JP2001194395A - Automatically renewing method for system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform a processing which applies a load to a processor such as renewing of a system program in a field server without having any influence on the natural function and monitoring control function of the field server. SOLUTION: The time band where the number of using electric apparatuses is minimum in a day is calculated from the statistical information for electric apparatus obtained by analyzing the using state data of electric apparatuses obtained by the monitoring function of the field server, and the time band data is transmitted to an external power server to obtain a further adjusted time band. According to this, the access time of the field server group to the external power server and a communication line is dispersed, whereby the communication time can be minimized without applying a load to the processor of the field server, and the download of a program can be thus quickly performed to renew the system.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a field server system for monitoring and controlling electric equipment using a network for accessing a server outside a building and an indoor network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A field server is a system for monitoring and controlling indoor electrical equipment products. The field server detects the usage status of electrical equipment products based on the amount of electric current used, and detects abnormality of the equipment using the usage data. , Breaker cutoff prevention,
Provide a function to detect usage abnormalities. Furthermore, it is connected to an external server via a network, and provides functions such as reporting of usage information of electric devices and downloading of new services. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-145743 describes a technique related to detection and control performed on an electric device among the above functions of the field server.

[0003]

The functions of the field server include not only monitoring and control of electric equipment, but also reporting of power consumption to an external server such as a power company and downloading of programs and data from the external server. Etc. are also conceivable. On the other hand, the condition required for the field server is that it operates stably and does not cause any inconvenience. For example, when the electric power consumption of the total electric equipment is likely to exceed the contract value, it is necessary to collect information such as the electric power consumption and the usage status of each electric equipment, and to perform a process of preventing breaker cutoff. At that time, if the processor is overloaded and the processing is delayed, the breaker is dropped and the user feels inconvenience. In the above prior art, no consideration is given to deterioration of the function of the field server when the field server downloads a program, data, or the like from an external server. There is a need for a download method that minimizes the effect on the original function execution of the field server.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide a method in which a field server for monitoring electric equipment selects an optimal time zone and downloads a system program.
Updating programs or newly introducing a system often accompanies a change in the user's contract, so downloading must be performed in advance, so there is ample time. In the present invention, it is assumed that there is enough time before downloading and updating the system.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, a process of calculating a minimum load time zone of a processor of a field server so that the download process is performed when the processor has the most margin. Perform
In addition, since extra time is required when access to the external server is concentrated, an access time adjustment process for adjusting the access time is performed so as to minimize overlap of accesses to the external server. By implementing the above two processes, it is possible to execute the download when the field server is idle, and to shorten the access time to the external server and reduce the load on the field server processor.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, FIG. 1 shows one usage mode using the field server according to the present invention. An in-house network 102 is connected to the field server 101, and a group of electrical equipment products is individually connected beyond the network 102.
The in-house network 102 can be constructed, for example, by a network using a power line. This home network 1
02, the field server 101 detects the amount of electric power flowing individually in the electric device product group 103,
It monitors the usage status of each electrical device and controls it if necessary. In addition, the detected power consumption data or the processing information of the power data is transmitted to an external server 105 (in this embodiment, a server of a power company, hereinafter referred to as a power server 105) via an external network 104 using a public line or the like. It performs operations such as transmitting and acquiring information from the power server. The power server 105 may be, for example, a security service server, a home care server, a home automation server, or the like, in addition to a power company server, and provides various remote services.

Next, the device configuration of the field server 101 will be described with reference to FIG. The field server 101 includes a processing device 201, an internal storage device 202, and an external storage device 20.
3. It consists of the in-house communication device 204 and the external communication device 205. Although the display device 206, the input device 207 such as a keyboard and a mouse are not indispensable to the field server 101,
It may be necessary depending on the service content provided by the field server 101. The electrical equipment monitoring / control program 208 is always in the internal storage device 202 because it is necessary to monitor the usage status of the electrical equipment without stopping. The system automatic update system 209 is in the external storage device 203 when not in use, and is read from the external storage device 203 into the internal storage device 202 when executed, and is executed by the processing device 201.

