AU2018100186B4 - Method and system for power consumption monitoring and management - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides for monitoring or managing electricity consumption in an electric utility network, the electric utility network comprising electricity consumption meters, each of which consumption meters generates metered usage output data, each such metered usage output data being generated when the meter measures a predetermined incremental quantity of energy consumption; comprising the steps of: receive and/or store the metered usage output data generated by the electricity consumption meter with a bridge device which includes a system on chip and is in communication with the electricity consumption meter; communicate the received and/or stored metered usage output data to a digital computer networked electronic processing device that is autonomous with respect to the electric utility network, utilising the digital computer networked electronic processing device to continuously search for the presence of the bridge device; and, establishing operable communication between the digital computer networked electronic processing device and the bridge device when the digital computer networked electronic processing device is in proximity with the bridge device. Figure 12

Description

P1/001002 Regulation 3.28

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990

ORIGINAL COMPLETE SPECIFICATION INNOVATION PATENT

Application No. Lodged:

Innovation Title:Method and System for Power Consumption Monitoring and Management

The following statement is a full description of this innovation, including the best method of performing it known to the Applicant,

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR POWER CONSUMPTION MONITORING AND MANAGEMENT RELATED APPLICATIONS

[001] This application claims the priority of Australian Provisional Patent Application No. 2018900258 in the name of PowerPal Pty Ltd, which was filed on 29 January 2018, entitled "Method and System for Power Consumption Monitoring and Management" and the specification thereof is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety and for all purposes.

FIELD OF INVENTION

[002] The present invention relates to the field of utility consumption monitoring and management. In one form, the invention relates to power consumption monitoring and management in a utility reticulation network which employs on site usage meters. Throughout this specification (including the claims) the term "impulse meter" is used to mean consumption meters for use in utility distribution networks, which such meters generate electromagnetic output pulses, each such electromagnetic output pulse being generated when the meter measures a predetermined incremental quantity of utility consumption. Although certain embodiments of the present invention are described in the context of use with impulse meters for monitoring and managing electricity consumption, the invention is not limited to that use, only.

BACKGROUND ART

[003] Throughout this specification the use of the word "inventor" in singular form may be taken as reference to one (singular) inventor or more than one (plural) inventor of the present invention.

[004] It is to be appreciated that any discussion of documents, devices, acts or knowledge in this specification is included to explain the context of the present invention. Any discussion of material such as documents, devices, acts or knowledge in this specification is included to explain the context of the invention in terms of the inventor's knowledge and experience and, accordingly, any such discussion should not be taken as an admission that any of the material forms part of the prior art base or the common general knowledge in the relevant art in Australia, or elsewhere, on or before the priority date of the disclosure and claims herein.

[005] Worldwide studies have shown that when consumers have access to real time visibility of their energy usage they are able to reduce their bills through increased efficiency in the order of about 5% to about 15%.

[006] However, it is often difficult for consumers to access this information, even when it is available. For example, where "SMART" electricity meters have been installed access to the usage information is heavily regulated, requiring consumers to go through a complicated process of establishing authority to receive the data.

[007] In some cases, ZigBee-based In-Home Displays (IHDs) can be connected to a SMART meter, allowing the consumer to view their energy usage in real time. However, these devices are options which must be purchased outright by the consumer and are expensive, namely in the order of about $100+. Consequently, uptake of this technology is low.

[008] Existing "behind the meter' solutions which essentially install another SMART meter behind the utility provided meter are available but are expensive, namely, in the order of about $100+ and often need to be installed by a qualified electrician.

[009] An example of prior art is disclosed in US patent No. 6,956,500 (Ducharme et al), which, as described, is an attempt at addressing the long-felt need of consumers to monitor their daily energy consumption. The disclosure of Ducharme relates to utility meter reading systems, in particular, an optical sensor for reading meters that use a rotating wheel configuration. Ducharme addresses problems with efforts to allow consumers to monitor energy usage noted at column 1, line 34 to column 2, line 3, namely, devices that require physical interference with a utility meter, which can be illegal and are costly and laborious to install; devices can obstruct the reading of the rotating meter disk; some reading devices require alignment to disk markers that lead to false readings; these devices lack real-time readings; many devices require qualified technical skills for installation, and/or power disruption during installation, and may malfunction during power shortages. Ducharme also notes portable solutions have problems with the need for use by professionals rather than residential use, and don't allow for display of power usage, history usage and projected usage. The solution described in Ducharme comprises a mounted sensor spaced apart from a utility meter, detecting the speed of the utility meter's disk, remotely transmitting wirelessly the detected speed of the meter disk and, displaying energy usage on a custom device display dedicated to mounted sensor that receives the wireless transmission of the disk speed. However, Ducharme is limited to a method and apparatus including a rotatable arm mounted optical camera to use with rotating wheel meters and requires a specific and custom design of an indoor display receiver/monitor for connection to the optical sensor. The system disclosed by Ducharme has the disadvantage of two large and relatively elaborate custom designed physical components, namely, the sensor apparatus and the custom indoor display. As would be evident to those skilled in the art the cost of manufacture for such custom components is significant, taking into account moulding costs of the enclosures, electronic components and batteries to power them. In addition, the large size of these components means the operational cost of handling, stocking and distributing the finished product is substantial and can add significantly to the overall cost to consumers of purchasing the product. Furthermore the functionality of the system as described by Ducharme is intrinsically limited to review of the data available within the meter monitor. Although Ducharme discloses that the meter monitor can be connected to a home PC, the system when so configured simply displays similar information as would be available on the indoor display. This limits the functionality that can be made available through the system. For example, it does not allow for large scale sharing of energy data between households for comparison purposes, nor does it allow for sharing of data with 3 rd parties. A related deficiency is that as the data is siloed within meter monitor, the systems which can be used to analyse the collected data are restricted to those available within the consumer's home. Such systems would not typically be of industrial grade and may not be capable, for example, to run intensive data processing tasks such as machine learning or artificial intelligence algortihms. This further limits the features that can be offered by the system and consequently its overall utility.

[0010] Another example of prior art is disclosed in international patent application publication No. WO 2016/025990 in the name of Wattcost Pty Ltd. This method describes a "beacon" device for collection and transmission of utility meter data to a server and then to a mobile phone app. However, there are a number of practical disadvantages to the method disclosed by WattCost. One key disadvantage of the method is the need to communicate efficiently with a proximal device which in turn is connected to the server, which in the preferred embodiment of WattCost is disclosed as an internet connected WiFi router. Furthermore, integral with the advance provided by the WattCost system is the "communications module power management", whereby there is described various compression and power optimisation algorithms designed to reduce power usage of the beacon's communications and allow it to be battery powered for practical application.

However, even with the disclosed advanced power management strategies such an approach can only reduce power usage down to around 3mA or preferably 1mA, as disclosed at paragraph [000132] of WattCost. In practicality this requires the beacon to be powered by large batteries which must be changed relatively frequently. In further description on the WattCost system at the website www.wattcost.com it is stated "The Wattcost Beacon has been designed to operate for 6-12 months on regular C-size batteries or optionally from a 5VDC micro-B USB plug adaptor. An alert is automatically sent to your smartphone when it's time to replace the batteries." Use of C-size batteries has obvious implications for the size and cost of the device, as well as the cost of shipping the device to the consumer due to the significant weight of the batteries. Furthermore having to replace such batteries at 6-12 month intervals presents a significant cost and inconvenience to the consumer in on-going management of the beacon over its lifetime. A further deficiency of the WattCost product is that in order to monitor solar energy exported from the household to the energy grid, CT clamps must be installed on the output of the solar invertor, and this operation may be required to be undertaken by a qualified electrician. Indeed, in relation to installation of solar monitoring, the WattCost website states "Click sensors onto the main electricity and solar inverter circuits*. *We recommend a pro-install." This adds expense and inconvenience for the householder when installing the system.

[0011] Brazilian patent application publication No. BR P10900264 in the name of Hst Equipamentos Eletrenicos Ltda et al is directed to meter reading by utility companies and discloses a modular wireless optical converter for converting optical output signals from an energy meter to digital signals for transmission via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ZigBee or FM protocols and which is adapted for attachment to a meter via magnets with a retractable switch for powering the device only when in physical attachment to the meter. No detailed description is provided for any use of the converted optical meter read out data other than the solution provided by BR P10900264 is directed at the specific problems for data collection by utility companies from meter readings. Specifically data collection for utility company workers was via cable connection to laptops that were subject to being stolen, there is also a low cost benefit to using notebooks for data collection because of a large equipment capability and infinite functions being used only for data collection, a need to replace "palm tops" for site visits due to breakage of the cable connection, in that case cable often has poor contact, loss of data during transmission and, finally infrared does not work properly with the incidence of sunlight at the reading point.

