KR20000016463A - Method and apparatus for remote telemetering - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: Apparatus and method of conducting data sessions between a plurality of first sites (customer premises) and a plurality of second sites (servers) primarily for the purpose of retrieving stored data relating to one or more monitored devices (such as a power meter, gas meter, or water meter) are described. CONSTITUTION: A remote monitor (102) at each first site is provided with a CID capable modem. The remote monitor (102) interposes itself between the communications medium (e.g., telephone network) and customer premises communications equipment (e.g., telephones) and intercepts data phone calls intended for reading the monitored devices. The remote monitor (102) selectively connects and disconnects the customer premises communications equipment (telephones) and manages the state of the data phone calls so that its operation is invisible to the user of the communications equipment (telephone). Incoming data calls are validated and identified by matching incoming caller ID (CID) data with pre-stored, authorized server telephone numbers.

Description

Telemetry method and device

Remote monitoring (or “telemetering”) of facility metering equipment is of great concern for utilities that supply power, gas, and water to businesses or residents. Nationally, public facilities employ thousands of employees, whose purpose is to move from building to building and read instruments. This movement of “instrument readers” is time consuming and uneconomical given the number of instruments that must be read, the number of employees involved, and the number of vehicles required on the road. In addition, instrument reading by time can be error prone, and errors occur a lot, especially in analog " dial " type instruments because the position of the dial pointer is difficult to read clearly.

Thus, utilities have long recognized that economical, automated, and remote instrument reading mechanisms can make instruments easier, faster, cheaper and more accurate. Many attempts have been made to provide telemeter reading performance, but most have proven unwieldy or inoperable for various reasons.

One telephone-based technique discloses reading instrument data using special beep signaling on a standard telephone line. This technique generally has the advantage of not interfering with normal telephone functionality, but has the major disadvantage of requiring a specially designed line card at the central telephone station to transmit and receive instrument signals. The full implementation and widespread use of instrument reading systems using this technique requires a significant investment in special-purpose telephone equipment.

Other phone-based techniques have further used conventional in-band signaling mechanisms (eg, modems) for instrument communication. Although this technique has the advantage of being compatible with conventional telephone line cards, it has proved inoperable because it interferes with the customer's normal telephone service.

In general, utilities have the burden of keeping rates under certain control. Technically feasible techniques for automated instrument reading would also be completely impractical if the implementation caused an increase in fees to end customers, that is, utilities.

Clearly, there is a need for mechanisms for reading economical and fully automated equipment meters and devices for collecting other data remotely.

Summary of the Invention

Although the foregoing description relates primarily to reading facility meters through a switched telephone network, those skilled in the art will recognize that the same basic idea includes communications over power lines, cable TV lines, commercial broadcast media, fiber optics, and low power radios. It will be appreciated that the present invention may be applied to monitoring any kind of telemetry data through any of a variety of other communication media.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a telemetry technique that enables economic and automated data collection from a variety of remotely located metrology devices such as power meter, water meter or gas meter.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a telemetry technique that generally increases the accuracy of data collection.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a telemetry technique that eliminates or significantly reduces the need to read the telemetry device directly with the eye.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a remote measurement technique for a measurement device of a customer's home that can utilize existing communication media and lines of the existing customer's home.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a telemetry technique for measuring a device in a customer's home using a public telecommunications carrier medium such as a public switched telephone network (PSTN) while using existing public telecommunications equipment and procedures without modification. .

It is another object of the present invention to provide a remote measuring technique for a measuring device mounted in a customer's building through an existing communication medium such as a customer's telephone without interfering with normal operation of the communication medium.

According to the present invention, a system for retrieving data from a remote monitoring device, such as a facility meter, is implemented by providing a remote monitor system at each of a plurality of monitor sites. Each monitor site has one or more monitoring devices from which data is required. For example, the monitoring device may be an electrical meter, and the data provided by the electrical meter is for example usage amount and pit electrical load information.

