JPH0870488A - Radio meter inspection system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To attain the compatibility of the low power consumption of a reception circuit and the occasionality of meter inspection by setting or changing the period of the intermittent reception of a first radio equipment to an arbitrary value from a second radio equipment. CONSTITUTION: The first radio equipment 2 attached to a meter 1 executes reception operation intermittently usually a comparatively long period in order to reduce power consumption. For inspecting the meter, it is enough for the meter 1 to be started in conformity with the time of intermittent reception. Then, at the time when it is desired to communicate frequently, i.e., at the time of installation or mentenance, etc., a changing instruction is issued from the second radio equipment 9 so as to shorten the intermittent reception period of the first radio equipment 2 in conformity with the time of the intermittent reception of the first radio equipment 2. After that, since the first radio equipment 2 executes the intermittent reception in a short period, occasional communication becomes practically possible similarly to normal reception. After prescribed work is finished, an instruction to return the period to the original one is sent from the second radio equipment 9 to the first radio equipment 2, and the first radio equipment 2 shifts to the operation of the low power consumption.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wireless meter reading system for water, gas, electricity, etc. (including automatic meter reading), a so-called wireless meter reading system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a wireless meter reading system, there are the following two methods for reducing the power consumption of a receiving circuit and extending the battery life of a meter on the receiving side.

(1). An intermittent reception system that supplies power to the receiving circuit intermittently at a fixed cycle. In this intermittent reception method, the meter-side radio is usually relatively long (for example, a few seconds to a few minutes).
In the period T ₁ , the receiving circuit is operated for a short time τ, and the period T
Intermittent reception of ₁ is being performed (see Fig. 4).

If there is a received signal (received radio wave) during a short time τ during which the receiving circuit 3 is operating, the intermittent reception is stopped and the receiving state is constantly changed to start communication. After the communication is completed, the intermittent reception is performed again in the cycle T ₁ . Therefore, the average current consumption of the receiving circuit is τ / T ₁ of the constant reception standby method, and specifically, it can be reduced to several hundreds to several thousandths, and a small battery can be used for a long time.

(2). A continuous communication method in which the unit on the receiving side has a clock function and the power is cut off except when receiving data (when transmitting data).

[0006]

In a wireless meter reading system such as a water meter, a gas meter or an integrated electricity meter, when the system is installed or maintained, or when a suspicion of water leak occurs in the wireless meter reading system of water, for example. Have a demand to collect detailed meter reading data at an arbitrary time. That is, in such a case, the occasional meter reading is required that “communication (meter reading) is possible at any time”.

However, in the above-mentioned prior art intermittent reception method, in order to improve the punctuality of meter reading, the intermittent reception cycle T ₁ must be set to several seconds or less, which does not reduce the power consumption so much. There is a problem that a large battery is required.

Further, in the intermittent reception method, even if frequent communication is attempted, there is a problem that a waiting time of maximum T ₁ occurs before the start of communication, so that meter reading is lacking in timeliness.

Further, in the regular communication system, although the power consumption is greatly reduced, it is impossible to communicate at times other than the predetermined time or timing, so it takes time to confirm the system installation and maintenance, and the meter reading There was a problem that there was a difficulty in the occasionality.

Further, in the regular communication system, there is a problem that it is not easy to accurately adjust the timing because of the limit of the accuracy of the timepiece body of the wireless device. As described above, it is difficult for the above-described conventional technique to achieve both low power consumption of the receiving circuit and the timeliness of meter reading.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a wireless meter reading system capable of achieving both low power consumption of a receiving circuit and occasional meter reading.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, a wireless meter reading system according to claim 1 is connected to a meter (1) installed in a customer, and intermittently transmits data of the meter by a wireless signal. A meter reading system in which a first wireless device (2) of a receiving system and a second wireless device (9) which is connected to the meter reading terminal (8) side and reads the data of the meter (1) communicate with each other. In the above, the intermittent reception cycle of the first wireless device (2) is set and changed to an arbitrary value from the second wireless device (9).