[0012] Chinese Utility Model publication No. CN 203825085U to State Grid of China Corp et al discloses an intelligent electric energy meter system based on NFC (Near Field Communications) and Bluetooth technologies. The system is directed at the identified problems associated with pre-paid watt-hour meters that allow for pre-purchasing electricity and then reusing the purchased electricity. Such pre-paid meters do not need manual meter reading and avoid the difficulty in collecting electricity fees and can automatically turn off the electricity after the electricity count reaches zero. The described pre-paid power meter with a power-off device can also provide some auxiliary functions, such as load control, over-current protection and, in recent years, in order to reduce the workload of manual meter reading and implement early collection of electricity, a prepaid electricity meter that uses an IC card as a payment medium has appeared. But there are drawbacks described such as, there is a need to go to the business hall to recharge the IC card in the function of prepayment, and they cannot support current mainstream network payment methods, and cannot give the user a pre-refill prompt. In addition, the pre-paid energy meter can only interact with the background power supply company. Furthermore, the information volume subject to the current meter reading system rate limit means the meter is not convenient for maintenance personnel to quickly and accurately locate any problem. The solution provided comprises a method involving the user first presenting with his own smart phone to the power company's business hall to register to complete their own smart meters and NFC smart phone key registration and exchange; secondly, users through the Internet or other third-party payment means recharge their own NFC mobile wallet; thirdly the user will locate their own NFC smart phone near the smart meter, cell phone and meter to establish a secure connection through NFC for identity verification;authentication is completed, the meter through the wireless sensor network and power supply company background establishes a connection to update the recharge data to complete the recharge operation. After the recharge is completed, the user gets back his smart phone, the meter displays a prompt message on the LCD, the content of the message is the recharge amount, the account balance and the power consumption of this month or relevant period; after the message is displayed for 30 seconds, the meter returns to the initial display state. The system disclosed also provides a flow of acquiring information about a user's electricity usage or a meter's operation log and fault information by firstly, the user locates their own smart phone close to the meter, the meter and the smart phone exchange the identity of both parties, both sides of the address and randomly generated Bluetooth PIN password, two devices automatically verify the establishment of Bluetooth secure connection. Secondly, if it is a user, the meter starts the sending process through the Bluetooth socket connection, and transmits the user's time sharing information and account information to the smart phone, and the smart phone presents the result to the user through the corresponding APP for the user to check the power supply company data of their account. Thirdly, if it is maintenance personnel, the meter starts the sending process through the Bluetooth socket and transmits the operation log and fault information of the meter to the maintenance personnel's smart phone. The smart phone analyzes the data through the corresponding APP and locates the fault.

[0013] Mexican patent application publication No. MX 2014005596 in the name of Instituto De Investigaciones Electricas also discloses a system for the prepayment of electric power in electronic meters by means of a portable device with a mobile computer platform.

[0014] German patent application publication No. DE 102013004384 to Fachhochschule Dortmund discloses a system and device for secure detection and display of counter information of electricity meters by means of smart-metering, which addresses the issue of providing the electricity and tariff data generated in smart meters on the one hand to the power company and on the other hand to the consumer in a suitable form and clarity as soon as possible. An objective to be achieved in a known solution is to connect the smart metering meter wired via a network connection to the Internet and to a corresponding server of the power company and then provide the consumer also over the Internet access to the transmitted consumption data available. However, the data technology integration of the smart metering counter into the Internet with regard to the necessary cable connection and device technology is often complex and therefore expensive. In addition, this way of transmitting the consumption and tariff data has the disadvantage that the actual transmission of consumption data is usually quite different than the ones that can be displayed to the consumer in this way by the necessary transmission paths. There also arises the problem that the smart metering counter can be reached by their permanent connection to the Internet from the Internet and therefore the counter or the data can be manipulated or corrupted by third parties and, accordingly fulfilling security measures is technically complex and therefore expensive. The solution provided comprises a method for recording and displaying meter information of electricity meters, in which a smart meter for recording energy consumption values and a data concentrator connected to the smart meter, in the form of a Multi Utility Communication Controller, for storing billing-relevant consumption information the energy consumption is used, characterized in that between the data concentrator and a display and evaluation device of the consumer (which can be a smartphone), a protected local data transfer is established, with the current energy consumption values promptly or continuously transmitted from the data concentrator to the display and evaluation device of the consumer. The protected local data transfer consists of connection of the consumer's smartphone device to the Internet is completely switched off when the smartphone connects to the smart energy network and vice versa, the connection of the smartphone with the smart energy network is completely switched off when the smartphone connects to the home network or the Internet.

[0015] US patent application publication No. US 2007/0096765 in the name of Kagan also discloses a secure technique for measuring and retrieving revenue metering data from a power meter having wireless communication capabilities including Bluetooth. The system includes at least one intelligent electronic device such as a meter, including a transceiver configured for receiving calculated energy consumption data from a processor and transmitting the calculated energy consumption data via a spread-spectrum frequency hopping technique; and a data collection device configured for receiving the calculated energy consumption data from the at least one intelligent electronic device in response to supplying a pairing passkey to the intelligent electronic device, ie meter.

[0016] German patent application publication No. DE 102016108837 in the name of Heinz Lackmann Gmbh & Co Kg discloses a method for controlling an electric consumption counter and for data readout via an optical interface. The described problems concern conventional systems for households with installed electricity consumption counters that are based on a rotating roller counter, which merely sums total consumption. For the consumer, it is thus not possible, within a certain period of time to determine consumption of electrical energy costs incurred and the electricity supply company must always determine a final reading of the consumption counter on site. The solution provided comprises a method for controlling an electrical base meter which comprises a data display for displaying measured data and a data release device with an optical sensor, via which a control or release code in the form of light pulses is received; a smartphone or a portable computer is used which has an optical transmitting device and preferably also a camera. The method for controlling the base counter is carried out by positioning the smartphone with the optical transmitter within sight of the sensor of the base counter, and sending a control and I or release code for the base counter corresponding signal sequence via the optical transmitting device to the sensor of the base counter.

[0017] European patent publication No. EP 2631600 in the name of Electricite De France discloses a system for the presentation to a customer of an electrical network of data from its communicating electricity meter. Problems with existing systems for retrieving counter data are discussed. In an example, the communicating counter is connected to a concentrator located in a transformer station. The information of the concentrator is communicated, for example by GPRS, to an electricity grid monitoring center which is able to supply consumption information to the customer of the electricity network corresponding to the electricity meter. However, such systems providing consumption information to the customer via a large upstream counter infrastructure involve a high cost both for their implementation and for their daily management. In addition, the information that can be provided by such systems to the customer is limited. These systems involve a delay in the information, which must pass through the distribution network of the energy supplier before reaching the customer, who receives them only periodically. The solution provided is a system for presenting data from a communicating electrical meter producing energy consumption data, the system comprising a mobile terminal, such as a mobile phone, and an intermediate device of dedicated custom design comprising means for physically connecting (in the form of a USB connection) the communicating electric meter and arranged in a housing. A first communication interface of the intermediate device is configured so that it automatically retrieves energy consumption data provided by the communicating electric meter via the physical USB connection. The intermediate device includes time stamping of said data and means for storing said timestamped data along with a second communication interface capable of implementing wireless local communication with the mobile phone terminal, a processor configured for the intermediate device is also included to transmit all or part of the time stamped data to the mobile phone terminal via the second communication interface of the intermediate device on request of the mobile terminal. The intermediate device is electrically powered via the physical connection means to the communicating electric meter.

[0018] Some systems are dedicated to the utility companies for remotely or otherwise monitoring energy meters for billing and consumer usage. One example of this is in UK patent application publication No. GB 2399707 in the name of Zarlink Semiconductor Limited. Another example is disclosed in UK patent application publication No. GB 2482326. A further example is disclosed in US patent No. 6,208,266 to Lyons et al.

[0019] UK patent application publication No. GB 2452072 discloses a system for monitoring energy use for home management and includes standard utility meters having a FLAG port for optical transmission of data or having a magnetic pulse output, dongles mounted mechanically or magnetically to the meter, the dongles including electronics for receiving data from the meters and transmitting data to a monitoring WiFi equipped radio phone or WiFi enabled PC. The dongles have processing capability for managing the data and communication, memory for data storage.

[0020] Australian granted patent No. AU 2002245954 B2 in the name of Gladwin et al discloses a dedicated residential monitor for energy usage display. The electricity usage rate monitor comprises a transducer mounted next to the electricity meter box or fuse box such that current transducers engage the conductors after they have passed through revenue meters. The current transducers sense the rate of electrical energy being supplied through each of the lines to provide respective output signals to an electronic sampling, converting and summing circuit which adds the signals to produce an output signal that corresponds to the root mean sqaure (RMS) total rate of electrical current being supplied to the premises. The signal is sent to a consumer interface via a transmission link 16. The transmission link may be a wireless transmitter and receiver or alternatively an electrical conductor. The transmission link may also be a modulated signal which is transmitted via a live conductor circuit into the premises to the receiver which is connected to a power outlet point. The consumer interface is a portable display unit, which can be positioned wherever it would be conveniently and frequently viewed in the premises. Multiple interfaces may be positioned around the premises so that more occupants will view the consumption rates more regularly. The interface receives the RMS value of electrical current signal from the receiver and inputs it to an RMS voltage multiplier, programmable computer chip circuit which converts the signal into an electrical power consumption rate.

[0021] Another system for sensing power consumption using custom circuitry dedicated to current sensing is disclosed in US patent application publication No. US 2001/0074382 to Patel.

[0022] Korean patent application publication No. KR 101680226 in the name of Pyungil Co Ltd et al discloses a system for managing an electronic watt-hour meter using a smartphone. The system disclosed is specifically for managing an electronic watt-hour meter having an RJ_11 connector and a DLMS/COSEM protocol using a smartphone. The system comprises: an electronic watt-hour meter measuring wattage and performing self diagnosis; and a smartphone communicating with the electronic watt-hour meter by a RS458-USB communication module or by a wireless communication module communicating in one of Wi-Fi, LTE, Bluetooth, ZigBee, RF RS485-wireless converting communication manners. The electronic watt-hour meter includes a voltage detecting unit, a current detecting unit, a watt-hour calculating unit, a failure detecting unit, a watt-hour measuring and self diagnosis control unit, a display unit, and a communication unit. The smartphone has an application installed thereon to measure wattage of the electronic watt hour meter and perform self diagnosis of the electronic watt-hour meter. Thus, a user can simply measure wattage of a consumer and can perform self diagnosis of the electronic watt-hour meter, using the smartphone. It appears the system including the customised communications modules is for utility company users for measuring consumer energy usage.

