Patent ID: 7376118

Claim:
A method of reducing signal interference in the transmission of metered data from a plurality of meter endpoint transmitters to a plurality of corresponding readers in an automatic meter reading (AMR) system, a first set of the endpoint transmitters being assigned to a first reader, a second set of the endpoint transmitters being assigned to a second reader, and a third set of the endpoint transmitters (endpoints) being assigned to a third reader, wherein the first, second and third set of endpoints are disposed within a plurality of cells, wherein each of a first, second and third cell that are adjacent to each other, the method comprising: assigning a first Frame ID number and first response frequency channel to the first reader, a second Frame ID number and a second response frequency channel to the second reader, and a third Frame ID number and third response frequency channel to the third reader; transmitting on at least one control frequency channel from the first reader a first wake up signal sequence comprised of a wake-up countdown timer frame, a sync and control frame corresponding to the first Frame ID number, and a dead time slot frame, the first wake up signal sequence adapted to include a response delay for the first endpoint set; transmitting on the at least one control frequency channel from the second reader a second wake up signal sequence comprised of a second wake-up countdown timer frame, a second sync and control frame corresponding to the second Frame ID number, and a second dead time slot frame, the second wake up signal sequence adapted to include a second response delay for the second endpoint set; transmitting on the at least one control frequency channel from the third reader a third wake up signal sequence comprised of a third wake-up countdown timer frame, a third sync and control frame corresponding to the third Frame ID number, and a third dead time slot frame, the third wake up signal sequence adapted to include a third response delay for the third endpoint set; and receiving metered data simultaneously at the readers from the corresponding endpoint sets via the first, second and third response frequency channels, wherein the order of transmitting the first, second and third wake-up signal sequences and the magnitude of the response delay for the respective endpoints is a function of the Frame ID number that is assigned the reader of each cell.