JP2016111428A - Gateway device, smart meter, and wireless mesh network - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a gateway device capable of achieving a demand response using a smart meter network by restraining increase in traffic.SOLUTION: The present invention is a gateway device forming a wireless mesh network applied to a smart meter network together with a smart meter. The gateway device comprises: a control unit 24 that couples a control message for controlling the wireless mesh network and a distribution message for distributing information from a service provider to the smart meter; and a transmission/reception unit 22 that transmits the message after the coupling.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication technology in a smart meter network, and more particularly to a gateway device, a smart meter, and a wireless mesh network for realizing a system that provides a service for distributing information such as demand response to a smart meter.

  A smart meter is a power meter installed in the facility of a customer who receives power service, and transmits the function to measure the power used by the customer and the measurement information indicating the measurement result of the power used to the service provider through the smart meter network. By providing a communication function that enables the automatic meter reading, automatic meter reading can be performed.

  As one of the connection forms of the smart meter network, a wireless mesh network is adopted. A wireless mesh network is a network having a feature that a plurality of nodes are connected to each other by wireless links, and each node has a function as a relay node as well as a terminal node of communication.

  In general, such a wireless mesh network connects a low-power communication device using a low-speed communication method and transmits a control packet between the communication devices for cost reduction, interference avoidance, and the like. To construct. Non-Patent Document 1 describes a control method for a communication path of a wireless mesh network. When data collection such as automatic meter reading is used as an application, a control method described in Non-Patent Document 1, specifically, a method in which a node forms a tree structure with a data collection node as a root is used.

  Demand response means that the power service provider changes the amount of power demand and adjusts the supply-demand relationship by changing the service content for the customer such as price. In order to realize the demand response, a communication network is required for the service provider to notify the customer that the service content changes. Use of a smart meter network as such a communication network by a service provider has an advantage of not requiring a new communication line.

RFC 6550 RPL: Routing Protocol for Low-Power and Lossy Networks http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6550.txt

  In a smart meter network configured by a low-speed communication method, when realizing demand response and other additional applications in addition to automatic meter reading, the amount of communication increases. In general, the service provider's core network is connected by a high-speed communication method such as optical fiber or cellular radio, so there is a problem that a wireless mesh network using a low-speed wireless communication method becomes a bottleneck in communication capacity. .

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to obtain a gateway device capable of realizing a demand response using a smart meter network while suppressing an increase in communication amount.

  In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, the present invention provides a gateway device that forms a wireless mesh network applied to a smart meter network together with the smart meter, and controls the wireless mesh network. Combining means for combining a message with a delivery message for distributing information from a service provider to a smart meter, and transmission means for transmitting the message after being combined by the combining means, To do.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to realize a demand response using a smart meter network while suppressing an increase in communication amount.

The figure which shows the structural example of the smart meter network provided with the gateway apparatus and smart meter concerning this invention The figure which shows an example of the method in which a gateway manages a wireless mesh network Diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of the gateway The figure which shows an example of the information which a demand response request contains Flow chart showing the operation executed by the gateway that has received the demand response request The figure which shows an example of a smart meter management table Diagram showing an internal configuration example of a smart meter The flowchart which shows the operation | movement which the smart meter which received the DIO message performs

  Hereinafter, a gateway device, a smart meter, and a wireless mesh network according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

Embodiment.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a smart meter network including a gateway device and a smart meter according to the present embodiment. In the following description, the gateway device is referred to as a gateway.

The smart meter network of the present embodiment includes a wireless mesh network 101 formed by smart meters 1 ₁ to 1 ₁₅ as a plurality of smart meters 1 and a gateway 2, and various devices such as a server and a router (not shown). And a core network 102 of the service provider configured by The service provider's core network 102 includes an automatic meter reading application 3, a demand response application 4 and other applications 5 operating on a server or the like. Hereinafter, the core network 102 of the service provider is simply referred to as the core network 102.