[0023] US patent application publication No. US 2003/0004660 to Hunter discloses an electro-optical, automatic meter reader for enabling a consumer to view and manage power consumption through a browser. A sensor attached to a bracket is mounted to the outside cover of a utility meter without modification of the meter or removal of its housing. A data-collector stores data obtained from the sensor via a serial port which may also provide power for the sensor, thus avoiding use of a dedicated power supply. The data collector connects to a computer which provides a centralized object through which to view and manage power consumption. The real-time and combined historic data can be used to forecast whether usage will fall above or below a predetermined usage level at the end of a given period of time. In response to a forecast exceeding the level, the computer displays the appropriate graph in a red colored bar within a quantity vs. time chart. The computer may control power consuming devices. A communication system may be established to the system for remote management by the consumer or by the utility company for its own billing and management purposes

[0024] US patent application publication No. US 2011/0093221 to Dhanjal discloses a system to monitor energy use including a computer-implemented method that comprises receiving energy consumption data from a gateway, wherein the gateway receives the energy consumption data from an electricity meter. The energy consumption data is stored, and an energy consumption graph is calculated by using the energy consumption data. The energy consumption graph is transmitted to an end device, such as a mobile phone, and the energy consumption graph is displayed on the end device. The system includes sensor hardware and software that enable users to view their live energy consumption on the web or on mobile or other display devices.

[0025] US patent application publication No. 2015/0012147 to Haghighat-Kashani et al discloses a system for use in creating a profile of, managing and understanding power consumption in a premise of a user, wherein said premise comprises two or more power consuming devices comprises measuring, via at least one sensor, aggregate energy consumption at the premise, receiving at a mobile computing device comprising a data processor, said aggregated signal from the sensor, collecting and recording the aggregate signal over a plurality of time resolutions and frequencies, therein to create a predicted aggregate signal for each time x and frequency y, detecting changes in the predicted aggregate signal at time x and frequency y (detected consumption pattern changes) and conveying to at least one of the user, a utility company, and other third party a notification of detected consumption pattern changes.

[0026] Australian patent application publication No. AU-A 2015240426 in the name of Kortek Industries Pty Ltd discloses a system for dynamically measuring at least one power metric in a local power circuit and providing the measured power metric to a personal controller such as smartphone. The system requires use of a primary shadow meter with a power measurement module configured to measure a local power circuit and a plurality of ancillary shadow meters that each have a power measurement module configured to measure a single power circuit. The primary shadow meter and ancillary shadow meters may be connected over a wired network and/or wireless network. Shadow meters include a physical interface designed to use the mains power wiring in a structure to exchange data with a meter reader and/or any other shadow meters. The shadow meters and/or meter reader preferably communicate by way of power line communications and include the necessary capabilities for impressing a modulated carrier signal onto the mains power wiring.

[0027] US patent No. 7,385,524 to Orlosky provides an automatic commodity or services billing and metering system that does not physically interfere with existing meters or gauges, and has incorporated into the system programmable reading ability to allow reading and accumulation of data by unit, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or any other form of counting required by the customer. The meters are read by various means including by counting and or sensing radiation increases and decreases of radiation emitting from a meter hand or gauge passing a sensor to generate a count. The read data is then sent via the Internet through the telephone line, by satellite, or by cellular phone connection to an offsite central billing and payment processing center where the rate payer and the utility or customer will have various forms of programmable access to its consumption data.

[0027a] International patent application publication No. W02017054860 to Danfoss AS discloses a method for transferring information between a utility meter and an electronic consumer communication device via an electronic data transfer device of the utility meter. Furthermore, the invention relates to an app adapted to provide such a method when running on the electronic consumer communication device. Additionally, this invention relates to the electronic consumer communication device adapted to transfer information between the utility meter and the electronic consumer communication device via the electronic data transfer device of the utility meter, the electronic consumer communication device comprising and being adapted to run the app. In the system as described the utility company service person has restricted access to the consumer communication device for installation and associated administrative and maintenance actions.

[0028] It would be desirable to provide a useful alternative to many of the above noted prior art systems and/or provide the home consumer a more straightforward means to alter their energy consumption behaviour.

[0029] The preceding discussion of background art is intended to facilitate an understanding of the present invention only. The discussion is not an acknowledgement or admission that any of the material referred to is or was part of the common general knowledge as at the priority date of the application.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

[0030] An object of the invention described herein is to overcome or alleviate at least one of the above noted drawbacks of related art systems.

[0031] In general, the present invention provides, a bridge device for use in a system or process for monitoring or managing a user's consumption of electricity within an electric utility network, where the electric utility network comprises one or more electricity consumption meters, and where at least one of the electricity consumption meters generates metered usage output data corresponding to the user's consumption of electricity when any such meter measures a predetermined incremental quantity of electricity consumption by the user, and

where the bridge device is adapted to:

i. receive, or receive and store, metered usage output data generated by the at least one electricity consumption meter; and ii. transmit that metered usage output data to be received by at least one digital electronic processing device that is autonomous with respect to the electric utility network.

[0032] The present invention also generally provides a system that enables a user to monitor or manage the user's consumption of electricity within an electric utility network, where the electric utility network comprises one or more electricity consumption meters, and where at least one of the electricity consumption meters generates metered usage output data corresponding to the user's consumption of electricity when any such meter measures a predetermined incremental quantity of electricity consumption by the user, the system comprising:

(a) a bridge device, where the bridge device is adapted to: i. receive, or receive and store, metered usage output data generated by the at least one electricity consumption meter; and ii. transmit that metered usage output data to be received by at least one digital electronic processing device that is autonomous with respect to the electric utility network, (b) an engagement platform adapted to receive and analyse the metered usage output data from the at least one digital electronic processing device and to

13a

provide results of the analysis to the at least one digital electronic processing device;

(c) a receiving app on the at least one digital electronic processing device adapted to receive the metered usage output data from the bridge device and adapted to forward that data to the engagement platform; and (d) a user interface on the at least one digital electronic processing device, the user interface being adapted to allow interaction between the user and the engagement platform so that by interacting with the platform, the user is able to monitor and/or manage the user's consumption of electricity within the network.

[0033] In a first aspect of embodiments described herein there is provided apparatus for monitoring or managing electricity consumption in an electric utility network, the electric utility network comprising electricity consumption meters, each of which consumption meters generates metered usage output data, each such metered usage output data being generated when the meter measures a predetermined incremental quantity of energy consumption; the apparatus for monitoring or managing electricity consumption comprising: a bridge device in communication with an electricity consumption meter of the electric utility network and which includes a system on chip adapted by a predetermined instruction set to; receive and/or store the metered usage output data generated by the electricity consumption meter and, communicate the received and/or stored metered usage output data to a digital computer networked electronic processing device that is autonomous with respect to the electric utility network.

[0034] The bridge device may be further adapted to be in operable communication with the digital computer networked electronic processing device when the digital computer networked electronic processing device is in proximity with the bridge device.

[0035] The digital computer networked electronic processing device may comprise one or a combination of:

a communication link;

a home automation hub;

a component of a home automation hub; and a mobile device.

[0036] Preferably, the mobile device comprises a mobile phone.

[0037] The bridge device may comprise one or a combination of:

in conjunction with the system on chip adapted by a predetermined instruction set, a software defined radio stack which enables the system on chip to generate radio transmissions;

a power amplifier for amplifying transmissions of the system on chip which comprise the received and/or stored metered usage output data;

an antenna, or more generally, means for communicating the transmissions of the system on chip and/or receiving communication signals from the digital computer networked electronic processing device.

[0038] In another aspect of embodiments described herein there is provided a system for monitoring or managing electricity consumption in an electric utility network, the electric utility network comprising electricity consumption meters, each of which consumption meters generates metered usage output data, each such metered usage output data being generated when the meter measures a predetermined incremental quantity of energy consumption; the system for monitoring or managing electricity consumption comprising:

a bridge device in communication with an electricity consumption meter of the electric utility network and which includes a system on chip adapted by a predetermined instruction set to receive and/or store the metered usage output data generated by the electricity consumption meter and communicate the received and/or stored metered usage output data to a digital computer networked electronic processing device that is autonomous with respect to the electric utility network;

an engagement platform for receiving the metered usage output data from the digital computer networked electronic processing device and analysing said data to provide and return results of the analysis to the digital computer networked electronic processing device comprising at least one behavioural nudge message for a consumer of the metered electricity; a receving app resident on the digital computer networked electronic processing device for receiving the received and/or stored metered usage output data from the bridge device and forwarding same to the engagement platform; a user interface for managing interactions between the consumer of the metered electricity and the engagement platform.

[0039] The receving app and the user interface are preferably combined in the form of a smartphone app.

[0040] The bridge device may be in communication with an electricity consumption meter by one of:

a detector for detecting the output pulses from the electricity consumption meter operably connected to the system on chip;

a ZigBee radio link.