Remote monitor systems are typically installed between some or all of the communication devices (eg, telephones, answering machines, modems, faxes, etc.) that are directly connected to the communication medium and the communication medium (eg, telephone switching networks). The remote monitor system shares the communication medium with the communication device in an easy manner. This is accomplished by a relay or other logical exchange mechanism in which the communication device is connected to the communication medium via a remote monitor system. The logical connection between the communication device and the communication medium is opened only when the remote monitor system needs to communicate through the communication system.

It is within the scope of the present invention for the remote monitoring system to control the home telephone line using ABO (automatic back off) to separate the home telephone line from the telephone company. The connection of the communication device to the communication system is not required for all time. By having the ability to control this connection, new low cost digital gateway services to the home are facilitated.

In accordance with a feature of the present invention, each remote monitor system has an identification mechanism to identify an incoming communication source before responding to an incoming communication. When the communication medium is a telephone exchange network, the identification mechanism may be provided in the form of a caller ID (CID) decoder such that the remote monitor system receives a caller ID (CID) code for the incoming call.

According to another feature of the invention, the identification code for the incoming communication is compared by the remote monitor system with one or more pre-stored identification codes. The prestored code is associated with the authenticated service. The remote monitor system will only respond to the identified server. This provides safety by preventing the metering device from being accessed by unauthorized persons. This prevents the remote monitor system from identifying or identifying the operation of the remote monitor by the user of the communication device (eg, telephone) at the monitor site, intercepting the incoming call from the server where the remote monitor system begins to retrieve data from the monitoring device. . These intercepted calls do not notify the remote monitor system and as a result are not recognized by the user of the communication device. The aforementioned relay (or other logical switching device) shuts down the communication device (eg, telephone) while the remote monitor system communicates with the server.

According to another feature of the invention, the remote monitor system comprises means for monitoring a communication device. In the case of telephone equipment, this corresponds to a loop current monitor so that the remote monitor system can detect the on-hook / off-hook status of the communication device.

The remote monitor system ultimately grants priority to communication devices (eg, telephones). It accomplishes this by continuously monitoring the start of use (eg off-hook conditions). If the remote monitor system is talking to the server via the communication medium when the start of use is made, the remote monitor system immediately stops communicating with the server and logically reconnects to the communication device via the communication medium. In this way, the presence and function of the remote monitor system is not identifiable by the user of the communication device.

In all implementations of the telemetry system of the present invention, there may be many servers and very many monitor sites. For example, each monitor site may be a building or a house having a water meter, an electricity meter, and a gas meter. In many locations, water companies, gas companies, and electric companies are completely independent of each other on instrument counting and customer billing. Each facility management company has its own server and provides autonomous instrumentation at each remote monitor site. However, for simplicity and economy, the facility management company will share a single remote monitor system at each monitor site set up to select data from all instruments at the monitor site. In addition, other service providers share remote monitors for other applications such as home health care, equipment counting or protection system device counting.

Optionally, multiple remote monitor systems at the monitor site may be connected in series with each other in turn because the operation of the remote monitor system is identified and each remote monitor system responds only to input communications. In this case, one metrology system is connected to each remote monitor system, and each monitor system is programmed to respond only to a server associated with the metrology device to collect data.

The technique of the present invention is inexpensive, utilizes existing communication facilities (eg, no special line card or exchange equipment is required for telephony applications) and can be fully visible to the user of the communication medium used for telemetry. none.

The objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the drawings.

The present invention relates to a telemetry system for monitoring remotely located equipment, and more particularly, to monitoring equipment such as power meters, gas meters, water meters and the like through a common carrier communication medium such as a public switched telephone network (PSTN). It relates to retrieving status, use, and everything accumulated from a remotely located device. Other applications include home security, home health systems, and home transaction processing equipment.

1 is a block diagram of a system for retrieving data from one or more remote data collection devices (which are monitored equipment) in accordance with the present invention.