  The gateway 2 is a device installed at the boundary between the wireless mesh network 101 and the core network 102, and has a transfer function and a protocol conversion function necessary for information communication between the core network 102 and each smart meter 1. And a function of managing the wireless mesh network 101.

  Here, a basic mechanism by which the gateway 2 manages the wireless mesh network 101 by the RPL (Routing Protocol for Low Power and Lossy Networks) method, which is a well-known method, will be described with reference to FIG. Since the details of this mechanism are described in detail in Non-Patent Document 1 and the literature referenced from Non-Patent Document 1, only the outline will be described here.

The gateway 2 operates as a root of a tree structure DODAG (Destination Oriented Directed Acyclic Graph) in RPL, and transmits a DIO (DODAG Information Object) message indicating that it is the root. For convenience of explanation, the DIO message transmitted by the gateway 2 is referred to as a DIO message 31. As shown in FIG. 2, the description will be continued assuming that smart meters 1 ₁ , 1 _2, and 1 ₃ are arranged in a communicable range 200 that is a reachable range of a wireless communication message transmitted from the gateway 2. . The smart meters 1 ₁ , 1 _2, and 1 ₃ receive the DIO message 31 transmitted from the gateway 2 and confirm the received message to recognize that the gateway 2 is a parent in DODAG. The value of the information indicating the distance from the route called the rank included is increased, and the DIO message is retransmitted. Retransmission is also called transfer. The message retransmitted by the smart meters 1 ₁ , 1 ₂ and 1 ₃ is received by the smart meter 1 and the gateway 2 arranged in the reachable range of the message, and further retransmitted as necessary. Here, the description will be continued as an example the operation of the smart meter 1 which is located reachable range retransmitted message by the smart meter 1 _1. As shown in FIG. 2, it is assumed that smart meters 1 ₂ , 1 ₄ and 1 ₅ , and a gateway 2 are arranged in the communicable range 201 that is the reachable range of the message transmitted from the smart meter 1 _1. . Incidentally, referred to DIO message smart meter 1 ₁ transmits the DIO message 32.

The DIO message 32 retransmitted by the smart meter 1 ₁ is received by the smart meters 1 ₂ , 1 ₄ and 1 ₅ and the gateway 2. Here, each smart meter 1 may receive a DIO message from the gateway 2 or another smart meter 1, and when receiving a DIO message with a different transmission source, the rank included in the received DIO message is displayed. By comparison, the transmission source of the DIO message including the smallest rank is determined as the parent node in DODAG. Therefore, the smart meter 1 ₄ and 1 ₅ receives the DIO message 32, to determine the smart meter 1 ₁ which is the transmission source and the parent node, retransmitting the DIO message from increasing rank values. On the other hand, the smart meter 1 _2, capable of receiving the DIO message 31 transmitted from the gateway 2, when receiving the DIO message 32, ignoring the source of the smart meter 1 ₁ without determining the parent node. Similarly, the gateway 2 is a route to ignore the DIO message 32 the smart meter 1 ₁ sent.

When the other smart meter 1 receives the DIO message, the same process is executed, so that the DIO message transmitted by the gateway 2 is distributed to all the reachable smart meters 1 through zero or more smart meters 1. The In this way, each smart meter 1 determines a parent node, thereby constructing a DODAG that is a communication path from each smart meter 1 to the gateway 2. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the notification of the communication path from the gateway 2 to each smart meter 1 to the gateway 2 is performed by each smart meter 1 constructing a DAO (Destination Advertisement Object) message 41 including its own device identifier. This is performed by transmitting toward the gateway 2 along the DODAG. 2 shows an example in which the smart meter 1 ₁₃ transmits the DAO message 41. Similarly, when the other smart meter 1 determines the parent node, the DAO message is transmitted to the gateway 2 via the determined parent node. Send to notify the communication path.