FIG. 3 shows a program related to the present invention, a list of functions constituting a system automatic update program, and a data flow in the field server 101. The electric device monitoring / control program 208 detects the amount of current used by each electric device, and stores the used current data in the external storage device 203 as electric device use status information 301. The system automatic update program 209 includes a low load time zone information generation function 302, an update recommended condition calculation function 303, an update time adjustment function 304, and a program update function 308.
The low load time period information generation function 302 uses the electric device usage status information 301 for one day, and outputs the low load time period information 3 for that day.
05 is generated. The update recommendation condition generation function 303 generates the update recommendation condition 306 using the low load time zone information 305. The update time adjustment function 304 performs the update recommended condition 3
06 is transmitted to the power server 105, which is an external server, via the external communication means 104, and the time for accessing the power server is adjusted, and the update optimum condition 307 is acquired. The program update function 308 downloads a program from the power server 105 and updates the system according to the update optimum condition 307.

The above processes and functions will be described in detail.

The electric device monitoring / control program 208
Usually, services such as detection of the amount of current flowing through each electric device without interruption, reporting of current data to a power server, detection of abnormality of the electric device from the current amount data, and control of operation of the electric device are performed. The function directly related to the present embodiment is the function of detecting the amount of current flowing to each electric device, and thus the description of the other functions is omitted. In the present embodiment, the electric device monitoring / control program 208 measures the amount of current flowing through each electric device at regular time intervals, and for each electric device in the electric device usage status information 301 in a data format as shown in FIG. The measurement data is recorded in the divided measurement value array 401 and stored in the external storage device 2
03.

FIG. 4 shows an electric equipment monitoring / control program 20.
8 is data indicating the current usage status of each electric device generated. There is a one-dimensional array of measured value arrays 401 for storing the amount of current used at each detection time for each electrical device, and this one-dimensional array constitutes the electrical device usage information 301 in a two-dimensional array in which the number of electrical devices is collected. ing. In the example shown in FIG.
The number at the top indicates the measurement time, and the second and subsequent figures indicate the value of the current flowing to the electric device at the left end of the table. The measured value 402 of the amount of current flowing through the lamp 1 at time 8 indicates that it is 0.6 amperes. Electrical equipment usage information 301
Always stores data for a fixed period, for example, three months, in the external storage device 203. Low load time zone information generation function 3
After the low load time zone information 305 is generated by the
If there is no other use, the data of the used part of the electric equipment use status information 301 may be deleted.

[0013] The measurement data for one day is extracted from the electric equipment usage information 301, and only the time during which a certain current or more flows is shown by a bold line. As shown in FIG. This can be shown in a graph 501. The reason for limiting the current to a certain value or more is that there is an electric device having standby power through which the current flows even when the power is off. As the usage status of the electric device in the present embodiment, when a weak current of about the standby power flows, it is assumed that the device is not in use. The low load time period information generation function 302 retrieves the measurement data for one day of the continuous electric equipment use status information 301, first checks the number of electric equipment used 504 at each detection time 503, and shows it in FIG. Such electrical equipment usage data 502 is generated. In the example of the figure, all the operating electric devices are counted, but at this stage, the non-stop operating electric devices such as a refrigerator may be excluded from the count. Next, the lowest value of the number of used electric devices is obtained, and 1 is set only at the time when the number of used electric devices is the lowest value, and 0 is set at other times. create.

FIG. 6 shows the data structure of the daily low load time zone information 305. The low load time zone information 305 includes date data 601, day data 602, holiday data 604, and low load time zone 506. Holiday data 604 is data indicating whether or not the day is a general national holiday.
Calendar information for determining the holiday data 604 is obtained from the power server 105. In general households, life patterns on weekdays and holidays are often different. In a dual-income family, the degree is remarkable, and in other households, the life pattern changes because the number of people who stay at home changes, such as those who work on weekdays staying on holidays. The holiday data 603 is data indicating whether or not the day is a holiday for the family when the life pattern of the family differs between weekdays and holidays. Holidays are often Saturdays and Sundays, but they are often other days, so the day of the week information for holidays must be entered by the user, or the low-load time zone Obtained by calculating backward from the pattern. Also,
Even on a day that does not fall on a regular holiday, a holiday pattern may occur due to a public holiday or a user taking a holiday.
In the case of a holiday, since there is holiday data 604 of calendar information obtained from the power server, the processing is performed as a holiday pattern. If the user takes a break, ask the user to input the schedule from the input device and treat it as holiday data.
Or, considering that there may be about 10% of irregular pattern days including the day when the user intentionally makes a holiday out of all the weekdays, the data used for calculating the recommended update time zone on weekdays is considered. Processing such as removing days of the irregular pattern is performed. Further, in this embodiment, the holiday information is a logical value with two types of life patterns, weekdays and holidays. However, if there are three or more patterns, it can be dealt with simply by changing the holiday data to integer-value pattern data. .

