JP2000207672A - System and method for wireless meter-reading - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically set respective routes connecting a data collecting unit and distributed plural terminals by transmitting a meter-reading value through the other terminal to a center when communication abnormality occurs between terminals. SOLUTION: When meter-reading data can not be transmitted from a call designated low-order fifth terminal radio unit U5 through a previously registered and set basic communication route L1 to a high-order second terminal radio unit U2, the fifth terminal radio unit U5 connects communication to another communication allowable first terminal radio unit U1. Through a substitutive communication route L2 to this first terminal radio unit U1, a communication route is switched so as to guide the meter-reading data to a data collecting unit U and a center 15. Thus, when the communication is connected through the substitutive communication route L2 except the previously registered and set basic communication route L1, the data collecting unit U automatically newly sets a novel communication route including the substitutive communication route L2.

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 wirelessly collecting meter readings of meters such as electricity, gas, and water from a remote place. The present invention relates to a wireless meter reading system and a wireless meter reading method with improved communication performance for performing communication connection via a communication route of a terminal.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, this kind of wireless meter reading system is
One data collection unit and a plurality of terminal wireless units wirelessly connected to the data collection unit are provided in a communication-permitted manner, and polling is sequentially performed from the data collection unit to each of the terminal wireless units to measure meter readings and the like. Data is being collected (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-188190). Further, in recent years, many terminal wireless units have been used in accordance with an increase in demand for measuring instruments, and accordingly, it has been desired to improve the data collection capability on the data collection unit side.

[0003]

However, in the current data collection method based on polling, since the data is collected via a preset dedicated communication route, the radio wave condition changes suddenly and communication becomes impossible. In some cases, if communication is not possible even after performing the retry process, data cannot be collected, and a terminal wireless unit for which data has not been collected may occur. Further, when determining a communication route, a current location condition and a communication state of a house are manually investigated beforehand, and the result of the investigation is programmed to determine a communication route. However, in this case, a lot of manpower is required, a lot of labor is required such as a check of a wireless communication state, and the cost is high. Had.

[0004] Therefore, the present invention provides a wireless meter reading system and a wireless meter reading system which can automatically set a communication route that can automatically set each communication route connecting a data collection unit and a plurality of distributed terminals. The purpose is to provide a method.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
In a wireless meter reading system that wirelessly collects meter reading values of a plurality of terminals via a specified communication route and transmits the collected meter reading values to a center via a data collection unit,
When a communication abnormality occurs between the terminals, the meter reading value is transmitted to another terminal different from the terminal to communicate with, and the meter reading value is transmitted to the center via the other terminal.

A wireless meter reading system for wirelessly collecting meter readings of a plurality of terminals via a designated communication route and transmitting the collected meter readings to a center via a data collection unit. , When a new terminal joins, registration to the communication route is performed via another communicable terminal.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the wireless metering system according to the first aspect, when the occurrence of a continuous communication abnormality in the designated communication route is confirmed, the designated communication route is changed to perform a registration procedure. Is performed.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the wireless meter reading system according to the second aspect, when the registration procedure of the terminal is completed, the terminal notifies the terminal of the registration procedure completion information.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, when a meter reading value of a specific terminal cannot be wirelessly collected by the data collection unit, the meter reading value is guided to the data collection unit via a communication route of another terminal, and is transmitted to the data collection unit. It is a wireless meter reading method for transmitting to a center.

According to the present invention, when a meter reading value of a plurality of terminals is wirelessly collected via a designated communication route, if a communication error occurs between the terminals, the communication becomes disabled. Since the meter reading value is transmitted to another terminal different from the terminal to be tried and the meter reading value is transmitted to the center via the other terminal, the meter reading value of the terminal can always be collected at the center.

As a result, even if the radio wave condition changes suddenly or an obstacle such as a building is constructed and radio interference occurs, it is possible to switch to the substitute communication route, so that the meter reading value of each terminal can be reliably collected. can do. For example, when newly installing a wireless metering system or adding terminals, communication information according to the installation location of each terminal can be automatically collected, and an appropriate communication route can be automatically set. Therefore, it is possible to determine an optimal communication route without requiring a lot of manpower, so that it is possible to omit a large amount of human rights expenses, and it is possible to eliminate a mistake in setting the communication route by hand, thereby establishing a highly reliable communication route. .

