Patent ID: 7079962

Claim:
In a utility meter reading system having multiple utility meters wirelessly transmitting utility meter data to a mobile or fixed wireless receiver, an adjustable bandwidth automated meter reading system, comprising: an encoder-receiver-transmitter (ERT) connected to each of the utility meters, wherein the ERT is configured to receive and wirelessly transmit utility metering data with respect to consumption of at least one utility resource; and a mobile or fixed data collection unit comprising a receiver and a signal processing resource, wherein the receiver is configured to wirelessly receive the transmitted utility metering data, and wherein the signal processing resource is configured for performing N-point Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT), wherein the data collection unit: stores the received data into an M×N long buffer, where M is an integer; multiplies the buffered utility meter data by a window function, wherein the window function contains no zeros, one zero, or a plurality of zeros depending on how much the bandwidth is to be adjusted; partitions the multiplied data into M equal segments, where each segment has N points; adds similarly positioned points of all the segments together such that the most significant points of all the M segments are added together, the second most significant points of all the segments are added together, and likewise adds together other similarly situated points of the segments; and performs N-point FFT on the N-point results of the additions to enable the adjustable bandwidth meter reading system to carry out signal processing on narrow bandwidth data to broadband data up to M×N points long.