  The DIO message is repeatedly transmitted from the DODAG route based on a certain algorithm to indicate that the route information is valid. The gateway 2 and each smart meter 1 adjust the transmission interval so that the number of DIO messages transmitted does not become excessive by increasing the transmission interval exponentially every time transmission is performed until a certain upper limit is reached. On the other hand, when a failure is detected or the setting is changed, the transmission interval is returned to the smallest initial value in order to transmit the DIO message to all the nodes quickly. The transmission interval is an interval indicated by the DIO timer.

  In the present invention, application information is added to the DIO message and DAO message transmitted in the above-described procedure, thereby suppressing an increase in the number of transmitted messages accompanying the addition of an application.

  An example of the internal configuration of the gateway 2 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an internal configuration example of the gateway 2. The gateway 2 includes an antenna 21 that transmits and receives wireless signals, a transmission and reception unit 22 that performs wireless communication with the smart meter 1 via the antenna 21, a transmission and reception unit 23 that performs data communication with the core network 102, A CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown), a ROM (Read Only Memory) that stores a control program, a RAM (Random Access Memory) used as a work area of the CPU, and the like are executed by the CPU. Are provided with a control unit 24 for controlling the operation of each unit of the gateway 2 and a storage unit 25 for storing various information.

  The control unit 24 includes a protocol conversion unit 24A that converts a communication method used in the wireless mesh network 101 and a communication method used in the core network 102 for an application including automatic meter reading and a demand response, and a wireless mesh network by transmitting and receiving an RPL message. A wireless route control unit 24B that controls the route 101 and a time management unit 24C that manages the current time.

  The servers constituting the core network 102 determine whether or not to issue a demand response based on the power supply / demand relationship, and when determining to issue the demand response, transmit a demand response request to the gateway 2. FIG. 4 illustrates information included in the demand response request. Among the information shown in FIG. 4, the DR information ID is information for uniquely identifying the DR information that is demand response information. The business ID is information for identifying the service provider. The target group is information indicating a customer who is a target of demand response. The forecast time is information indicating the time and urgency when a demand response request is presented to a consumer. The DR information is information indicating service contents such as a fee presented in a demand response, and includes a start time, an end time, fee information, and the like. Upon receiving the demand response request, the gateway 2 transmits the demand response request to the smart meter 1 indicated by the target group according to the forecast time.

  Next, a characteristic operation of the gateway 2, specifically, an operation when a demand response request is received will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation executed by the control unit 24 of the gateway 2 when a demand response request is received.

  When receiving the demand response request from the core network 102, the control unit 24 of the gateway 2 first checks whether it is necessary to reduce the number of messages to be transmitted into the wireless mesh network 101 (step S11). For example, the control unit 24 confirms the target group information included in the received demand response request, and when the number of smart meters 1 belonging to the target group is small, the necessity for reducing the number of transmitted messages is low, and the saving is reduced. Judge as unnecessary. Whether the number of smart meters 1 belonging to the target group is small is determined, for example, by comparing the number of smart meters 1 belonging to the target group with a predetermined threshold value. When it is not necessary to reduce the number of transmitted messages (step S11: No), a demand response request is transmitted to the smart meter 1 installed in the target consumer by a normal procedure (step S19). Specifically, the demand response request is transmitted to each smart meter 1 belonging to the target group without being combined with the DIO message. Generally, demand response requests are distributed to all the smart meters 1 belonging to the target group by unicast communication or multicast communication. Since this transmission method transmits a demand response request independently of a DIO message, it differs from a method of transmitting a DIO message and a demand response request, which will be described later, and has the effect of reducing the number of message transmissions. It is not possible.

  On the other hand, when it is necessary to reduce the number of transmitted messages (step S11: Yes), it is confirmed whether or not the demand response request needs to be transmitted with low delay (step S12). For example, the control unit 24 confirms the forecast time information included in the received demand response request. For example, when the difference between the current time and the forecast time is smaller than a predetermined threshold value, the control unit 24 It is determined that delayed transmission is necessary. Also, it is determined that low-delay transmission is necessary even when the degree of urgency is high.