Further, when it is confirmed that a continuous communication abnormality has occurred such that the communication abnormality continues a predetermined number of times in the designated communication route, the designated communication route is automatically changed to the optimum one by setting the communication route to be changed. The communication route can be switched.

Further, when the terminal registration procedure is completed,
If the terminal is set to notify the registration procedure completion information, the registration status of the terminal can be confirmed from outside.

When the meter reading value of a certain terminal cannot be collected by the data collection unit by radio, the meter reading value is guided to the data collection unit via the communication route of another terminal,
Since this is a wireless meter reading method of transmitting the data to the center and managing the meter reading of each terminal, it can be widely applied to data collection of various devices such as electricity, gas, and water.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a wireless meter reading system 11 for automatically reading the power consumption of a house. This wireless meter reading system 11 includes one data collection unit U as a master station and a house 12.
Terminal wireless units U1, U as slave stations installed for each
.., And are connected in a transceiver mode of a PHS (Personal Handy Phone System).

In addition, there are various buildings 13 around the houses 12 which cause radio interference, and the space between the houses 12 used for communication is, for example, 25 db determined by the location conditions.
The communication is established with a communication electric field strength of 20 db or more at which communication is possible at about 55 db.

The data collection unit U of the master station is installed, for example, on a telephone pole 14 as a main controller, and
The data collection unit U collects meter reading data such as a meter reading value, a calling number, and a calling time for each unit based on the command signal from the unit 5, and returns the collected meter reading data to the return center 15. Are connected by communication from lower units of the first to sixth terminal wireless units U1 to U6 to upper units.

In this case, upon the communication route between one data collection unit U and the distributed first to sixth terminal radio units U1 to U6, the first terminal radio unit U1 directly connected to the data collection unit U for communication. And the second terminal radio unit U2 are set at a higher level, and both units U2
1 and U2, the third to sixth terminal wireless units U3 to U6, which are directly connected to communication, are set to the lower order, and the lower third terminal wireless unit U3 and the fourth terminal wireless unit U4 receive the upper first terminal wireless unit. The data is collected by the data collection unit U via the unit U1, and the data is collected from the lower fifth terminal radio unit U5 and the sixth terminal radio unit U6 via the upper second terminal radio unit U2. It has a tree-structured data collection function for collecting data to the unit U. With this tree-structured data collection function, the meter reading data from the distributed lower-level terminal wireless units U3 to U6 is moved up by one higher-level terminal wireless unit U1. , U2, and then collectively collects data in the data collection unit U.

Also, the upper terminal radio units U1, U2
Is set so that when data is collected from the lower terminal wireless units U3 to U6, the own terminal meter reading data is added in addition to the meter reading data from the lower order, and then the data is transmitted to the next higher data collecting unit U. ing. Therefore, data is efficiently collected from the lower terminal wireless units U3 to U6 to the upper terminal wireless units U1, U2 and the data collection unit U.

For example, as shown in FIG. 2, meter reading data is transmitted from the lower fifth terminal radio unit U5 and the sixth terminal radio unit U6 via a communication route connected to the upper second terminal radio unit U2. Is transmitted to the higher-order second terminal wireless unit U2, the second terminal wireless unit U2 adds its own terminal meter reading data in addition to the meter reading data of the lower two terminal wireless units U5 and U6, and then transmits the higher-order second terminal wireless unit U2. The data is transmitted to the data collection unit U.

The first to sixth terminal radio units U 1 to U 6 of the slave station
U6 is installed in each power meter that measures the power consumption of each house 12... And wirelessly communicates with the data collection unit U.

FIG. 3 shows a terminal wireless unit installed in each house. The first terminal wireless unit U1 will be described as an example. The first terminal wireless unit U1 is connected to an electronic power meter via a dedicated cable 31. The meter reading of the power meter 32, which measures the power consumption of each house, is transmitted to the first terminal wireless unit U1 to collect data, and the meter reading of the collected data is transmitted via the wireless antenna 33. The data is transmitted to the data collection unit U, and communication with another terminal wireless unit via the wireless antenna 33 is permitted.

