Patent attributes
An automatic meter reading system includes meter-reading devices attached to respective utility meters and a remote control center collecting measured commodity utilization from the meter-reading devices through a telephone network when a meter reading request signal is received from the remote control center. The meter-reading device includes a remote control center interface, a call control processing unit for extracting a call control signal from the meter reading request signal, a main control unit (MCU) for generating a CID control signal based on the call control signal, a caller ID (CID) decoder for decoding the meter reading request signal and extracting CID from a meter reading request signal based on the CID control signal from the MCU, a meter reader connected to the utility meter for reading commodity utilization measured by the utility meter under control of the MCU, and a memory for temporally storing the measured commodity utilization.
