| 摘要 |
<p>FROM A FIRST ASPECT, THE PRESENT INVENTION RELATES TO A UTILITY METER (10) COMPRISING: MEANS (11) FOR MONITORING THE CONSUMPTION OF A UTILITY AT A TIME INTERVAL, MEANS (13) FOR STORING DATA RELATING TO THE UTILITY CONSUMPTION; MEANS (12) FOR CALCULATING STATISTICAL DATA USEFUL FOR A UTILITY SERVICE PROVIDER FROM THE STORED DATA; MEANS (14) FOR SENDING THE STATISTICAL DATA TO THE UTILITY SERVICE PROVIDER, WHEREIN THE STATISTICAL DATA DIFFERS TO THE DATA RELATING TO THE UTILITY CONSUMPTION. A SYSTEM FOR MONITORING THE CONSUMPTION OF A UTILITY IS ALSO PROVIDED, COMPRISING: THE AFOREMENTIONED UTILITY METER ADAPTED TO COMMUNICATE WITH A UTILITY SERVICE PROVIDER OVER A BI-DIRECTIONAL COMMUNICATION NETWORK, THE UTILITY SERVICE PROVIDER ADAPTED TO RECEIVE THE STATISTICAL DATA FROM THE UTILITY SERVICE PROVIDER AND CARRY OUT FURTHER PROCESSING ON THE DATA. A CORRESPONDING METHOD OF MONITORING CONSUMPTION OF A UTILITY IS ALSO PROVIDED. FROM ANOTHER ASPECT, THE PRESENT INVENTION PROVIDES A UTILITY METER COMPRISING MEANS FOR MONITORING THE CONSUMPTION OF A UTILITY, AND MEANS FOR PREDICTING THE CONSUMPTION OF THE UTILITY FOR A FUTURE PERIOD OF TIME.</p> |
