Meters - e.g. energy consumption meters

Abstract: An energy consumption meter comprises a metering means which produces pulses representing quanta of consumed energy, a meter register memory (12) and a meter-register controller (10). In order to identify events for making changes to a meter register configuration, event data, including event dates, is stored in the meter register memory (12). The event data is stored in either a floating date format or in a fixed date format. The controller (10) processes the event data to determine whether a current date corresponds to an event date, and causes the pulse counts to be stored in memory locations appropriate to the date.

Description: The present invention relates to time of use of electric meter which measures energy consumption and to a method of measuring time of use of electrical energy consumed. In known electronic time-of-use (TOU) meter registers, the register is programmed with calendar events. Calendar events specify, for example, holidays, season changes, and daylight saving changes. The number of calendar events the register can observe is limited by register memory space. Each unique event which must be observed for TOU metering requires an allocated memory space. For example, if the register is to be in the field for a ten year period, and if New Years Day is to be observed as a holiday every year, then ten calendar events for each New Years Day are stored in the register memory. In order for the TOU register to continue proper operation beyond the period for which calendar events have been stored in the register memory, the register must be programmed with updated calendar events. As the number of programmable dates per year increases, the number of years the register can remain in the field without requiring a calendar update is shortened. EP-A-0,176,338 shows a method of measuring time of use consumption in which event dates are stored in one of two formats, one for cyclic dates and one for special dates. Due to the format used, comprising 10 bits for the day number of the year; 4 bits for the day of the week, 14 bits are used requiring memory intensive storage. GB-A-2,069,153 shows another method of measuring time of use consumption using event storage in a ROM with comparison between the stored events and real time. Explicit details of the memory requirements for individual dates is not discussed. According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a method of measuring time-of-use of electric energy consumed by an end user coupled to a power delivery system, the time-of-use measuring method comprising the steps of formatting data within a storage device relating to a plurality of event dates for each of a plurality of floating dates in a floating date format and at least one fixed date in a fixed date format and associating a time-of-use function with each event date comparing a current date with the data related to at least one floating or fixed date to determine whether the current date matches said date receiving signals indicative of an amount of energy consumed by the end user from the power delivery system; and storing the received signals based upon the time-of-use function associated with the matched date, characterized in that said formatting step further comprsies indicating a month, a day of the week, and an occurrence number indicating which occurrence of said day of the week in said month is to be considered for each floating date and indicating a month and a day of the month for at least one fixed date. According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a time-of-use of electric meter which measures consumed by an end user coupled to a power delivery system, the time-of-use measuring electric meter comprising means for formatting data within a storage device relating to a plurality of event dates for each of a plurality of floating dates in a floating date format and at least one fixed date in a fixed date format and associating a time-of-use function with each event date means for comparing a current date with the data related to at least one floating or fixed date to determine whether the current date matches said date means for receiving signals indicative of an amount of energy consumed by the end user from the power delivery system; and means for storing the received signals based upon the time-of-use function associated with the matched date, characterized in that: said formatting means comprises means for indicating a month, a day of the week, and an occurrence number indicating which occurrence of said day of the week in said month is to be considered for each floating date and for indicating a month and a day of the month for at least one fixed date. In the aspects of the invention the event data for each date may be stored chronologically. In preferred embodiments of the invention a single calendar event is represented as multiple dates or a single unique date. More particularly, in one embodiment, two types of calendar events--annual events and year specific events-- are supported. An annual event is observed by the register every year the register is in the field. Year specific events are only observed for the specified year. by utilizing annual events, the number of calendar events required to be stored in the meter register is reduced. For example, one annual event could specify New Years Day and would result in New Years Day being observed for every year the register is in the field. This facilitates reducing the number of times a register must be programmed with updated calendar events. Moreover, calendar events can be specified with greater flexibility. The invention will now be described in greater detail, by way of example, with reference to the drawings in which: Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the present invention; and Figures 2A-B illustrate