Abstract:
The invention provides a method and a system for collection of meter readings from the field and for providing a self-populating database for storing and retrieving the meter data. A network data collection computer operating according to a stored computer program reads in data from the receivers and detects the meter reading devices that are sending data through a respective receiver. If not previously detected, the network data collection computer allocates space in the database for the data and stores the meter data and indexes it by the receiver and meter reading device from which it was received, and by the date and time of reception at the network data collection system. This data can then be retrieved and displayed or printed out by these parameters in database reports.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This is a continuation of PCT/US08/02426, filed on Feb. 25, 2008. 
     
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0002]    This invention relates to automatic meter reading (AMR) systems and, in particular, to utility meters using a radio transmitter for transmitting meter data signals to a radio receiver in a fixed network for collecting utility meter data over a geographical area, such as a municipality. 
       DESCRIPTION OF THE BACKGROUND ART 
       [0003]    Fixed network AMR (automatic meter reading) systems typically involve meters equipped with radio transmitters operating in a local area network with radio receivers, also sometimes operating as gateways, for collecting meter data from the transmitters and then transmitting the meter data through a second network to a central office. The meter data is transmitted from the receivers or gateways to the central office for processing into customer statements of account. Typically, there is at least a network communications computer and a billing computer at the central office, although various systems at the collection end are possible. 
         [0004]    In the prior art, installing an AMR system included the setting up of the central office data collection system and a database for the meter data, and this was a time consuming task involving the listing of all transmitters in the field and associating them with their respective receivers. A general object of the invention is to provide for easier installation and set up of an AMR system, thereby saving labor and installation cost and providing ease of use to the utility. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    The invention provides a method and a system for collection of meter readings from meter reading and transmitting devices for providing a self-populating database for storing and retrieving the meter data. 
         [0006]    The method provides for collection of meter data through a wide area network from at least one receiver communicating in a local network with a plurality of meter reading devices in a geographic area. As used herein, the term “meter data” should be understood to include either utility consumption data or certain condition status data, or both. 
         [0007]    The method comprises addressing at least one receiver through a wide area network at a receiver network address, and receiving a data file through the wide area network from the receiver that includes meter data from a plurality of meter reading devices that have previously communicated with the receiver. 
         [0008]    The method further comprises reading an identifier for each of the meter reading devices from the data file and organizing the identifier in a database in association with the receiver network address and meter data for each respective meter reading device. 
         [0009]    The method further comprises storing meter data from each of the meter reading devices in the database for retrieval by at least one of: a receiver network address, the meter reading device identifier and a time and date of collection. 
         [0010]    The method of the present invention provides a database that is thus self-populating. The method requires only a list of addresses for the receivers and a reading interval to begin operation. This saves much labor in installing the network data collection portion of AMR system. In reading files from the receivers, the network data collector obtains a list of the meter reading devices associated with each receiver and stores that list in memory in association with the receiver address and the meter data from those meter reading devices. 
         [0011]    The method of the invention further includes reading a file of meter data in the form of an HTML web page, then decoding the HTML data that it receives from the receiver, and storing it in memory in a database organization of data. 
         [0012]    The method of the invention includes reading data from the receivers at scheduled intervals, such as an hour, four times per day or daily, and the file of metering data further includes the read schedule interval for each receiver. Data can be retrieved from the database based on the date and time it was read from the receiver. 
         [0013]    The method and system of the present invention can run on a network data collection computer running under a Windows® operating system with network access to a wide area network, such as the Internet. 
         [0014]    The invention further relates to a meter data collector program for operating on a network meter data collection computer, the meter data collector program comprising a network reader portion for addressing at least one receiver through a wide area network at a receiver network address, wherein the network reader portion receives a data file through the wide area network from the at least one receiver that includes meter data from a plurality of meter reading devices that have previously communicated with the receiver. The meter data collector program further comprises a database organization portion for detecting an identifier for each of the meter reading devices from the data file and for organizing the identifier for each meter reading device in a database in association with the receiver network address and the meter data for the respective meter reading device; and a database reports portion for retrieving meter data from each of the meter reading devices according to at least one of: a receiver address, a meter reading device identifier and a time and date of collection. 
         [0015]    The network meter data collection computer can be accessed by billing computers to access meter data from the database for billing purposes. The data collection computer can also be accessed by system monitoring computers to access meter data from the database for monitoring the condition data throughout the system. 
         [0016]    Other objects and advantages of the invention, besides those discussed above, will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art from the description of the preferred embodiments which follows. In the description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and which illustrate examples of the invention. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0017]      FIG. 1  is a schematic of a fixed network AMR system for collecting meter data from transmissions from meter data reading devices and organizing the meter data in a database according to the present invention; 
           [0018]      FIG. 2  is a flow chart of a programmed routine for setting up the receivers in the memory of the data collection system; 
           [0019]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart of a programmed routine for organizing a database of metering data collected from the receivers; 
           [0020]      FIG. 4  is a flow chart of a programmed routine for generating reports from the database; 
           [0021]      FIG. 5   a  is a data map of a file of data transmitted between the receivers and the network data collection computer according to the present invention; 
           [0022]      FIG. 5   b  is a detail data map of a header in the field of data in  FIG. 5   a;  and 
           [0023]      FIG. 5   c  is a detail data map of a line of data in the body of the file shown in  FIG. 5   a.    