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a wireless meter reading system in which meter reading is automatically performed by bidirectional communication using a public telephone line. Connect the wireless device (2) of No. 1 to the meter (1), connect the second wireless device (9A) to the terminal network control device (8A) side of the telephone line,
The intermittent reception cycle of the first wireless device (2) is set and changed to an arbitrary value from the second wireless device (9A).

[0014]

[Operation] A first radio (2) attached to the meter (1)
In order to reduce power consumption, normally, the intermittent reception operation is performed at a relatively long cycle of several seconds to several minutes. For meter reading, the meter (1) may be activated at the time of this intermittent reception.

When it is desired to communicate frequently, such as during system installation or maintenance, the first communication is performed according to the intermittent reception time of the first wireless device (2), and then the second communication is performed. Change command is issued from the wireless device (9, 9A) to shorten the intermittent reception cycle of the first wireless device (2).

After that, the first radio device (2) receives intermittently at a changed short cycle, and therefore communication can be performed at any time as in the case of substantially constant reception. When the work such as the predetermined data collection is completed, the second wireless device (9, 9A) sends a command to the first wireless device (2) to restore the intermittent reception cycle to the original cycle, and the second command is received. The wireless device (1) of No. 1 returns the intermittent reception cycle to a long value and shifts to the low power consumption operation.

[0017]

EXAMPLE A first example of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 will be described below. In the figure, 1 is a meter such as a water meter or a gas meter, which is arranged at a predetermined place of a consumer who uses water or gas. Reference numeral 2 is a first wireless device connected to the meter 1.

The first radio 2, which is a meter-side radio,
The meter reading circuit 3 is connected to the meter 1 by wire, a control circuit 4, a receiving circuit 5, a transmitting circuit 6 and an antenna 7.

The meter meter reading circuit 3 detects data such as the flow rate integrated value measured by the meter 1 and the unique number (ID) of the meter. The control circuit 4 stores the intermittent reception cycle, and intermittently receives the reception circuit 5 according to the cycle.
Controls power on (ON), power off (OFF), and so on. The control circuit 4 also converts the above-mentioned data into a signal format for transmission, and controls the power on / off of the transmission circuit 6.

The transmitting circuit 6 transmits from the antenna 7 a radio signal in the form of a radio wave which is modulated by converting the data from the meter 1 into a signal form to be transmitted by the control circuit 4. A meter reading terminal 8 is a so-called handy terminal, and a second wireless device 9 is connected to the meter reading terminal 8 by wire.

Reference numeral 10 is a transmitting / receiving antenna provided in the second radio device 9, 11 is a receiving circuit, 12 is a transmitting circuit, 13 is a control circuit, 14 is a communication circuit, and the antenna 10 to the communication circuit 14 are provided.
And constitutes the second radio device 9.

The transmitting circuit 12 receives the second signal via the antenna 10.
The radio wave from the wireless device 9 is transmitted to the first wireless device 2. Further, the receiving circuit 11 receives the radio wave from the first wireless device 2 via the antenna 10.

The control circuit 13 demodulates the signal received by the receiving circuit 11 and converts it to the original data, and transmits it to the meter-reading terminal 8 via the communication circuit 14 or the meter-reading terminal 8.
Based on this command, the power of the receiving circuit 11 and the transmitting circuit 12 is turned on and off.

The communication circuit 14 has a function of communicating between the second radio 9 and the meter-reading terminal 8. Next, regarding the embodiment of FIG. 1, the timing of the data transmission operation between the first wireless device 2 and the second wireless device 9 will be described with reference to FIG.

The first radio 2 attached to the meter side is
Normally, the intermittent reception is performed at intervals of a long cycle T ₁ . That is, the receiving circuit 5 which is the receiving unit of the first wireless device 2 has the cycle T
It is operating intermittently for a short time at ₁ . This period is shown in Figure 2.
Is indicated by the symbol A.

The average power consumption in this state is very small. Further, the cycle T _{1 is} also selected at a time that does not hinder normal meter reading work, and the transmission circuit of the second wireless device 9 (expressed as the transmission unit in FIG. 2 is represented so as to match the timing of this intermittent reception. 12) is operated to transmit a start signal to start communication, and information D ₁ such as a meter reading data request is transmitted.