2 is a block diagram of a modem portion of the system of FIG. 1 in accordance with the present invention.

3 is a schematic representation of the line inversion and ring detector portion of the system of FIG. 1 in accordance with the present invention.

4 is a block diagram of a microcontroller portion of the system of FIG. 1 in accordance with the present invention.

5 is a block diagram of a telemetry system in which a plurality of servers can access a plurality of remote monitors in accordance with the present invention.

Details of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, shown in the accompanying drawings, are described. Although the invention has been described in terms of these preferred embodiments, it should be noted that it is not intended to limit the scope and spirit of the invention to these specific embodiments.

According to the present invention, a system employing a modem having a caller ID recognition feature integrated (eg integrated) inside a modem, and having a instrument responding only to a predetermined (preset) requester (caller), is capable of digital communication as a communication medium. Useful for collecting data from remote data sources.

Remote data sources are, for example, electrical equipment meters that measure residential power consumption and usage patterns.

The communication medium is suitably suitable for telephone lines, power lines, wireless or mixed media (e.g., low power radio signals relayed to a central station by a signal collector / repeater set).

1 is a block diagram of a system 100 for collecting data from one or more remotely located data sources (monitored equipment) in accordance with the present invention. As shown in the figure, system 100 utilizes conventional wiring already installed in a remotely located data source for communication with the system. Remote monitor 102 is installed at a remote site location where data can be retrieved from the monitored equipment. Connection to existing telephone wires is via an automatic back-off data access device 104 (ABO-DAA). The ABO-DAA 104 is connected by standard tip 106a and ring 106b connections that connect existing telephone wiring to a public switched telephone network (PSTN). The standard DAA 108 (data access device) inside the ABO-DAA 104 provides access to the tip 106a and ring 106b telephone connections 106a and 106b to the controller 110 of the remote monitor 102. to provide. The controller 110 includes one or more interfaces to modem functions, tone generation and decoding, caller ID (CID) decoding, control and status indication, and externally monitored equipment (data sources described above). The controller may optionally include storage means for storing one or more preset approved call identification numbers and one or more call telephone numbers.

The controller 100 acts as a protection and isolation circuit between the PSTN and the controller 100 and employs a standard DAA 108 that is transparent to communication and signaling mechanisms within the controller (ie, modem, CID detector and tone generation and decoding). Communicate to PSTN via

The controller 100 queries one or more monitored devices through one or more sets of communication lines 124. Although the communication line is generally shown as a connected connection in FIG. 1, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the communication line 124 includes, but is not limited to, light beam communication, microwave communication, spread spectrum or other forms of wireless communication or optical fiber. It will be readily appreciated that the device may be provided in any suitable form of digital or analog communication.

The monitored device can be fully digitally monitored and stores its own total, count and other data in digital form, in which case the communication lines associated with the digital monitored device provide digital means for the controller to You can retrieve the value. Alternatively, the monitored device may be as small as the transducer, in which case the communication line prepares for proper monitoring of the device monitored by the controller 110 and the controller receives signals from the monitored device. It must interpret, unfold its own digital representation from it, calculate its sum and count for it.

Transducers, digital data collection devices and techniques, and circuitry for interfacing therewith are well known to those skilled in the art. The new technology of the present invention does not depend on any particular transducer or data collection device, and those skilled in the art will immediately understand how to provide a communication line to any suitable transducer or data collection device. Therefore, a more detailed discussion of the monitoring device is beyond the scope of the present invention, and the omission of this discussion is not to be seen as a limitation. Providing access to any suitable data collection device or transducer is entirely within the spirit and scope of the present invention.

The ABO-DAA 104 further includes a relay 112 or other suitable exchange device that causes the “normal” existing customer store connections 116a and 116b to the PSTN to be disconnected. The existing connections 116a and 116b typically provide a connection between a customer store telephone facility (shown as "home telephone # 1" 118a and "home telephone # 2" 118b in FIG. 1).

