Patent ID: 8149114
Filing Date: 2012-04-03
Classification: E05B,G01R,G09F,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: activating a tamper monitoring circuit of a seal configured to securely lock a utility meter through at least one of: wirelessly transmitting at least one of an identification data and an integrity information associated with at least one of the seal and the utility meter to the external transceiver upon one of activating the tamper monitoring circuit and being queried by the external transceiver following the activation of the tamper monitoring circuit through a transceiver of the tamper monitoring circuit, the transceiver of the tamper monitoring circuit and the external transceiver being configured to securely communicate with each other through a protocol configured to enable the transceiver of the tamper monitoring circuit and the external transceiver to one of wait for a period of time when a channel is busy before attempting to transmit through the channel and transmit using another channel when the channel is busy, detecting a tamper condition associated with tampering of the seal through the tamper monitoring circuit; wirelessly transmitting data associated with the tamper condition to the external transceiver upon one of detecting the tamper condition through the tamper monitoring circuit and being queried by the external transceiver through the transceiver of the tamper monitoring circuit; transmitting at least one of a status of the seal, a query response to a query from the external transceiver, and the data associated with the tampering of the seal through a controller of the tamper monitoring circuit to the transceiver of the tamper monitoring circuit; and routing a query from the external transceiver through the transceiver of the tamper monitoring circuit to the controller of the tamper monitoring circuit.