Since the usage pattern of the electric equipment also changes depending on the life pattern, when obtaining statistical data from the calculated daily low load time zone information 305, weekday and holiday data are distinguished. Calculated daily low load time zone 30
The data of No. 5 is divided into weekdays and holidays, and the elements at each time of the low-load time zone data 506 are added to obtain a time at which the number of used electrical devices becomes the minimum on all the survey target days. FIG. 7 is a graph showing the time when the value of the low-load time zone data 506 of each day data is 1, that is, the time when the number of use of the electric device is the minimum in the day by a hatched bar. A continuous time zone in which the number of used electrical devices is the minimum on all the survey target days can be represented by weekday recommended time zone data 701 and holiday recommended time zone data 702.

FIG. 8 shows the data structure of the recommended update condition 306. Recommended weekdays 801, Recommended holidays 802,
It comprises holiday exclusion 803, designated date 804, and exclusion date 805. The weekday recommended time zone 801 and holiday recommended time zone 802 are each composed of target day of the week data 806 and recommended time zone data 701 and 702. 801 designated days, 8 excluded days
8 is not specified in the example of FIG. 8, but is used when there is a means for the user to specify a specified date or an exclusion date using the display device 206 and the input device 207.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
5 is connected to a large number of field server groups 901, and when the access from the field server to the power server 105 is concentrated, the processing efficiency is reduced. For example, it is assumed that a recommended time zone from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm on weekdays is calculated by the processing described above. If there were many other field servers that calculated the same conditions,
As soon as 1:00, all those field servers start downloading, increasing the load on the communication line and the power server itself, increasing the processing time of each field server, and more likely to cause inefficient results. . In order to prevent the start of download from being concentrated at one time, the update time adjustment function 303 of the field server reports the update recommended condition 306 to the power server 105 and requests adjustment of the update condition. The power server 105 receives reports from all field servers, and the inter-field server update time adjustment function 902 adjusts the download start time of each field server. The graph shown in FIG. 18 indicates a time axis on the horizontal side and each field server on the vertical side, and indicates an update time zone of the field server, and is a part of a graph for 24 hours. Here, for example, the power server 1
In the case where 14 field servers are connected to the field 05 and the time of the update condition from each field server is as shown in a graph 1801 in FIG. 18, the field whose update time is within a certain unit time (for example, 10 minutes) Find out how many servers you have. In this example, only the case where the update time completely includes the unit time is counted. The results of the examination are shown in Table 1802 below the graph. The field server to download at that time is determined from the small number of the results. In this example, the minimum is at time 1 and the field server is A, so it is determined that the download of the field server A will be performed during this time zone. After the determination, the update time at the other time 2, time 3, and time 4 of the field server A is no longer necessary, and therefore 1 is subtracted from the corresponding part of the table 1802.

When the above process is repeated, an update time is finally allocated as shown in a graph 1803. Here, it is also possible to further divide the above-mentioned unit time and repeat the above-mentioned processing, thereby dispersing the time allotted for updating the field server. When a plurality of field servers remain in one time slot as in time 2 in the graph 1803, the time slot is equally divided and assigned to the field server. As a result, the update time of each field server can be adjusted to the time shown in the graph 1901 in FIG. The update start time of each field server is the start time of the assigned time zone.

In this embodiment, the adjustment method focusing only on the time is shown. However, other adjustment methods such as adjustment by day of the week, adjustment by a network group, and the like are possible, and adjustment by combining two or more of these adjustment methods. It is also possible to do this. The power server 105 transmits the update condition adjusted by the above method to each field server. The update time adjustment function 303 of each field server receives the update condition and sets it as the update optimum condition 307 of the field server.

The program update function 308 downloads a program from the power server on the date and time of the update optimum condition 307 received from the power server, and updates the system.

Next, processing contents of each function for realizing the present invention will be described with reference to flowcharts.

First, FIG. 10 shows a processing flow of the electric equipment monitoring control program 208 shown in FIG.