  When low-delay transmission of a demand response request is necessary (step S12: Yes), the control unit 24 updates the contents of the DIO message to be repeatedly transmitted and combines it with the demand response request (step S13). That is, the control unit 24 first updates the DIO message by adding information indicating a path change in the DIO message. When the smart meter 1 receives a DIO message, which will be described later, the smart meter 1 initializes the DIO timer based on the RPL protocol, and the DIO message and the combined demand response request are transmitted to the wireless mesh network 101. This is to bring about an effect that the entire data is quickly transmitted. For example, by incrementing the Version Number, which is an information element in the DIO message, from the value at the previous transmission, it is possible to generate a DIO message to which information indicating a path change is added. A method of incrementing Version Number is common, but the assignment of information indicating a route change in the present embodiment is not limited to this. Next, the control unit 24 combines the demand response request with the updated DIO message. In this combining process, for example, a demand response request is encoded as a newly defined RPL control message option and stored in the option field of the DIO message. At this time, the control unit 24 may combine the new demand response request after removing the demand response request combined with the previously transmitted DIO message from the DIO message, or the previous demand response request. May be combined with a new demand response request while still being combined with the DIO message. In addition, when a plurality of demand response requests are combined with a previously transmitted DIO message, the above selection can be made for each. That is, among the plurality of demand response requests combined with the previously transmitted DIO message, a part of the demand response request may be removed and then a new demand response request may be added or a new demand response may be combined. Additional requests may be combined. A new demand response request may be additionally combined with all of them remaining.

  Here, how to handle the demand response request combined with the previously transmitted DIO message in the operation of combining the demand response request with the DIO message will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a smart meter management table held by the control unit 24. In the smart meter management table, the identification information of the smart meter 1 described as “smart meter”, the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the smart meter 1, and the group indicating the group used in the demand response to which the smart meter 1 belongs The group and the reception confirmed DR information ID indicating the DR information ID of the demand response request for which the gateway 2 has received the arrival confirmation from each smart meter 1 are registered in association with each other. The arrival confirmation is a message transmitted when the smart meter 1 receives a demand response request, and the arrival confirmation includes DR information having the same value as the DR information ID included in the demand response request received by the smart meter 1. An ID is set.

  The control unit 24 determines from the information registered in the smart meter management table whether there is a smart meter 1 that needs to retransmit a past demand response request. The past demand response request means a demand response request that has been transmitted to the target smart meter 1. This determination can be made by confirming the reception confirmed DR information ID. For example, in the case of smart meters A, B, and D belonging to the G1 group shown in FIG. 6, the control unit 24 sends a demand response request with a DR information ID “3” to the smart meters A, B, and D. It can be seen that the arrival confirmation of the demand response request has been received from the smart meters A and B but not received from the smart meter D. Therefore, the control unit 24 determines that it is necessary to transmit a demand response request with the DR information ID “3”. When there is no smart meter 1 that needs to retransmit a past demand response request, the past demand response request is removed from the DIO message, and a new demand response request is combined. The new demand response request means a demand response request that has not been transmitted into the wireless mesh network 101 among the demand response requests received from the core network 102. When there is a smart meter 1 that needs to transmit a past demand response request, a new demand response request is further combined with the DIO message in a state where the past demand response request is combined. In addition to this, the control unit 24 sets the past demand response request on the condition that the past demand response request becomes invalid and transmission becomes unnecessary or the DIO message becomes too large due to the accumulation of past demand response requests. The request may be removed from the DIO message.

  Returning to the description of the operation shown in FIG. 5, when the update of the DIO message and the combination of the updated DIO message and the demand response request are completed, the control unit 24 transmits the DIO message in a state where the demand response request is combined. (Step S14), the DIO timer is initialized (Step S15). The DIO message reaches each smart meter 1 in the wireless mesh network 101 according to the procedure described with reference to FIG. The DIO timer is a timer indicating a transmission interval of DIO messages. In a state where DIO messages having the same contents are repeatedly transmitted, the DIO timer gradually increases in value according to a certain rule and continues to increase until reaching a prescribed upper limit value. When the DIO timer is initialized, the DIO message transmission interval becomes the minimum value. The DIO message retransmission interval was shortened by initializing the DIO timer, and the DIO message that was sent for the first time due to loss during wireless communication could not be reached. The demand response request can be quickly reached.

