Patent ID: 8149119

Claim:
A method comprising: activating a tamper monitoring circuit of a seal configured to securely lock a utility meter through at least one of: a reception, inside a housing of the seal, of a locking portion, the reception to cause a conductive material of the locking portion to contact a conductive portion of the tamper monitoring circuit to complete an electrical coupling between a power source of the tamper monitoring circuit and the tamper monitoring circuit, and a communication through an external transceiver upon secure locking of the utility meter; wirelessly transmitting at least one of an identification data and an integrity information associated with at least one of the seal and the utility meter to the external transceiver upon one of activating the tamper monitoring circuit and being queried by the external transceiver following the activation of the tamper monitoring circuit through a transceiver of the tamper monitoring circuit, the transceiver of the tamper monitoring circuit and the external transceiver being configured to securely communicate with each other through a protocol configured to enable the transceiver of the tamper monitoring circuit and the external transceiver to one of wait for a period of time when a channel is busy before attempting to transmit through the channel and transmit using another channel when the channel is busy, wherein the channel signifies a frequency in a frequency band of communication between the transceiver of the tamper monitoring circuit and the external transceiver; detecting a tamper condition associated with tampering of the seal through the tamper monitoring circuit; and wirelessly transmitting data associated with the tamper condition to the external transceiver upon one of detecting the tamper condition through the tamper monitoring circuit and being queried by the external transceiver through the transceiver of the tamper monitoring circuit.