Meter monitoring and tamper protection system and method
US6801865B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 21, 2002 |
| Grant date | Oct 5, 2004 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 17, 2022 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L69/329
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A commodity-meter management system including commodity meters (e.g., electrical energy meters, gas meters, and/or water meters), one or more servers, and a communications application to communicate between the meters and the servers. The meters are connected to the servers via communication mediums. The communications application can communicate bi-directionally in real-time between the meters and the servers via the communication mediums. The communications application can determine the actual configuration parameters according to which the meter is operating at any given time. In order to detect theft of a commodity, the communications application can compare the actual configuration parameters to default configuration parameters. If the actual and default configuration parameters are not equal, substantially equal, or within a predetermined threshold, the communications application indicates that a tamper event has occurred.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.