  If low-delay transmission of a demand response request is not necessary for the above operation (step S12: No), the control unit 24 combines with the demand response request without updating the contents of the DIO message (step S16). The process of step S16 is an operation excluding the process of updating the DIO message by adding the information indicating the path change in step S13 described above, that is, without adding the information indicating the path change to the DIO message. It is combined with the DIO message by encoding the demand response request as a newly defined RPL control message option.

  Thereafter, after the DIO timer expires, the control unit 24 transmits the DIO message generated in step S16, that is, the DIO message combined with the demand response request (step S17). Then, the DIO timer is restarted (step S18). That is, the control unit 24 does not immediately transmit the DIO message combined with the demand response request, but waits for the next transmission timing of the DIO message scheduled before receiving the demand response request. Further, the DIO timer is reset based on the normal RPL mechanism without returning the DIO timer to the initial value after transmitting the DIO message. As a result, the effect of suppressing the number of DIO message transmissions can be obtained.

  For those skilled in the art, based on the above-mentioned two transmission methods, that is, the transmission method executed when the number of transmission messages needs to be reduced, for example, a DIO message not including information indicating a route change and a demand response request are sent. Although it is considered possible to easily analogize intermediate transmission methods such as combining and transmitting a DIO message without waiting for the DIO timer to expire, description thereof will be omitted.

  Next, processing when the control unit 24 of the gateway 2 receives a demand response request reception confirmation from the smart meter 1 will be described. Although details will be described later, when receiving the demand response request, the smart meter 1 transmits a reception confirmation of the demand response request to the gateway 2 of the request transmission source. At this time, the smart meter 1 is configured to be able to transmit a demand response request reception confirmation in combination with a DAO message. The control unit 24 of the gateway 2 appropriately processes the message in which the reception confirmation of the demand response request and the DAO message are combined. When the combined message is received, the control unit 24 confirms the reception of the demand response request and the DAO message. To separate. The control unit 24 processes the DAO message separated through the above-described separation processing by a method defined in Non-Patent Document 1. Further, the control unit 24 extracts the identifier and the DR information ID of the transmission source smart meter 1 from the reception confirmation of the separated demand response request, and based on the information, the smart meter management table shown in FIG. Update. Although the method is not clearly described in the present embodiment, it is also possible to notify the core network 102 of the result of the reception process of the reception confirmation of the demand response request.

  An example of the internal configuration of the smart meter 1 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an internal configuration example of the smart meter 1. The smart meter 1 includes an antenna 11 that transmits and receives wireless signals, a transmission and reception unit 12 that performs wireless communication with the smart meter 1 or the gateway 2 via the antenna 11, a CPU that is not illustrated, and a ROM that stores a control program A control unit 13 that is configured by a RAM or the like used as a work area of the CPU, and controls the operation of each unit of the smart meter 1 by the CPU executing a control program; a storage unit 14 that stores various types of information; A user interface 15 that displays the content of a response request and the like and a meter reading unit 16 that measures electric power used by a consumer are provided.

  The control unit 13 includes an application unit 13A that performs automatic meter reading, application control including demand response, and termination of communication that occurs in the application, and a wireless route control unit 13B that controls the route of the wireless mesh network 101 by transmitting and receiving RPL messages. And a time management unit 13C for managing the current time.

  Next, a characteristic operation of the smart meter 1, specifically, an operation when a DIO message is received will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation performed by the control unit 13 of the smart meter 1 when a DIO message is received.

  When receiving the DIO message, the control unit 13 of the smart meter 1 first determines whether or not an unreceived demand response request is included in the DIO message, that is, whether or not the unreceived demand response request is combined. Confirm (step S21).

