JP2003110481A - Receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a receiver which can preferentially receive a data signal for security even if it is receiving a data signal for automatic gauge examination. SOLUTION: This receiver is composed of a channel scanning means 13 which scan a plurality of channels; a header detection means 14 which detects the above header; an information part detection means 15 which detects the above information part; and a control means 16 which starts the above channel scanning means 13 when the above header detection means 15 detects it as a telegraph A addressed to its own station, checks whether there is a telegraph B having a header addressed to its own station in other channels or not, returns to the channel having detected the above telegraph A in case that there is no telegraph described above, and starts the above information part detection means 15.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention has two functions: an automatic meter reading system for automatically collecting meter readings such as gas and electricity using a communication line, and a security system for notifying information such as CO sensors and fire sensors. It relates to the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional receiver used in this type of automatic meter reading system is shown in FIG. In FIG. 5, 1 is an antenna, 2 is a radio receiving means, 3 is a channel scanning means,
Reference numeral 4 is a header part detecting means, 5 is an information part detecting means, and 6 is a communication line I / F means. FIG. 6 is an operation diagram showing the relationship between the received signal received by the antenna 1 and the operation of the receiving apparatus shown in FIG. In FIG. 6, (1) is a diagram showing a channel scanning operation in the channel scanning means 3, and (2) is a diagram showing a signal input to the antenna 1.

The operation of the conventional receiving apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. The receiving device sequentially scans the channels by the function of the channel scanning means 3 as shown in FIG. 6 (1). The channels to be scanned here are a total of 5 channels of 2 channels of specific low power radio for use in telemeter / telecontrol in the 429 MHz band used for automatic meter reading and 3 channels of wireless security radio waves in the 426 MHz band used for security. The channel used for automatic meter reading is the self-check channel, and the channel used for security is the security channel.
I will call it.

The self-check channel has two channels a and b, and the security channel has three channels c, d and e. The channel scanning means 3 sequentially scans channels a → b → c → d → e → a → b ... As shown in FIG. 6 (1). Then, as shown in FIG. 5 (2), when the signal of the channel a input to the antenna 1 is detected, the channel scanning means 3 stops the channel scanning.
The signal of channel a is the automatic meter reading data, and as shown in FIG.
As shown in (2), the information part is transmitted after the same header is repeated n times. Figure 6 (2)
In the example, the information section is repeated three times. The header portion is composed of a bit synchronization signal, a frame synchronization signal, and an identification code (hereinafter referred to as ID) for identifying the other party.

When the header portion detecting means 4 identifies the ID and detects that the signal is addressed to the own station, the information portion detecting means 5 is activated. The information part detecting means 5 detects the information part transmitted subsequently to the repeated header part and extracts the information. The extracted information is sent to the communication line via the communication line I / F means 6 and sent to a center device (not shown) for management. The channel scanning means 3 keeps channel a until the information part detecting means 5 finishes detecting the information part.
Holding the reception of.

[0006]

However, the above conventional receiving device has the following problems.

The wireless device for automatic meter reading connected to the gas meter must continue to run on batteries for 10 years. Therefore, in order to reduce power consumption, wireless devices for automatic meter reading
Every 0 seconds, it is left for a short period of time to check if there is a radio wave addressed to itself, and if there is no radio wave, it adopts an intermittent reception operation method that shifts to a low power consumption sleep mode. Then, the transmitting side sends out a signal for repeating the header portion longer than the intermittent operation cycle in response to the intermittent operation on the receiving side. That is, if the intermittent reception cycle is 20 seconds, the automatic meter reading data length is 20 seconds or more, and the receiver side continues to receive the automatic meter reading data for about 20 seconds. Therefore, even if a security radio wave is transmitted from another while receiving the automatic meter reading data, the receiving device cannot receive the security radio wave, that is, the security radio wave is generally an urgent radio wave and is a radio wave to be received with the highest priority. There was a problem that I could not receive without receiving.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is to solve the above problems and receives a telegram which is a structure in which a header part is repeatedly transmitted n times and then an information part composed of a packet containing data is transmitted. A receiver, which is a channel scanning unit for scanning a plurality of channels, a header unit detecting unit for detecting the header unit, an information unit detecting unit for detecting the information unit, and When the message A is detected, the channel scanning means is activated to check whether there is a message B having a header part addressed to the own station on another channel. If the message B is not detected, the message A is detected. And a control means for activating the information section detection means.