Further, the first terminal radio unit U1 has an LED (light emitting diode) 34 which can be visually recognized from the outside. The LED 34 is illuminated and displayed to operate at the time of data collection or at the time of new registration. Etc. can be confirmed from outside.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a control circuit of the terminal wireless unit, and the CPU 41 comprises an EE-PROM 42 and an RO.
The power meter 32 provided for each call number of the wireless device 44 and the terminal wireless unit is controlled according to the program stored in the M43, and the control data is stored in the RAM 45 in a readable manner. Further, the CPU 41 performs communication control of transmission timing based on the time measurement data from the timer 46 so as not to cause interference, and uses the timer 46 to measure whether there is a response within a specified time.

FIG. 5 shows a communication state table Ta of the first terminal radio unit U1 as an example. The communication state table Ta is obtained by averaging the electric field strength between the first terminal radio unit U1 and the other units. In this case, the communication state between the units is known based on the average value of the electric field strength, so that the communication availability between the units can be clearly obtained.

FIG. 6 shows a communication status table Tb of the data collection unit U. The communication status table Tb is obtained by extracting communication status data from the distributed first to sixth terminal radio units U1 to U6. U is a tree-structured data collection result obtained by integrally collecting data in U,
A communication route with each of the units U1 to U6 is established based on the data collection result of the tree structure.

For example, as shown in FIG. 7, it is not possible to transmit the meter reading data from the lower-order fifth terminal radio unit U5 designated for calling to the higher-order second terminal radio unit U2 on the basic communication route L1 registered and set in advance. At this time, the fifth terminal wireless unit U5 is connected for communication with the first terminal wireless unit U1 that permits other communication, and the meter reading data is always transmitted to the data collection unit U2 via the substitute communication route L2 between the first terminal wireless units U1. The communication route can be switched so as to lead to the center 15.

Therefore, even if the radio wave condition changes suddenly or a radio wave obstruction occurs due to the construction of an obstacle such as a building, it is possible to switch from the basic communication route L1 to the substitute communication route L2. Data can be reliably collected.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, when a new terminal wireless unit U7 is added, a fifth terminal having a communication electric field strength which is disposed relatively close to the terminal and has a communicable communication field strength is provided.
The terminal wireless unit U5 can be connected to the terminal wireless unit U5 via an alternate communication route L2 for wireless communication connection, and the fifth terminal wireless unit U
5 and a new communication route for communication connection to the data collection unit U via the upper second terminal wireless unit U2 can be registered and set.

When a substitute communication route L2 other than the basic communication route L1 registered and set in advance is connected for communication, the data collection unit U automatically establishes a new communication route including the substitute communication route L2. I do.

FIG. 9 shows a communication state between the new seventh terminal radio unit U7 and the data collection unit U, and this new seventh terminal radio unit U7 is connected to the fifth terminal radio unit U5.
And the second terminal wireless unit U2 is requested to perform proxy registration as an intermediary unit, and based on the request, the proxy registration data is transmitted to the data collection unit U and newly registered. The registration response data at the time of this new registration is transmitted to the seventh through the same communication route.
A response is sent to the terminal wireless unit U7.

Therefore, when newly installing a wireless metering system or adding a terminal wireless unit, communication information corresponding to the installation location of each terminal wireless unit is automatically collected, and an appropriate communication route is automatically set. be able to.

In addition to the occurrence of radio interference between the two units, the transmission data circulates in a loop between a plurality of terminal radio units, and the communication error continues for a predetermined number of times on the designated communication route. When the occurrence is confirmed, it is determined that a loop error has occurred, the transmission is discarded, and the communication route is immediately changed to automatically switch to the optimum communication route.

Such communication route switching control data is stored in the ROM 43 described above with reference to FIG.
The communication state table Ta thus created is recorded and managed in the EE-PROM 42 in consideration of a power failure.

Further, when the registration procedure of the new terminal radio unit is completed, the terminal radio unit displays the registration procedure completion information by lighting the LED 34 to clearly inform the staff of the registration status of the new terminal radio unit. Can be.

