1. An energy meter system, comprising:
an energy meter, comprising:
metering circuitry configured to collect metrology data relating to energy usage; and
communications circuitry configured to selectively communicate the metrology data to a head end server over an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) network and a home area network (HAN).
2. The energy meter system of claim 1, wherein the communications circuitry is configured to communicate the metrology data via one or more data packets.
3. The energy meter system of claim 2, wherein the one or more data packets comprise a unique identifier configured to identify the energy meter.
4. The energy meter system of claim 3, wherein the unique identifier comprises an organizationally unique identifier (OUI).
5. The energy meter system of claim 3, wherein the unique identifier comprises a serial number of the energy meter, a customer account number associated with the energy meter, or both.
6. The energy meter system of claim 3, wherein the unique identifier is obtained from the head end server.
7. The energy meter system of claim 3, wherein the one or more packets are configured to retain the unique identifier after network address translation (NAT) has been performed on the packets.
8. The energy meter system of claim 1, comprising the head end server.
9. The energy meter system of claim 8, wherein the head end server is configured to:
receive the one or more data packets via the AMI network, the HAN, or both; and
interpret the packets to identify the energy meter, the metrology data, or both.
10. The energy meter system of claim 1, wherein the communications circuitry is configured to selectively communicate the metrology data to the head end server over the home area network (HAN) and the HAN comprises:
radio-frequency communications between the energy meter and a HAN communications module; and
Internet Protocol communications between the HAN communications module and the head end server.
11. A non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium comprising executable code, wherein the executable code comprises instructions to:
obtain metrology data from an energy meter;
generate one or more data packets to transmit the metrology data over both an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) network and a home area network (HAN);
determine a priority network interface comprising either the AMI network, the HAN network, or both; and
transmit the one or more data packets via the priority network interface.
12. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions to determine the priority network interface is based upon a determination of whether the energy meter is connected to the HAN.
13. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions to determine the priority network interface comprise instructions to select at least the HAN network as the priority network interface when the energy meter is connected to the HAN.
14. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the one or more packets comprise a meter identifier, a command, and a payload.
15. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the meter identifier comprises at least 24 bits of the packet, the command comprises at least 8 bits of the packet, and the payload comprises a fixed number of the remaining bits of the packet.
16. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the meter identifier comprises an organizationally unique identifier (OUI).
17. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions to determine the priority network is based upon at least one of cost variations, bandwidth variations, or time variations between the AMI network and the HAN.
18. A method of packet communication, comprising:
transmitting one or more packets between an energy meter and a head end server, wherein the one or more packets are configured to communicate metrology data from the energy meter over both an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) network and a home area network (HAN), and the one or more packets comprise unique identifiers to identify the energy meter.
19. The method of claim 18, comprising transmitting the one or more packets over the AMI network, the HAN, or both via the Internet.
20. The method of claim 18, comprising transmitting the one or more packets via the HAN, wherein the HAN comprises radio-frequency communications between the energy meter and the HAN.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An analyzer comprising:
a cell containing a reaction solution obtained by mixing of a sample with a reagent;
a light source unit configured to irradiate the cell with a light beam with a first wavelength and a light beam with a second wavelength on the same optical path, the second wavelength being longer than the first wavelength;
a light receiving unit configured to receive a scattered light beam with the first wavelength and a scattered light beam with the second wavelength, the scattered light beams having been generated by interaction with the reaction solution in the cell; and
a data processing unit, wherein
the data processing unit is configured to determine a signal by subtracting, from a signal representing a change in an amount of the scattered light beam with the first wavelength that has changed due to agglutination in the reaction solution, a signal that has been obtained by multiplying a change in an amount of the scattered light beam with the second wavelength by a reagent coefficient that depends on the reagent, and quantitatively determine an amount of a component in the sample on the basis of the determined signal.
2. The analyzer according to claim 1, wherein
the reagent contains particles with diameters of 50 to 500 nm, and
a light beam with a wavelength in a range of 0.65 to 0.75 \u03bcm is used as the light beam with the first wavelength.
3. The analyzer according to claim 1, wherein a ratio between intensities of the light beam with the first wavelength and the light beam with the second wavelength that irradiate the cell is adjusted to be within a predetermined error range.
4. The analyzer according to claim 1, wherein a ratio between intensities of the light beam with the first wavelength and the light beam with the second wavelength that have passed through the cell is used as the reagent coefficient.
5. The analyzer according to claim 1, further comprising a storage unit that stores the reagent coefficient for each reagent, wherein the data processing unit is configured to read and use the reagent coefficient stored in the storage unit.
6. The analyzer according to claim 1, wherein intensities of the light beam with the first wavelength and the light beam with the second wavelength are normalized using intensities of transmitted light beams for when the cell contains pure water.
7. The analyzer according to claim 1, wherein the reagent coefficient is determined using intensities of transmitted light beams that have passed through the reaction solution immediately after the agglutination started.
8. An automatic analyzer comprising:
a sample disc that has disposed thereon a plurality of sample cups each containing a sample, the sample disc being configured to be rotation-driven;
a reagent disc that has disposed thereon a plurality of reagent bottles each containing a reagent, the reagent disc being configured to be rotation-driven;
a cell disc that has disposed thereon a plurality of cells each containing a reaction solution, the cell disc being configured to be rotation-driven;
a sample dispensing mechanism configured to dispense a sample into one of the cells on the cell disc from one of the sample cups on the sample disc;
a reagent dispending mechanism configured to dispense a reagent into one of the cells on the cell disc from one of the reagent bottles on the reagent disc;
a measuring unit configured to perform optical measurement on the cell on the cell disc that is rotation-driven, the cell containing a reaction solution obtained by mixing the sample with the reagent; and
a data processing unit configured to process data measured with the measuring unit, wherein
the measuring unit includes
a light source unit configured to irradiate the cell with a light beam with a first wavelength and a second light beam with a second wavelength on the same optical path, the second wavelength being longer than the first wavelength, and
a light receiving unit configured to receive a scattered light beam with the first wavelength and a scattered light beam with the second wavelength, the scattered light beams having been generated by interaction with the reaction solution in the cell, and
the data processing unit is configured to determine a signal by subtracting, from a signal representing a change in an amount of the scattered light beam with the first wavelength that has changed due to agglutination in the reaction solution, a signal that has been obtained by multiplying a change in an amount of the scattered light beam with the second wavelength by a reagent coefficient that depends on the reagent, and quantitatively determine an amount of a component in the sample on the basis of the determined signal.
9. The automatic analyzer according to claim 8, wherein
the reagent contains particles with diameters of 50 to 500 nm, and
a light beam with a wavelength in a range of 0.65 to 0.75 \u03bcm is used as the light beam with the first wavelength.
10. The automatic analyzer according to claim 8, wherein a ratio between intensities of the light beam with the first wavelength and the light beam with the second wavelength that irradiate the cell is adjusted to be within a predetermined error range.
11. The automatic analyzer according to claim 8, wherein a ratio between intensities of the light beam with the first wavelength and the light beam with the second wavelength that have passed through the cell is used as the reagent coefficient.
12. The automatic analyzer according to claim 8, further comprising a storage unit that stores the reagent coefficient for each reagent, wherein the data processing unit is configured to read and use the reagent coefficient stored in the storage unit.
13. The automatic analyzer according to claim 8, wherein intensities of the light beam with the first wavelength and the light beam with the second wavelength are normalized using intensities of transmitted light beams for when the cell contains pure water.
14. The automatic analyzer according to claim 8, wherein the reagent coefficient is determined using intensities of transmitted light beams that have passed through the reaction solution immediately after the agglutination started.