Those skilled in the art will readily anticipate that the functionality of the relay 112 may be equally well achieved by means of electronic exchange means that perform a "logical" connection / disconnection between the communication device of the customer store and the communication medium instead of a direct connection. It is readily understood that this type of "logical" connection is functionally the same as a direct electrical connection and the noticeable difference will not be noticed between the two types of connections.

The ABO-DAA 104 further includes an impedance monitor 120 connected to the controller 110 by an off-hook detection line 122. The impedance monitor 120 measures the impedance seen across customer store connections 116a and 116b to determine on-hook / off-hook of customer store telephone equipment (e.g., telephones 118a and 118b). .

The standard data access arrangement 108 preferably uses a magnetless component (e.g., a transformer or indicator) and provides data that matches the best economics and transmission characteristics of the controller, which will be described in more detail later with reference to FIG. Orient the action at speed.

The ABO-DAA 104 has an "automatic back-off" (ABO) characteristic described in FIG. In FIG. 1, a telephone line (e.g., a general pair of lines designated as "tip" 102a and "ring" 102b) is connected to a telephone set in the home (residential) via relay 112 (connection relay). 118a and 118b). Normally, the connection relay 112 is closed. When the remote monitor is "using" the telephone line (during a data session with the server), the connection relay 112 will open (as shown).

When someone picks up any of the telephones (e.g., 118a or 118b), this is the connection relay across the home telephone network (via tip and ring connections 116a and 116b) to which telephone equipment 118a and 118b is connected. Detected by telephone line loop impedance monitor 120 connected to the telephone side (as opposed to the lead-in side) of 12, a signal 122 is provided to the controller. In response to the signal, the remote monitor controller will immediately terminate the data session with the server and cause the connection relay 112 to close so that the user can use the telephones 118a and 118b in the normal manner. The remote monitor 102 reestablishes a data session with the server when the impedance monitor 120 detects the end of the user's telephone call. In this way, the customer always accesses the telephone line even if the telephone line is already in use by the remote monitor 102. As a result, the presence of the remote monitor 102 is essentially invisible to the user. In the worst case, the user will notice some delay during the reception of the dial tone when the remote monitor 102 must stop the data session, mainly due to the time lapse required to cancel the call. In most cases, this delay will not be noticeable to the user and will only occur very rarely.

2 is a block diagram of a modem functional unit having an integrated pager ID detection unit 200 (hereinafter referred to as a CID modem) in the controller 110. The CID modem 200 connects to the PSTN through the tip connection 202a and the ring connection 202b. This connection is functionally established through a standard DAA 108 (see FIG. 1) that is apparent to the CID modem 200. The transmit and receive filters 204 remove out-of-band phone line noise for communication with the CID modem 200. Modem signals 206 to and from the transmit and receive filter 204 are connected to a modem 208, and digital transmission information by the modem is sent to the PSTN through the tip and ring connections 202a and 202b. It may be modulated for transmission and the signal received through the tip and ring connections 202a and 202b may be demodulated to provide digital reception information.

Transmit and receive filter 204 provides receive signal 210 to DTMF (dual tone multi-frequency) and CP (call progress) where calls are being made and DTMF tones are monitored. DTMF and CP tone generator 216 provide tone signaling signals 214 to transmit and receive filters for transmitting over tip and ring connections 202a and 202b.

Modem 208 receives serial data to be transmitted across serial digital transmit data line 224a via modem 208 and transmits digital receive data across serial digital receive data line 224b from modem 208. Exchanges digital transmit and receive signals 220 with communication port 222.

The control interface 226 provides a set of control and status leads 230 through which the microcontroller (described later in connection with FIG. 4) controls the functionality within the CID modem 200. Through control and status signals 228, the control interface provides control and serial port 222, modem 208, DTMP and CP tone decoder 212, DTMF and tone generator 216, and line inversion and ring Receive status information to / from detector 232.