floating data and fixed data formats, respectively. Referring now specifically to the drawings, Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the present invention. The meter shown in Figure 1 may be an electricity consumption meter as described in European Patent Application EP-A-0 534 583. As shown in Figure 1, a meter register micro-controller 10 is coupled to a memory 12 and a display 14. In operation, such as in TOU operations, the micro-controller 10 performs a time/date keeping function and receives meter measurement inputs from a metering mechanism (not shown). As is well known in the art, the meter measurement inputs, for example, may be in the form of pulses. Each pulse is indicative of a pre-determined quantum of energy which has been consumed. The micro-controller 10 causes pulse counts to be stored in respective memory locations. For example, if a pulse is received by the micro-controller 10 during a first time period, the pulse count in a first memory location may be incremented. If another pulse is received by the micro-controller 10 during a second time period, the pulse count in a second memory location may be incremented. To obtain the TOU information, and as is well known in the art, a meter reader couples an electronic data retrieving means to the meter. The retrieving means then reads and stores the pulse counts in the respective memory locations of the meter register. This information is then carried back by the meter reader to a central location and processed further for billing purposes. In addition to time of day, the manner of storing pulses is dependent upon, for example, whether the particular day on which the pulse was received is a holiday or a "normal" day. The micro-controller 10 makes this determination by scanning the memory 12 at specified locations for determining whether the current date is an annual event 16 or a year specific event 18. An annual event is an event which is to be observed for every year the register is in use. The year specific event is an event that is to be observed only during a specified year, i.e., not every year the register is in service. A year specific event simply is stored in the memory 12 in a format readable by the micro-controller 10. For an annual event, a date is specified as- a fixed date or a floating date. A fixed date designation is composed of a day of a month (1 - 31) and the month (January - December). An example of a fixed date is December 25th, Christmas. This calendar event is observed on the 25th day of each December the register is in use. A floating date designation is composed of a day of the week (Sunday - Saturday), the occurrence of the day of the week (first, second, third, fourth, and last), and the month (January - December). An example of a floating date is the fourth Thursday of November, Thanksgiving Day. This calendar event would be observed on the forth Thursday of each November the register is in use. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention, qualifiers are used to enhance the effectiveness of the calendar event designation. One type of qualifier allows the event to be moved to the adjacent Friday should the event fall on a Saturday, or the event is moved to the adjacent Monday should the event fall on a Sunday. Another type of qualifier allows the event to be observed on the day preceding the specified date, or to be observed on both the preceding day and the specified day, or to be observed on the day following the specified date, or to be observed on both the specified date and the following day, or the event, alternatively, could be observed on the preceding day, the specified day, and the day following the specified day. Other qualifiers, of course, may be used. General rules guide how combinations of qualifiers should be used. The previous and next day qualifiers, for example, should not be specified in combination with the weekend qualifiers. Season changes and day light saving changes should not be specified with multiple days. Also, only valid days of months should be specified for the specified month. The following Table I identifies General Qualifiers, Consecutive Day Qualifiers, and Weekend Qualifiers. General Qualifiers: MONTH JANUARY - DECEMBER TYPE OF DATE FIXED OR FLOAT DAY OF MONTH 1 - 31 (FIXED DATE ONLY) DAY OF WEEK SUNDAY - SATURDAY (FLOAT DATE ONLY) OCCURRENCE FIRST, SECOND, THIRD, FOURTH (FLOAT DAY ONLY) DAY LIGHT SAVING CHANGE NONE, FALL, SPRING HOLIDAY HOLIDAY TYPE I, HOLIDAY TYPE II, NO HOLIDAY SEASON CHARGE SEASON 1, SEASON 2, SEASON 3, SEASON 4, NO SEASON CHANGE EFFECTIVE YEARS 00 - 99, ALL Consecutive Day Qualifiers: SELECT PREVIOUS DAY YES, NO SELECT NEXT DAY YES, NO CONSECUTIVE DAY TYPE INCLUDE, ONLY Weekend Qualifiers: MOVE FROM SATURDAY YES, NO MOVE FROM SUNDAY YES, NO Figures 2A-B illustrate a format for storing the floating date and the fixed date, respectively, in the memory 12. Each entry is composed of four bytes, The format of the four bytes is different for floating dates and the fixed dates as indicated in the figures. Byte four (4) of both floating and fixed date formats indicates whether the date is year specific. Prior to operation, the dates are stored in the memory 12. The dates preferably are stored in chronological sequence so that the earliest date in January appears at the beginning and the latest date in December appears at the end of the memory block. Once the date information is stored, and when the meter is in use, the micro-controller 10 operates as follows. A block of memory (referred to herein as the fixed date table) capable of storing, for example, information for four dates is specified. The micro-controller 10 determines, for each day the meter is in use, the day and time, i.e., the micro-controller 10 "knows" the current date. The micro-controller 10 then loads the fixed date table with the next four dates, and