According to the above invention, it is possible to provide a receiving apparatus which can preferentially receive the security radio wave of the telegram B even when the automatic meter reading data is being received as the telegram A.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A receiving device according to claim 1 of the present invention is a receiving device for receiving a telegram, which is a structure in which a header part is repeatedly transmitted n times and then an information part composed of packets containing data is transmitted. A device, which is a channel scanning unit for scanning a plurality of channels, a header unit detecting unit for detecting the header unit, an information unit detecting unit for detecting the information unit, and a header unit detecting unit for addressing the own station. When the message A is detected, the channel scanning means is activated to check whether there is a message B having a header portion addressed to the own station on another channel, and when the message B is not present, the message A is detected. And a control means for returning to the channel and activating the information part detection means.

Then, it becomes possible to provide a receiving apparatus capable of detecting the presence or absence of another radio wave even while receiving one radio wave.

When the message B is detected, the control means of the receiving apparatus according to claim 2 of the present invention detects whether or not the message type is a prespecified message type, and if it is the previously specified message type, the message message is detected. Stop receiving A and send message B
Is configured to continue receiving.

Further, it becomes possible to provide a receiving apparatus capable of detecting another radio wave even while receiving one radio wave and preferentially switching to reception of another radio wave.

The control means of the receiving apparatus according to claim 3 of the present invention is configured to activate the channel scanning means when the information section detecting section does not detect the information section within a predetermined time.

If there is no received radio wave, the channel scan state can be restored again.

The message A received by the receiving device according to claim 4 of the present invention is a message containing meter reading value data such as gas and electricity, and the message B is a message containing security information such as a gas leak alarm. It has a feature.

Further, it becomes possible to provide a receiving device capable of detecting the security radio wave and preferentially switching to the reception of the security radio wave even while receiving the automatic meter reading data.

When receiving the meter reading value data or security data contained in the telegram A or telegram B received by the receiving device according to claim 5 of the present invention, the communication line interface for sending the meter reading value data or security data to the communication line. Have means.

Then, the meter reading value data and the security data can be transmitted to a management center such as a gas company.

When receiving the meter reading value data or security data included in the telegram A or telegram B received by the receiving device according to claim 6 of the present invention, a notifying means for displaying or issuing an alarm for the meter reading value data or security data. Have

Then, it becomes possible to inform a person at home of the meter reading value, or to notify a danger such as an increase in CO concentration.

[0022]

Embodiment 1 Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a receiving apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 11 is an antenna, 12 is a radio receiving means, 13 is a channel scanning means, 14 is a header detecting means, 15 is an information detecting means, 16 is control means, 17 is notifying means, and 18 is a communication line I / F. It is a means. FIG. 2 shows a message format of a signal received by the receiving apparatus of this embodiment. 2A and 2B show the structure of the header portion. FIG. 2A shows a header structure of automatic meter reading data, and FIG. 2B shows a header structure of security data. The data format for security conforms to the Echonet standard.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are sequence diagrams for explaining the operation of the receiving apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 3A shows the temporal order of the channels scanned by the channel scanning means 13. FIG. 3B shows a telegram format of the received data received by the antenna 11 and input to the channel scanning means 13. By the operation of the channel scanning means 13, the channels are sequentially scanned in the order of a->b->c->d->e->a->b-> ..., and it is monitored whether there is a radio wave addressed to the own station. When the automatic meter reading data signal shown in FIG. 3 (2) is input to the channel scanning means 13 by the self-testing cha, it is detected that a signal of a predetermined level or higher is input, and the channel scanning is stopped. Then, the header section detecting means 14 starts the operation of detecting the bit synchronization signal included in the header section. When the bit synchronization signal is detected within a predetermined time, the frame synchronization signal and the partner station identification code (ID) are identified.

Explaining with an example shown in FIG. 3, the channel scan is switched to cha in the middle of the header 1 and the channel scan is stopped. Then, the bit synchronization signal, the frame synchronization signal, and the ID of the header 2 are received. Meanwhile, the channel is fixed as a. When the message is addressed to the own station, the period of the next header 3 is the security channel c,
Scan d and e sequentially and repeatedly. If there is no signal in the security ch, the head of the header 4 returns to cha and the operation of the information part detection means 15 detects whether or not it is an information part. If it is not the information part, it is confirmed that the header 4 is the header part addressed to the own station, and then during the period of the next header 5, the security channels c, d, and e are repeatedly scanned successively. The above operation is repeated. Then, when the information section is detected, the data of the information section is fetched, the reception is ended, and the mode shifts to the mode of scanning all the original channels. Here, since the temporal length of the header portion is known in advance, even if the header 4 is received by cha, it is possible to shift to the security channel at the beginning of the next header 5.