Line inversion and ring detector 232 monitors signals across tip and ring connections 202a and 202b and provides line inversion (ie, a positive to negative DC polarity shift) or ring signal (eg, about 90 volt RMS). AC voltage), and let the control interface 226 use the determination.

3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the basic components of line inversion and ring detector 300 (hereafter LRRD) in more detail. LRRD 300 is connected to tip and ring connections 202a and 202b (FIG. 2). A series RC circuit comprising a capacitor 302a and a resistor 304a connects the tip connection 202a to the AC input 306a of the full-wave bridge rectifier 306. Similarly, another series RC circuit including capacitor 302b and resistor 304b connects ring connection 202b to second AC input 306b of full-wave bridge rectifier 306. Since the RC input connections (ie 302a, 304a and 302b, 304b) were connected to the bridge rectifier, the DC signal is cut off when the AC and transient signals are passed. The negative output 306c of the bridge rectifier 306 is connected to a reference ground voltage. The positive output 306d of the bridge rectifier 306 is connected to a resistor divider that includes two resistors 308 and 310. The resistor divider proportionally reduces the voltage at the positive output 306d of the bridge rectifier 306 to a level that can be safely applied to the input of the threshold detector 312. The threshold detector 312 is designed to be hysteresis so that the output of the detector does not "bounce back and forth" when there is a small noise voltage at its input. The output of the threshold detector drives the connected transistor 314 to effectively ground the transistor drain terminal when the output of the detector 312 is activated and at high impedance if not. Transistor output (drain) connects to an integrated RC network that includes a resistor 316 and a capacitor 318. One end of the resistor 316 is connected to positive voltage VDD and the other end of the resistor is connected to one end of the capacitor 318, the output (drain) of the transistor 314, and the input of the second threshold detector. do. The output 322 of the second threshold detector 320 provides a ring detection signal RDET.

In a standard telephone circuit, ringing is accomplished by a 90 volt RMS AC signal applied across the tip and ring connections 202a and 202b by the telephone service provider. Originally, this ring signal is used to drive the ringer of the telephone. The RC dividers (registers 308 and 310) are set to provide enough voltage for the ringing waveform to exceed the minimum threshold of the threshold detector 312. When a ringing signal is present across the tip and ring connections 202a and 202b, between each half cycle of the ringing signal, the threshold detector 312 causes the output (drain) of the transistor 314 to ground, 318) Reduce the voltage across and the second threshold detector 320 causes the ringing to proceed through the RDET output 322. The time constant of the integrated RC network (register 316 and capacitor 318) is selected such that the ring detection signal output 322 is maintained between half cycles of the ringing signal. When the ringing signal stops, the voltage at the junction of the integrated RC network (register 316 and capacitor 318) rises through the threshold voltage of the second threshold detector 320 (longer than one half cycle of the AC ringing signal), The RDET output 322 of the second threshold detector is deactivated.

Many line inversions are detected in the same way. Line inversion occurs when the steady state DC voltage across the tip and ring signals 202a and 202b (typically 48 volts DC under non-load conditions) reverses the polarity. Since the tip and ring signals 202a and 202b are AC coupled to the LRRD 300, the AC is effectively shown as a 96 volt transient current, and the LRRD is AC as if the LRRD had one half cycle of the ringing signal. In response, generate a short pulse, the width of which is primarily determined by the time constant of the integrated RC circuit (register 316 and capacitor 318).

In CID applications, the timing of the ringing signal and line inversion is used to indicate when CID signal data is present across the tip and ring connections 202a and 202b. CID data is encoded as tones detected and decoded by tone detectors and / or modem circuitry in the CID modem.

Details of the signal characteristics, including the telephone line interface and the CID signal, have been set and are known to those of ordinary skill in the art and will not be mentioned herein any further. This should not be construed as limiting the spirit and scope of the invention.

