRF (ISM band) wireless communication. If RSSI measurement command response does not meet the regulatory value and a jump flag is set to false, processing then returns to process block 440 and a jump flag is set to true. If RSSI measurement command response does not meet the regulatory value and a jump flag is set to true, processing then returns to process block 460. If RSSI measurement command response does meet the regulatory value, processing then returns to process block 424. In process block 424, the microcontroller unit and LPRF (ISM band) wireless transceiver module performs the necessary data and control transactions to successfully establish the wireless communication and a wireless communication success flag is set to true. The method for establishing communication typically comprises of default or basic connection mode setup, authentication procedures, capability negotiations and session establishment. Processing then returns to process block 406.

[0047] In process block 440, microcontroller unit sends a Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) measurement command to the GSM/GPRS module trough UART interface and processing then returns to process block 442. . Generally, the higher the RSSI level is the stronger the signal. Process block 442 checks the RSSI measurement command response meets the regulatory value set for GSM/GPRS cellular communication. If RSSI measurement command response does not meet the regulatory value and a jump flag is set to false, processing then returns to process block 420 and a jump flag is set to true. If RSSI measurement command response does not meet the regulatory value and a jump flag is set to true, processing then returns to process block 460. If RSSI measurement command response does meet the regulatory value, processing then returns to process block 444. In process block 444, the microcontroller unit and GSM/GPRS module performs the necessary data and control transactions to successfully establish the cellular communication and a cellular communication success flag is set to true. The method for establishing communication typically comprises of default or basic connection mode setup, authentication procedures, capability negotiations and session establishment. Processing then returns to process block 406.

[0048] In process block 460, IrDA communication is selected and both wireless communication success flag and cellular communication success flag are either set to true or false. Processing then returns to process block 406.

[0049] In process block 406, configurable communication reset control mode process starts and processing then returns to process block 408. Fig. 5 details about configurable communication reset control mode process which is explained further. In process block 408, the microcontroller unit documents the electricity parameters accumulated in the analog front end module and stores them to external storage device. This mechanism helps to keep a backup of electricity parameters whenever successful communication is established. In process block 410, a microcontroller unit periodically checks for internal counter expiry and on expiry event, processing then returns to process block 402. It ensures regular check for best communication medium to be available for transmitting the electricity consumed parameters to HES directly or indirectly. The internal counter comprises of real-time counter, programmable counter, electricity parameters snapshot backup counter and the like.

[0050] The configurable communication control processes are programmed or re-programmed by connecting a programming device. The programming device is interfaced with proposed system through USB, Ethernet, Antenna, SPI, I2C, UART interface and the like.

[0051] Please refer Figure 5. Fig. 5 illustrates one of an unlimited number of embodiments for implementing the functionality of the configurable communication reset control mode process. Using described method, one of the communication interfaces is kept in reset mode, contributing in power saving.

[0052] Processing by the configurable communication reset control mode process of one of an unlimited number of embodiments begins at process block 500, and proceeds to process block 502 wherein the configurable communication reset control mode process is initialized which typically includes initializing all the control flags to false and other configurations. In process block 504, a check is performed on the flag values of cellular communication success flag and wireless communication success flag. To determine the communication technology chosen for smart utility meter is based on the flag values of cellular communication success flag and wireless communication success flag. For example, if the flag values of cellular communication success flag set to false and wireless communication success flag set to true then LPRF (ISM band) wireless communication is used for utility meter parameters transmission and GSM/GPRS module is required to put in reset mode for idle power consumption only by asserting reset pin. Another example, if the flag values of cellular communication success flag set to true and wireless communication success flag set to false then GSM/GPRS cellular communication is used for utility meter parameters transmission and LPRF (ISM band) wireless transceiver module is required to put in sleep or deep sleep mode for idle power consumption only by writing into control and status register through SPI interface based write command. Processing returns to process block 508 if LPRF (ISM band) wireless communication is used for utility meter parameters transmission and GSM/GPRS module is required to put in reset mode. Processing returns to process block 506 if GSM/GPRS cellular communication is used for utility meter parameters transmission and LPRF (ISM band) wireless transceiver module is required to put in sleep or deep sleep mode. Processing returns to process block 506 from process block 504 if both GSM/GPRS module is required to put in reset mode and LPRF (ISM band) wireless transceiver module is required to put in sleep or deep sleep mode and further returns to process block 508. Processing then returns to process block 510 to exit and follows the further process blocks of configurable communication control process.

