Patent ID: 7110778

Claim:
A telemetry digital data communication system comprising: a central data acquisition system; a first telemetry device that utilizes a modem for data communication, and a second telemetry device; a two-wire data transmission line between the first telemetry device and the second telemetry device; wherein the second telemetry device comprises: a processor for communicating with the first telemetry device; a modem for facilitating the processor to communicate the digital meter data from the first telemetry device to the digital cellular radio; a ring voltage generator for enabling communication with the first telemetry device; a loop current generator to maintain current flow through the two-wire line when the second telemetry device communicates with the first telemetry device; an off-hook detector to determine whether the first telemetry device is in an off-hook condition; a dial tone generator to generate a dial tone to the first telemetry device; a dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) digit detector to determine whether a DTMF digit was transmitted by the first telemetry device; and a digital cellular radio for communicating with the processor and the central data acquisition system; wherein the processor facilitates relaying digital meter data from the first telemetry device to the digital cellular radio in which the digital cellular radio facilitates transmitting the digital meter data to the central data acquisition system; wherein the digital cellular radio is capable of receiving instruction data from the central data acquisition system to transmit digital meter data from the first telemetry device, and sending the instruction data to the processor for relaying the instruction data and communicating with the first telemetry device over the data communication line to transmit the digital meter data from the first telemetry device which then transmits the data to the central data acquisition system.