4 is a block diagram of a microcontroller portion 400 of a controller (reference numeral 100 in FIG. 1). The microcomputer 402 operating under the control of the stored program controls the operation of the microcontroller 400. Microcontroller 400 includes one or more monitors that communicate via serial interface 404, communication line 124 (see FIG. 1), which enables microcontroller 400 to communicate with serial port 222 of modem 208. Allows the non-volatile memory 408 and microcomputer 402 to store the interface 406 to the device, configuration information and the entire valid caller ID, and the like, to manipulate and monitor signals on the control and status reads 230. The control interface 410 is mounted. Although not shown, it is assumed that the program memory and the data memory are provided in the microcomputer 402. The program memory is read only or rewritable memory. If rewritable memory is used, program updates may be sent to the microcomputer 402 via a communication medium (PSTN as described and illustrated above).

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a telemetry system 500. In FIG. 5, a plurality of servers 502 (S1, S2, S3, ... Sn) are each connected to a public switched network via a modem 504 with CID capability. (PSTN 510) or other suitable addressable communication medium (i.e., including CID capability). Multiple remote monitors 520 of the type described above with respect to FIGS. 1-4 are individually connected to the PSTN 510. Preferably, the remote monitors are arranged side by side and connected to at least one remotely readable instrumentation device (eg monitor device connection 124 and another telephone (eg see references 118a, 118b in FIG. 1) at a remote location). Otherwise, it is directly connected to the PSTN instead of being connected to the PSTN via the ABO-DAA portion of the remote monitor 520.

The quotation marks for the following description are taken from FIG. 1, otherwise they are not otherwise defined.

In an example of use, a system 100 of the type shown in FIG. 1 is installed in the equipment of an electrical utility user and connected to a usage meter of an electrical user suitable for monitoring by an electrical company. One or more caller identification numbers corresponding to the number at which the utility company calls the electrician to signal the telephone number or usage meter are stored in advance in the remote monitor 102. At the appropriate time, the utility company calls the electrical user, and the controller 110 in the remote monitor 102 responds when it matches the preset caller ID number in the controller (FIG. 4 and non-volatile memory 408). See the description above).

The caller ID feature in the remote monitor 100 regards the caller as an authorized auto meter reading station and responds to the call. When the "instrument call" is answered by the modem, the modem disconnects the normal telephone by opening the connection relay 112 and quickly transfers (bursts) the stored information to the server of the electric company (see FIG. 5). , The call is disconnected and the relay 112 is shorted again (via the tip or ring connections 102a, 102b) to restore the connection from the normal phone (eg 118a, 118b) to the PSTN. Preferably, the relay is arranged to maintain its shorted state until relay 112 restores power in the event of a power failure to remote monitor 102.

To quickly transfer a manageable amount of data, the modem (208 in FIG. 2) preferably operates at 1200 baud or more. It is suitable for Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) for electricity, gas or water.

The present invention also provides a home to a gateway to low cost digital services.

A single telemetry system (e.g. 100) incorporating a CID modem (e.g. 200 in Figure 2) (collectively referred to herein as "remote monitor"), may "wake up" the remote monitor. Can be accessed by multiple (N) servers that can call home via telephone lines (eg, electric companies, water management companies, telephone companies, banks, etc.). When the remote monitor receives the initiation call, it identifies that the server X initiates itself only (via the caller ID CID) without responding to the call. The remote monitor then looks up the server's phone number (one of several stored numbers identifiable by the CID described above) and calls the server.

To enable digital services (performing a data section) between a server and a user, including AMR, exemplary operations are as follows.

Using the CID, the server calls the remote monitor of the customer device to initiate the remote monitor.

Using the CID, consecutive data transactions are authenticated as described above.

Using the CID time / data field, the real-time clock of the remote monitor can be synchronized with a more accurate (eg, astronomical) clock at the server's location.

The call is then initiated by the remote monitor to the server that operated the remote monitor. If the customer has blocked his own CID, it will automatically be opened for the purpose of the data session. (Customer's permission is required, which will be obtained to not open that CID for the server.)