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0024]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , a network data collection computer  10  is provided in an office for collecting metering data from a fixed network of meter reading devices  12  distributed within a geographic area served by a utility. The network data collection computer  10  typically is connected to a billing computer (not shown) which requests data and imports a data file from the network server  10  to obtain meter data to produce customer statements of account for utility usage. The network data collection computer  10  can also be accessed by a system monitoring computer for monitoring exception conditions such as leakage or tampering or shut-off conditions. It is also possible that, in some embodiments, the functions of these separate computers could be combined in a single computer running multiple application programs. In this preferred embodiment, the utility is water, however, in other embodiments the utility can be gas or electricity. 
         [0025]    The network data collection computer  10  communicates over a wide area network (WAN)  11 , such as the Internet, to a router  13 . A plurality of network of meter reading devices  12  each include a utility meter, a transducer and an RF (radio frequency) transmitter. In this example, the units  12  can be meter reading and transmitting units commercially offered under the Orion® trademark or the Galaxy® trademark by the assignee of the present invention. These meter reading devices  12  transmit radio frequency (RF) signals  17  to a receiver  15  to form a local area wireless network. It should be understood that there are typically more than one receiver  15  in a network, although only one is illustrated in  FIG. 1 . Sometimes the receiver  15  is also referred to as a “gateway” because it interfaces between the local area wireless network and another longer range network  11 . Alternatively, the meter reading devices  14  may be sensors for sensing other types of conditions at the utility meter or in supply links connected to the utility meters. These sensors may be connected to Orion® or Galaxy® radio transmitters to transmit status data to the receiver  15 . 
         [0026]    The meter reading devices  12 ,  14  transmit data-encoded RF signals over low power RF frequencies either in the non FCC-licensed ISM (Industrial-Scientific-Medical) band from 902 MHz to 928 MHz. (Orion® AMR systems) or in the FCC-licensed frequencies such as 150-200 Mhz, 325 MHz, 433.92 MHz or from 450 to 470 MHz (Galaxy® AMR systems). The meter data transmitters  12 ,  14  transmit to an RF receiver  15 , which in this case is an Orion® receiver that is connected via a wired Ethernet local network  16  to a WAN (Internet) router  19 . In other embodiments, a wireless connection between the receiver and the router can be used. The router  19  is connected to a wide area network  11 , in this embodiment to the Internet. In another embodiment, the receiver  15  is a gateway receiver of the type offered under the Galaxy® trademark. The network data collection computer  10  is also connected to the wide area network  11 , the Internet, and can address the receivers  15  at a receiver network address which can be an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the format WWW.XXX.Y.ZZZ—where W,X, Y and Z are values in a range from “0” to “255”, such as for example: 192.168.1.175. The receiver network address can also be a uniform resource locator (URL) in the form: http://www.google.com. 
         [0027]    The invention provides a method and a system for the collection of meter data from the meter reading devices  12 ,  14  and for providing a self-populating database  22  in the data collection computer  10  for storing and the meter data for retrieval according to certain parameters. As used herein, the term “meter data” should be understood to include either utility consumption data or condition status data, or both. Condition status data includes leak detection data, tamper data and shut-off valve data and other types of data concerning meter operation besides actual utility consumption data. 
         [0028]    The method and system of the present invention runs on the network data collection computer  10  running under a Windows® operating system with network access to the Internet  11 . The method of the invention communicates with the receiver  15  using a receiver network address that has been preset in the receiver  15  and provided to the network data collection computer  10  on a first reading. The method of the invention further includes reading a file of meter data illustrated in  FIG. 5 , which is communicated within an HTML web page  21 , then decoded from the HTML data and stored in memory in a database  22  of data. 
         [0029]    The database  22  stores a receiver network address, a list of transmitting devices  12 ,  14  served by the receiver  15 , a history of readings for the transmitting devices  12 ,  14  and a history of readings from the receiver  15  as shall be described in more detail below in relation to  FIGS. 5   a - 5   c.    
         [0030]    As a preliminary step, when the receivers  15  are installed in the field, they are provided with a receiver network address for communication with the network data collection computer  10 . 
         [0031]    The network data collection computer  10  operates under the control of a stored computer program including a receiver setup routine, as represented by  FIG. 2 . The blocks in the illustrations in  FIGS. 2-4  represent one or more program instructions in the stored computer program that are executed by a processor in the network data collection computer  10 . The computer program is stored in the memory in the computer  10 , but can also be stored in a tangible data storage medium or in a file for transmission on the Internet. 
