Communications: electrical – Systems – Call station
Patent
1976-10-21
1979-01-02
Pitts, Harold I.
Communications: electrical
Systems
Call station
340151, 340150, G08C 1916
Patent
active
041329813
ABSTRACT:
A system is disclosed for storing signals indicative of a customer's consumption of a utility as measured by a meter, such as adapted to measure the flow of water, gas or electricity, for example, and for storing a corresponding data word to permit subsequent readout from the system of utility consumed and of a data word identifying the customer consuming the service, whereby the utility company providing the service may appropriately and accurately prepare a bill for the customer. This system comprises a meter or pulse generator responsive to the input from the utility company to the customer to provide a signal typically in the form of a pulse-like, electrical signal indicative of the consumption of a given quantity of the utility, a storage or memory means for storing a first data word indicative of the utility consumed and a second data word specifying the customer, and sequence control means for permitting interrogation of the memory means, whereby the data words indicative of utility consumed and the customer identification may be read out, typically by an external interrogation unit. The interrogation unit may typically comprise a portable unit including a storage mechanism such as a cassette, carried by a "meter reader" to each customer location. This system is self-powered, requiring only the application of either of a pulse-like, electrical signal of the utility meter or an interrogate signal from the interrogation unit for its complete energization, and operates in a first, pulse increment mode of operation to respond to the application of the meter signal and in particular the sensing of a particular voltage level of the meter signal to increment the currently-stored data word indicative of the previously-stored utility consumption, store the new incremented data word and thereafter deactuate the system. In a second, interrogation mode of operation, an interrogation signal from the interrogation unit actuates and energizes the system when the voltage level of the interrogation signal rises above a predetermined level, whereby the system reads from the system's memory the stored data word indicative of the utility consumption and the customer's identification, which both are applied to the interrogation unit, and thereafter the system is deactuated.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3571800 (1971-03-01), Taylor
patent: 3618023 (1971-11-01), Parker
patent: 3897887 (1975-08-01), Goldberg
patent: 4004097 (1977-01-01), Spaulding
Gable R. Lewis
Marriott Albert G.
Pitts Harold I.
Rockwell International Corporation
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