JP2016062389A - Communication load and communication charge reduction system for sensor data collection - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a communication load and communication charge reduction system capable of reducing communication load and a communication charge in communication between a gateway device and a center sever.SOLUTION: A tariff server 140 monitors a communication line and aggregate acquisition times and load achievements, totals load achievements for each time zone, stores the ratio of load achievements to a load achievement per day, the ratio of cumulative achievements to the load achievement per day, and the rank of load achievements, stores a price zone set by classifying the ratios of load achievements, a load prediction level set by classifying the ratios of cumulative achievements into a plurality of stages, and incentives set to a low rank based on the rank of the load achievements in a charge list table, and transmits them according to inquiries from gateway devices 113 and 123. The gateway devices 113 and 123 set the price zone, the load prediction level, and the incentives in a transmission rule table, and compares the table with the charge list table received from the tariff server 140 to thereby transmit sensor data.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication load and a communication fee reduction system for alleviating communication line tightness and reducing a communication fee in a system that collects sensor data via a communication line.

  In recent years, with the spread of sensor devices due to lower prices, there has been concern about tight communication lines and increased communication charges used when collecting sensor data in a center server. For example, when confirming the growth state of products and adjusting the supply in a plant factory, a wide variety of sensor data such as temperature, water temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, daily illuminance, and hydroponic solution concentration in the plant factory are used. Monitor and control from the center server side as necessary. The collected sensor data is transmitted to the center server and later analyzed on the center server side. However, in order to increase the accuracy of the analysis, data collection at a short interval is necessary and the amount of data tends to increase.

  On the other hand, in communication carrier lines and Internet lines, communication facilities capable of transmitting the maximum amount of data transmitted simultaneously are required. In addition to data that needs to be sent and monitored immediately, sensor data includes data required for later analysis and data for notifying when an emergency situation occurs. The transmission timing and schedule differ depending on the characteristics. Therefore, it is possible to level the communication load by combining them.

JP 2012-164369 A

  With the widespread use of M2M and IoT systems, it is assumed that the amount of sensor data communication will increase dramatically. When sensor data is transmitted to the center server via the gateway device, if the amount of data transmission exceeds the bandwidth of the communication line, it is assumed that communication performance degradation or communication failure of the entire band will be caused. Is done. In addition, with the spread of M2M and IoT systems, if the communication amount of sensor data increases dramatically, there is a concern about an increase in data communication charges due to capital investment of the communication line and usage-based charging.

  In the present invention, by dynamically controlling the data transmission timing and schedule according to the nature of the data to be transmitted in the sensor data collection system, the load of the data traffic is leveled and the bandwidth of the communication line is alleviated. It is an object of the present invention to provide a communication load reduction system. At the same time, for sensor data that can contribute to load leveling in the sensor data collection system, by applying a low-rate pay-per-use charge, communication charges are reduced to promote load leveling of communication lines and reduce data communication charges. The purpose is to provide a system.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides the following configurations.
An aspect of the present invention includes a gateway device that collects sensor data and transmits it to a center server, and a tariff server connected to the gateway device, and reduces communication load and communication charge in communication between the gateway device and the center server. A system for
The tariff server is
Means for monitoring communication lines between the gateway device and the center server to obtain information on communication load at regular intervals;
For each of the communication load information, means for accumulating in the communication load accumulation table an acquisition time and a load record that is a ratio of the communication load with respect to a usable bandwidth amount;
One day of the load results accumulated in the communication load accumulation table is tabulated for each time zone, and for each time zone, the ratio of the load results of the time zone to the load results for one day and a predetermined number of days Means for storing in the communication load analysis table the ratio of the cumulative performance, which is the average of the load performance for the time period, to the load performance for one day, and the rank of the load performance for the time period;
The ratio of the load results by time zone stored in the communication load analysis table is classified into a plurality of stages, and the price range set for each time zone according to the order of the stages, and by time zone stored in the communication load analysis table Based on the load forecast level set for each time zone according to the order of the steps and the rank of the load results for each time zone stored in the communication load analysis table Means for storing incentives set up to rank in the tariff table;
In response to an inquiry from the gateway device, means for transmitting information on the fee table table,
The gateway device is
A transmission rule table with at least a price range, load forecast level and incentive,
Means for querying the tariff server for a tariff table when transmitting sensor data to the center server;
Means for transmitting sensor data by collating the information in the tariff table received from the tariff server with the setting in the transmission rule table.

