FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENT RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See Section 10 and Rule 13)
Title of invention:
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INLINE SIGNAL PROCESSING FOR ONE
OR MORE UTILITY PURPOSE
Applicant
TATA Consultancy Services Limited A company Incorporated in India under The Companies Act, 1956
Having address:
Nirmal Building, 9th Floor,
Nariman Point, Mumbai 400021,
Maharashtra, India
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The system and method in particular relates to inline processing of signals. More particularly, the system and method relates to inline processing or electrical signals for one or more utility purpose.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Electricity meters are used for measuring consumption of electricity for which they are implemented at a user's centre so that based on the calculation of energy consumed, bills could be generated. Along with the advancement in technology and the requirement of current time, lot of modifications has been made in conventional meter configuration.
In electrical circuits, data acquisition has been a known problem, more so in case of electrical supplies of feeder feeding an identified load which need to be billed for usage.
Traditionally, data acquisition in such cases is done manually, wherein an authorized person of supplying electric company visit customer premises and note down the meter reading on a particular date, following which such collected data is again manually entered into computer systems for record and billing.
Recently, there has been advancement which suggests abolishing this manual practice with introduction of 'smart meters' which are configured to capture and transmit data on a common link. Considering number of meters that are installed, such smart meters would attract huge cost and are costlier as well.
As per the scenario in developing countries, the conventional meters are not advance enough to transfer the meter reading remotely. Therefore, in order to make the process of meter reading convenient, these traditional meters are being replaced by

smart meters which are capable of transmitting the meter reading remotely to the server.
Replacement of meter is not economic and hence will result in heavy cost investment. The alternate methods disclosed in the prior arts for transmitting meter reading remotely comprises of use of some external device. All of these methods claim on optical methods to take meter reading out of meter. They involve camera and image transmission which is costly hardware. Also transmission of such data consumes larger bandwidth. Optical and image processing methods are sensitive to change in surrounding light and hence a tight seal on casing body is must. Further, Optical / Image processing methods rely on wellness of meters display. If there is any problem with meter display then these methods will not work.
Hence, a solution is required which will automate data acquisition task, without replacing existing meters and at a low cost, satisfying customer and technical vulnerability of the implementing authority.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
The primary object of the invention is to provide inline processing of electrical signals for one or more utility purpose.
It is another object of the invention to provide a signal acquisition and processing means to acquire the electrical signals in a continuous manner and convert them into a quantifiable quantity.
It is yet another object of the invention to transmit the quantifiable quantity in realtime to a remote server.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention discloses a system for inline signal processing of electrical signals. The system comprises of a signal acquisition means comprising a pair of electrical probe connected to at least one source and adapted to continuously receive electrical line signal from the said source and a processing unit configured to convert the each intermittent acquired signals into a quantifiable quantity and to accumulate said quantified signals into a continuous manner for a predetermined period. The system further comprises of a transmission module configured to transmit each accumulated quantity in real-time to a remote server upon expiry of said preset time, such that the accumulated quantity may be used for one or more predefined utility.
The present invention also discloses a method for inline signal processing of electrical signals. The method further comprises of receiving continuously electrical line signals from at least one source, processing the each intermittent acquired signals in order to convert the said signals into a quantifiable quantity and to accumulate said quantified signals into a continuous manner for a predetermined period and transmitting each accumulated quantity in real-time to a remote server upon expiry of a predetermined time, such that the accumulated quantity may be used for one or more predefined utility.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
Figure 1 illustrates the system architecture for inline processing of electrical signals in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
Figure 2 illustrates the signal acquisition and there processing from en electric meter in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
Figure 3 illustrates the tapping of electrical signals from the electric meter in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.

Figure 4 illustrates the step-wise process of signal processing in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Some embodiments of this invention, illustrating its features, will now be discussed:
The words "comprising", "having", "containing", and "including", and other forms thereof, are intended to be equivalent in meaning and be open ended in that an item or items following any one of these words is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of such item or items, or meant to be limited to only the listed item or items.
It must also be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Although any systems, methods, apparatuses, and devices similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of embodiments of the present invention, the preferred, systems and parts are now described. In the following description for the purpose of explanation and understanding reference has been made to numerous embodiments for which the intent is not to limit the scope of the invention.
One or more components of the invention are described as module for the understanding of the specification. For example, a module may include self-contained component in a hardware circuit comprising of logical gate, semiconductor device, integrated circuits or any other discrete component. The module may also be a part of any software programme executed by any hardware entity for example processor. The implementation of module as a software programme may include a set of logical instructions to be executed by the processor or any other hardware entity. Further a module may be incorporated with the set of instructions or a programme by means of an interface.

The disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms.
The present invention relates to a system and method for inline processing of electrical signals. The signals are acquired from one or more resource and are further processed to convert them into a quantifiable quantity. This quantity is further transmitted to a remote server in real-time. This transmitted quantity may be used for one or more utility purpose.
In accordance with an embodiment, referring to figure 1, the system (100) comprises of one or more source (102) from which electrical signals are continuously received by a signal acquisition means (104). The system (100) further comprises of a processing unit (106) to process the acquired signal and a transmission module (108) to transmit a quantifiable quantity thus obtained by conversion from the electrical signals to one or more remote server (110) in real-time.
By way of a specific example, the source (102) may include but is not limited to meter (electricity, gas etc). This meter regularly provides electrical supply to the signal acquisition means (104). The electric signals may be tapped directly from the meter PCB (Printed Circuit Board) and could be supplied to the signal acquisition means (104). The signal acquisition means (104) may be connected to the source (electric meter) (102) by means of hard wires.
In accordance with a method embodiment, by way of another specific example of acquiring signals from the source (electric meter), the LED is provided for calibration purpose to check the meter accuracy either manually or through optical reader. This calibration LED is provided in all type of digital electric meters and used to check accuracy of meter. It blinks at pre-defined rate (Meter Constant) on consumption of one unite of energy. For e.g. meter constant of 6400 imp/KWh means this LED will blink 6400 times in one hour if power consumption is lKw.

