The present invention relates generally to computer networking, and more particularly, to systems and methods that enable the collection of digital telemetry data relating to utility consumption at a customer premises over a service provider's network serving the customer.
Utility companies (i.e., water, electric, and gas) typically bill a customer by reading meters that are disposed at the customer's premises. In most residential and small business applications, utility meters are placed outside of the home or business location, and these are visually inspected by utility company employees to collect utility usage data. In order to save the costs associated with sending these employees out on monthly meter reading trips, some utility companies estimate charges based on previous consumption. However, this has proven problematic for some customers as they can be charged more during the months when charges are estimated than for actual consumption. Accordingly, there have been proposals to reduce the labor involved in collecting utility usage data.
Many types of “automatic meter reading” (AMR) technologies have been proposed to overcome the disadvantages associated with manual meter readings taken by utility company employees. AMR expedients include handheld, mobile and network technologies based on telephony platforms, radio frequency (RF), or powerline transmission.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,699,276 to Roos, discloses a utility meter interface that
connected between a utility company and a residence. The utility meter interface includes a utility meter for measuring utility consumption at the residence, and a computer located externally to the home. The computer is connected to the utility meter and provides an interface between a communication network provided by the utility company and electrical, video and telephone devices in the home. An electric company can produce a record of power use by communicating periodically with the meter interface over the communication network.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,369,719 to Tracey et al. discloses a system and method for remotely monitoring utility consumption by automatically collecting data and digitally transmitting the data to a remote receiving device via a wireless network (i.e., GSM or TDMA), or through a hardwired telecommunications system at a user location for subsequent transmission to the wireless network.
U.S. Publ. No. 2007/0055640 to Dababneh et al. discloses a system and method for remotely monitoring a plurality of utility meters that by interrogating the meters with SMS messages over a GSM network. A host computer at a billing office of the utility uses SMS to contact one or more utility meters using a mobile link. The utility meters respond with a SMS message containing usage data that is then stored in a database to enable a record of utility consumption to be generated for the customer.
Although the remote collection of utility data is known as evidenced by the above, the inventors are unaware of any system or method wherein a telecommunication service provider's network is employed to collect and maintain utility meter consumption data for customers at a utility server operated by the network service provider, and where such a server may be accessed by both the utility companies and the customers.
In accordance with an aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for collecting utility consumption telemetry data from a customer served by a plurality of utility companies, and providing a consumption report for the customer to each of the plurality of utility companies serving the customer. The method generally comprises the steps of: receiving the utility consumption telemetry data from the utility customer at a server associated with a network service provider that provides the customer with networked communications; storing the utility consumption telemetry data in a database; and providing a consumption report for the customer to each of the plurality of utility companies serving the customer.
In a preferred expedient, network service provider includes bundled home services for the customer, such as voice, data and television.
The consumption reports that are generated include at least one of monthly, quarterly and annual reports. The method may include the step of generating an email notification to each of the plurality of utility companies in connection with providing the consumption report.
The method may also comprise the step of receiving alarm data relating to the condition of a utility meter at the customer location. An email notification can be sent to a selected utility company in connection with receiving the alarm data relating to the condition of the utility meter at the customer location.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a system for collecting utility consumption telemetry data from a customer served by a plurality of utility companies, and providing a consumption report for the customer to each of the plurality of utility companies serving the customer. The system comprises: a server associated with a network service provider that provides the customer with networked communications, adapted for receiving the utility consumption telemetry data from the utility customer, and storing the utility consumption telemetry data in a database; and a module for providing a consumption report for the customer to each of the plurality of utility companies serving the customer.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided a system for collecting utility consumption telemetry data from a customer served by a plurality of utility companies, and providing a consumption report for the customer to each of the plurality of utility companies serving the customer, comprising: a plurality of utility meters disposed at the customer location, the utility meters communicating with a service provider network serving the customer; and a network service provider gateway coupled to the plurality of utility meters, the network service provider gateway enabling the delivery of bundled network services to the customer.
These aspects of the invention and further advantages thereof will become apparent to those skilled in the art as the present invention is described with particular reference to the accompanying drawings
Embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawing figures wherein like numbers represent like elements throughout. Before embodiments of the invention are explained in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of the examples set forth in the following description or illustrated in the figures. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in a variety of applications and in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of “including,” “comprising,” or “having” and variations thereof herein are meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items.
Referring now to
The meter data includes, as described above, consumption data for the customer, but may also include periodic status data regarding the meter if so desired. In this manner appropriate alarms may be generated if a meter fails to inform the network of its status and a repair notice can be issued for the utility company to effectuate meter repairs.
In the exemplary embodiment, the IPTV network 316 comprises a Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (“DSLAM”) 318 located at a Central Office (CO) 320 that communicates with the service provider gateway 314. The DSLAM 318 is connected to an Ethernet switch 322 that couples the CO to an Intermediate Office (IO) 324 including at least one IPTV router 326. The IO 324 is connected to a Video Hub Office (VHO) 328 that serves as the regional/local head end for the IPTV services. The VHO 328 may be coupled to a video service office (VSO) for content aggregation and switching (not shown). In the exemplary embodiment, the VHO 328 includes at least one utility server 330 for storing and managing utility data. The utility server 330 maintains profiles of customers, meter readings and utility usage for each customer. The metrics data for each customer may be collected on a continuous, hourly, daily, or any other prearranged basis as established by the utility companies. This data can be accessed directly over the IP backbone 332 by utility company personnel as shown generally at 334. A USMC 336 also communicates with the utility server 330, and comprises a provisioning module 338, notification module 340, network management module 342, and utility service management module 344.
Customer profiles and provisioning data are entered into utility server 330 via the provisioning module 338.
The utility service management module 344 collects data from the utility server 330 and generates monthly, quarterly and annual reports on customer consumption that may be communicated directly to the respective utility companies 346 (electric), 348 (gas), and 350 (water) as shown schematically in
The utility service management module 344 can generate email notifications to the utility companies 346, 348 and 350 before, contemporaneous with, or after transmitting the data to the utility companies' servers 352, 354 and 356 if desired. Similarly, a meter alarm from a customer can result in an email notification being triggered by the network management module 342.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the utility server 330 can be accessed by utility customers directly over the Internet domain, thereby enabling such customers to directly monitor all of their utility consumption from a single location. This feature can be provided by their network service provider. For example, the customer can manage his or her TV, data, phone and utility consumption directly from the service provider's website links. For example, a Uniform Resource Locater (URL) such as http//www.HomeUtility.att.com may be provided in connection network services provided by AT&T for its IPTV customers. Similarly, this link is made available for access by the utility companies that have consumption data for their customers residing on utility server 330. A Web page accessible via that link preferably requires a user name or other suitable customer/utility identification and a password, or other security code associated with the user name prior to permitting access to consumption data.
The UMR may periodically or continuously upload consumption data to the utility server using a publish/subscribe network communications protocol, without waiting for a query from the utility server. It will also be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the use of a UMR for collecting usage data is merely exemplary. It is possible for each of the utility meters to be directly connected to the network gateway at the customer premises within the scope of the invention. A utility meter may itself include a processor adapted for communicating with a communications network via a network interface that in a preferred embodiment converts the data therein to an Ethernet TCP/IP format.
The foregoing detailed description is to be understood as being in every respect illustrative and exemplary, but not restrictive, and the scope of the invention disclosed herein is not to be determined from the description of the invention, but rather from the claims as interpreted according to the full breadth permitted by the patent laws. It is to be understood that the embodiments shown and described herein are only illustrative of the principles of the present invention and that various modifications may be implemented by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.