[0041] The bridge device may be adapted to communicate the received and/or stored metered usage output data to a digital computer networked electronic processing device by one of:

a Bluetooth protocol;

a ZigBee protocol;

a near-field commuincations protocol.

[0042] In yet a further aspect of embodiments described herein there is provided a method for monitoring or managing electricity consumption in an electric utility network, the electric utility network comprising electricity consumption meters, each of which consumption meters generates metered usage output data, each such metered usage output data being generated when the meter measures a predetermined incremental quantity of energy consumption; the method comprising the steps of:

receive and/or store the metered usage output data generated by the electricity consumption meter and, communicate the received and/or stored metered usage output data to a digital computer networked electronic processing device that is autonomous with respect to the electric utility network.

[0043] The step of receive and/or store the metered usage output data is preferably performed by a bridge device in communication with an electricity consumption meter of the electric utility network and which includes a system on chip.

[0044] The method may further comprise the steps of:

analysing the received and/or stored metered usage output data for insights into behaviour of a consumer of the metered electricity; and,

sending at least one behavioural nudge message for the consumer to the digital computer networked electronic processing device.

[0045] The method may further comprise the steps of:

utilising the digital computer networked electronic processing device to continuously search for the presence of the bridge device; and,

establishing operable communication between the digital computer networked electronic processing device and the bridge device when the digital computer networked electronic processing device is in proximity with the bridge device.

[0046] In yet another aspect of embodiments described, there is provided apparatus for monitoring or managing electricity consumption in an electricity reticulation network:

the electricity reticulation network comprising electricity consumption meters, each of which consumption meters generates usage output data, each such usage output data being generated when the meter measures a predetermined incremental quantity of energy consumption; and

the apparatus for monitoring or managing electricity consumption comprising a bridge device which comprises:

a detector to detect the output from an electricity consumption meter; and a transmitter to transmit data about energy consumption for receipt of that data by another device, which is autonomous with respect to the electricity reticulation network.

[0047] The transmitter may be adapted for wireless transmission of the data and, in which the usage output data comprises pulses of light.

[0048] The detector may be coupled to the bridge device by an electrical connection or by an optical connection.

[0049] In still another aspect of embodiments described there is provided apparatus for monitoring or managing utility consumption in a utility reticulation network, that apparatus comprising a bridge device which comprises:

a detector to detect the output from a meter which generates usage output data; and

a transmitter to transmit data about energy consumption for receipt of that data by another device which is autonomous with respect to the utility reticulation network.

[0050] In essence, the present invention stems from the realization that utilising an energy monitoring bridge based on an ultra-low power multiprotocol wireless SoC in combination with a digital computer networked electronic processing device that is autonomous with respect to the utility (such as a home automation hub, a component of a home automation network or, networked mobile telecommunications device) to manage gathering energy usage data rather than the energy data collection device of a utility energy meter, "behind the meter" device or internet connected beacon will significantly reduce the cost and/or complexity of providing energy usage data to the consumer for their use in managing consumption.

[0051] Advantages provided by embodiments of the present invention comprise the following: • Extended battery life of up to 10 years on two AA batteries which has the advantage of reducing the overheads for the consumer in maintaining/regularly replacing the battery in the bridge device. • Significantly reduced bill of materials cost for the bridge device, allowing delivery of the solution to market at a lower price point and therefore encouraging greater adoption.

• Small size and light weight, which facilitates reduced overheads related to shipping and handling costs for the bridge device, improving profitability when commercialising the solution. • Data sharing, which may have a number of advantages, for example by allowing a potential supplier of energy efficiency equipment to perform a cost benefit analysis for the householder on the likely impact of installing their product. • A relatively low-cost method and apparatus to enable consumers to monitor electricity usage. • Enable consumers to monitor electricity usage without the need to resort to a "behind the meter" solution.

[0052] Further scope of applicability of embodiments of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the disclosure herein will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0053] Further disclosure, objects, advantages and aspects of preferred and other embodiments of the present invention may be better understood by those skilled in the relevant art by reference to the following description of embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the disclosure herein, and in which: Figure 1 illustrates apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention; Figures 2 to 6 illustrate aspects of the operation of embodiments of the present invention; Figure 7 is a flow chart illustrating a functional operation of the invention according to a preferred embodiment; Figure 8 is an external view of a bridge device according to a preferred embodiment of the invention; Figure 9 is an internal schematic of the bridge device of figure 9; Figure 10 is a schematic view of a sensor device in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention;

18a

Figure 11 is a high-level schematic diagram of the bridge device of figure 9; Figure 12 illustrates a data architecture of a system in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention;

Figure 13 is a flow chart illustrating the operation of a preferred embodiment of the invention; Figure 14 shows screen shots of a mobile device display in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention; Figure 15 shows configuration screens displayed on a mobile device in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention; Figure 16 is a further flow chart illustrating the operation of a preferred embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0054] A preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a low cost, ultra-low power System on Chip Bluetooth Low Energy system for use as a single chip solution to capture energy data from utility electricity meters of an electric utility network, relay that information to a consumer's smart phone or smart home hub over a Bluetooth Low Energy link and forward that information over the internet to cloud servers for analysis. This allows the majority of the complexity of gathering the energy data (such as management of the internet link) to be managed by the pre-existing consumer device or system such as smart phone or smart home hub rather than by the energy data collection apparatus itself, significantly reducing the complexity and associated cost to manufacture an aftermarket solution for providing energy usage data to a consumer as compared to prior and/or related art systems.

[0055] The presently-described embodiments of the invention may incorporate four aspects of implementation, as follows:

" A user-installed bridge device which collects energy usage data from the utility meter, stores that data on the device and forwards it to a communications link (which is preferably a Bluetooth link).

" A receiving app which receives the data sent by the bridge device, optionally displays that data to the user in graphical and numeric format and which forwards it to an internet API.

" A cloud-based engagement platform which receives the data from the internet API, and which provides one or more of the following functionality: storing the data in a database, analysis of the data for insights, and sending "nudges" back to a smartphone or the like app with actions a user can take to improve either their personal energy efficiency or the efficiency of the energy utility grid as a whole.

SA user interface which displays the usage data to the consumer in graphical and numerical format as well as any "nudges" generated by the engagement platform. According to a preferred form of the invention, this user interface, and the receiving app described above, may be combined in the same component.

Bridge Device

[0056] As is illustrated in figure 1, in one aspect, embodiments of the present invention comprise a bridge device 1 which operates in conjunction with the utility-supplied smart meter 6. The bridge device 1 connects by a connection 4, which is a wire or cable in the example of Figure 1, to an impulse sensor 2 which in turn is mounted on the meter 6 in a position where it can optically monitor the impulse output (which is obscured in figure 1) of the meter 6. In preferred embodiments, the cable 4 of figure 1 may be replaced by a ZigBee radio link and, as such, the bridge device 1 may not need to be physically attached to the meter. Typically, the impulse output of the meter is provided by either a red or infra red LED and the impulse sensor 2 is a photo transistor, a photo diode or a photo resistor, but any form of sensor which is suitable for the impulse output of the smart meter 6 can be employed. The bridge device 1 is based around a low-cost Bluetooth Low Energy System on Chip device (such as the Nordic Semiconductor NRF52). A GPIO (General Purpose 1/O) pin on the device is connected to an impulse sensor which monitors the impulse output on the utility meter. With reference to Figure 11, which shows a simplified schematic view of the bridge device, a phototransistor is connected via a screened cable to a digital GPIO input on the SoC. To ensure optimal power usage GPIO ports which support interrupt driven tasks and events sensing should be used, allowing the SoC to be kept in a power saving state when no interval data is being transmitted. Depending on the SoC employed an external timing crystal may be required for coordinating the logic functions of the SoC and tracking wall time. The RF output of the SoC is connected to the power amplifier, along with relevant signalling lines as required to synchronise the power amplifier with the RF transmissions from the SoC. Finally, the power amplifier is connected to the antenna to broadcast the Bluetooth and/or ZigBee transmissions.

[0057] The BLE SoC (System on a Chip) contains a memory (typically implemented as a ring buffer in RAM or FLASH), a timer and a BLE radio link which may be implemented via a software defined radio stack. Instantaneous energy usage is calculated by timing the period between impulse outputs from the meter and multiplying this by the appropriate impulse factor for the meter. The impulse factor is typically set by the manufacturer and usually printed on the front of the meter - for example typical values may be 1000 or 3600 impulses per kWh of energy used. In addition, the BLE SoC counts the number of impulses in a given measurement period, typically 1 minute, and stores this to its internal memory. This allows for cumulative energy usage to be monitored in addition to instantaneous energy usage, at a granularity (interval period) aligned with the measurement period.

[0058] Simultaneously to storing instantaneous and cumulative energy usage in internal memory the BLE SoC also publishes these readings via the BLE radio link to any listening BLE peripheral - typically a smartphone 31 or "smart home" hub 32 (as is described in detail below with reference to figures 2 to 6). Should no receiving peripheral be connected at the time of the measurement the value will be transferred to the peripheral when it next connects. This accounts for the scenario when a user may move out of range of the meter with their smartphone, which could be expected to happen frequently as they arrive and depart from their home while going about their usual business.

