US 7,498,953 B2
Smart transmitter for utility meters
Floyd Stanley Salser, Jr., P.O. Box 772887, Ocala, Fla. 34477-2887 (US); Ian Phillip Harvey, 59 Allison Road, Brislington, Bristol BS4 4PW (United Kingdom); and Roger Allcorn, 59 Allison Road, Brislington, Bristol BS4 4PW (United Kingdom)
Filed on Nov. 16, 2004, as Appl. No. 10/989,811.
Prior Publication US 2006/0103546 A1, May 18, 2006
Int. Cl. G08B 23/00 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 340—870.02  [340/636.1; 455/127.1; 455/127.5; 702/63] 31 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A transmitter for transmitting data from a utility meter to a remote location, said transmitter comprising:
a processor operatively connected to transmitter circuitry and a depletable power source, wherein said transmitter circuitry is electrically associated with an antenna;
a memory electrically associated with said processor for storing power-level-adjustment-data wherein such power-level-adjustment-data comprises a plurality of data pairs comprising power-level-adjustment-values and supplied-voltage-level-values;
wherein said processor is configured to retrieve utility-data from a data-source electrically associated with said processor and transfer at least part of said utility-data to the transmitter circuitry;
wherein said transmitter circuitry is configured to transmit a data-signal to a remote location, said data-signal comprising at least part of said utility-data;
wherein said processor is operable to configure said transmitter circuitry to transmit said data-signal at different power levels;
wherein the power level of the transmitted data-signal is affected by the quality of power supplied to the transmitter circuitry; and
wherein the processor is further configured to (1) determine the real-time voltage level being supplied by the depletable power source, (2) retrieve the power-level-adjustment-value paired with the supplied-voltage-level-value that best matches said real-time voltage value, and (3) use the retrieved power-level-adjustment-value to automatically adjust the power level of the transmitted data-signal to compensate for a reduction in the quality of the power supplied by said depletable power source.