Process 1001: When the current time is a regular time for transmitting and receiving data to and from the power server Process 1002
Otherwise, the process branches to process 1003. Process 1002: Detect the amount of current flowing through the electric device, record the data in the recording device, and return to process 1001 after the process.

Process 1003: The use information of the electric equipment recorded in process 1002 is transmitted to the power server, and if there is new information in the power server, it is downloaded.

Process 1004: If there is update information of the system program in the information downloaded from the power server, the process proceeds to process 1005;
Branch processing returning to 1. The detailed processing flow is shown in FIG.

FIG. 11 shows a flowchart of the system automatic update program 209 called when necessary by the electric equipment monitoring control program 208, and the processing flow is shown below.

Process 1101: Electric equipment usage status information 3
From 01, low load time zone information 305 for one day is generated.
FIG. 12 shows a detailed processing flow.

Process 1102: If the amount of electrical equipment usage information 301 necessary to calculate the recommended update condition has been converted into low load time zone information, the process proceeds to process 1103; otherwise, the process returns to process 1101.

Process 1103: An update recommended condition 306 is calculated from the daily low load time zone information 305 generated in the process 1101. FIG. 14 shows a detailed processing flow.

Process 1104: Communicate with the power server and obtain the update optimum condition 307 from the recommended update condition 306 obtained in process 1103. FIG. 16 shows the detailed processing flow.

Process 1105: In accordance with the update optimum condition 307 obtained in process 1104, a program is downloaded from an external server to update the system. FIG. 17 shows a detailed processing flow.

FIG. 12 shows a flowchart of the daily low load time zone information generation processing 1101, and the processing flow will be described below.

Process 1201: Initialization process for substituting 0 for the process target time.

Process 1202: When the target time exceeds one day, the generation of the electric equipment usage data 502 for the day is ended, and the low load time zone data 506 is generated.
The branch process proceeds to step 208, and otherwise proceeds to step 1203.

Process 1203: an initialization process for counting the number of electrical devices in use at the target time and substituting 0 for the number of electrical devices used.

Process 1204: A branch process in which, when the counting of the number of used electrical devices at the target time is completed, the process proceeds to process 1207; otherwise, the process proceeds to process 1205.

Process 1205: Process 1 if the current consumption of one electrical device at the target time is smaller than a certain reference value
Returning to step 204, otherwise proceeding to step 1206.

Process 1206: Addition process for increasing the value of the number of used electrical devices by one.

Process 1207: The number of used electrical devices is stored in the location corresponding to the target time in the electrical device usage data 502, the detection time interval is added to the target time, and the process returns to process 1202.

Process 1208: electric equipment use status data 5
A low-load time zone extraction process for generating low-load time zone data 506 from the data 02. This processing will be described with reference to FIG. When this process ends, the daily low load time zone information generation process ends, and the process returns to step 1102.

FIG. 13 shows a flowchart of a low-load time zone extraction process for obtaining a time at which the number of used electrical devices is minimized from the electrical device usage data 502, and the process flow will be described below.

Process 1301: The minimum number of used electric appliances is determined from the number of used electric appliances per day.

Process 1302: Investigation time initialization process. An array for storing the low load time zone data 506 is prepared.

Process 1303: electric equipment use status data 5
When the processing has been completed for all the data No. 02, this processing is terminated and the process returns. Otherwise, the branch processing proceeds to processing 1304.

Process 1304: A branch process in which, when the number of used electrical devices at the investigation time is the minimum number of uses, the process proceeds to process 1305;

Process 1305: 1 is stored in the corresponding location of the low load time zone data.

Process 1306: 0 is stored in the corresponding location of the low load time zone data.

Process 1307: The investigation time is set as the next time, and the process returns to process 1303.

FIG. 14 shows that the low load time zone data 506
A flowchart of the update recommended condition calculation processing 1102 for obtaining continuous time zone data with a small number of used electrical devices is shown, and the processing flow is shown below.

Processing 1401: Initialization processing of the examination time, an array for storing intermediate data is prepared, and all array elements are initialized to 1.

Process 1402: When the process is completed for all times of the day, the process proceeds to the continuous time zone extraction process 1405 for setting the intermediate data to the recommended time zone data.
Branch processing to proceed to 403.

Process 1403: A branch process in which, when the process is completed for all days to be investigated, the process proceeds to process 1404, and otherwise proceeds to process 1405.

