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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.:

US 8073384 B1

PDFFull Text
Date of Patent:
Dec. 06, 2011

Filed:

Dec. 14, 2006

Optimization of redundancy and throughput in an automated meter data collection system using a wireless network

Applicants:

Kenneth C. Shuey, Zebulon, NC (US);

Andrew J. Borleske, Garner, NC (US);

Inventors:

Kenneth C. Shuey, Zebulon, NC (US);

Andrew J. Borleske, Garner, NC (US);

Assignee:

Elster Electricity, LLC, Raleigh, NC (US);

Attorney:

Woodcock Washburn LLP

Primary Examiner:

Nick Corsaro

Assistant Examiner:

Munsoon Choo

Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H04B 3/36 (2006.01); H04B 7/14 (2006.01); H04B 1/60 (2006.01); H04B 17/02 (2006.01); H04B 7/00 (2006.01); H04M 11/00 (2006.01); H04W 40/00 (2009.01); G08C 19/16 (2006.01); G08C 15/06 (2006.01); G08C 19/20 (2006.01); G08B 23/00 (2006.01); G01R 1/00 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract

Techniques for optimization of redundancy and throughput in an automated meter data collection system using a wireless network are disclosed herein. The wireless network comprises a central node, a plurality of bi-directional nodes, and a plurality of transmit-only meters. Each of the bi-directional nodes is in bi-directional wireless communication with the central node and has a wireless communication path to the central node that is either a direct path or an indirect path through one or more intermediate bi-directional nodes serving as relay nodes. The transmit-only meters wirelessly transmit meter data that is then relayed by one or more bi-directional nodes to the central node. Each of the bi-directional nodes is assigned one or more authorized transmit-only meters, and each of the bi-directional nodes is configured to relay meter data only from its authorized transmit-only meters, thereby providing an optimum level of redundancy and throughput in the network.

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