The signal acquisition means (104) taps input to the same calibration LED to further process them in order to obtain the quantifiable quantity.
In accordance with an embodiment, the signal acquisition means (104) further comprises of an electrical probe (not shown in figure) which may be optically connected to the source (102) and receives the electrical signal in a continuous manner. The electrical probe may include but is not limited to an opto-coupler in order to isolate the electrical signals for a safer conversion of electrical signals into the quantifiable quantity.
The system (100) further comprises of a processing unit (106) which is connected to the signal acquisition means (104) and is configured to convert the each intermittent acquired signals into the quantifiable quantity. These quantified signals are accumulated into a continuous manner for a predetermined time period so that the quantifiable quantity may be transmitted or utilized for one or more utility purpose. The processing unit (106) stores the quantifiable quantity into its non-volatile memory. By way of specific example, the processing unit (106) may include but is not limited to a microprocessor.
The system (100) further comprises of the transmission module (108) which further transmits in real-time the quantifiable quantity to one or more remote server (110). The remote server (110) uses this data (quantifiable quantity) for one more utility purpose.
The quantifiable quantity may include but is not limited amount of electrical energy consumed by one or more users.
The utility purpose further includes but is not limited to generating bill, remote monitoring, identifying false activities or a combination thereof.
BEST MODE/EXAMPLE FOR WORKING OF THE INVENTION

The system and method illustrated for inline processing of electrical signals may be illustrated by working example stated in the following paragraph; the process is not restricted to the said example only:
By using the above system and methodology as disclosed, the conventional meters may be converted into smart meters for transmitting the meter reading remotely in an economic and convenient manner.
In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, referring to figure 2, it shows back view of the conventional digital electricity meter PCB along with the Meter Node. The meter node further comprises of the opto-coupler and the microprocessor. As explained before input (in form of pulses) to calibration LED is tapped and provided as input to circuitry on Meter Node.
On Meter Node, this input is fed to opto-coupler for isolation purpose and then provided to microprocessor for further processing (explained in Fig 3). Processor uses non-volatile memory to store calculated meter reading. RF or similar communication circuitry is used to transmit meter data to remote data collecting unit/server for Automatic Meter Reading. The server then uses this data for generating bill, for doing remote monitoring etc.
The processing of the meter reading by the microprocessor is explained in the below mentioned points and is illustrated in figure 4:
1. During Meter Installation procedure value of Meter Constant which may vary for each manufacturer is set as meterconstant for further reference.
2. Also the current meter reading at the time of installation is stored in nonvolatile memory as PreviousReading.
3. A variable 'count' is initialized to zero.

4. Program now waits for pulses from Meter side. On reception of each pulse, it increaments the pulse count and compares it with 'meter_constant/100'.
5. This value 'meter constant/100' corresponds to the consumption of 10 Wh.
6. Once pulse count reaches to value equal to 'meter_constant/100', it reads the Previous_Reading from memory and writes updated reading to the memory after adding 10 units to it.
7. Steps 4 to 6 are repeated continuosly.
The processed meter reading is then transmitted remotely for one or more utility purpose.

WE CLAIM:
1. A system for inline signal processing of electrical signals, the system
comprising:
a signal acquisition means comprising a pair of electrical probe connected to
at least one source and adapted to continuously receive electrical line signal
from the said source;
a processing unit configured to convert the each intermittent acquired signals
into a quantifiable quantity and to accumulate said quantified signals into a
continuous manner for a predetermined period;
a transmission module configured to transmit each accumulated quantity in a
real-time to a remote server upon expiry of said preset time, such that the
accumulated quantity may be used for one or more predefined utility.
2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the source further includes but is not limited to one or more utility meter.
3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the signal acquisition means acquires input from meter PCB (Printed Circuit Board).
4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processing unit further includes but is not limited to microprocessor.
5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the quantifiable quantity further includes but is not limited to amount of electrical energy consumed by one or more user.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the predefined utility further includes but is not limited to generating bill, remote monitoring, identifying false activities or a combination thereof.
7. A method for inline signal processing of electrical signals, the method comprising:
receiving continuously electrical line signals from at least one source: processing the each intermittent acquired signals in order to convert the said signals into a quantifiable quantity and to accumulate said quantified signals into a continuous manner for a predetermined period;
transmitting each accumulated quantity in real-time to a remote server upon expiry of a predetermined time, such that the accumulated quantity may be used for one or more predefined utility.
8. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the received electrical signals are further isolated before processing.
9. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the quantifiable quantity further includes but is not limited to amount of electrical energy consumed by one or more user.
10. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the predefined utility further includes but is not limited to generating bill, remote monitoring, identifying false activities or a combination thereof.