On the other hand, the operation of detecting the information part in cha is performed every other header. Therefore, depending on the timing, there may be a case where Cha does not occur at the head of the information section. Figure 4
Is in this case. Similar to FIG. 3, FIG. 4A shows the temporal order of the channels scanned by the channel scanning means 13. FIG. 4B shows a telegram format of received data received by the antenna 11 and input to the channel scanning means 13. The information section is the same as the conventional example, and the same information section is repeated three times. The security channel is scanned at the timing of the information section 1. However, since it is possible to switch to cha at the timing of the next information section 2, the information section 2 can be received.

It has been described that after detecting the header portion of the data signal for automatic meter reading by cha, the security ch is scanned every other header. As is clear from the above description, if the security data signal is present in chc, for example, the security data signal existing in chc can be detected even after the automatic meter reading data signal is detected. . When the security data signal is detected, the control means 16 controls the channel scanning means 13 so as to prioritize the reception of the security data signal and stop the reception of the automatic meter reading data signal. Further, the control means 16 activates the notification means 17 to perform operations such as ringing a bell and blinking a lamp based on the received contents of the received security data signal to notify the person. Further, the information is transmitted to the center device or the like of the gas company or the like via the communication line I / F means 18.

In this embodiment, as an example, the length of the automatic meter reading data signal is about 20 seconds, and the length of the security data signal is about 1 to 3 seconds. The number of repetitions of the header portion of each data signal is set to the number of times corresponding to the length of each data. Further, the information part of the automatic meter reading data signal is repeated three times, but the information part of the security data signal is not repeated.
It may be configured to be transmitted only once.

Further, the automatic meter reading data and the security data have been described, but the present invention is not limited to this and may be any data as long as there is a possibility of receiving a plurality of data having different priorities on different channels. For example, when different security data are received on different channels, it is possible to determine which security data has priority. These are possible by setting a priority for each type of received data.

Further, it goes without saying that the present embodiment is not limited to one that receives two telegrams and sets priorities, and includes one that receives a plurality of telegrams and sets priorities.

[0031]

As described above, by using the configuration of the present invention, it is possible to provide a receiving device that can preferentially receive security radio waves even while receiving automatic meter reading data.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a receiving device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a message format of a received signal.

3 is a sequence diagram illustrating a channel scan operation of the receiving apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is another sequence diagram illustrating a channel scan operation of the receiving device shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a conventional receiving device.

FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram illustrating a channel scan operation of a conventional receiver.

[Explanation of symbols]

13-channel scanning means 14 Header detection means 15 Information section detecting means 16 Control means 17 Notification means 18 Communication line I / F means

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 5C086 AA02 DA40 FA02 FA12                 5K048 BA35 BA36 CA14 DB01 DC01                       EB01 HA06                 5K067 AA33 BB21 CC08 CC24 FF18                       FF23 FF25 FF31 GG11 HH22                 5K101 KK12 KK13 LL11

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. After repeatedly transmitting a header part n times,
A receiving device for receiving a telegram that is configured to transmit an information part formed of a packet containing data, a channel scanning means for scanning a plurality of channels, a header part detecting means for detecting the header part, and When the information part detecting means for detecting the information part and the header part detecting means detect that the message A is addressed to the own station, the channel scanning means is activated and a message B having a header part addressed to the own station on another channel. A receiving device comprising a control means for checking whether or not there is a message, and if there is no message B, returns to the channel where the message A is detected and activates the information part detecting means. 2. The control means activates the channel scanning means when the header part detecting means detects that it is the message A addressed to its own station, and whether there is a message B having a header part addressed to its own station on another channel. Check if there is a message B
2. When the message is detected, it is detected whether or not the message type is a predesignated message type, and if it is the previously specified message type, the reception of the message A is interrupted and the reception of the message B is continued. Receiver. 3. The receiving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control means is configured to activate the channel scanning means when the information part detecting means does not detect the information part within a predetermined time. 4. The electronic statement A is an electronic statement containing meter reading value data such as gas or electricity, and the electronic statement B is an electronic statement containing security information such as a gas leak warning, or the like. The receiving device according to claim 3. 5. The communication line interface means for transmitting the meter reading value data or the security data to the communication line when the meter reading value data or the security data included in the message A or the message B is received.
The receiver described. 6. The receiving device according to claim 4, further comprising a notifying unit for displaying or issuing an alarm when the meter reading value data or the security data included in the message A or the message B is received.