Patent ID: 8300581

Claim:
In an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system in which a server communicates with a wireless network of metering devices in accordance with a first communications protocol, each metering device defining a node on the wireless network and each node having a unique identifier on the wireless network, a method for communicating between the server and a distribution automation (DA) device that is designed to communicate in accordance with a second protocol that is different from the first protocol of the wireless network of metering devices, the method comprising: connecting a communications interface of the DA device to a corresponding communications interface on one of the nodes of the wireless network; receiving at the server a message addressed to the DA device, the message being formatted in accordance with the second protocol; determining the unique identifier of said one node on the wireless network to which the DA device is connected; using the determined unique identifier, transmitting a command to said one node via the wireless network and in accordance with the first communications protocol thereof, the command requesting that said one node write the message to a first American National Standards Institute standard C12.19 (ANSI C12.19)-compliant table in a memory of the node, said one node thereafter retrieving the message from the first ANSI C12.19-compliant table and transmitting the message to the DA device via its communications interface in accordance with the second protocol, said one node storing a response to the message received from the DA device in a second ANSI C12.19-compliant table in its memory; transmitting a second command to said one node via the wireless network and in accordance with the first communications protocol thereof, the second command requesting that the response be read from the second ANSI C12.19-compliant table of said one node and transmitted to the server via the wireless network in accordance with the first communications protocol; and receiving the response at the server.