JP4522934B2 - Remote monitoring device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an automatic meter reading of a gas or water meter, or a remote monitoring device that monitors a fire or abnormality, for example.

  In such remote monitoring devices, automatic meter reading signals for gas and water meters, or detection sensors are installed at multiple locations for buildings such as houses or offices, and abnormal state detection signals output from the detection sensors are transmitted using wireless communication. To be done. In such a device, meter reading and detection signals are input to the slave unit installed in the monitoring area, and signals related to the monitoring status are collected from a plurality of slave units to the master unit by wireless communication, and the master unit reports to the center unit. Is to be done.

  In order to constantly monitor the monitoring area, it is ideal to keep the slave unit in an always operating state. However, since power consumption becomes large, a contrivance has been made to reduce power consumption as much as possible. In particular, in the case of a slave unit designed to operate with a battery, it is desirable to operate stably for a long period of time while suppressing power consumption.

FIG. 6 is a time chart showing communication control in a reception standby state of a conventional slave unit. The slave unit has a reception wake-up period set for each time T, and can be received in an intermittent period, thereby reducing power consumption. I try to let them. Since the calling signal from the parent device is continuously transmitted for the time T, when the child device enters the reception wake-up period, the child device rises in response to the calling signal, and after the calling of the parent device is completed. Communication starts.

Further, for example, Patent Document 1 describes that the user is notified of the power consumption status at the time of radio wave capture, and the operation at the time of radio wave capture is controlled by setting information set according to the battery life. Also, in Patent Document 2, it is determined whether the received signal received by the receiving means is a transmission signal from the transmission system, and when the received signal is not a transmission signal, the periodic on / off operation of the power source is maintained. Points are listed.
JP 2004-297278 A JP-A-62-53548

In the case of the prior art described with reference to FIG. 6 , the reception wake-up period is set for the slave unit at an intermittent period, so that the reception is not always possible and power consumption is reduced accordingly. When a call signal from the parent device is received, it is necessary to monitor until the continuous call signal from the parent device is completed, and wasteful power consumption occurs in the child device during that time. In the remote monitoring apparatus, since the reception suspension period is set to be as long as about 10 seconds, the period until the end of the continuous call signal is increased accordingly, and wasteful power consumption is increased.

  In addition, if the paging signal transmitted continuously from the main unit for a predetermined period is interrupted by noise such as fading, the sub unit will mistakenly recognize that the paging signal has ended, and it is necessary to take measures for that. .

  Therefore, the present invention can suppress wasteful power consumption that occurs while a continuous call signal is transmitted from the base unit and can perform a reception operation stably without being affected by noise such as fading. The object is to provide a remote monitoring device.

Remote monitoring device of the present invention, a slave machine wakeup period is set at a predetermined intermittent cycle in the reception standby state, a predetermined period ringing signal to the slave unit performs wireless communication with the cordless handset in the remote monitoring device that includes a base unit for transmitting, the base unit comprises a call control means for transmitting both call termination timing information and the call signal, the child machine has received the wakeup period the A reception control means for setting the reception suspension period until the call end time based on the call end timing information; a means for determining whether the call signal received during the reception wakeup period is addressed to the own station or another station; not equal when it is determined, it characterized that you have and means for stopping the wakeup operation until the end time of the communication between the other stations plus a predetermined time to the call termination time.

  Since the remote monitoring device according to the present invention has the above-described configuration, the slave unit can know the call end time based on the call end timing information transmitted together with the call signal from the master unit. It is possible to set the reception suspension period until the end time, and wasteful power consumption can be suppressed until the call end time. Further, since it is not necessary to monitor the end of the call signal, even if the call signal is interrupted due to noise such as fading, it can be set in a state where it can be accurately received at the call end time.

Then, as the call end timing information, the call end time or the count value of the call signal transmitted until the end of the call is transmitted together with the call signal, so that the call end time can be surely known on the handset side.
Furthermore, in the slave unit that is determined not to be addressed to the own station, the end of communication between other stations can be accurately predicted (that is, a time obtained by adding a certain time, for example, 5 to 6 seconds of communication time to the call end time) Therefore, the intermittent wake-up operation can be stopped during the communication time between other stations, and the battery consumption can be reduced from this point of view as well.

  Hereinafter, embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail. The embodiments described below are preferable specific examples for carrying out the present invention, and thus various technical limitations are made. However, the present invention is particularly limited in the following description. Unless otherwise specified, the present invention is not limited to these forms.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram relating to an embodiment of the present invention. A master unit 1, slave units 2A and 2B, gas leak sensors S1 and S3, and gas meters S2 and S4 are provided. As shown in FIG. 2, the main unit 1 includes a control unit 10 that controls the entire apparatus, a storage unit 11 that stores programs and data necessary for control processing, and a mobile phone line when communicating with a gas metering center. The protocol processing unit 12 and the packet communication unit 13 that perform protocol processing (TCP / IP) for performing packet communication with the gas metering center via a wireless communication network such as a wireless communication signal between the slave units 2A and 2B A transmission / reception unit 14 for transmitting and receiving, and a power supply unit 15 for supplying a power supply voltage Vcc to each unit in the apparatus.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the slave units 2 </ b> A and 2 </ b> B include a control unit 20 that controls the entire device, a transmission / reception unit 21 that transmits and receives signals to and from the notification device 1, and programs and data necessary for control processing A storage unit 22 for storing the gas, a gas leakage sensor S1 and S3 or a gas meter S2 and S4 which are devices to be monitored, a device connection unit 23 connected by wire, and a power supply unit 24 for supplying a power supply voltage Vcc to each unit in the apparatus. I have.

