Detailed Description
The following detailed description of embodiments of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration and explanation only, not limitation.
To better illustrate the embodiments of the present invention, the HPLC/230MHz wireless dual-mode communication unit mentioned in the background section is further described herein, and the communication status thereof is divided into a normal communication status and an instantaneous high-power communication status. Wherein, the normal communication state includes: an idle state, an HPLC receiving state, a 230MHz wireless receiving state, a 230MHz low-power wireless transmitting state and an HPLC low-power transmitting state; transient high power conditions include: a 230MHz instantaneous high-power wireless transmission state and an HPLC instantaneous high-power transmission state. When the dual-mode communication unit is in an HPLC transmission state or a 230MHz wireless transmission state, the power consumption of the dual-mode communication unit increases significantly with the increase of the transmission power, and when the power increases to a certain value, the power consumption reaches 1.5W (taking the dual-mode communication unit with an input voltage of 12V ± 1V, a maximum input current of 125mA, and a maximum input power of 1.5W as an example), so that the transmission power cannot be increased continuously, and the maximum transmission power of the dual-mode communication unit is limited by the maximum input power of 1.5W, thereby causing the coverage of the communication network to be limited. Furthermore, for the 230MHz wireless mode, the allowed maximum transmission power is 1W, and considering that the power amplifier efficiency is generally about 60%, the power consumption of the external power supply required by the wireless mode is 1.67W, and the power consumption of other parts at this time obviously exceeds the limit of the maximum input power consumption of 1.5W, so the embodiment of the present invention provides a new solution to the above problem.
In addition, it should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present invention, an HPLC/230MHz wireless dual-mode communication unit is taken as an example, but the present invention is not limited to micropower of 230MHz, and the embodiment of the present invention may also be applied to a dual-mode communication unit formed by an HPLC and a wireless local area ad hoc network corresponding to other micropower.
Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a dual-mode communication unit provided by an embodiment of the present invention, and fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of the dual-mode communication unit of fig. 1. Referring to fig. 1 and 2, the dual mode communication unit may include: energy storage device 100 and communication module 200 for transmitting and/or receiving signals.
The energy storage device 100 may preferably be a chemical battery or a super capacitor.
The communication module 200 may refer to fig. 2, and includes a main control module 210 and a communication portion shown by HPLC, Radio Frequency (RF) and Power Amplifier (PA), where HPLC and RF indicate that the communication module 200 can complete two communication protocols, that is, implement dual-mode communication, and PA _1 and PA _2 may be regarded as components of the communication module 200 performing signal transmission with the outside based on the communication protocols.
Further, the main control module 210 is configured to obtain the instantaneous power consumption of the dual-mode communication unit when transmitting signals through the communication module and the current power of the energy storage device, and perform the following steps:
1) controlling an external power supply to supply power to the dual mode communication unit when the instantaneous power consumption is less than or equal to a maximum input power consumption of an external power supply (denoted by VDD in FIG. 2) to supply power to the dual mode communication unit;
2) when the current electric energy of the energy storage device 100 is lower than a set threshold, controlling the external power supply to supply power to the dual-mode communication unit;
3) and when the instantaneous power consumption is larger than the maximum input power consumption and the current electric energy of the energy storage device 100 is higher than a set threshold, controlling the energy storage device 100 to supply power to the dual-mode communication unit.
The external power supply and energy storage device 100 supplies power to the dual-mode communication units PA _1 and PA _ 2. The instantaneous power consumption refers to the power of the dual-mode communication unit for information transmission under the influence of power amplifier efficiency or load. For example, the actual power required by the communication module 200 of the dual-mode communication unit to transmit signals is 1W, and the power amplifier efficiency is about 60%, at this time, the instantaneous power consumption of the communication module 200 of the dual-mode communication unit to transmit signals needs at least 1.6W. For another example, if the input voltage from the external power supply to the dual-mode communication unit is 12V ± 1V and the maximum input current is 125mA, the maximum input power consumption is 1.5W, and the instantaneous power consumption of the transmission signal of the communication module 200 actually supplied to the dual-mode communication unit is less than 1.5W.
For the case of step 1), the communication state of the dual-mode communication unit is a normal communication state, in which the main control module 210 controls the external VDD to supply power to the dual-mode communication unit; for the case of step 3), the communication state of the dual-mode communication unit is an instantaneous high-power state, in which the power supply power of the external VDD cannot meet the power consumption requirement of the dual-mode communication unit for transmitting signals through the communication module 200 thereof, and the main control module 210 controls the energy storage device 100 to supply power to the dual-mode communication unit to meet the instantaneous high transmission power.
For example, taking an input voltage of the dual-mode communication unit as 12V ± 1V and a maximum input current as 125mA as an example, the maximum input power consumption of the dual-mode communication unit is 1.5W, and when the instantaneous power consumption of the dual-mode communication unit for transmitting a signal is not greater than 1.5W, the main control module 210 controls the external VDD to supply power to the dual-mode communication unit. When the instantaneous power consumption of the signal transmitted by the dual-mode communication unit is greater than 1.5W and the power of the energy storage device 100 is higher than a set threshold (e.g., higher than 15V), the main control module 210 controls the energy storage device 100 to supply power thereto.