[0059] According to alternative embodiments of the invention in which a ZigBee radio interface is available on the meter 6, as indicted in Figure 8, the bridge device 1 emulates the functions of an "In Home Display Device" as per the ZigBee Smart Energy Profile Specification. Using this interface, measurements and information (such as net energy usage, solar export to the grid, and energy tariff information) are retrieved from the meter and are then made available via a BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) link using the same method as is described above for impulse data. Where such information is available via the meter's ZigBee radio interface it is preferably used to complement or, in some cases, replace the information gathered from the impulse output.

[0060] Due to the long term accuracy of the BLE SoC's real-time counter (default tolerance of plus/minus 2%), clock drift can be an issue, causing the time as perceived by the device to drift from actual wall clock time. This could be resolved by adding an external RTC chip that counts time but this would add cost to the solution implementation. Alternatively, to provide a solution for this deficiency without adding cost, whenever a peripheral device connects to the BLE SoC it may provide the current wall clock time, allowing any drift to be corrected.

[0061] The range of the Bluetooth link is of importance to the operation of the Bluetooth enabled bridge device 1. Typically, utility meters may be located in a metal utility cabinet at one corner of the building they monitor. This presents a challenge both in terms of penetration of the BLE signal through the meter cabinet and reach to all areas of the building where measurements may need to be received. It is accordingly preferable to attach a high gain antenna to the outside of the meter box (via a magnetic mount or similar) which is connected to the BLE SoC inside the meter box via a coaxial cable. Alternatively, the BLE SoC is housed in a weatherproof enclosure outside of the meter cabinet with a fly lead from the GPIO pin connecting to the impulse sensor inside the meter cabinet as depicted in Figure 8.

[0062] As the bridge device 1 is typically optically coupled to the meter it can be safely user installed. However, it will need to be powered by a battery source. An advantage of using an ultra-low power BLE SoC combined with a Power Amplifier is very low average power usage of around 60uA, allowing an approximate 10-year battery life on a two standard AA batteries with a typical capacity of 5000mAh. The use of small batteries also makes the system compact and lightweight, therefore low cost to ship to the consumer.

Receiving App

[0063] As is illustrated in figures 2 to 6, a receiving app is installed on a BLE peripheral device, such as a smartphone 31 or "smart home" hub 32. Current examples of smart home hubs are products distributed under Google HomeTM, Amazon AlexaTM and Apple Homepod TM. The app is responsible for receiving measurements from the bridge device 1 and forwarding these measurement to a cloud based engagement platform via an internet API. This may require the receiving app to translate data formats between the measurement received via the BLE protocol and the same measurement sent to the internet API, for example, a representational state transfer (REST) format.

[0064] In addition, to correct any clock drift, each time that the receiving app connects to the bridge device 1 it provides the current wall clock time. The receiving app will determine the correct wall time from an external source, typically via the host peripheral's operating system which is in turn synchronised with an internet source such as the Network Time Protocol (NTP). Optionally the receiving app may also provide the functionality of the user interface as is set out below.

Cloud Based Engagement Platform

[0065] The cloud based engagement platform 34 is responsible for receiving measurements sent by the receiving app to the internet API and storing these measurements in a database 36. The platform 34 must be highly scalable and resilient to cope with large volumes of received measurements based on wide scale deployment of the bridge device 1. As such, hosting on a modern cloud hosting environment is appropriate, such as Amazon Web Services.

[0066] Once the measurements have been stored in the database 36 analysis of those measurements, both individually and collectively, is performed by the engagement platform 34 to identify trends within the usage data. A preferred form of analysis uses artificially intelligent algorithms which are developed using a modern machine learning platform. Suitable platforms include Amazon Machine Learning. There is significant prior art in the space of energy data analytics which is outside of the scope of this description. The output of this analysis is a behavioural "nudge" 37 which is transmitted to the smartphone 31 or other device, directing the consumer to take some specific action.

[0067] Preferred types of analysis which can be performed are: identification of high energy users in real time during demand response events; gamification of energy saving; and disaggregation of high load appliances for the targeted application of energy efficiency upgrades.

[0068] Examples of behavioural nudges are illustrated in figures 4, 5 and 6. As is illustrated in figure 4, one preferred form of behavioural nudge is a visible message which advises about a high regional demand for electrical power and which asks the consumer to reduce power usage. As is illustrated in figure 5, another preferred form of behavioural nudge is a visible message which advises of a high temperature weather forecast and which suggests a strategy for reducing energy usage. As is illustrated in figure 6, another preferred form of behavioural nudge is a visible message which advises that a particular appliance is energy-inefficient and which suggests a strategy for a subsided replacement with a more energy-efficient appliance.

User interface

[0069] The user interface is responsible for managing interactions between the user and the cloud-based engagement platform 34. The user interface is preferably in the form of a smartphone app. Other preferred forms of user interface comprise a web interface, or a voice driven interface. As is illustrated in figure 3, the user interface allows users to review their instantaneous energy usage in real time, as well as historic usage. Preferred forms of display of energy usage include graphical, numerical and audible format, or a combination of formats. As is described above with reference to figures 4 to 6, the user interface also presents any behavioural nudges generated by the engagement platform. A preferred form of delivering these nudges is by an "in app push" with an inbox implemented within the app to receive and display the nudges.

[0070] It is preferred that the user interface also provides controls for the system, such as allowing the user to configure the impulse factor applicable to their meter and cost per kWh for energy on their current tariff. By way of explanation, the impulse factor relates to the number of times an indicating LED on a meter flashes for each kWh of energy consumed. For example, some meters flash 800 times for each kWh of usage (so each flash represents 1.25Wh of usage) while others flash 3600 times (so each flash represents 0.28Wh of usage). Accordingly, the app must know the impulse factor in order to be able to accurately calculate the amount of energy being consumed between each recorded LED impulse. Whilst reference is made here to'controls for the system', it is also contemplated that the user can, from their smart device, modify the operation of the bridge device 1. Alternatively, the appropriate scaling factor may be applied at the level of the cloud-based engagement platform 33. According to preferred embodiments of the invention configuration information (such as the tariff information) is captured automatically such as by using the smartphone's camera 31 to capture the data by scanning a recent utility bill and performing optical character recognition.

[0071] According to yet further preferred forms of the invention, either the engagement platform or the user interface integrate with other smart home devices for direct control. For example, some embodiments of the invention provide for the control of appliances, such as by adjusting a consumer's air conditioning unit to reduce usage during peak times.

[0072] Figure 7 is a flow chart showing a typical implementation and working of an exemplary system 800 for monitoring or managing electricity consumption in an electricity reticulation network of the invention in accordance with a preferred embodiment. At step

801 of the flow chart, a search for the bridge device is conducted by use of a standard Bluetooth advertising for discovery. Briefly, the bridge device sends radio packets advertising its name (e.g. PowerPal) and its Bluetooth service to all listening Bluetooth central devices, such as a Smartphone in the role of a central device. When the app receives an advertising packet with the correct name it requests a connection to the corresponding Bluetooth address. Establishing the connection may also involve pairing the device, whereby cryptographic keys are exchanged. This again may also be part of the Bluetooth standard A continuous search is conducted for the bridge device, which may be implemented by the operating system of the phone. In essence, the app makes a call to the operating system that instructs "wake the app when you see a device within range that is advertising the bridge device service" and then exits. The operating system will then wake the app when it discovers a matching device. Once the bridge device is located from step 802, at step 803 a request for connection to the bridge device is sent. At step 804 the bridge device is confirmed connected and then at step 806 the current wall time is sent to the bridge device. This can be determined as necessary or alternatively the current wall time may be sent regardless of whether the bridge device has drifted or not. At step 807 a request is made for an available data period and at step 808 the device enters a low power state to wait for notifications.

[0073] The wait performed at step 808 will be interrupted when a notification is received. If a data period notification is received at step 809 the operation progresses to step 811 where a check is performed of the data period against the cloud data store. The data store is timestamped. The check is performed by retrieving the newest entry in the data store and comparing this against the available data period. If newer data is available than that already in the data store it is then requested and forwarded to bring the data store up to date. At 812 it is determined whether new data is available. If so, at step 813 a request for the new data is performed. If, at 812, it is determined that there is no new data available, the program reverts to step 808 where another wait is performed.

[0074] If a data period is not received at step 809 then at step 814, it is determined whether an impulse notification is received. If so, the impulse width is converted to energy usage in the manner outlined above at step 816 and at step 817 the converted energy usage data is sent to the cloud. If there is no impulse notification at step 814 then an interval notification is determined at step 818. If an interval notification is available, at step 819 the impulse count received is converted to energy usage in kWh in the manner outlined above and, at step 821 the converted energy usage data is sent to the cloud. If no interval notification is received/available then at step 822 it is determined whether or not a disconnection notification is issued. If so, the program reverts to the connection request for the bridge device at step 803. If there is no disconnection notification, the program reverts to step 808 for a further wait notification.

[0075] With reference to Figure 8, the bridge device may take the form of a waterproof enclosure housing the electronics. In some cases, the meter may be enclosed in a metal meter box. In such cases to ensure good radio signal propagation the bridge device is mounted outside of the meter box. One envisaged method of attachment is via a magnetic base, or affixing to the wall next to the meter. Where available the bridge device may connect to the meter via a ZigBee radio link by emulating the functions of an "In Home Display Device" as per the ZigBee Smart Energy Profile Specification. Where no ZigBee connection is available to connect to the meter wirelessly an optional impulse sensor may be required. Typically, in accordance with the above described embodiments, the impulse output from the meter may take the form of a flashing red or infrared LED, in which case the impulse sensor may comprise a low-cost phototransistor, matched to trigger at red and infrared wavelengths, connected to the meter via a length of screened and insulated cable. The length of this cable needs to be sufficient such that the cable can loop below the meter box to avoid the risk of rain water dripping down the cable and penetrating the meter box. Typically, 1.5m to 2m would be sufficient. The impulse reader is then attached to the bridge device either permanently or via a detachable waterproof electrical contact. It is then generally attached over the impulse output of the meter directly, for example by using an adhesive pad such as 3MTM CommandTM adhesive strips. In some cases, a small adapter may be required in order to ensure adequate adhesion, which may take the form of a plastic component moulded to the shape of the meter's impulse output port.

