UTILITY METER FOR METERING A UTILITY CONSUMPTION AND OPTIMIZING UPSTREAM COMMUNICATIONS AND METHOD FOR MANAGING THESE COMMUNICATIONS

摘要

The present invention relates to a utility meter (10) for metering at least one utility consumption comprising: a metering unit (1 1 ) for metering at least one utility consumption value (V), a communication unit (12) for sending/receiving messages (8) to/from at least one remote management center (20) assigned to the utility meter (10) for processing said utility consumption value (V) by said remote management center (20), a memory (13) to store a unique identifier (ID) pertaining to the utility meter (10) and a first key (K1 ) for encrypting messages (8) to be sent by the communication unit (12), an encryption unit (14) for encrypting said utility consumption value (V) as a first cryptogram (C1 ), a message generator (15) for generating a utility message (8) containing said first cryptogram (C1 ) to be sent to the remote management center (20), a key generator (16) for generating a payload key (Kp) to be used by said encryption unit (14) for encrypting the utility consumption value (V), a second cryptogram (C2) generated by the encryption unit (14) by encrypting said payload key (Kp) with said first key (K1 ), said second cryptogram (C2) being intended to be included, by the message generator (15), at least once into the utility message (8) to be sent to the remote management center (20). The invention also relates to a method to manage a communication between a utility meter (10) and at least one remote utility management center (20).