         [0032]    As seen in  FIG. 2 , after the starting of the setup routine, as represented by start block  25 , a plurality of receiver records are set up, as further represented by process block  26 . For each receiver  15 , the receiver network address is entered in the record as represented by process block  27 . A network address for a receiver can also be modified if necessary. Next, a schedule for communicating with receiver is entered, such as hourly, every six hours or once per day, as represented by process block  28 . The receiver setup routine is then done as represented by end block  29 . 
         [0033]    After the initialization in  FIG. 3 , the network data collection computer  10  is ready to begin collecting meter data and setting up a database in a routine that is begun as represented by start block  30 . As represented by process block  31 , the network data collection computer  10  reads in data from the receivers  15  according to the schedule set up in the set up routine in  FIG. 3 . 
         [0034]    A data file  21  ( FIGS. 1 and 5   a ) in the form of an HTML web page is read and, thus, the data must be decoded as represented by process block  32 . Next, in  FIG. 3 , as represented by decision block  33 , a check is made to see if the each meter reading device  12 ,  14  identified in the data file is already listed in the network server database  22 . If not, as represented by the “NO” result, a database organizing portion of the routine adds an identifier, such as the serial number of the meter reading device  12 ,  14 , to the database, as represented by process block  34 . If the answer is “YES,” or if process block  34  has been executed, the database organizing processing portion of the routine stores the meter data and indexes it by receiver, by transmitter and by the date and time of reading, as represented by process blocks  35 ,  36 ,  37  and  38 . This allows the data to be retrieved in database reports for printing or display by a database reports portion of the computer program. 
         [0035]    The database  22  is thus self-populating as to the meter reading devices  12 ,  14 . It requires only a list of addresses for the receivers  15  and a reading interval to begin operation. This saves much labor in installing the network data collection portion of AMR system. 
         [0036]    The method of the invention includes reading data from the receivers  15  at scheduled intervals, such as an hour, four times per day or daily, and the file of metering data  21  further includes the read schedule interval for each receiver. Data can be retrieved from the database based on the time it was read from the receiver. This schedule is set at the network data collection computer  10 . 
         [0037]    The invention also provides reports from the database  22 . After entering a reports routine as represented by start block  40  in  FIG. 4 , the receivers  15  are associated with latitude and longitude data and can be displayed on a map, as represented by process block  41 . Next, as represented by process block  42 , a calculation can be made by a processor of a percentage of the meter devices  12 ,  14  reporting for each receiver  15  over a selectable time period. Then, as represented by process block  43 , certain location points on the map can be color-coded according the percentage of meter data devices  12 ,  14  from which data was collected. A graphical display or table can be output upon demand as represented by process block  44 . The reports routine is then complete as represented by done block  45 . 
         [0038]      FIG. 5   a  shows a map diagram of a HTML-coded web page  21  of meter data received by the network data collection computer  10  from one of the receivers  15 . This would be the format for a system using an Orion® receiver. A system using a Galaxy gateway receiver would use a different file format of a type known in the art. The file in this example has a header  50  and up to 233 lines of data  51  corresponding to 233 meter reading devices in positions from METER  1  to METER  233 . The number of meter reading devices can vary from this in other embodiments. 
         [0039]      FIG. 5   b  shows a map of the header  50 . There is a first item of data  52  with a time stamp for the entire file of data  21 . A second item of data  53  has a MAC (media access control) address for the receiver  15 . This is followed by a third item of data  54  containing an identifier such as a serial number for the receiver. This is followed by a fourth item of data  55 , which is the network address for the receiver  15 . 
         [0040]      FIG. 5   c  shows a map of each line of data  51 , of which there are up to 233 lines in each file  21 . There is a first item of data  56  which is a time stamp for the individual meter reading device  12 ,  14 . Next, there is a header for each meter reading device  12 ,  14  represented by item  57 . This is followed by an item of data  58  representing the identifier, such as a serial number of the transmitter which corresponds to each meter reading device  12 ,  14 . Next, there is a status or type item of data  59  which identifies one of several types of meter reading devices  12 , such as an RTR® pulse register/transmitter type, an ADE® digital encoder type, or gas meter registers, or other designations for completely electronic registers. This is followed by the actual meter data or status condition data, as represented by item  60 . This is followed by a CRC item of data  61 , which is a cyclic redundancy code or error checking code computed from the data earlier in line of data. Finally, a radio signal strength indicator (RSSI) item of data  62  is provided from each meter reading device  12 ,  14  for radio network diagnostics purposes. 
         [0041]    It should now be understood how the data received in the data file  21  is decoded from an HTML-coded web page, and stored in a database  22  that includes a receiver address, a list of meter reading devices  12 ,  14  served by the receiver  15 , a history of readings for the meter reading devices  12 ,  14  and a history of readings from the receiver  15 . 
         [0042]    As seen from the above description, the invention provides for easier installation and set up of an AMR system, thereby saving labor and installation cost and providing ease of use to the utility. 
         [0043]    This has been a description of the preferred embodiments, but it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that variations may be made in the details of these specific embodiments without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention, and that such variations are intended to be encompassed by the following claims.