Patent ID: 7388189

Claim:
An electrical metering device for measuring an amount of electrical power usage of a power distribution system comprising: an input channel for receiving a light signal; light to voltage converter (LVC) circuitry for receiving the light signal from the input channel and converting the light signal to a first voltage signal; a processor for receiving the first voltage signal, processing the first voltage signal and outputting results of the processing as a second voltage signal wherein said processor is configured to determine the amount of electrical power usage measured by the electrical metering device; gate circuitry having a first input for receiving the first voltage signal from the LVC circuitry, a second input for receiving the second voltage signal including the output results from the processor, and circuitry for generating an output signal corresponding to a signal received at one of the first and second inputs, wherein receipt of the first and second voltage signals are staggered for preventing data collisions; voltage to light converter (VLC) circuitry for receiving the output signal from the gate circuitry and converting the received signal to a light signal; and an output channel for outputting the light signal from the VLC circuitry.