[0076] With reference to Figure 9, the bridge device comprises a printed circuit board enclosed in a waterproof housing. The housing may take the form of a rectangular moulded plastic enclosure of dimensions approx. 7cm x 7cm x 2cm, optionally with a waterproof hatch to provide access for the householder to replace the batteries. The enclosure may optionally also include a magnetic base for ease of attachment to a metal meter box, typically provided by the addition of self-adhesive magnetic tape or sheeting to the bottom of the enclosure or the inclusion of "rare earth" neodymium disc magnets which may be moulded inside the bottom edge of the housing. In some embodiments, this magnetic base may be detachable. Alternative fixing methods may also be used, for example self-adhesive tape.

[0077] The printed circuit board holds a System on Chip (SoC) which supports the Bluetooth Low Energy and ZigBee protocols via a software defined radio stack or "soft device", for example the Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840. The SoC connects to the batteries, a power amplifier and optionally the impulse sensor. In some configurations, an external clock for the SoC may also be required.

[0078] Due to the long range required for the bridge device and the typically noisy radio environment of a household meter box selection of an appropriate power amplifier is of importance to ensure an appropriate radio range is delivered while not exhausting the battery life too quickly. Suitable power amplifiers may include the Skyworks SKY66112 which provides up to +21db of TX gain and will provide approximately 100m of range in a typical household deployment with more than ten years of battery life when powered by two AA batteries.

[0079] The power amplifier is connected to an antenna within the enclosure. Typically, this may be facilitated via either a PCB trace antenna (for example an inverted F or meandered inverted F design) or a ceramic chip antenna. Care should be taken to ensure suitable impedance matching of the antenna based on the circuit design and additional matching components may be required to achieve this.

[0080] The batteries are matched to the required voltage of the SoC (3V in the case of the nRF52840) and may take coin cell, AA, AAA or other forms. Typically, they are attached to the PCB via a battery holder suitable for the battery type used although some embodiments may solder the batteries to the PCB directly.

[0081] With reference to Figure 10 an example embodiment of an optical impulse sensor is shown comprising a photodiode embedded in a plastic housing. The photodiode may be integrated into the moulded part or glued in place. The end of the sensor housing provides sufficient area to allow an adhesive pad to be attached, which allows for the sensor to be attached over the optical LED output on the meter. Other preferred embodiments may use a mated plastic receiver in place of or in addition to the adhesive pad to assist with accurate alignment of the sensor over the LED output. Alternative fixings may also be required depending on the physical properties of the meter to which the sensor is attached.

[0082] While this invention has been described in connection with specific embodiments thereof, it will be understood that it is capable of further modification(s). This application is intended to cover any variations uses or adaptations of the invention following in general, the principles of the invention and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice within the art to which the invention pertains and as may be applied to the essential features hereinbefore set forth.

[0083] As the present invention may be embodied in several forms without departing from the spirit of the essential characteristics of the invention, it should be understood that the above described embodiments are not to limit the present invention unless otherwise specified, but rather should be construed broadly within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects as illustrative only and not restrictive.

[0084] Various modifications and equivalent arrangements are intended to be included within the spirit and scope of the invention and appended claims. Therefore, the specific embodiments are to be understood to be illustrative of the many ways in which the principles of the present invention may be practiced. In the following claims, any means plus-function clauses are intended to cover structures as performing the defined function and not only structural equivalents, but also equivalent structures. For example, although a nail and a screw may not be structural equivalents in that a nail employs a cylindrical surface to secure wooden parts together, whereas a screw employs a helical surface to secure wooden parts together, in the environment of fastening wooden parts, a nail and a screw are equivalent structures.

The following sections I - VII provide a guide to interpreting the present specification.

1. Terms

[0085] The term "product" means any machine, manufacture and/or composition of matter, unless expressly specified otherwise.

[0086] The term "process" means any process, algorithm, method or the like, unless expressly specified otherwise.

[0087] Each process (whether called a method, algorithm or otherwise) inherently includes one or more steps, and therefore all references to a "step" or "steps" of a process have an inherent antecedent basis in the mere recitation of the term 'process' or a like term. Accordingly, any reference in a claim to a 'step' or'steps' of a process has sufficient antecedent basis.

[0088] The term "invention" and the like mean "the one or more inventions disclosed in this specification", unless expressly specified otherwise.

[0089] The terms "an embodiment", "embodiment", "embodiments", "the embodiment", "the embodiments", "one or more embodiments", "some embodiments", "certain embodiments", "one embodiment", "another embodiment"and the like mean "one or more (but not all) embodiments of the disclosed invention(s)", unless expressly specified otherwise.

[0090] The term "variation" of an invention means an embodiment of the invention, unless expressly specified otherwise.

[0091] A reference to "another embodiment" in describing an embodiment does not imply that the referenced embodiment is mutually exclusive with another embodiment (e.g., an embodiment described before the referenced embodiment), unless expressly specified otherwise.

[0092] The terms "including", "comprising" and variations thereof mean "including but not limited to", unless expressly specified otherwise.

[0093] The terms "a", "an" and "the" mean "one or more", unless expressly specified otherwise.

[0094] The term "plurality" means "two or more", unless expressly specified otherwise.

[0095] The term "herein" means "in the present specification, including anything which may be incorporated by reference", unless expressly specified otherwise.

[0096] The phrase "at least one of", when such phrase modifies a plurality of things (such as an enumerated list of things), means any combination of one or more of those things, unless expressly specified otherwise. For example, the phrase "at least one of a widget, a car and a wheel" means either (i) a widget, (ii) a car, (iii) a wheel, (iv) a widget and a car, (v) a widget and a wheel, (vi) a car and a wheel, or (vii) a widget, a car and a wheel. The phrase "at least one of', when such phrase modifies a plurality of things, does not mean "one of each of"the plurality of things.

[0097] Numerical terms such as "one", "two", etc. when used as cardinal numbers to indicate quantity of something (e.g., one widget, two widgets), mean the quantity indicated by that numerical term, but do not mean at least the quantity indicated by that numerical term. For example, the phrase "one widget" does not mean "at least one widget", and therefore the phrase "one widget" does not cover, e.g., two widgets.

[0098] The phrase "based on" does not mean "based only on", unless expressly specified otherwise. In other words, the phrase "based on" describes both "based only on" and "based at least on". The phrase "based at least on" is equivalent to the phrase "based at least in part on".

[0099] The term "represent" and like terms are not exclusive, unless expressly specified otherwise. For example, the term "represents" do not mean "represents only", unless expressly specified otherwise. In otherwords, the phrase "the data represents a credit card number' describes both "the data represents only a credit card number" and "the data represents a credit card number and the data also represents something else".

[00100] The term "whereby" is used herein only to precede a clause or other set of words that express only the intended result, objective or consequence of something that is previously and explicitly recited. Thus, when the term "whereby" is used in a claim, the clause or other words that the term "whereby" modifies do not establish specific further limitations of the claim or otherwise restricts the meaning or scope of the claim.

[00101] The term "e.g." and like terms mean "for example", and thus does not limit the term or phrase it explains. For example, in the sentence "the computer sends data (e.g., instructions, a data structure) over the Internet", the term "e.g." explains that "instructions" are an example of "data" that the computer may send over the Internet, and also explains that "a data structure" is an example of "data" that the computer may send overthe Internet. However, both "instructions" and "a data structure" are merely examples of "data", and other things besides "instructions" and "a data structure" can be "data".

[00102] The term "i.e." and like terms mean "that is", and thus limits the term or phrase it explains. For example, in the sentence "the computer sends data (i.e., instructions) over the Internet", the term "i.e." explains that "instructions" are the "data" that the computer sends over the Internet.

[00103] Any given numerical range shall include whole and fractions of numbers within the range. For example, the range "1 to 10" shall be interpreted to specifically include whole numbers between 1 and 10 (e.g., 2, 3, 4,... 9) and non-whole numbers (e.g., 1.1, 1.2 ,.. . 1.9).

II. Determining

[00104] The term "determining" and grammatical variants thereof (e.g., to determine a price, determining a value, determine an object which meets a certain criterion) is used in an extremely broad sense. The term "determining" encompasses a wide variety of actions and therefore "determining" can include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, a database or another data structure), ascertaining and the like. Also, "determining" can include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory) and the like. Also, "determining" can include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, and the like.

[00105] The term "determining" does not imply certainty or absolute precision, and therefore "determining" can include estimating, extrapolating, predicting, guessing and the like.

[00106] The term "determining" does not imply that mathematical processing must be performed, and does not imply that numerical methods must be used, and does not imply that an algorithm or process is used.

[00107] The term "determining" does not imply that any particular device must be used. For example, a computer need not necessarily perform the determining.

Ill. Indication

[00108] The term "indication" is used in an extremely broad sense. The term "indication" may, among other things, encompass a sign, symptom, or token of something else.