  When the unreceived demand response request is included in the DIO message (step S21: Yes), the DR information ID of the demand response request is recorded, and the demand response request is transferred to the application unit 13A (step S22). The recorded DR information ID is included in the reception confirmation when the reception confirmation of the demand response request is combined with the DAO message and transmitted to the gateway 2 later. Therefore, when the gateway 2 receives the DAO message, the gateway 2 can recognize that the smart meter 1 has received the demand response request indicated by the DR information ID included therein.

  When the unreceived demand response request is not included in the DIO message (step S21: No), and when the process of step S22 is terminated, the control unit 13 performs normal RPL message processing, specifically, RPL message processing according to the provisions of Patent Document 1 is performed (step S23). The control unit 13 acquires information indicating the presence / absence of a route change and the necessity of DAO message transmission in this process.

  Next, the control unit 13 checks whether or not there has been a route change (step S24), and when there is a route change (step S24: Yes), initializes the DIO timer (step S25).

  When there is no route change (step S24: No) and when the process of step S25 is terminated, the control unit 13 updates and transmits the DIO message (step S26). Specifically, in accordance with the provisions of Non-Patent Document 1, all the demand response requests combined with the previously transmitted DIO message are deleted, and further, all the demand response requests included in the received DIO message are added and transmitted. To do.

  Next, the control unit 13 confirms whether or not it is necessary to transmit a DAO message (step S27). If transmission of a DAO message is not necessary (step S27: No), the process ends. On the other hand, when the DAO message needs to be transmitted (step S27: Yes), the DR information ID recorded in step S22 is added to the DAO message, including the amount recorded at the time of receiving the past DIO message, and the DR information ID is combined. The generated DAO message is generated (step S28). The generated DAO message includes identification information of the own smart meter. Then, the control unit 13 transmits the generated DAO message to the gateway 2 (step S29). Here, the DR information ID combined with the DAO message in step S28 is deleted from the recording and is combined with the DAO message only once.

  Two methods for combining the DR information ID and the identification information of the smart meter 1 into the DAO message are shown. In the first method, similarly to the method of combining the demand response request and the DIO message in the gateway 2, encoding is performed as a newly defined RPL control message option. In the second method, encoding is performed as an RPL Target Descriptor option defined in Non-Patent Document 1. Either method may be used.

  The smart meter 1 inherits the demand response request transmission method selected by the gateway 2 by the above-described processing at the time of receiving the DIO message. That is, for the purpose of promptly transmitting a demand response request by the gateway 2, the DIO message transmitted as having a route change is quickly transferred in order to initialize the DIO timer in the relay smart meter 1 as well. In addition, since the demand response request is transferred while being combined with the DIO message, the number of transmission messages in the smart meter 1 is also suppressed to the same value as the number of transmission messages in the gateway 2. Furthermore, since the smart meter 1 combines and transmits the DAO message and the information indicating the reception confirmation of the demand response request, the gateway 2 sends the demand response request to any smart meter without increasing the number of transmissions of the reception confirmation message. 1 can be recognized.

  Note that the concept described in this embodiment can be extended to various embodiments. First, the RPL control message other than the above and demand response information or reception confirmation thereof may be combined and transmitted. For example, a DAO-ACK message transmitted from the gateway 2 to the smart meter 1 can be combined with a demand response request. Second, a control message other than RPL and demand response information or reception confirmation thereof may be combined and transmitted. Examples of control messages include messages and demands in crisis management protocols such as SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), authentication protocols such as PANA (Protocol for carrying Authentication for Network Access), and application protocols that send and receive automatic meter reading information. Response information or its receipt confirmation can be combined.