When it is necessary to investigate and collect fine flow rate data for water use at the time of installing a meter, performing maintenance, or suspecting water leaks in the water supply, information D ₁ indicates the intermittent reception cycle T.
A cycle change request for changing ₁ to a short cycle T ₂ is inserted and transmitted.

Then, the first radio 2 receives this information D ₁ and transmits data D ₁ ′ such as meter reading data. Further, the first wireless device 2 that has received the cycle change request from the second wireless device 9 changes the cycle from T ₁ to T ₂ and notifies the second wireless device 9 side that the change is completed. Response (data D ₁ ′)
However, after that, the intermittent reception is performed at the changed short cycle T ₂ .

The cycle T ₂ is much shorter than the cycles T _{1 up} to that time, and is selected to be a time at which a quick response can be made regardless of a data request from the second radio 9 on the side of the meter-reading terminal 8. Leave.

As described above, the period T in which the intermittent reception period is short is
_The period changed to 2 is indicated by the symbol B in FIG. This period B
During this period, arbitrary data communication can be performed at any time, and fine flow rate data investigation / collection work can be performed without having to worry about the reception timing of the first wireless device 2. Therefore,
It is possible to shorten the work time for surveying and collecting flow rate data.

When the work is completed, the second radio 9 issues a reception cycle change command to the first radio 2 again to set the cycle to T.
_A request for returning from ₂ to the original cycle T ₁ is made (information D in FIG. 2).
₃ ).

The first radio 2 which receives the cycle change request,
The period back from T ₂ to the original period T _1, in response as the information D ₃ 'to the effect that changes are complete to the second radio 9 meter reading terminal-side, which thereafter first a normal period T ₁ The wireless device 2 performs intermittent reception. This period is indicated by symbol C in FIG.

FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, in which 8A is a terminal network control unit (T-NCU) connected to a telephone line, and 9 is a terminal network control unit.
A is a T-NCU side wireless device as a second wireless device connected to the terminal network control device 8A by wire, and 10 is its antenna. The second wireless device 9A has the same configuration as the first wireless device 9 of the first embodiment described with reference to FIG.

The second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the meter reading is performed by the meter reading terminal device 8 in that the meter is automatically read through the public telephone line. Since the wireless devices are connected by wireless communication and the intermittent reception cycle of the first wireless device is set / changed by a command from the second wireless device, the details of the operation explanation are omitted. .

[0035]

Since the wireless meter reading system of the present invention is configured as described above, the intermittent reception cycle can be arbitrarily changed. Therefore, normally, the intermittent reception is performed in a relatively long cycle and the average power consumption of the receiving circuit is increased. Can be reduced, and the intermittent reception cycle can be shortened only when necessary to improve the punctuality of meter reading.

As described above, since it is possible to achieve both low power consumption operation and timeliness of meter reading, it is possible to construct a wireless system with a battery having a small capacity, and it is possible to shorten the work time during system installation and maintenance. , Work efficiency is improved.

Further, when the present invention is applied to the meter reading system of a water meter, when the suspicion of water leakage occurs and fine flow rate survey data is collected, the intermittent reception cycle can be remotely changed to a short value. Since it is possible to communicate at virtually any time, detailed survey data can be collected in a short time without being aware of a wireless system.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining timing of signal transmission / reception in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the timing of a prior art discontinuous reception system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 meter 2 first radio 8 meter-reading terminal 8A terminal network controller 9, 9A second radio

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A first wireless device (2) of an intermittent reception system which is connected to a meter (1) installed in a customer and transmits meter data by a wireless signal, and a meter reading terminal (8) side. In a meter reading system that is connected to and communicates with a second wireless device (9) that reads data from the meter (1), the intermittent reception cycle of the first wireless device (2) is set to the second wireless device. A wireless meter reading system characterized by setting / changing an arbitrary value from (9). 2. A meter-reading system for automatically meter-reading by means of two-way communication using a public telephone line, wherein a first radio device (2) of an intermittent reception system for transmitting data of the meter (1) by a radio signal is provided. The second radio (9) is connected to the terminal network control device (8A) of the telephone line connected to the meter (1).
A wireless meter reading system characterized by connecting A) and setting / changing the intermittent reception cycle of the first wireless device (2) from the second wireless device (9A) to an arbitrary value.