System and method for power outage and restoration notification in an advanced metering infrastructure network

1. A method of transmitting a meter power status, comprising:

recognizing a power status change at a meter;

if the meter is scheduled to transmit first, transmitting a notification message to at least one neighboring meter towards a mesh gate, wherein the notification message includes a power status indicator and a meter identifier;

if the meter is not scheduled to transmit first, waiting a predetermined time period to receive a notification message from at least one neighboring meter;

responsive to receiving a notification message, adding a meter identifier to the received notification message before retransmitting the modified notification message to at least one neighboring meter;

retransmitting the notification message; and

responsive to a first failure to receive an acknowledgement from the at least one neighboring meter, retransmitting the notification message over an alternative mesh network path;

responsive to a second failure to receive an acknowledgement from the at least one neighboring meter, retransmitting the notification message through a newly discovered mesh network path; and

responsive to a third failure to receive an acknowledgement from the at least one neighboring meter, associating with a new mesh network and retransmitting the notification message over the new mesh network.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the power status change is at least one of: a power outage and a power restoration.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

waiting a random time period before retransmitting the notification message.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the meter is scheduled to transmit first if it has a high number of hops from the mesh gate.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the meter is scheduled to transmit first if it is a leaf node in a mesh network.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the meter communicates with neighboring meters via a mesh network.

7. A system for transmitting a network power status, comprising:

(A) a mesh network;

(B) a wide area network separate from the mesh network;

(C) at least one meter in communication with the mesh network, the meter configured to:

recognize a power status change at a meter,

if the meter is scheduled to transmit first, transmit a notification message to at least one neighboring meter towards a mesh gate, wherein the notification message includes a power status indicator and a meter identifier,

if the meter is not scheduled to transmit first, wait a predetermined time period to receive a notification message from at least one neighboring meter,

responsive to receiving a notification message, adding a meter identifier to the received notification message before retransmitting the modified notification message to at least one neighboring meter, and

retransmitting the notification message;

(D) a mesh gate in communication with the meter over the mesh network and in communication with the wide area network, the mesh gate configured to:

receive at least one notification message from a meter, wherein the notification messages include a power status indicator and at least one meter identifier,

aggregate the received meter identifiers into a composite notification message, the composite notification message include a power status indicator and at least one meter identifier,

transmit the composite notification message to a server over a wide area network, and

retransmitting the composite notification message; and

(E) a server in communication with the mesh gate over the wide area network, the server configured to receive the composite notification message.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the power status change is at least one of: a power outage and a power restoration.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the meter is scheduled to transmit first if it has a high number of hops from the mesh gate.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the meter is scheduled to transmit first if it is a leaf node in a mesh network.

11. The system of claim 7 , wherein the mesh gate is further configured to select an isolated outage reporting configuration or a major outage reporting configuration, wherein the major outage reporting configuration includes a longer aggregation window.

12. The system of claim 7 , wherein the mesh gate does not retransmit the composite notification message during an exclusion period.

13. A method of transmitting a meter power status, comprising:

recognizing a power status change at a meter;

if the meter is scheduled to transmit first, transmitting a notification message from the meter to at least one neighboring meter towards a mesh gate, wherein the notification message includes a power status indicator and a meter identifier;

if the meter is not scheduled to transmit first, waiting a predetermined time period to receive a notification message from at least one neighboring meter;

responsive to receiving a notification message, adding a meter identifier to the received notification message before retransmitting the modified notification message to at least one neighboring meter, wherein the notification message include a power status indicator and at least one meter identifier;

aggregating the received meter identifiers into a composite notification message, the composite notification message including a power status indicator and at least one meter identifier;

transmitting the composite notification message to a server over a wide area network; and

retransmitting the composite notification message.

14. A computer program stored in a computer readable form for execution in a processor and a processor coupled memory to implement a method of transmitting a meter power status, the method comprising:

recognizing a power status change at a meter;

if the meter is scheduled to transmit first, transmitting a notification message from the meter to at least one neighboring meter towards a mesh gate, wherein the notification message includes a power status indicator and a meter identifier;

if the meter is not scheduled to transmit first, waiting a predetermined time period to receive a notification message from at least one neighboring meter;

responsive to receiving a notification message, adding a meter identifier to the received notification message before retransmitting the modified notification message to at least one neighboring meter, wherein the notification message include a power status indicator and at least one meter identifier;

aggregating the received meter identifiers into a composite notification message, the composite notification message including a power status indicator and at least one meter identifier;

transmitting the composite notification message to a server over a wide area network; and

retransmitting the composite notification message.