Process 1404: The investigation time is set to the next time.

Process 1405: Intermediate data at the survey time
Add low load time zone data. Set the target date to the next target date.

Process 1406: A continuous time zone extraction process for obtaining recommended time zone data from intermediate data is performed. When this process ends, this process ends and returns.

FIG. 15 shows a continuous time zone extraction process 1406 for obtaining continuous recommended time zones from the intermediate data generated above.
Is shown, and the processing flow is shown below.

Process 1501: The maximum value in the intermediate data in process 1102 is obtained.

Process 1502: Initialization of a continuation flag indicating whether or not the state of the target time and the maximum value are continuous.

Process 1503: When the process is completed for all the times of the intermediate data, this process is completed and returns. Otherwise, the branch processing proceeds to processing 1504.

Process 1504: A branch process in which, when the intermediate data at the target time has the maximum value, the process proceeds to process 1505; otherwise, the process proceeds to process 1508.

Process 1505: A branch process in which the process proceeds to process 1506 when the continuous flag is 1, and otherwise proceeds to process 1507.

Process 1506: Investigation time is set as the continuous end time.

Process 1507: The investigation time is set to the continuous start time, and 1 is set to the continuous flag.

Process 1508: A branch process in which the process proceeds to process 1509 when the continuous flag is 1, and otherwise proceeds to process 1151.

Process 1509: If the continuous time is shorter than the reference minimum time, the process proceeds to process 1511;
Branch processing to proceed to 10.

Process 1510: 0 is set in the continuous flag.

Process 1511: The target time is increased by one.

FIG. 16 shows a flowchart of the update time adjustment processing 1104, and the processing flow is shown below.

Process 1601: Recommended update condition calculation process 11
03 and the update recommended condition 306 generated in
Send to

Process 1602: If there is a reply waiting reply from the power server, the process proceeds to process 1603. Otherwise, the process 1602 for checking whether there is a reply is repeated.

Process 1603: Obtain the update optimum condition 307 from the power server.

FIG. 17 shows a flowchart of the program update processing 1105, and the processing flow is shown below.

Process 1701: If the current time condition satisfies the condition to be updated, the process proceeds to process 1702; otherwise, the process 1701 for waiting for the condition to be satisfied is repeated.

Process 1702: Download the program from the power server.

Process 1703: The system program is updated.

FIG. 20 shows a flowchart of the update time adjustment function 902 between the field servers operating on the power server 105, and the processing flow is shown below.

Processing 2001: Division time (bt) for dividing 24 hours, number of divisions obtained by dividing 24 hours by division unit time
(num), the number of field servers that adjust the update time (fnu
m) is set.

Process 2002: Two two-dimensional arrays having elements of the number of divisions are generated, and each element is initialized with 0. 1
One is an update field server number management array (counts) for each division unit time, and the other is a field server number management array (cnt) allocated for each division unit time.

Process 2003: A two-dimensional array of the number of divisions * the number of field servers and an update time state management array (states) are generated.

Process 2004: A one-dimensional array (result) having the number of elements of the field server is generated. This is an array to store the update start time of each field server as the adjustment result.

Process 2005: The update field server number management array (counts) and the update time state management array (states) are initialized.

Process 2006: Update time adjustment between field servers is performed.

FIG. 21 shows a flowchart of the array initialization processing 2005, and the processing flow is shown below.

Process 2101: Initialize the array index (i: indicates a field server).

Process 2102: If the field server index exceeds the number of field servers, the array initialization process 2005 ends and the process proceeds to the process 2006. Otherwise, the processes 2103 to 2107 are performed on the field server indicated by the field server index. I do.

Process 2103: Initialize the unit time index (j) of the array.

Process 2104: If the unit time index exceeds the number of divisions, the process proceeds to process 2108; otherwise, the process proceeds to process 2105.

Process 2105: If the unit time is completely included in the update time zone of the field server of interest, the process proceeds to process 21062;
Go to 7.

Process 2106: The unit time index element of the update field server number management array is incremented by 1, the field server index and the unit time index element of the update time state management array are set to 1, and the unit time index is incremented by 1. And processing 210
Return to 4.

Process 2107: 0 is set to the field server index and the unit time index element of the update time state management array, the unit time index is incremented by 1, and the process returns to the process 2104.