Preferably, for the case of step 2), when the communication state of the dual-mode communication unit is an instantaneous high-power state, the power of the energy storage device 100 is lower than a set threshold, the main control module 210 may further perform:
controlling the dual-mode communication unit to transmit signals at a transmission power adapted to its communication performance when the instantaneous power consumption is greater than the maximum input power consumption.
For example, if the current electric energy of the energy storage device 100 cannot meet the power consumption requirement of the dual-mode communication unit for transmitting signals, the main control module 210 controls the external VDD to supply power to the dual-mode communication unit, but due to the limitation of the maximum input power consumption, the power provided by the external VDD cannot meet the expected instantaneous large transmission power of the dual-mode communication unit, at this time, the main control module 210 controls the external VDD to supply power to the dual-mode communication unit, and the dual-mode communication unit transmits signals with a transmission power adapted to the communication performance of the dual-mode communication unit, so as to ensure that the communication performance of the dual-mode communication unit suffers as little loss as possible. For example, when the power consumption of the dual-mode communication unit for transmitting signals is greater than 1.5W and the power of the energy storage device 100 is lower than a set threshold (e.g., lower than 15V), the external VDD is controlled to supply power to the dual-mode communication unit, and an appropriate power is selected for transmitting signals, for example, the power consumption of the dual-mode communication unit for transmitting signals is 0.8W, and at this time, the power consumption of the dual-mode communication unit for transmitting signals is not more than 1.5W.
Preferably, the dual-mode communication unit further includes: and a charging control device 400, located between the energy storage device 100 and the external power source, for controlling the external power source to charge the energy storage device 100 when a preset charging condition for the energy storage device 100 is satisfied. For example, the charging control device 400 controls the external VDD to supply power to the energy storage device 100 when the energy storage device 100 is in an idle state and the external VDD is able to supply power to the energy storage device 100 when the voltage value of the energy storage device 100 is lower than a predetermined voltage threshold (e.g., lower than 15V).
Preferably, the dual-mode communication unit further includes: the electric energy detection module 500 is located between the energy storage device 100 and the main control module 210, and is configured to detect electric energy of the energy storage device 100 and send the electric energy to the main control module 210. For example, the main control module 210 obtains the current electric energy of the energy storage device 100, and performs the determination in the step 2) and the step 3).
Preferably, the dual-mode communication unit further includes: the input end of the selection control module 300 is connected to the external power source and the energy storage device 100, the output end of the selection control module is connected to the power supply ports PA _1 and PA _2 of the dual-mode communication unit, and the control end of the selection control module is connected to the main control module 210, and is configured to select the external power source or the energy storage device 100 to supply power to the dual-mode communication unit in response to the control of the main control module 210. For example, the selection control module 300 may be a dual-input dual-output relay, and responds to the control of the main control module 210 through its on/off state, so as to select an external power source or the energy storage device 100 to supply power to the dual-mode communication unit.
Preferably, the dual-mode communication unit further includes: the DC/DC device 600 is located between the energy storage device 100 and the selection control module 300, and is configured to increase the output voltage value of the energy storage device 100 to a voltage value required by the dual-mode communication unit to transmit a signal.
In summary, in conjunction with the dual-mode communication unit of fig. 2, the working flow of the dual-mode communication unit of the embodiment of the present invention may be as follows:
a) under the normal communication state, the external VDD supplies power to the main control module 210 to drive the power amplifier of the HPLC/230MHz wireless communication unit. Meanwhile, the external VDD completes charging the energy storage device 100 according to the indication of the charging control module 400.
b) In the instantaneous high-power state, the power detection module 500 detects the current power of the energy storage device 100 and feeds the current power back to the main control module 210. When the current electric energy can meet the instantaneous power consumption requirement of the signal transmitted by the dual-mode communication unit, the main control module 210 controls the selection control module 300 to select the energy storage device 100 to supply power to the dual-mode communication unit for a short time; when the current electric energy cannot meet the power requirement of the dual-mode communication unit for transmitting signals, the main control module 210 controls the selection control module 300 to use the external VDD to supply power to the dual-mode communication unit, but due to the limitation of the maximum input power consumption, the maximum input power consumption provided by the external VDD cannot meet the expected instantaneous power consumption of the dual-mode communication unit, and the main control module 210 controls the dual-mode communication unit to transmit signals at a proper transmission power.
In summary, in the embodiment of the present invention, the energy storage device is added in the dual-mode communication unit, and the power supply mode of the dual-mode communication unit is controlled to be switched between the external power supply and the energy storage device according to the power consumption requirement of the dual-mode communication unit for transmitting signals through the communication module of the dual-mode communication unit and the current electric energy of the energy storage device, so that the problem that the working mode and the transmission power of the current dual-mode communication unit are limited is solved, and the communication coverage capability and the communication success rate of the dual-mode communication unit are improved to the greatest extent.