[00109] The term "indication" maybe used to refer to any indicia and/or other information indicative of or associated with a subject, item, entity, and/or other object and/or idea.

[00110] As used herein, the phrases "information indicative of' and "indicia" maybe used to refer to any information that represents, describes, and/or is otherwise associated with a related entity, subject, or object.

[00111] Indicia of information may include, for example, a symbol, a code, a reference, a link, a signal, an identifier, and/or any combination thereof and/or any other informative representation associated with the information.

[00112] In some embodiments, indicia of information (or indicative of the information) may be or include the information itself and/or any portion or component of the information. In some embodiments, an indication may include a request, a solicitation, a broadcast, and/or any other form of information gathering and/or dissemination.

IV. Forms of Sentences

[00113] Where a limitation of a first claim would cover one of a feature as well as more than one of a feature (e.g., a limitation such as "at least one widget" covers one widget as well as more than one widget), and where in a second claim that depends on the first claim, the second claim uses a definite article "the" to refer to the limitation (e.g., "the widget"), this does not imply that the first claim covers only one of the feature, and this does not imply that the second claim covers only one of the feature (e.g., "the widget" can cover both one widget and more than one widget).

[00114] When an ordinal number (such as "first", "second", "third" and so on) is used as an adjective before a term, that ordinal number is used (unless expressly specified otherwise) merely to indicate a particular feature, such as to distinguish that particular feature from another feature that is described by the same term or by a similar term. For example, a "first widget" may be so named merely to distinguish it from, e.g., a "second widget". Thus, the mere usage of the ordinal numbers "first" and "second" before the term "widget" does not indicate any other relationship between the two widgets, and likewise does not indicate any other characteristics of either or both widgets. For example, the mere usage of the ordinal numbers "first" and "second" before the term "widget" (1) does not indicate that either widget comes before or after any other in order or location; (2) does not indicate that either widget occurs or acts before or after any other in time; and (3) does not indicate that either widget ranks above or below any other, as in importance or quality. In addition, the mere usage of ordinal numbers does not define a numerical limit to the features identified with the ordinal numbers. For example, the mere usage of the ordinal numbers "first" and "second" before the term "widget" does not indicate that there must be no more than two widgets.

[00115] When a single device or article is described herein, more than one device/article (whether or not they cooperate) may alternatively be used in place of the single device/article that is described. Accordingly, the functionality that is described as being possessed by a device may alternatively be possessed by more than one device/article (whether or not they cooperate).

[00116] Similarly, where more than one device or article is described herein (whether or not they cooperate), a single device/article may alternatively be used in place of the more than one device or article that is described. For example, a plurality of computer-based devices may be substituted with a single computer-based device. Accordingly, the various functionality that is described as being possessed by more than one device or article may alternatively be possessed by a single device/article.

[00117] The functionality and/or the features of a single device that is described may be alternatively embodied by one or more other devices which are described but are not explicitly described as having such functionality/features. Thus, other embodiments need not include the described device itself, but rather can include the one or more other devices which would, in those other embodiments, have such functionality/features.

V. Disclosed Examples and Terminology Are Not Limiting

[00118] Neither the Title nor the Abstract in this specification is intended to be taken as limiting in any way as the scope of the disclosed invention(s). The title and headings of sections provided in the specification are for convenience only, and are not to be taken as limiting the disclosure in any way.

[00119] Numerous embodiments are described in the present application, and are presented for illustrative purposes only. The described embodiments are not, and are not intended to be, limiting in any sense. The presently disclosed invention(s) are widely applicable to numerous embodiments, as is readily apparent from the disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognise that the disclosed invention(s) may be practised with various modifications and alterations, such as structural, logical, software, and electrical modifications. Although particular features of the disclosed invention(s) may be described with reference to one or more particular embodiments and/or drawings, it should be understood that such features are not limited to usage in the one or more particular embodiments or drawings with reference to which they are described, unless expressly specified otherwise.

[00120] The present disclosure is not a literal description of all embodiments of the invention(s). Also, the present disclosure is not a listing of features of the invention(s) which must be present in all embodiments.

[00121] Devices that are described as in communication with each other need not be in continuous communication with each other, unless expressly specified otherwise. On the contrary, such devices need only transmit to each other as necessary or desirable, and may actually refrain from exchanging data most of the time. For example, a machine in communication with another machine via the Internet may not transmit data to the other machine for long period of time (e.g. weeks at a time).

[00122] A description of an embodiment with several components or features does not imply that all or even any of such components/features are required. On the contrary, a variety of optional components are described to illustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of the present invention(s). Unless otherwise specified explicitly, no component/feature is essential or required.

[00123] Although process steps, operations, algorithms or the like may be described in a particular sequential order, such processes may be configured to work in different orders. In other words, any sequence or order of steps that may be explicitly described does not necessarily indicate a requirement that the steps be performed in that order. The steps of processes described herein may be performed in any order practical. Further, some steps may be performed simultaneously despite being described or implied as occurring non simultaneously (e.g., because one step is described after the other step). Moreover, the illustration of a process by its depiction in a drawing does not imply that the illustrated process is exclusive of other variations and modifications thereto, does not imply that the illustrated process or any of its steps are necessary to the invention(s), and does not imply that the illustrated process is preferred.

[00124] Although a process maybe described as including a plurality of steps, that does not imply that all or any of the steps are preferred, essential or required. Various other embodiments within the scope of the described invention(s) include other processes that omit some or all of the described steps. Unless otherwise specified explicitly, no step is essential or required.

[00125] Although a process may be described singly or without reference to other products or methods, in an embodiment the process may interact with other products or methods. For example, such interaction may include linking one business model to another business model. Such interaction may be provided to enhance the flexibility or desirability of the process.

[00126] Although a product may be described as including a plurality of components, aspects, qualities, characteristics and/or features, that does not indicate that any or all of the plurality are preferred, essential or required. Various other embodiments within the scope of the described invention(s) include other products that omit some or all of the described plurality.

[00127] An enumerated list of items (which mayor may not be numbered) does not imply that any or all of the items are mutually exclusive, unless expressly specified otherwise. Likewise, an enumerated list of items (which may or may not be numbered) does not imply that any or all of the items are comprehensive of any category, unless expressly specified otherwise. For example, the enumerated list "a computer, a laptop, a PDA" does not imply that any or all of the three items of that list are mutually exclusive and does not imply that any or all of the three items of that list are comprehensive of any category.

[00128] An enumerated list of items (which mayor may not be numbered) does not imply that any or all of the items are equivalent to each other or readily substituted for each other.

[00129] All embodiments are illustrative, and do not imply that the invention or any embodiments were made or performed, as the case may be.

VI. Computing

[00130] It will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the various processes described herein may be implemented by, e.g., appropriately programmed general purpose computers, special purpose computers and computing devices.

Typically, a processor (e.g., one or more microprocessors, one or more micro-controllers, one or more digital signal processors) will receive instructions (e.g., from a memory or like device), and execute those instructions, thereby performing one or more processes defined by those instructions.

[00131] A "processor" means one or more microprocessors, central processing units (CPUs), computing devices, micro-controllers, digital signal processors, or like devices or any combination thereof.

[00132] ThusThus, a description of a process is likewise a description of an apparatus for performing the process. The apparatus that performs the process can include, e.g., a processor and those input devices and output devices that are appropriate to perform the process.

[00133] Further, programs that implement such methods (as well as other types of data) may be stored and transmitted using a variety of media (e.g., computer readable media) in a number of manners. In some embodiments, hard-wired circuitry or custom hardware may be used in place of, or in combination with, some or all of the software instructions that can implement the processes of various embodiments. Thus, various combinations of hardware and software may be used instead of software only.

[00134] The term "computer-readable medium" refers to any medium, a plurality of the same, or a combination of different media, that participate in providing data (e.g., instructions, data structures) which may be read by a computer, a processor or a like device. Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatile media include, for example, optical or magnetic disks and other persistent memory. Volatile media include dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), which typically constitutes the main memory. Transmission media include coaxial cables, copper wire and fibre optics, including the wires that comprise a system bus coupled to the processor. Transmission media may include or convey acoustic waves, light waves and electromagnetic emissions, such as those generated during radio frequency (RF) and infra-red (IR) data communications. Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, DVD, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EEPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any other medium from which a computer can read.

[00135] Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying data (e.g. sequences of instructions) to a processor. For example, data may be (i) delivered from RAM to a processor; (ii) carried over a wireless transmission medium; (iii) formatted and/or transmitted according to numerous formats, standards or protocols, such as Ethernet (or IEEE 802.3), SAP, ATP, Bluetooth T M , and TCP/IP, TDMA, CDMA, and 3G; and/or (iv) encrypted to ensure privacy or prevent fraud in any of a variety of ways well known in the art.

[00136] Thus a description of a process is likewise a description of a computer-readable medium storing a program for performing the process. The computer-readable medium can store (in any appropriate format) those program elements which are appropriate to perform the method.

[00137] Just as the description of various steps in a process does not indicate that all the described steps are required, embodiments of an apparatus include a computer/computing device operable to perform some (but not necessarily all) of the described process.

[00138] Likewise, just as the description of various steps in a process does not indicate that all the described steps are required, embodiments of a computer-readable medium storing a program or data structure include a computer-readable medium storing a program that, when executed, can cause a processor to perform some (but not necessarily all) of the described process.

