Patent ID: 7498953

Claim:
A transmitter for transmitting data from a utility meter to a remote location, said transmitter comprising: a processor operatively connected to transmitter circuitry and a depletable power source, wherein said transmitter circuitry is electrically associated with an antenna; a memory electrically associated with said processor for storing power-level-adjustment-data wherein such power-level-adjustment-data comprises a plurality of data pairs comprising power-level-adjustment-values and supplied-voltage-level-values; wherein said processor is configured to retrieve utility-data from a data-source electrically associated with said processor and transfer at least part of said utility-data to the transmitter circuitry; wherein said transmitter circuitry is configured to transmit a data-signal to a remote location, said data-signal comprising at least part of said utility-data; wherein said processor is operable to configure said transmitter circuitry to transmit said data-signal at different power levels; wherein the power level of the transmitted data-signal is affected by the quality of power supplied to the transmitter circuitry; and wherein the processor is further configured to (1) determine the real-time voltage level being supplied by the depletable power source, (2) retrieve the power-level-adjustment-value paired with the supplied-voltage-level-value that best matches said real-time voltage value, and (3) use the retrieved power-level-adjustment-value to automatically adjust the power level of the transmitted data-signal to compensate for a reduction in the quality of the power supplied by said depletable power source.