Further, the communication mode of the current dual-mode communication unit is mainly an HPLC mode and secondarily a micro wireless communication mode, the dual-mode communication unit operates in the HPLC mode most of the time, and operates in a receiving state most of the time, the time ratio of the dual-mode communication unit operating in the transmission state with the instantaneous large transmission power is small, generally less than 1%, and the power consumption of the dual-mode communication unit is significantly lower than the maximum input power consumption of the external VDD within 99% of the time. Therefore, according to the embodiment of the invention, the external VDD or other links are not required to be changed, only one small energy storage device is added, and when the dual-mode communication unit needs to work in an instantaneous high-power-consumption state, the energy storage device is controlled to supply power to the dual-mode communication unit for a short time, so that the link budget of the system can be improved.
Fig. 3 is a schematic flow chart of a power supply method of a dual-mode communication unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 3, the power supply method of the dual mode communication unit may include the steps of:
step S110: the method comprises the steps of obtaining instant power consumption when a dual-mode communication unit transmits signals through a communication module of the dual-mode communication unit and preset current electric energy of an energy storage device for supplying power to the dual-mode communication unit.
Step S120: and when the instantaneous power consumption is less than or equal to the maximum input power consumption provided by an external power supply to the dual-mode communication unit or the current electric energy of the energy storage device is lower than a set threshold value, controlling the external power supply to supply power to the dual-mode communication unit.
For example, when the maximum input power consumption of the dual-mode communication unit is 1.5W, the instantaneous power consumption of the current dual-mode communication unit transmitting signal is not more than 1.5W, or the current power of the energy storage device is lower than a preset threshold (for example, lower than 15V), controlling the external VDD to supply power to the dual-mode communication unit; .
Step S130: and when the instantaneous power consumption is larger than the maximum input power consumption and the current electric energy of the energy storage device is higher than the set threshold value, controlling the energy storage device to supply power to the dual-mode communication unit.
For example, when the instantaneous power consumption of the signal transmitted by the dual-mode communication unit is greater than 1.5W and the power of the preset energy storage device is higher than a set threshold (for example, higher than 15V), the preset energy storage device is controlled to supply power to the preset energy storage device.
Preferably, for step S120, when the current power of the energy storage device is lower than a set threshold, the power supply method of the dual-mode communication unit further includes: controlling the dual-mode communication unit to transmit signals at a transmission power adapted to its communication performance when the instantaneous power consumption is greater than the maximum input power consumption.
For example, when the preset power of the energy storage device is lower than a set threshold (e.g., higher than 15V), the external VDD is controlled to supply power to the dual-mode communication unit, so that the dual-mode communication unit transmits signals at a suitable transmission power (e.g., 0.8W transmission power).
In summary, the rules for supplying power to the dual-mode communication unit are, for example:
1) instantaneous power consumption P when HPLC/230MHz wireless dual-mode communication unit transmits signal through its communication moduleoutNo more than the maximum input power consumption P provided by the external VDD to power the dual-mode communication unitoutmaxWhen is, i.e. Pout≤PoutmaxControlling an external VDD to supply power to the external VDD;
2) p of wireless dual-mode communication unit when HPLC/230MHzout>PoutmaxAnd the preset electric energy detection result of the energy storage device is higher than a set threshold value M, and the energy storage device is controlled to supply power to the energy storage device for a short time;
3) p of wireless dual-mode communication unit when HPLC/230MHzout>PoutmaxBut the power detection result of the energy storage device is lower than M, and the external VDD is controlled to supply power to the energy storage device and enable the energy storage device to emit power in a proper modeThe transmission power performs signal transmission.
Preferably, the power supply method of the dual-mode communication unit further includes: detecting a voltage value of the energy storage device; and when the voltage value meets a preset condition, controlling the external power supply to charge the energy storage device.
For a detailed description of the power supply method of the dual-mode communication unit according to the embodiment of the present invention, please refer to the above-mentioned embodiment of the dual-mode communication unit, which is not described herein again.
The embodiment of the invention also provides an intelligent electric energy meter which comprises any double-mode communication unit. The implementation details and technical effects of the intelligent electric energy meter are the same as those of the above embodiment related to the dual-mode communication unit, and are not described herein again.
As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, embodiments of the present application may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present application may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present application may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.
The present application is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the application. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.
These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.
These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.
In a typical configuration, a computing device includes one or more processors (CPUs), input/output interfaces, network interfaces, and memory.
The memory may include forms of volatile memory in a computer readable medium, Random Access Memory (RAM) and/or non-volatile memory, such as Read Only Memory (ROM) or flash memory (flash RAM). The memory is an example of a computer-readable medium.
Computer-readable media, including both non-transitory and non-transitory, removable and non-removable media, may implement information storage by any method or technology. The information may be computer readable instructions, data structures, modules of a program, or other data. Examples of computer storage media include, but are not limited to, phase change memory (PRAM), Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), other types of Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM), Digital Versatile Discs (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other non-transmission medium that can be used to store information that can be accessed by a computing device. As defined herein, a computer readable medium does not include a transitory computer readable medium such as a modulated data signal and a carrier wave.
It should also be noted that the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising an … …" does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.
The above are merely examples of the present application and are not intended to limit the present application. Various modifications and changes may occur to those skilled in the art. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present application should be included in the scope of the claims of the present application.