  The control unit 10 of the parent device 1 includes a call control unit 100 that transmits a call signal to each child device via the transmission / reception unit 14. The call control unit 100 controls the slave unit to repeatedly transmit a call signal continuously for a time T corresponding to the reception wake-up period set for each time T. When the call signal is transmitted, the count value of the remaining call signal until the end of the call is transmitted. For example, when the call signal is transmitted 10 times during the time T, 9 is transmitted as the count value when the first call signal is transmitted. The count value decremented by 1 is transmitted even when the call signal is transmitted for the second time and thereafter.

  On the other hand, the control unit 20 of each slave unit includes a reception control unit 200 that receives a call signal from the master unit 1 and performs operation control. When receiving a call signal from base unit 1 during reception wake-up period, reception control unit 200 obtains the count value received together with the call signal, calculates the call end time, and returns to the reception standby state until the call end time. To control. Since the count value is the number of call signals until the call end time, if the output time of a single call signal is stored in advance, the time from the count value to the call end can be calculated. Set the calculated time in the timer to return to the reception standby state, and when the timer counts up, start up to the reception-ready state, so that communication processing can be performed with the parent device in accordance with the timing of call termination .

FIG. 4 is a time chart when a calling signal is transmitted from the parent device 1 to the child device. On the slave unit side, a reception wake-up period is provided for each time T, and the call signal is transmitted five times continuously for the time T on the master unit side. When the second call signal is transmitted, the slave unit enters the reception wake-up period, and the count value 3 is acquired together with the call signal. On the side of the slave unit, the time until the end of the call is calculated based on the count value 3 and returns to the reception standby state. When the calculated time elapses, the slave unit starts up in a receivable state and communication is performed with the master unit.

FIG. 5 shows a processing flow when the slave unit receives a call signal. The slave unit is set in a normal reception standby state (S100), and it is checked whether or not the time T has elapsed (S101). Whether or not a call signal from 1 is received is checked (S103). When the call signal is not received, the process returns to step S100 and the reception standby state is continued.

  When the call signal is received in step S103, the count value transmitted with the call signal is acquired (S104), and the time S until the end of the call is calculated based on the count value (S105). Then, the calculated time S is set in the timer, and the process returns to the reception standby state (S106). Next, it is checked whether the time S has passed (S107), and if it has not passed, the process returns to step S106 and the reception standby state continues. When the time S elapses, the mobile phone stands up in a receivable state and performs communication processing with the parent device (S108). When the communication process ends, the process returns to step S100 and is again set in the reception standby state.

In the example described above, the count value is transmitted together with the call signal, but the call end time may be transmitted instead of the count value. In that case, the call end time may be acquired on the handset side, the current time data from the clock circuit or the like may be checked, and the reception standby state may be set until the call end time arrives.
Similarly, when the slave unit transmits a call signal to the master unit, when a call signal from the master unit to another slave unit is received at the time of transmission, the call to the master unit is made at the time until the end of the call. The same effect can be obtained by calculating the time including the approximate communication time with other slave units that have been received and setting that time as the standby time until the slave unit starts transmission to the master unit. .

It is a schematic block diagram regarding embodiment which concerns on this invention. It is a schematic block diagram regarding a main | base station. It is a schematic block diagram regarding a subunit | mobile_unit. It is a time chart when a calling signal is transmitted from the master unit to the slave unit. It is a processing flow in the case of receiving a call signal in the slave unit. It is the conventional time chart when the calling signal is transmitted with respect to the subunit | mobile_unit from the main | base station.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Master unit, 2 ... Slave unit, 100 ... Call control part, 200 ... Reception control part.

Claims (1)

A slave unit in which a reception wake-up period is set at a predetermined intermittent period in a reception standby state, and a master unit that performs wireless communication with the slave unit and transmits a call signal to the slave unit for a predetermined period of time In the remote monitoring device,
The base unit includes a call control means for transmitting both call termination timing information and said call signal,
The slave unit is a reception control means for setting a reception suspension period until a call end time based on the call end timing information received during the reception wakeup period ;
Means for determining whether the call signal received during the reception wake-up period is addressed to the own station or another station;
Means for stopping the reception wake-up operation until the end time of communication between the other stations, which is determined by not being addressed to the own station, plus a predetermined time to the call end time;
A remote monitoring device characterized by comprising:

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