Metering system responsive to interrogations from a central station

Claim 1

IN A SIGNALING SYSTEM HAVING A CENTRAL INFORMATION ACCUMULATING STATION COMPRISING A SIGNAL TRANSMITTER AND A SIGNAL RECEIVER, A PLURALITY OF REMOTE INFORMATION GATHERING STATIONS EACH COMPRISING A SIGNAL RECEIVER AND A SIGNAL TRANSMITTER, INCLUDING AN OSCILLATOR, SUPPLYING PROCESSED DATA TO THE CENTRAL STATION RECEIVER IN RESPONSE TO INTERROGATION SIGNALS RECEIVED BY SAID SIGNAL RECEIVERS AT THE REMOTE STATIONS FROM SAID CENTRAL STATION TRANSMITTER, THE LATTER BEING SELECTIVELY CONTROLLED TO BROADCAST SIGNALS AT PREDETERMINED FREQUENCIES WITHIN A RANGE OF FREQUENCIES DETECTABLE BY THE REMOTE STATION RECEIVERS, EACH SAID REMOTE STATION ALSO COMPRISING A BAND-PASS FILTER TUNED TO PASS ONLY PARTICULAR PREDETERMINED FREQUENCIES OF SAID RANGE OF FREQUENCIES, DATA PROCESSING EQUIPMENT INCLUDING AN OPERATION INITIATE AND TIMING APPARATUS HAVING A TIMER DEVICE AND SWITCHING MEANS, A DATA DETECTING AND SIGNAL CODING ARRANGEMENT COMPRISING A SIGNAL CODING CONTROL CIRCUIT, A DATA READOUT REGISTER HAVING A PLURALITY OF DATE STORAGE COMPONENTS, EACH SAID COMPONENT INCLUDING AN ARRAY OF NUMERICALLY RELATED CONDUCTIVE CONTACT ELEMENTS AND A CONTACT SCANNING MEANS POSITIONABLE RELATIVE TO SAID ARRAY IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE INFORMATION RECEIVED IN SAID ARRANGEMENT TO COMPLETE A CIRCUIT CONNECTION WITH AN ELEMENT OF SAID ARRAY, MEANS OPERABLE IN A REGULAR NUMERICALLY PREDETERMINED STEPWISE SEQUENCE TO COMPLETE TRANSIENT CIRCUIT CONNECTIONS TO THE CONDUCTIVE ELEMENTS CORRESPONDING TO THE SAME NUMBER IN ALL SAID COMPONENTS, AND FURTHER MEANS SEQUENTIALLY OPERABLE FOR INDIVIDUALLY CONNECTING TO SAID SIGNAL CODING CONTROL CIRCUIT THE CIRCUITCONNECTED CONDUCTIVE ELEMENTS IN CONTACT WITH SAID CONTACT SCANNING MEANS OF SAID COMPONENTS, THE OUTPUT SIGNAL OF SAID FILTER BEING EFFECTIVE TO ACTIVATE SAID TIMER DEVICE, AND SAID SWITCHING MEANS TO COMPLETE POWER SUPPLY CIRCUITS IN SAID ARRANGEMENT AND SAID TRANSMITTER AT THE REMOTE STATION WHEREBY SAID SIGNAL CODING CONTROL CIRCUIT IS MADE OPERATIVE TO PRODUCE A STEADY SEQUENCE OF PULSATING OUTPUTS TO SAID SIGNAL TRANSMITTER OSCILLATOR CORRESPONDING TO THE NUMBER OF SAID TRANSIENT CIRCUIT CONNECTIONS COMPLETED TO SAID CONTACT ELEMENTS, THE NUMBER OF SAID PULSATING OUTPUTS PRODUCED IN READING OUT EACH OF SAID PLURALITY OF DATA STORAGE COMPONENTS, AS EACH IS CONNECTED BY OPERATION OF SAID FURTHER MEANS, BEING DETERMINED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE SETTING OF SAID CONTACT SCANNING MEANS IN EACH SUCH COMPONENT, SAID OSCILLATOR THEREBY BEING MADE RESPONSIVE TO THE OUTPUT OF THE SAID ARRANGEMENT WHEREBY IT PROVIDES SIGNALS AT AUDIO TONE FREQUENCIES FOR TRANSMISSION AS TONE CODED DATA REPRESENTING THE INFORMATION GATHERED AT SAID REMOTE STATION, FOR A PERIOD OF TIME DETERMINED BY THE OPERATION OF SAID TIMER DEVICE IN SAID APPARATUS.