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:
Sep. 30, 2003
Filed:
May. 23, 2000
Rodney C. Hemminger, Raleigh, NC (US);
Albert H. Maxwell, Jr., Raleigh, NC (US);
Thomas J. Van Heuklon, Kaukauna, WI (US);
Richard L. Tenor, Green Bay, WI (US);
Scott Weikel, Raleigh, NC (US);
Michael Murphy, Raleigh, NC (US);
Todd Kelsey, Appleton, WI (US);
Elster Electricity, LLC, Horsham, PA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for detecting a power outage within an energy meter and alerting a remote central computer about the outage using call-in reporting via modem ( ) within the meter to a telephone number designated for outage reporting. A primary battery cell or pack ( ) is placed inside the meter ( ) to operate the modem ( ) when line power is lost. The modem ( ) switches from a line power source in the meter ( ) to the battery source ( ) when an outage is detected and is to be reported to the remote central computer as an outage call. The battery source ( ) is switched off when the outage is completed or aborted. The number of retries to call to report the power outage and the time period between retries is programmable.