Process 2108: The field server index is incremented by 1 and the process returns to process 2102.

Update time adjustment processing 2 between field servers
The flowchart of 006 is shown in FIG. 22, and the processing flow is shown below.

Process 2201: A process of allocating each field server to a division unit time is performed.

Process 2202: Initialize the unit time index (j) of the array.

Process 2203: If the unit time index exceeds the number of divisions, the update time adjustment process 2006 between field servers is terminated, and the process returns to the update time adjustment function between field servers. Otherwise, the unit time index indicates. Processing 2204 is performed for the unit time.

Process 2204: An update time adjustment process is performed between the field servers assigned to the unit time indicated by the unit time index.

Process 2205: The unit time index is set to 1
Increment and return to process 2203.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart showing the process 2201 of assigning each field server to a division unit time.
The processing flow is shown below.

Process 2301: If all the elements of the update field server number management array (counts) are 0, the process of allocating to the division unit time 2201 is terminated and the process proceeds to the process 2202; Steps 2302 to 2312 are performed on the index.

Process 2302: Initialize the field server index.

Process 2303: If the field server index exceeds the number of field servers, process 230
Then, the process proceeds to step 2305.

Process 2304: 0 is set to the element of the unit time index of the update field server number management array.

Process 2305: If the element of the update time state management array (states) indicated by the field server index and the unit time index is 1, the process proceeds to the process 2307; otherwise, the process proceeds to the process 2306.

Process 2306: The field server index is incremented by one.

Process 2307: A new unit time index (k) is initialized.

Process 2308: If the new unit time index exceeds the number of divisions, the process proceeds to process 2306; otherwise, the process proceeds to process 2309.

Process 2308: When the new unit time index exceeds the number of divisions, the process proceeds to process 2306, and otherwise, processes 2309 to 2312 are performed.

Process 2309: Process 2310 if the new unit time index is equal to the unit time index
Otherwise, to step 2311.

Process 2310: The new unit time index is incremented by 1 and the process returns to process 2308.

Process 2311: If the element of the update time state management array (states) indicated by the field server index and the new unit time index is 1, the process proceeds to a process 2312; otherwise, the process proceeds to a process 2310.

Process 2312: The element of the new unit time index of the updated field server number management array is decremented by 1, and the assigned field server number management array (cn
The element of the new unit time index of t) is incremented by 1, and the element of the update time state management array (states) indicated by the field server index and the new unit time index is set to 0.

FIG. 24 shows a flowchart of the update time adjustment processing 2204 between the assigned field servers, and the processing flow is shown below.

Process 2401: The number of field servers (fcount) allocated to the unit time and the start time (stime) of the unit time are set.

Process 2402: Initialize the assigned field server index (m).

Process 2403: When the assigned field server index exceeds the assigned number, the update time adjustment process 2204 between the assigned field servers is terminated and the process proceeds to the process 2205. Otherwise, the process proceeds to the process 2404.

Process 2404: The field server index (l) of the assigned field server is obtained.

Process 2405: Adjusted update start time array (r
esult) stores the calculated update start time in the field server index element.

Process 2406: The assigned field server index is incremented by 1, and the process returns to process 2403.

In this embodiment, the electric equipment use status information 301
Is stored, and when it is necessary to determine the update time of the system, the low load time zone information for a certain period (three months) is generated collectively. Instead of the system automatic update program 209, as a component of the electrical equipment monitoring / control program 208, electrical equipment usage information is created and
It is also conceivable to generate the low load time zone information, or to monitor the usage status of the electric device and generate the low load time zone information at the same time.

[0120]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a system program of a field server is updated in a field server for monitoring an electric device, the usage data of the past electric device can be updated within a day. By calculating the time zone data with the least number of operating electrical devices and sending the data to the power server to adjust the time at which the program is downloaded, the field server has the most room and the communication line and power server By updating the system by downloading the program at the time when it can be used most efficiently, it is possible to update the system while minimizing the effect on the operation of the field server.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of an entire system for implementing the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration that implements the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a software configuration for realizing the present invention and a data flow.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data format of electric device usage status information, which is current amount data flowing through an electric device output by an electric device monitoring / control program of a field server, and an example of data according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.