Preferably, the servers each have a "800" or "888" (ie, free long distance call) number. In this way, customers who have installed the remote monitor do not have to pay for the remote monitor's calls to the server. Often a simple operation of calling an 800 number will automatically open a CID feature that has been blocked by the user (for private reasons), thus allowing the CID to operate for the purpose of identifying the user as the called server.

At the server, the local telephone CID information (of the customer) may be used in the form of a password that proceeds only to the subscribed customers in the data session.

At the server, local telephone CID information can also be used to track any telephone number change where the remote monitor is located. For example, a new tenant moved to an apartment and received a new phone number. When the remote monitor makes a call, the serial number will identify where the address is coming from and the CID information will identify what the new phone number is. This information can be compared to the phone book information to allow the server to automatically track the new phone number of the remote monitor from the CID information.

In general, remote monitors include a microprocessor with a memory structure and an operating system (OS) kernel that allows remote download over a telephone line without interrupting the continuous operation of previously mounted and running applications.

For example, consider the case where the remote monitor has a flexible AMR defense. The remote monitor counts and accumulates pulses from the instrument. A new application is downloaded, which allows the customer to access the TOU advertisement. New software can be downloaded without real-time calculations or the loss of any data already collected or overwriting installation variables such as the customer's phone number.

Appropriate coding functions such as NBS DES allow for the secure transmission of data. Each data set can have a different encryption key because the remote monitor can collect data for some independent service and send that data to several different servers (or distinct areas within one server). have. The system can have multiple keys such that each data environment has its own secure data communication path.

For example, each utility company, water company, gas company, bank (ie, each of several servers) would have a separate distinct key.

Pocket devices that operate through a remote monitor, similar to a television remote control or a small wall-mounted or desktop box, that allow a customer to request some services to subscribe to, are also included within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Customers can easily scan the purpose of available services and trigger remote monitors to make local calls to the appropriate one of several subscribed servers. In this scenario, the handheld device is operated by a microcontroller, another monitored device, where the communication line is an infrared (or other suitable) remote control interface, and the specific operation and response of the handheld device is programmed into the microcontroller.

For example, a customer may want to know the rate of the final phone call. Selecting a trigger for the telephone company downloads the information to the user. The information is displayed on a display device such as an LCD display.

Another example is triggering a utility bill payment, which causes a call with a bank server. Another example is to call a taxi or apply for a morning call. The particular server "detecting" the call from the remote monitor verifies the user via the user's CID to confirm that the user is a subscriber of the desired service.

It is also completely within the spirit, scope and intent of the present invention that some or all of the functions of the remote monitor 102 of FIG. 1, in particular the remote monitor controller 110 of FIG. 1, may be implemented in the form of one or more integrated circuit chips. .

conclusion:

As described above, automatic back-off (ABO) is an important feature of the present invention "transparent" to the user of the operation of the remote monitor.

The above and other objects, features, advantages, and embodiments of the present invention, as well as other (ie, additional) embodiments of the techniques described above, will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and such other and additional embodiments are also within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Is considered to belong to

Claims (18)