[00139] Where databases are described, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that (i) alternative database structures to those described may be readily employed, and (ii) other memory structures besides databases may be readily employed. Any illustrations or descriptions of any sample databases presented herein are illustrative arrangements for stored representations of information. Any number of other arrangements may be employed besides those suggested by, e.g., tables illustrated in drawings or elsewhere. Similarly, any illustrated entries of the databases represent exemplary information only; one of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the number and content of the entries can be different from those described herein. Further, despite any depiction of the databases as tables, other formats (including relational databases, object-based models and/or distributed databases) could be used to store and manipulate the data types described herein. Likewise, object methods or behaviours of a database can be used to implement various processes, such as the described herein. In addition, the databases may, in a known manner, be stored locally or remotely from a device which accesses data in such a database.

[00140] Various embodiments can be configured to work in a network environment including a computer that is in communication (e.g., via a communications network) with one or more devices. The computer may communicate with the devices directly or indirectly, via any wired or wireless medium (e.g. the Internet, LAN, WAN or Ethernet, Token Ring, a telephone line, a cable line, a radio channel, an optical communications line, commercial on-line service providers, bulletin board systems, a satellite communications link, a combination of any of the above). Each of the devices may themselves comprise computers or other computing devices that are adapted to communicate with the computer. Any number and type of devices may be in communication with the computer.

[00141] In an embodiment, a server computer or centralised authority may not be necessary or desirable. For example, the present invention may, in an embodiment, be practised on one or more devices without a central authority. In such an embodiment, any functions described herein as performed by the server computer or data described as stored on the server computer may instead be performed by or stored on one or more such devices.

[00142] Where a process is described, in an embodiment the process may operate without any user intervention. In another embodiment, the process includes some human intervention (e.g., a step is performed by or with the assistance of a human).

[00143] It should be noted that where the terms "server', "secure server" or similar terms are used herein, a communication device is described that may be used in a communication system, unless the context otherwise requires, and should not be construed to limit the present invention to any particular communication device type. Thus, a communication device may include, without limitation, a bridge, router, bridge-router (router), switch, node, or other communication device, which may or may not be secure.

[00144] It should also be noted that where a flowchart is used herein to demonstrate various aspects of the invention, it should not be construed to limit the present invention to any particular logic flow or logic implementation. The described logic may be partitioned into different logic blocks (e.g., programs, modules, functions, or subroutines) without changing the overall results or otherwise departing from the true scope of the invention. Often, logic elements may be added, modified, omitted, performed in a different order, or implemented using different logic constructs (e.g., logic gates, looping primitives, conditional logic, and other logic constructs) without changing the overall results or otherwise departing from the true scope of the invention.

[00145] Various embodiments of the invention may be embodied in many different forms, including computer program logic for use with a processor (e.g., a microprocessor, microcontroller, digital signal processor, or general purpose computer and for that matter, any commercial processor may be used to implement the embodiments of the invention either as a single processor, serial or parallel set of processors in the system and, as such, examples of commercial processors include, but are not limited to Merced T M Penti um TM

, Pentium I1TM, Xeon TM, Celeron TM , PentiumProTM, Efficeon TM , Athlon TM , AMD TM and the like), programmable logic for use with a programmable logic device (e.g., a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other PLD), discrete components, integrated circuitry (e.g., an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)), or any other means including any combination thereof. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, predominantly all of the communication between users and the server is implemented as a set of computer program instructions that is converted into a computer executable form, stored as such in a computer readable medium, and executed by a microprocessor under the control of an operating system.

[00146] Computer program logic implementing all or part of the functionality where described herein may be embodied in various forms, including a source code form, a computer executable form, and various intermediate forms (e.g., forms generated by an assembler, compiler, linker, or locator). Source code may include a series of computer program instructions implemented in any of various programming languages (e.g., an object code, an assembly language, or a high-level language such as Fortran, C, C++, JAVA, or HTML. Moreover, there are hundreds of available computer languages that may be used to implement embodiments of the invention, among the more common being Ada; Algol; APL; awk; Basic; C; C++; Conol; Delphi; Eiffel; Euphoria; Forth; Fortran; HTML;

Icon; Java; Javascript; Lisp; Logo; Mathematica; MatLab; Miranda; Modula-2; Oberon; Pascal; Perl; PL/I; Prolog; Python; Rexx; SAS; Scheme; sed; Simula; Smalltalk; Snobol; SQL; Visual Basic; Visual C++; Linux and XML.) for use with various operating systems or operating environments. The source code may define and use various data structures and communication messages. The source code may be in a computer executable form (e.g., via an interpreter), or the source code may be converted (e.g., via a translator, assembler, or compiler) into a computer executable form.

[00147] The computer program may be fixed in any form (e.g., source code form, computer executable form, or an intermediate form) either permanently or transitorily in a tangible storage medium, such as a semiconductor memory device (e.g, a RAM, ROM, PROM, EEPROM, or Flash-Programmable RAM), a magnetic memory device (e.g., a diskette or fixed disk), an optical memory device (e.g., a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM), a PC card (e.g., PCMCIA card), or other memory device. The computer program may be fixed in any form in a signal that is transmittable to a computer using any of various communication technologies, including, but in no way limited to, analog technologies, digital technologies, optical technologies, wireless technologies (e.g., Bluetooth), networking technologies, and inter-networking technologies. The computer program may be distributed in any form as a removable storage medium with accompanying printed or electronic documentation (e.g., shrink wrapped software), preloaded with a computer system (e.g., on system ROM or fixed disk), or distributed from a server or electronic bulletin board over the communication system (e.g., the Internet or World Wide Web).

[00148] Hardware logic (including programmable logic for use with a programmable logic device) implementing all or part of the functionality where described herein may be designed using traditional manual methods, or may be designed, captured, simulated, or documented electronically using various tools, such as Computer Aided Design (CAD), a hardware description language (e.g., VHDL or AHDL), or a PLD programming language (e.g., PALASM, ABEL, or CUPL). Hardware logic may also be incorporated into display screens for implementing embodiments of the invention and which may be segmented display screens, analogue display screens, digital display screens, CRTs, LED screens, Plasma screens, liquid crystal diode screen, and the like.

[00149] Programmable logic may be fixed either permanently or transitorily in a tangible storage medium, such as a semiconductor memory device (e.g., a RAM, ROM, PROM,

EEPROM, or Flash-Programmable RAM), a magnetic memory device (e.g., a diskette or fixed disk), an optical memory device (e.g., a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM), or other memory device. The programmable logic may be fixed in a signal that is transmittable to a computer using any of various communication technologies, including, but in no way limited to, analog technologies, digital technologies, optical technologies, wireless technologies (e.g., Bluetooth), networking technologies, and internetworking technologies. The programmable logic may be distributed as a removable storage medium with accompanying printed or electronic documentation (e.g., shrink wrapped software), preloaded with a computer system (e.g., on system ROM or fixed disk), or distributed from a server or electronic bulletin board over the communication system (e.g., the Internet or World Wide Web).

[00150] "Comprises/comprising" and "includes/including" when used in this specification is taken to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps or components but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components or groups thereof. Thus, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims, the words 'comprise', 'comprising', 'includes', 'including'and the like are to be construed in an inclusive sense as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in the sense of "including, but not limited to".

Claims (5)

CLAIMS:

1. A bridge device for use in a system or process for monitoring or managing a user's consumption of electricity within an electric utility network, where the electric utility network comprises one or more electricity consumption meters, and where at least one of the electricity consumption meters generates metered usage output data corresponding to the user's consumption of electricity when any such meter measures a predetermined incremental quantity of electricity consumption by the user, and

where the bridge device is adapted to:

i. receive, or receive and store, metered usage output data generated by the at least one electricity consumption meter; and ii. transmit that metered usage output data to be received by at least one digital electronic processing device that is autonomous with respect to the electric utility network.

2. A bridge device as claimed in claim 1, in which the at least one digital electronic processing device comprises one or a combination of two or more of:

(a) a communication link; (b) a home automation hub; (c) a component of a home automation hub; and (d) a mobile device.

3. A bridge device as claimed in claim 1 or 2, in which communications between the bridge device and the at least one digital electronic processing device are in accordance with a Bluetooth protocol.

4. A bridge device as claimed in any one of claims 1, 2 or 3, in which the bridge device comprises either or both:

(a) a software defined radio stack; and (b) means for transmitting and/or receiving communications between the bridge device and the at least one digital electronic processing device.

5. A system that enables a user to monitor or manage the user's consumption of electricity within an electric utility network, where the electric utility network comprises one or more electricity consumption meters, and where at least one of the electricity consumption meters generates metered usage output data corresponding to the user's consumption of electricity when any such meter measures a predetermined incremental quantity of electricity consumption by the user, the system comprising:

(a) a bridge device, where the bridge device is adapted to: i. receive, or receive and store, metered usage output data generated by the at least one electricity consumption meter; and ii. transmit that metered usage output data to be received by at least one digital electronic processing device that is autonomous with respect to the electric utility network, (b) an engagement platform adapted to receive and analyse the metered usage output data from the at least one digital electronic processing device and to provide results of the analysis to the at least one digital electronic processing device; (c) a receiving app on the at least one digital electronic processing device adapted to receive the metered usage output data from the bridge device and adapted to forward that data to the engagement platform; and (d) a user interface on the at least one digital electronic processing device, the user interface being adapted to allow interaction between the user and the engagement platform so that by interacting with the platform, the user is able to monitor and/or manage the user's consumption of electricity within the network.

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