[0053] The configurable communication control processes of present embodiment enables to use one of the communication technologies for adding Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) capabilities to utility meter keeping other communication technology either in reset mode or sleep mode or deep sleep mode. Further proposed system adds configurable communication capability to utility meters by using of two communication technologies, one for wireless communication and other for cellular communication, and automatically checks for infrastructure improvement repeatedly; thus increasing communication reliability.

[0054] According to present invention, the utility meter system with configurable communication capability consists of two communication technologies. The proposed method consists of dynamically identifying the best suited communication technology for two-way communication with HES and keeping the unused communication technology either in extremely low power mode or power shutdown mode with regular check on the infrastructure changes to achieve better communication reliability.

[0055] Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the system may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be constructed as limited only by the metes and bound of the appended claims. What is claimed is:

1. A utility meter system with configurable communication comprising:

At least two communication modules, able to transmit data wirelessly over short or long distance, for communicating the measurement parameters with Head End System (HES) characterized in that the said communication modules comprise Low Power Radio Frequency (LPRF, ISM Band) for wireless communication and Global System for Mobile Communications/General Packet Radio Service (GSM/GPRS) for cellular communication and the like;

At least one sensor for metering the consumption of commodities such as water, gas, oil, electricity, and the like;

At least one microcontroller unit which monitors different parameters and controls the action;

At least one non-volatile memory used for data and/or code storage and At least one wired serial communication interface.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein said low power radio frequency (LPRF, ISM Band) transceiver module comprises of power amplifier for increasing transmitted output power and power amplifier is either integrated with transceiver module and/or externally connected to module.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein said at least one sensor metering the consumption of commodities is based on volumetric or mass flow rates technology, comprising of mechanical parts and/or analog electronics chips and /or digital electronics chips and at least one sensor metering the consumption of electricity comprises of one or more voltage transformer, current transformers and/or analog front end chips.

4. The system of Claim 1 comprising a means for recording real time in the microcontroller unit, said means utilising one or more alternate power sources of the kind lithium battery or supercapacitor.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein said at least one microcontroller unit exchanges data and control information with different modules using serial communication interfaces, reset pin and interrupt pin; the said serial communication interfaces uses Universal Asynchronous Receive Transmit (UART), Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C), Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) and the like.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the priority selection for configurable communication comprises of hardware pin selectable and/or software controlled through wired or wireless or cellular communication.

7. A method of selecting communication for a utility meter system with configurable communication comprising:

processing Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) parameter for said communication modules;

examining the RSSI parameter value and chose the best communication technology and keeping the unused communication module either in extremely low power mode or power shutdown mode.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

selecting Infrared Data Association (IrDA) communication when RSSI response is not satisfactory for said communication modules according to claim 1.

9. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

storing the measured parameters recorded by the said sensor into a non-volatile memory whenever successful communication is established and said consumed parameters for a configurable communication utility meter metering the consumption of electricity are active power consumed, reactive power consumed, apparent power consumed, quality of power in terms of period and power factor, peak demand, tamper events and the like.

10. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

putting the not used communication module either in extremely low power mode or power shutdown mode either through pin control or issuing a command or using power management unit, controlled by said microcontroller and periodically checking RSSI value if first selected communication based on the communication priority flag is unable to establish communication and recording the selected communication using a display unit and/or memory and the said display unit comprises of LCD display, Light Emitting Diodes (LED) and the like.