Next, L at the time of registration of a new terminal wireless unit
The display guidance operation of the ED 34 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Now, in the unregistered state in which the terminal wireless unit is newly installed, the CPU 41 lights the LED 34 in orange to display and guide the unregistered state (step n1).
When this new terminal wireless unit transmits the new registration data to the upper terminal wireless unit, the CPU 41
4 blinks to indicate that it is in a response data standby state (steps n2 to n3).

When the newly registered registration response data is returned from the data collection unit U to the terminal wireless unit, the CPU 41 turns on the LED 34 in blue to indicate that the registration has been completed (step n4). ~
n5).

The wireless meter reading system 1 configured as described above
The proxy processing operation when a communication error occurs in No. 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. Now, as shown in FIG. 7, when a communication abnormality occurs due to radio wave interference between the fifth terminal wireless unit U5 and the second terminal wireless unit U2, a retry process is executed in accordance with the occurrence of the communication abnormality (step S1). n11), if the communication is not successful even after the retry processing is repeated, the CPU 41 searches the basic communication route L1 for another alternative communication route L2 which allows another communication when the time is up (steps n12 to n13).

First, a proxy communication route L2 that is permitted to communicate next to the basic communication route L1 is searched from the communication status table stored in the terminal wireless unit U5, and a communication connection is performed using the searched proxy communication route L2. The first terminal wireless unit U1 sends proxy request data for requesting proxy processing (step n14).

The first terminal wireless unit U1 requested to act on behalf of
When the proxy process is permitted between the communication connection portions with the
The communication is connected to the upper data collection unit U and the center 15 via the terminal wireless unit U1. The communication route connected in this way is registered and set as a future basic communication route, and the proxy process is completed (step n15).

On the other hand, if there is no response and it is determined that proxy is not possible, proxy communication connection with another terminal wireless unit that may perform proxy processing is performed. Also, if the transmission data loops between multiple terminal wireless units and the occurrence of a continuous communication error is confirmed, it is determined that a loop error has occurred, the transmission is discarded, and the communication route is immediately changed. Automatically switches to the next communicable communication route (steps n16 to n17).

Next, the registration processing operation of the new terminal wireless unit of the wireless metering system 11 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Normally, registered first to sixth
The terminal wireless units U1 to U6 are
The device itself has confirmed the communication state of the electric field strength with the surrounding units (hereinafter referred to as monitoring). For example, FIG.
, The fifth terminal wireless unit U5 obtains 55 db as the electric field strength value of the second terminal wireless unit U2 (step n21).

Under such monitoring conditions, if there is a request for registration of a new seventh terminal radio unit U7, it is remote from the upper data collection unit U, and the electric field strength is insufficient. If it is determined that registration is not possible directly due to connection failure (steps n22 to n23),
The new seventh terminal radio unit U7 monitors surrounding terminal radio units, and if there is a terminal radio unit that permits communication from the communication state table Ta obtained by this monitoring (step n24), the one obtained by this monitoring First, the proxy request data of the registration process is transmitted to the fifth terminal wireless unit U5 having an electric field strength capable of data communication, for example, disposed at a relatively close position (step n25).

In response to the proxy request data, the fifth terminal radio unit U5 transmits the data to the data collection unit U and the center 15 via the upper-level second terminal radio unit U2. If so, the new registration ends. At this time, in order to reduce the amount of data, the distribution of the communication route is set as the substitute communication route L2 only to the fifth terminal radio unit U5, and the other distribution is not performed (steps n26 to n27).

If there is no response from the host, a proxy registration request is executed for the next terminal wireless unit found by monitoring (step n28).

On the other hand, if the terminal wireless unit permitting the proxy registration request is not found by the monitoring, the new registration request process is repeatedly executed from the beginning (step n29).

By the way, the new seventh terminal radio unit U
If a direct communication connection can be made to the upper data collection unit U from 7 and direct registration can be performed, a new communication route is registered and set in the data collection unit U and the center 15. As a result, a new communication route connecting the new seventh terminal radio unit U7 to the data collection unit U and the center 15 via the fifth terminal radio unit U5 and the second terminal radio unit U2 is established ( Step n30).

As described above, when wirelessly collecting meter reading data of a plurality of terminal wireless units via a designated communication route, if a communication abnormality occurs between the terminal wireless units,
In order to transmit the meter reading data to another terminal wireless unit different from the terminal wireless unit to be communicated which has become uncommunicable and to transmit the meter reading data to the center via the other terminal wireless unit, the terminal wireless unit Meter reading data can always be collected at the center.

