Smart Meter Pairing via Multi-Utility Gateway Routing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing smart meter systems face challenges in efficiently and securely pairing smart meters with the correct information system, particularly in multi-utility environments, leading to increased deployment costs and resource inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A pairing method using a multi-utility gateway that employs symmetric keys to securely relay pairing requests and acknowledgments between smart meters and information systems, ensuring encrypted communication and intermediary roles to facilitate efficient pairing across different types of smart meters.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a unified network infrastructure is shared among multiple information systems, then deployment costs are reduced, but pairing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a multi-utility gateway as an intermediary component between smart meters and multiple information systems. The gateway receives pairing requests from smart meters, identifies the appropriate information system based on meter type, and facilitates the pairing process. This intermediary structure allows multiple information systems to share a unified network infrastructure while maintaining organized and manageable pairing procedures, thus reducing overall deployment complexity despite the multi-system environment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the pairing process into distinct stages: the smart meter sends a pairing request to the multi-utility gateway, which then routes it to the appropriate information system. This segmentation allows each component (gateway, information systems, smart meters) to have specialized functions, reducing the complexity that would arise from direct peer-to-peer pairing in a multi-system environment.
2Reliability
If symmetric key encryption is used for smart-meter identifier, then security is improved, but communication overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-configuring symmetric keys in smart meters before deployment. The smart meter is provisioned with a symmetric key that it uses to encrypt its identifier when sending pairing requests. This pre-configured encryption capability ensures security from the outset without requiring complex real-time key management, thus maintaining security while minimizing communication overhead.
3Manufacturing precision
If manual pairing procedures are used, then pairing accuracy is improved, but deployment time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service pairing where the smart meter autonomously initiates the pairing process by sending a pairing request containing its encrypted identifier to the multi-utility gateway. The gateway automatically routes this request to the appropriate information system, which then responds with pairing confirmation. This automated self-service mechanism eliminates manual intervention while maintaining pairing accuracy through the use of encrypted identifiers that uniquely identify each smart meter to its designated information system.
Data Source
AI summary
For pairing an orphan smart meter with a relevant information system intended to remotely manage smart meters in an automated-management system including a plurality of candidate information systems, the orphan smart meter sends to a multi-utility gateway a pairing request that includes information in clear on the type of smart meter. The multi-utility gateway finds, among the candidate information systems, those that remotely manage smart meters of the same type as the one indicated in the pairing request and relays the pairing request accordingly. The relevant information system sends in response a positive acknowledgement including information in clear for the multi-utility gateway and encrypted information for the orphan smart meter.