corresponding data, on which an event is to occur. Particularly, the micro-controller 10 scans the first four bits (month data) of the first byte of the floating date and fixed date data. If the month of a floating date or fixed date corresponds to the current month, then the micro-controller 10, knowing the current date and day of week, determines the date and day of week for the floating date. Starting from the current date, the micro-controller 10 then loads the fixed date table with the data for the next four (4) events. A pointer may be used to indicate where the last date was located in the memory 12 so that when subsequent dates are to be loaded into the fixed date table, rather than scanning each data entry, the micro-controller 10 can immediately proceed to the data entry at the pointer location. If the fixed date table is not completely loaded using the dates for the current month, then dates for the next month are scanned and processed. This, process is repeated until the fixed date table is loaded, i.e., until four (4) dates/events are designated in the fixed date table. Just after midnight and for each day, the micro-controller compares the current date with the dates in the fixed date table. When a match between a date in the fixed date table and the current date occurs, then the micro-controller 10 scans event bits to determine if the TOU schedule must be changed (holiday or season change bits) and/or whether a daylight savings change is to occur. Once a date in the fixed date table is used, then the process hereinbefore explained, beginning at the location of the pointer, is repeated to find the next date/event to load into the fixed date table. While the present invention has been described with respect to specific embodiments, many modifications, variations, substitutions, and equivalents will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Claims: A method of measuring time-of-use of electric energy consumed by an end user coupled to a power delivery system, the time-of-use measuring method comprising the steps of: formatting data within a storage device (12) relating to a plurality of event dates for each of a plurality of floating dates in a floating date format and at least one fixed date in a fixed date format and associating a time-of-use function with each event date; comparing a current date with the data related to at least one floating or fixed date to determine whether the current date matches said date; receiving signals indicative of an amount of energy consumed by the end user from the power delivery system; and storing the received signals based upon the time-of-use function associated with the matched date, characterized in that: said formatting step comprises indicating a month, a day of the week, and an occurrence number indicating which occurrence of said day of the week in said month is to be considered for each floating date and indicating a month and a day of the month for at least one fixed date. The time-of-use measuring method of claim 1 wherein the event dates and the corresponding event data are stored chronologically. The time-of-use measuring method of claim 1 wherein said comparing step comprises the step of: loading a block of memory with at least a next event to be observed; and comparing the current date with the at least a next event in said block of memory. The time-of-use measuring method of claim 3 wherein at least the next four events to be observed are loaded into said block of memory. The time-of-use measuring of claim 1 wherein said occurrence number corresponds to one of a first, second, third, fourth or last occurrence of the associated day of week in the associated month. A time-of-use electric meter which measures energy consumed by an end user coupled to a power delivery system, the time-of-use measuring electric meter comprising: means (10) for formatting data within a storage device (12) relating to a plurality of event dates for each of a plurality of floating dates in a floating date format and at least one fixed date in a fixed date format and associating a time-of-use function with each event date; means (10) for comparing a current date with the data related to at least one floating or fixed date to determine whether the current date matches said date; means (10) for receiving signals indicative of an amount of energy consumed by the end user from the power delivery system; and means (10) for storing the received signals based upon the time-of-use function associated with the matched date, characterized in that: said formatting means comprises means for indicating a month, a day of the week, and an occurrence number indicating which occurrence of said day of the week in said month is to be considered for each floating date and for indicating a month and a day of the month for at least one fixed date. The time-of-use electric meter of claim 6 wherein the event dates and the corresponding event data are stored chronologically. The time-of-use electric meter of claim 6 wherein said comparing means comprises; means for loading a block of memory with at least a next event to be observed; and means for comparing the current date with the at least a next event in said block of memory. The time-of-use electric meter of claim 8 wherein at least the next four events to be observed are loaded into said block of memory. The time-of-use electric meter of claim 6 wherein said occurrence number corresponds to one of a first, second, third, fourth or last occurrence of the associated day of week in the associated month.

Inventors: BALCH RICHARD ALAN, DASTOUS SUSAN DORIS, MANCUSO MARJORIE JO, BALCH, RICHARD ALAN, DASTOUS, SUSAN DORIS, MANCUSO, MARJORIE JO
Applicants: GEN ELECTRIC, GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
Application year: 1992
Main classification: G01R21
IPC codes: G04G1, G01R21, G07C1, G01R22, G01R11