  As described above, in the smart meter network according to the present embodiment, the gateway 2 receives a demand response request from the core network 102 and reduces the number of messages to be transmitted into the wireless mesh network 101. The DIO message repeatedly transmitted into the mesh network 101 is combined with the DIO message and transmitted. Further, when it is desired to promptly send a demand response request to each smart meter 1 in the wireless mesh network 101, the demand response request is combined and transmitted after updating the route information of the DIO message. Thereby, it is possible to realize a demand response using a smart meter network while suppressing an increase in communication amount.

  In addition, when the smart meter 1 receives the DIO message, the smart meter 1 checks whether the demand response request is combined. If the request is combined, the smart meter 1 stores the DR information ID among the combined information. Further, the DIO message is transferred while confirming whether or not there is a route change, and when there is a route change, the DIO timer is initialized. Thereby, a demand response request can be quickly delivered to each smart meter 1 in the wireless mesh network 101. In addition, the stored DR information ID is combined with the DAO message and transmitted to notify the gateway 2 that the demand response request has been received. Accordingly, a demand response request can be quickly delivered to each smart meter 1 in the wireless mesh network 101, and an increase in communication volume can be further suppressed.

  The configuration described in the above embodiment shows an example of the contents of the present invention, and can be combined with another known technique, and can be combined with other configurations without departing from the gist of the present invention. It is also possible to omit or change the part.

1 ₁ to 1 ₁₅ smart meter, 2 gateway device, 3 automatic meter reading application, 4 demand response application, 5 other application, 11, 21 antenna, 12, 22, 23 transmission / reception unit, 13, 24 control unit, 13A application unit, 13B, 24B Wireless route control unit, 13C, 24C Time management unit, 14, 25 Storage unit, 15 User interface, 16 Meter reading unit, 24A Protocol conversion unit, 101 Wireless mesh network, 102 Core network of service provider.

Claims (15)

A gateway device that forms a wireless mesh network applied to a smart meter network together with a smart meter,
Coupling means for combining a control message for controlling the wireless mesh network and a delivery message for delivering information from a service provider to a smart meter;
Transmitting means for transmitting a message after being combined by the combining means;
A gateway device comprising: The combining unit combines the control message and the delivery message when receiving information from the service provider in a state where the number of messages transmitted into the wireless mesh network needs to be reduced.
The gateway device according to claim 1. The control message is repeatedly transmitted, and the setting of the interval for repeated transmission can be changed,
The combining means determines whether it is necessary to quickly transmit information from the service provider based on information from the service provider, and if it is necessary to quickly transmit information, In addition to the process of changing the interval to repeat the transmission of control messages to the shortest length,
The transmission means immediately transmits a message after being combined by the combining means when the combining means has performed processing to change the interval for repeating the transmission of the control message to the shortest length,
The gateway device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein The control message is a Routing Protocol For Low-Power and Lossy Networks control message.
The gateway device according to claim 1, 2, or 3. The control message is a DODAG Information Object.
The gateway device according to claim 4. The control message is Destination Advertisement Object Acknowledgment of Routing Protocol For Low-Power and Lossy Networks.
The gateway device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein The control message is a Simple Network Management Protocol control message.
The gateway device according to claim 1, 2, or 3. The control message is a protocol for carrying Authentication for Network Access control message.
The gateway device according to claim 1, 2, or 3. The delivery message is a demand response request.
The gateway device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein A smart meter that forms a wireless mesh network applied to a smart meter network together with a gateway device,
Coupling means for combining identification information of the received delivery message with a control message to be sent to control the wireless mesh network when receiving a delivery message for delivering information from a service provider;
Transmitting means for transmitting the control message generated by the combining means combined with the identification information to the gateway device;
A smart meter characterized by comprising: The control message is a Routing Protocol For Low-Power and Lossy Networks control message.
The smart meter according to claim 10. The control message is a Destination Advertisement Object,
The smart meter according to claim 11. The control message is a Simple Network Management Protocol control message.
The smart meter according to claim 10. The control message is a protocol for carrying Authentication for Network Access control message.
The smart meter according to claim 10. The gateway device according to claim 1,
A smart meter according to claim 10;
A wireless mesh network comprising:

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