  As described above, according to the present invention, in the sensor data collection system, the load level of the communication line is realized by dynamically controlling the data transmission timing and schedule according to the characteristics of the sensor data to be transmitted. , The tightness of the bandwidth of the communication line can be eased. For sensor data that can contribute to load leveling, by setting a rule that applies a low-rate metered charge, it is possible to promote load leveling of the communication line and to reduce the communication charge. As a result, communication cost can be reduced because investment in communication facilities can be avoided.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the overall configuration of the data collection system of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of the gateway device of FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a transmission rule table in the gateway device of FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of the tariff server of FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a communication load accumulation table in the tariff server of FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a communication load analysis table in the tariff server of FIG. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a charge table in the tariff server of FIG. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing processing of the charge table setting unit in the tariff server of FIG. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a description of a communication method in the system of FIG.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings showing a configuration example. In this configuration example, an example applied to a sensor data collection system that transmits data between a gateway device that collects sensor data installed in an industrial machine and a center server will be described.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the overall configuration of the data collection system of the present invention.
A vehicle 110 and a factory 120 are shown as examples of industrial machines. A sensor group 111 for monitoring the state of the apparatus is attached to the vehicle 110, and various data such as the engine speed of the vehicle can be acquired via a network such as a CAN 112. In addition, a sensor group 121 for monitoring the state of the equipment is attached to the factory 120, and operation data of machine tools in the factory can be acquired via a network of ZigBee 122 and the like. In the gateway devices 113 and 123, sensor data from the sensor groups 111 and 121 are temporarily aggregated and processed according to conversion / processing rules set in advance in the gateway device 113 and the gateway device 123.

  The sensor data in the present invention is transmitted via the 3G communication line 130 according to the transmission rules set in advance in the gateway devices 113 and 123 and the transmission timing schedule derived from the tariff table and load prediction set in the tariff server 140. It is transmitted to the center server 150. The tariff server 140 is connected to the 3G communication line 130 via the Internet 160. In this way, the center server 150 collects and accumulates sensor data of devices and devices.

  Each of the gateway devices 113 and 123 and the tariff server 140 is a computer into which a program for realizing a predetermined function is introduced, and the CPU reads the program into the memory and executes it, whereby the characteristic gateway device of the present invention 113 and 123 and the tariff server 140 function.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the gateway devices 113 and 123 shown in FIG.
The hardware of the gateway device is composed of a permanent storage such as a CPU, RAM, flash ROM, etc., and a closed wireless network such as a CAN 112 or a ZigBee 122 and an interface device for communicating with the 3G wide area communication line 130. . Further, an operating system such as Linux (registered trademark) is installed, and a program constituting each processing unit in FIG. 2 is installed thereon, and a database of related information is stored in the external storage device.

  The gateway devices 113 and 123 include a data acquisition unit 210, a conversion processing unit 220, a data up unit 230, and a rule acquisition generation unit 240 as processing units that realize the functions.

  The data acquisition unit 210 acquires sensor data from the sensor groups 111 and 121 through the CAN 112 and the ZigBee 122. Here, the sensor data is broadcast from the sensor groups 111 and 121 to the CAN or ZigBee closed network at an arbitrary timing. As the data format, binary data of CAN ID and sensor data and binary data of PAN ID and sensor data are connected. The data acquisition unit 210 receives all broadcast data.

  The conversion processing unit 220 converts and processes the sensor data acquired by the data acquisition unit 210 according to the conversion processing rules described in the conversion processing rule table 250.

  The data up unit 230 transmits the data converted by the conversion processing unit 220 to the center server 150 via the 3G communication line 130 in accordance with the transmission rules described in the transmission rule table 260.

  The rule acquisition / generation unit 240 acquires and updates the conversion processing rule stored in the conversion processing rule table 250 from the center server 150 and updates the transmission rule stored in the transmission rule table 260 of the tariff server 140 via the Internet 160. Generate and update transmission rules obtained from the tariff.

  The conversion processing rule table 250 stores conversion processing rules used by the conversion processing unit 220.

  The transmission rule table 260 is updated by the rule acquisition / generation unit 240 and stores transmission rules used by the data up unit 230. Details will be described with reference to FIG.

  The calculation plug-in table 270 stores calculation plug-ins used in the conversion processing unit 220. The device information table 280 stores in advance a device ID for identifying a sensor device and a type representing the hardware of the sensor device.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of the transmission rule table 260 used in the data up unit 230.

