The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 09, 1999
Filed:
Jun. 09, 1997
Nick G Vrionis, Los Altos, CA (US);
Diablo Research Corporation, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
A meter reader for reading a meter by reading a shadow made by a meter pointer on the face of the meter. The meter reader includes a light source for shining a light toward the meter, a pulse control circuit for pulsing the light source, two light sensors for receiving reflections of the pulsed light from two sections of the face, a detection circuit for detecting the intensity of the reflections received by each of the sensors, a microprocessor system for calculating an intensity relationship between the intensities received by each of the sensors, a counter for incrementing a meter readout count when the intensity relationship varies indicating that the shadow has passed over both sections of the meter face, and a transmitter for transmitting the meter readout count in a meter readout signal.