Patent ID: 6954814

Claim:
A system for monitoring and transmitting utility status via a universal communications interface, comprising: an input interface operative to receive a utility status signal from a utility meter; a processor functionally coupled to the input interface for receiving the utility status signal from the input interface and operative to generate a status message based on the utility status signal; a universal communications interface, local to the utility meter, functionally coupled to the processor and configurable for communicating with a plurality of different types of communication devices, each different type of communication device operative to communicate with a receiving device via one of a plurality of different communication mediums; a slot functionally coupled to the universal communications interface and configured to interchangeably connect one of the plurality of different types of communication devices; wherein the processor communicates with the universal communications interface to determine which one of the plurality of different types of communication devices is connected to the slot; and wherein the processor formats the status message into a format compatible with the connected communication device and transmits the formatted status message to the universal communications interface for transmission to the connected communications device.