  Tables 311 to 323 represent transmission rules. The “transmission type ID” 311 represents a CAN ID and a PAN ID that flow through the CAN etc. 112 and the ZigBee etc. 122. “Price range” 312 indicates the price range number at the time of data transmission. The smaller the number, the lower the price range. In the case of the maximum value “99”, transmission suppression by the price range is not performed. Show. “Load prediction level” 313 indicates a load prediction level at the time of data transmission. The smaller the number, the lower the network load. When the maximum value is “99”, transmission control based on the network load is not performed. To do. “Incentive” 314 indicates whether or not there is an incentive at the time of data transmission, “1” indicates that an incentive is set, “0” indicates that no incentive is set, and whether or not an incentive is set It is assumed that transmission suppression is not performed. “Transmission deadline” 315 indicates the relative time from the transmission instruction in the data transmission deadline.

  In the case of one record 321 in the transmission rule table 260, the price range 312 is set to the maximum value, the load prediction level 313 is set to the maximum value, the incentive 314 is set to no incentive, and the transmission deadline 315 is set to “0”. Indicates transmission "".

  In the case of another record 322 in the transmission rule table 260, the price range 312 is the minimum value, the load prediction level 313 is the minimum value, the incentive 314 is incentive, and the transmission deadline 315 is not set with a relative time. "" Low-priced transmission "" is sent only when the load is low and there is an incentive.

  In the case of another record 323 in the transmission rule table 260, the price range 312 is a value close to the minimum value, the load prediction level 313 is a value close to the minimum value, the incentive 314 has no incentive, and the transmission time limit 315 has a relative time of “5”. Is sent when the price range and load prediction level conditions are satisfied within 5 hours, and the price range and load prediction level conditions are satisfied after 5 hours have passed from the transmission instruction. Even if it is not sent, it indicates "" Low-priced transmission with a time limit "".

  As shown in FIG. 3, the identifiers for identifying the ones that need to be preferentially transmitted to the sensor data and the ones that can contribute to the communication load leveling by the transmission rule table 260 of the gateway devices 113 and 123. To distinguish. The price range 312, the load prediction level 313, and the incentive 314 in the transmission rule table 260 are collated with the same items in the price list table 460 received from the tariff server 140, which will be described later, and basically the sensor data when the conditions match. Send. When the maximum value is set for the price band 312 and the load prediction level 313, and when the transmission time limit 315 is set, they are prioritized.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of the tariff server 140.
The server device hardware includes a CPU, a memory, a persistent storage, and an interface device for communicating with a wide-area wired network such as the Internet 160 connected to the 3G communication line 130, and further, such as Linux (registered trademark). An operating system is installed, and a program constituting each processing unit of FIG. 4 is installed thereon, and a database of related information is stored in the external storage device.

  The communication load monitor unit 410 monitors the load on the 3G communication line 130 via the Internet 160 and accumulates line load information in the communication load accumulation table 420. The communication load analysis unit 430 analyzes the line load information accumulated in the communication load accumulation table 420 and updates the communication load analysis table 440. The fee table setting unit 450 updates the fee table table 460 from the information in the communication load analysis table 440.

FIG. 5 is an example of the communication load accumulation table 420 of the tariff server 140.
The communication load accumulation table 420 accumulates communication load information acquired by the communication load monitor unit 410 in units of 1 minute. “Date” 511 stores the date when the communication load information is acquired. “Time” 512 stores the time when the communication load information is acquired. In the “band available amount” 513, the band available amount is set in advance and stored. The “load record” 514 stores the ratio of the acquired communication load information to the available bandwidth 513 of the load record as a percentage.

  One record 521 of the communication load accumulation table 420 indicates that the ratio of the load record 514 to the bandwidth available amount 513 is low. Another record 522 of the communication load accumulation table 420 indicates that the ratio of the load record 514 is high with respect to the bandwidth available amount 513. Another record 523 of the communication load accumulation table 420 indicates that the ratio of the load record 514 to the bandwidth available amount 513 is slightly low.

FIG. 6 is an example of the communication load analysis table 440 of the tariff server 140.
The communication load analysis table 440 is calculated by the communication load analysis unit 430 for one day of communication load information stored in the communication load storage table 420, for example, in units of one hour, and is stored in the communication load analysis table 440 for each time zone. Stores analysis results. The “time zone” 611 stores the time zone of the actual load. The “load record” 612 stores a ratio of the time period to the load record for one day as a percentage. In the “cumulative result” 613, the ratio of the time period to the load result for one day of the cumulative result (average of the load results for the predetermined time period for a predetermined number of days and divided by the number of days) is stored as a percentage. To do. In “rank” 614, the rank is stored with the load time 612 of the load record 612 being high.

