| 摘要 |
A method of determining, for each of one or more elemental periods (such as 1 hour), a statistically representative parameter value (e.g. amount of electricity, water, gas or oil consumed) for an entity (e.g. is a building, part thereof, or some geographical unit or area) and associated with the respective elemental period, comprising: obtaining a plurality of parameter values in succession, each parameter value relating to each of a plurality of successive data read periods, the data read periods including a first data read period and a plurality of further data read periods; wherein the further data read periods are of equal length and the first data read period is longer than the further data read periods by said elemental period. The method preferably comprises: obtaining a reading at the start of the first data read period; obtaining a reading at the end of the first data read period; for each of the plurality of further data read periods, obtaining a reading at the end of the further data read period; for the or each elemental period, determining the parameter value associated therewith as the difference between the readings obtained for two successive data read periods. The parameter values or reading are suitably converted to digital form and transmitted over a wire-based or wireless network. A metering unit for performing the method is also disclosed. A data processing system for determining a parameter value associated with each of one or more elemental periods, for each of one or more remote entities, using such metering units, is also disclosed.
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