A first communication port for connecting to a communication medium; A second communication port on a remote monitor for connecting to the communication device; Means for responding to an input communication from at least one server on the communication medium via the first communication port; Means for identifying the input source before responding to the input source; Means for accessing and collecting associated information of at least one monitored device; And And modem means for communicating with the at least one remote server to communicate data about the at least one monitored device via the communication medium to the at least one remote server. The method of claim 1, Means for terminating communication with the remote server; Means for logically connecting and disconnecting the second communication port to the first communication port such that a communication device connected to the second communication port is selectively connected to or disconnected from the communication medium; And Means for connecting said communication device to said second communication port while logically blocking said first communication port to recognize an attempt to use it. The method of claim 2, Means for initiating a connection to the remote server via the communication medium. The method of claim 3, The communication medium is a switched telephone network, and the means for initiating the connection comprises means for generating a dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signal. The method of claim 1, The communication medium is a switched telephone network, and wherein the first communication port comprises means for connecting to the communication port. The method of claim 5, And said identifying means comprises means for recognizing and decoding a caller ID (CID) signal. The method of claim 1, And the at least one monitored device is a facility meter. A remote monitor system for communication via the communication medium, a first communication port connected to the remote monitor system, and an access point for the one or more communication devices, the insertion site being arranged to be inserted between the communication medium and the one or more communication devices at a monitor site; Providing a second communication port on said remote monitor providing; Collecting information related to the at least one monitored device by the monitoring means in the remote server; Monitoring input communication to the remote monitor system; And Identifying input communications from a remote server, establishing communication between the remote server and a remote monitor, and transmitting information about the at least one monitored device from the remote monitor system to the remote server via the communication medium. Telemetry method comprising a. The method of claim 8, Logically connecting a second communication port on the remote monitor system to the first communication port for normal communication between communication devices at a monitor site via the communication medium; And And logically blocking said second communication port from said first communication port during communication between said remote monitor system and a remote server. The method of claim 9, Monitoring the second communication port to attempt to use a communication device connected to the second communication port; Terminating communication with the remote server if the attempt is made while communication is in progress between the remote monitor system and the remote server; And Logically reconnecting the second communication port to the first communication port. The method of claim 10, Monitoring the second communication port for use by a communication device connected to the second communication port; Waiting for communication via the second communication port to complete and terminate; Logically blocking the second communication port from the first communication port after completion of the communication via the second communication port; Initiating communication between the remote monitor system and a remote server through a communication medium connected to the first communication port; Transferring information about at least one monitored device from the remote monitor system to a remote server; And Upon completion of the transmission of information about the at least one monitored device, terminating communication with the remote server and logically reconnecting the second communication port to the first communication port. Telemetry method. The method of claim 8, Storing one or more identification codes in a remote monitor system corresponding to one or more authorized servers; Logically connecting the second communication port to the first communication port; Receiving an identification code for identifying the input communication source through the communication medium before responding to the input communication source; And In response to an input communication by logically blocking the second input port from the first input port only if communication is established between the input sources and the received identification code matches one of the stored identification codes associated with the authenticated server. And causing the second communication port to be connected to the first communication port. The method of claim 12, The communication medium is a switched telephone network, The received identification code is provided by a caller ID (CID) mechanism, And wherein said stored identification code is a caller ID code associated with said authorized server. The method of claim 8, And the at least one monitored device is a facility metering device. In the method of telemetry between one or more servers and multiple monitor sites, Providing at least one server, the server configured to establish a communication session with any of the plurality of monitor sites via a communication medium; Providing a remote monitor system at each monitor site; Providing in said each remote monitor system means for gathering information from at least one monitored device; Providing means in each of said remote monitor systems for communicating via a communication medium; Providing means in each remote monitor system for identifying an input source directed to said remote monitor system via said communication medium; Providing in each remote monitor system means for connecting one or more communication devices to the communication medium at a monitor site if the communication medium is not being used by the remote monitor system; And Providing each server having a list of remote monitor systems to be connected, At each server, attempting to establish communication with a remote monitor system on a list that has not yet been accessed; If successful in establishing communication with the remote monitor, receiving information regarding at least one monitored device associated with it and identifying the remote monitor site as being accessed; And repeating the above steps until all remote monitor systems are identified as being accessed. The method of claim 15, Storing at least one identification code corresponding to at least one authorized server in each remote monitor system; And Receiving, at each of the remote monitor systems, an identification code associated with an input communication via the communication medium, and responding by forming a communication through the communication medium only if the received identification code matches one of the stored identification codes. Telemetry method further comprising. The method of claim 16, The communication medium is a switched telephone network, And the received identification code is received via a caller ID (CID) mechanism. The method of claim 15, At least one monitored device at each monitor site is a facility metering device.