  One record 621 in the communication load analysis table 440 is assumed to be "" a time zone in which the load is constantly low "" because both the load record 612 and the cumulative record 613 have a low ratio. Another record 622 of the communication load analysis table 440 is assumed to be “a time zone in which the load is constantly high” because the load record 612 and the cumulative record 613 are high in proportion. Another record 623 in the communication load analysis table 440 is in a state where the load record 612 is lower than the cumulative record 613, so that it can be seen that it is "" a time zone in which the load record differs from the steady state "". .

FIG. 7 is an example of the tariff table 460 of the tariff server 140.
“Time zone” 711 is a time zone of the price list. The “price range” 712 is a price range set by the fee table setting unit 450 based on the load record 612, the cumulative record 613, and the rank 614 stored in the communication load analysis table 440. Indicates that it is cheap. The “load prediction level” 713 is a load prediction level set by the fee table setting unit 450 based on the load record 612, the cumulative record 613, and the rank 614 stored in the communication load analysis table 440. Indicates that the load is low. The “incentive” 714 is an incentive given by the fee table setting unit 450 based on the load record 612, the accumulated record 613, and the rank 614 stored in the communication load analysis table 440. When the incentive is set, “ 1 "is stored.

  One record 721 of the fee table 460 is a time zone in which a low price range is set, the load prediction level is low, and an incentive is set to promote use. Another record 722 of the fee table 460 is a time zone in which the load prediction level is high, a high price range is set for leveling the peak, and no incentive is set. 723 indicating another record of the fee table 460 has a relatively low load prediction level, but does not increase the incentive and promotes the use, and no incentive is set.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating processing of the fee table setting unit 450 that dynamically sets the fee table 460.
The load results 612 of the communication load analysis table 440 are classified into 10 levels, and the price ranges are set in the price range 712 of the fee table table 460 in ascending order of load results. Further, the cumulative performance 613 of the communication load analysis table 440 is classified into 10 levels, the load prediction level is assigned to the load prediction level 713 of the fee table table 460 in ascending order of the cumulative performance, and the rank 614 of the communication load information analysis table 440 is assigned. The incentive 714 of the fee table 460 is given to the lower 50 time zones with low load status. It should be noted that the number of stages for classifying the load results 612 and the accumulated results 613 and the lower numbers of the ranks 614 are not limited to this example and can be arbitrarily set.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the tariff server 140 can dynamically change the data communication charge setting for promoting the leveling of the data communication load.

FIG. 9 is an explanation of the communication method.
When the gateway device 123 installed in the factory 120 transmits data to the center server 150 via the 3G communication line 130, the gateway device 123 transmits a communication fee table inquiry 914 to the tariff server 140. The tariff server 920 returns the information of the fee table 460 to the gateway device 123, and the gateway device 123 compares the transmission rule table 300 and the contents transmitted from the fee table table 460, as described in FIG. Transmission control is performed according to the table 300.

111, 121 Sensor group 113, 123 Gateway device 130 3G communication line 140 Tariff server 150 Center server 160 Internet 260 Transmission rule table 420 Communication load accumulation table 440 Communication load analysis table 460 Toll table

Claims (1)

A system for reducing communication load and communication charge in communication between the gateway device and the center server, comprising a gateway device that collects sensor data and transmits it to a center server, and a tariff server connected to the gateway device. And
The tariff server is
Means for monitoring communication lines between the gateway device and the center server to obtain information on communication load at regular intervals;
For each of the communication load information, means for accumulating in the communication load accumulation table an acquisition time and a load record that is a ratio of the communication load with respect to a usable bandwidth amount;
One day of the load results accumulated in the communication load accumulation table is tabulated for each time zone, and for each time zone, the ratio of the load results of the time zone to the load results for one day and a predetermined number of days Means for storing in the communication load analysis table the ratio of the cumulative performance, which is the average of the load performance for the time period, to the load performance for one day, and the rank of the load performance for the time period;
The ratio of the load results by time zone stored in the communication load analysis table is classified into a plurality of stages, and the price range set for each time zone according to the order of the stages, and by time zone stored in the communication load analysis table Based on the load forecast level set for each time zone according to the order of the steps and the rank of the load results for each time zone stored in the communication load analysis table Means for storing incentives set up to rank in the tariff table;
In response to an inquiry from the gateway device, means for transmitting information on the fee table table,
The gateway device is
A transmission rule table with at least a price range, load forecast level and incentive,
Means for querying the tariff server for a tariff table when transmitting sensor data to the center server;
A communication load in sensor data collection, comprising: means for transmitting sensor data by collating information of the tariff table received from the tariff server with a setting of the transmission rule table; and Communication charge reduction system.

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