As a result, even if the radio wave condition changes suddenly or an obstacle such as a building is constructed and radio interference occurs, it is possible to switch to a substitute communication route, so that the meter reading data of each terminal wireless unit can be reliably obtained. Data can be collected. For example, when newly installing this wireless metering system or adding a terminal wireless unit, it is necessary to monitor and automatically collect communication information according to the installation location of each terminal wireless unit, and automatically set an appropriate communication route. Can be. Therefore, when setting a communication route, an optimal communication route can be automatically obtained without requiring a lot of manpower, so that the cost associated with the reduction of the work labor can be omitted, and the communication frequency of the communication route such as a manual communication route can be omitted. Since the setting mistake of can be eliminated, a highly reliable communication route can be established.

When the occurrence of a loop abnormality in which communication data circulates in a designated communication route is confirmed,
It is possible to immediately switch to another communication route and automatically secure the optimum communication route. Furthermore, when the registration procedure of the terminal wireless unit is completed, the registration procedure completion information can be notified from the terminal wireless unit via the LED, so that the registration status of the terminal wireless unit can be confirmed from outside. In addition, for a wireless meter reading system that has improved communication performance by allowing each unit of a plurality of terminal wireless units dispersedly arranged to communicate with each other, electricity, gas,
It can be widely applied to data collection of various devices such as water supply.

In correspondence between the present invention and the configuration of the above-described embodiment, the terminal of the present invention corresponds to the first to seventh terminal radio units U1 to U7 of the embodiment.
The change of the communication route corresponds to the proxy communication route L2, and the notification of the registration procedure completion information corresponds to the LED 34. However, the present invention can be applied based on the technical idea described in the claims. The configuration is not limited only to the configuration of the embodiment.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view showing an example of a wireless meter reading system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of a main part showing a meter reading data collection state of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing an example of a terminal wireless unit and a power meter of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a control circuit block diagram of the wireless meter reading system of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a table showing a communication state table of the first terminal wireless unit of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a table showing a communication state table of the data collection unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing a substitute communication route when the communication state is deteriorated according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing a registration state of a new terminal wireless unit of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic explanatory diagram when registering a new communication route according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an LED display guiding operation at the time of registering a new terminal wireless unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a proxy processing operation when a communication error occurs in the wireless meter reading system of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a registration processing operation of a new terminal wireless unit of the wireless metering system of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Wireless metering system 12 ... House 13 ... Building 14 ... Electric pole 15 ... Center U ... Data collection unit U1-U7 ... Terminal wireless unit L1 ... Basic communication route L2 ... Agency communication route 32 ... Power meter 33 ... Wireless Antenna 34 LED 41 CPU Ta Communication state table of terminal wireless unit

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Toru Nishimura F-term (reference) 2F073 AA07 AA08 AA09 AB20 BB01 BC02 DD02 DE12 GG01 5K067 AA26 BB27 EE02 EE06 EE12 GG01 HH21 HH23

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A wireless meter reading system that wirelessly collects meter readings of a plurality of terminals via a designated communication route and transmits the collected meter readings to a center via a data collection unit. A wireless meter reading system that transmits a meter reading value to another terminal different from the terminal to communicate with, and transmits the meter reading value to the center via the other terminal when an abnormality occurs. 2. A wireless meter reading system which wirelessly collects meter reading values of a plurality of terminals via a designated communication route and transmits the collected meter reading values to a center via a data collection unit. When participating, the wireless meter reading system performs registration to the communication route via another communicable terminal. 3. The wireless metering system according to claim 1, wherein when it is confirmed that a continuous communication error has occurred in the designated communication route, the designated communication route is changed to perform a registration procedure. Wireless meter reading system. 4. The wireless meter reading system according to claim 2, wherein when the registration procedure of the terminal is completed, the terminal notifies the terminal of the registration procedure completion information. 5. When a meter reading value of a specific terminal cannot be wirelessly collected by the data collection unit, the meter reading value is led to the data collection unit via a communication route of another terminal and transmitted to the center. Method.