FIG. 5A is a diagram illustrating an example of a procedure for calculating a low-load time zone by illustrating an example of numerical data of each electrical device use status information illustrated in FIG. 4; (2), (3) is a figure which shows the processing procedure of a numerical data sequence.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of one day of low load time zone data shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a procedure for obtaining a time zone common to all days from a set of daily low load time zone data obtained in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a data structure of an update recommendation condition obtained in FIG. 7;

9 is a diagram showing a procedure in which the field server transmits the update recommendation condition obtained in FIG. 8 to the power server, and obtains an update optimum condition in which the access time to the power server is adjusted.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of an example of a program that runs on the field server according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a system automatic update process started from the program shown in FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a daily low load time zone information generation process started from the program shown in FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of a low load time period extraction process started from the program shown in FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of an update recommendation condition calculation process started from the program shown in FIG. 11;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a continuous time period extraction process started from the program shown in FIG. 14;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of an update time adjustment process started from the program shown in FIG. 11;

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of a program update process started from the program shown in FIG. 11;

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a method of adjusting the update time between a plurality of field servers performed on the field server management host side.

FIG. 19 is a continuation of the diagram for describing the method of adjusting the update time between a plurality of field servers performed on the field server management host side.

20 is a processing flow of an update time adjustment program between field servers operated on the field server management host side described in FIG.

21 is a flowchart of an initial setting process of arrays state and counts started from the program shown in FIG.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart of an update time adjustment process between field servers started from the program shown in FIG. 20;

FIG. 23 is a flowchart showing a process of allocating a field server to a division unit time started from the program shown in FIG. 22;

FIG. 24 is a flowchart showing a process of dividing an assigned time by a field server assigned to the time zone activated from the program shown in FIG. 22;

[Explanation of symbols]

101 ... field server, 102 ... home network, 103 ... electrical equipment group, 104 ... external network, 105 ... external server 201 ... processing unit, 202 ... internal storage Device, 20
3 .... external storage device, 204 ... home communication device, 20
5. External communication device, 206 ... Display device, 207 ...
Input device, 208 ... Electrical equipment monitoring control program, 2
09 ... System automatic update program, 210 ... Field server management program 301 ... Electrical equipment usage status information, 302 ... Daily low load time zone information generation function, 303 ... Update recommended condition calculation function, 304 ... update time adjustment function, 305 ... daily low load time zone information, 306 ... update recommended condition, 307 ... update optimal condition

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Yoshiaki Morimoto 1099 Ozenji Temple, Aso-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Hitachi, Ltd.System Development Laboratory Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Kenji Kitagawa 1099 Ozenji Temple, Aso-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture F-term (reference) 5B076 BB14 5B089 GA11 GA21 GB02 HA01 JA36 JB16 JB22 KA06 KA07 KB04 KB11

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A field server that includes a central processing unit, a storage device, and a communication device and is connected to a local area network and a wide area network. Indoors, an electrical equipment usage status monitoring process that collects power usage data of each electrical device connected to the LAN and an electrical device monitoring and control field server that performs electrical device control processing that controls each electrical device are executed by the system program. When an update is required, by performing an update optimum condition calculation process of calculating a condition suitable for updating the system program from the collected power consumption data, and an update time adjustment process of further optimizing the update optimum condition, Update the system program when the central processing unit of the field server is not overloaded A system automatic updating method. 2. The update optimum condition calculation process includes the following steps: the ON / OFF state of the electric device collected from each electric device connected to the LAN by the electric device use status monitoring process, the amount of current flowing through the electric device, and the scheduled use. Conditions suitable for updating system programs by generating usage frequency data for electrical devices for each day of the week or time from power usage data including any of the current amounts, and obtaining days and times when electrical devices are used less frequently 2. The system automatic updating method according to claim 1, wherein is calculated. 3. The update optimum condition calculated by the update optimum condition calculation process is transmitted to a field server management host computer connected to a wide area network, and the field server management host computer is transmitted from a plurality of field servers. Based on the update optimum condition, by performing an update time adjustment process of returning an update condition in which an update start time of each field server is adjusted to each field server so as to reduce overlap of update times between the field servers, 2. The system automatic updating method according to claim 1, wherein even when a plurality of field servers perform updating, each field server obtains an optimal updating condition. 4. The electronic device according to claim 1, further comprising an electric device use status display function for displaying the use status data collected from each electric device on an electric device having a display function such as a PC monitor or a TV. System automatic update method.