Patent ID: 6351223
Filing Date: 2002-02-26
Classification: G01D,G08C,H02J,H04L,Y02B,Y02E,Y04S

Abstract:
An automatic system for collecting water usage data from a plurality of water meters and uploading the data to a central location, each of the plurality of water meters determining the water usage of a single water consuming unit, each meter having a unique meter ID, the automatic system comprising:a) at least one RF transmitter electrically coupled to at least one water meter, the at least one RF transmitter comprising a power source, a first microcontroller, means for generating an RF carrier and means for transmitting the RF carrier, the first microcontroller addressing the at least one water meter, collecting the water usage data stored in the at least one water meter and encoding the water usage data for transmission over the RF carrier; and b) an RF collector proximally located to the at least one RF transmitter, the RF collector comprising a power source, a second microcontroller, means for receiving the RF carrier and means for communicating with the central location, the second microcontroller decoding the water usage data transmitted over the RF carrier, confirming that the collector is configured to receive the water usage data associated with a particular meter and storing the data in memory for retrieval by the central location.