Medium consumption metering and invoicing mechanism

Claim 1

INVOICE RENDERING APPARATUS FOR LOCALLY INVOICING MEDIA CONSUMPTION COMPRISING, AT LEAST ONE CONSUMPTION MEASURING DEVICE LOCATED AT THE CONSUMER INSTALLATION INCLUDING A MOVABLE MEMBER OPERATIVE TO PRODIDE A DISPLACEMENT INDICATIVE OF CONSUMPTION; A PLURALITY OF INVOICE DISPENSING DEVICES, EACH OF SAID DEVICES BEING CAPABLE OF DISPENSING AN INVOICE BEARING INDICIA OF CONSUMPTION; OF A DIFFERENT PREDETERMINED QUANTITY OF CONSUMPTION; FIRST MEANS COUPLED TO SAID MOVABLE MEMBER AND OPERATIVE TO PROVIDE AN ACCUMULATED TOTAL DISPLACEMENT CORRESPONDING TO SAID CONSUMPTION; SAID FIRST MEANS INCLUDING MEANS OPERATIVE TO CONDITION THAT ONE OF SAID DISPENSING DEVICES CAPABLE OF DISPENSING AN INVOICE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE PREDETERMINED CONSUMPTION QUANTITY CLOSET TO, BUT LESS THAN, THE CONSUMPTION REPRESENTED BY SAID ACCUMULATED TOTAL; PERIODICALLY ACTUATED MEANS OPERATIVE TO ACTUATE THE THEN CONDITIONED ONE OF SAID DISPENSING DEVICES TO THEREBY ISSUE AN INVOICE RELATED TO CONSUMPTION; AND MEANS CONTROLLED BY THE ACTUATED DISPENSING DEVICE AND OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO SAID FIRST MEANS TO SUBTRACT FROM SAID ACCUMULATED DISPLACEMENT AN AMOUNT CORRESPONDING TO THE PREDETERMINED CONSUMPTION QUANTITY REPRESENTED ON THE ISSUED INVOICE.