JPH05130247A - Automatic metering system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain metering at a prescribed metering day and to relieve the load of a center equipment and a communication line by devising the system such that metering of data and transmission of metering data to a center side equipment are implemented at different dates. CONSTITUTION:The automatic metering system in which data communication is implemented between a center equipment 1 and a terminal equipment 4 through a telephone line and data are collected from the terminal equipment 4 at a predetermined date is provided with a data collection means collating prescribed data, a transmission means sending the collected data to the center equipment 1, a 1st storage means storing the collected data, a 2nd storage means separately storing a 1st date at which the data collection means is operated and a 2nd date at which the collected data are sent to the center equipment and a control means controlling the data stored in the 1st storage means collected at the 1st date so as to be subject to data communication at the 2nd date different from the 1st date. Thus, metering is implemented simultaneously at each terminal equipment.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic meter reading system for performing automatic meter reading such as a gas meter or a water meter, and more particularly to an automatic meter reading system capable of performing automatic meter reading on a predetermined data collection day.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an automatic meter reading such as a gas meter automatically performs a meter reading at a predetermined meter reading date and time, and the meter reading is transmitted to a center device in real time.

[0003]

The conventional automatic meter reading of a gas meter or the like has been performed as described above. However, in this case, when the meter reading is performed at a predetermined date and time, the data transmission may be concentrated on the center device, and the data may not be transmitted. Therefore, at present, the meter reading date and time are shifted every few minutes in order to avoid this. Therefore, the number of data that can be read by a certain day is naturally limited. Such problems often arise from accounting problems, such as meter reading on the 1st of every month.

As a result, there are cases where it is not possible to perform meter reading on a predetermined meter reading day, and when trying to perform meter reading on a predetermined meter reading day, there arises a problem that the load on the center device and the communication line becomes heavy.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and provides an automatic meter reading system capable of meter reading on a predetermined meter reading day and greatly reducing the load on the center device and the communication line. The purpose is to provide.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided an automatic meter reading system for performing data communication between a center device and a terminal through a telephone line and collecting data from the terminal at a predetermined date and time. Data collecting means for collecting data, transmitting means for transmitting the collected data to the center device, first storing means for storing the collected data, and first date and time for operating the data collecting means,
Second storage means for separately storing a second date and time when the collected data is transmitted to the center device, and data stored in the first storage means at the first date and time for the first date and time. Control means for controlling the transmitting means to perform data communication at a different second date and time.

[0007]

According to the present invention, only the meter reading is performed at the meter reading date and time when data is collected, and the data is transmitted to the center device at another date and time different from the meter reading date and time.

[0008]

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

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an entire system to which an automatic meter reading system according to the present invention is applied. Referring to FIG. 1, a terminal NCU (Network Control)
Unit 5 is connected to a meter 5 for reading data to be metered. In the terminal NCU4, the meter reading value information from the meter 5 is received and transmitted to the center NCU2 via the telephone line 408, and the center device 1 processes the data. This is a general meter automatic meter reading method.

The present invention relates to a terminal NCU4, which is a device for reading data in the above system, and a block diagram of an internal structure of an automatic meter reading system according to the present invention is shown in FIG. A flowchart of data processing is shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 2, the terminal NCU2 is controlled by the microcomputer 402. The connected internal memory (RAM) 404 has an area 406 for storing the meter reading date and time and an area 41 for storing the meter reading value at that time.
It has an area 407 for storing the transmission date and time when 0 and its meter reading value are transmitted to the center NCU2.

The microcomputer 402 has a built-in clock function and always measures the current time. Next, the operation of the automatic meter-reading system according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

The microcomputer 402 measures the date and time (step S11), and compares the current time with the meter reading date and time (step S13). When the meter reading date and time and the current time match (YES in S15), the terminal NCU4 issues a meter reading request to the meter 5, sucks the data from the meter 5 and performs regular meter reading.

This regular meter reading data is directly stored in the meter reading value storage area 41 of the internal memory RAM 404 until the next meter reading date and time.
It is held at 0.

The microcomputer 402 measures the time and compares the current time with the transmission date and time (step S19), and when the current time and the transmission date and time match (YES in step S21),
The terminal NCU4 has an internal memory 40 for the center NCU2.
The data stored in 4 is transmitted (S23). The data at this time is the data collected from the meter at the regular meter reading date and time.

By doing so, the date and time when the data collected at the regular meter reading date and time is transmitted to the center device can be determined by the device on the center side, and the line can be effectively used.

In the above invention, the call from the terminal side has been described, but the occasional call from the center side can be similarly made. That is, the meter reading date storage area 40
By storing 6 and the meter reading value storage area 410 in the internal memory 404 of the terminal NCU 4, the meter reading data can be transmitted at the necessary date and time even for the meter reading from the center side.

Although the terminal NCU has been described in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 4, an adapter 6 may be provided on the meter side instead of the terminal NCU, and the function described above may be provided therein.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, the date and time when the data is read and the data read to the center side device are transmitted at different dates and times. Therefore, it is possible to provide an automatic meter-reading system capable of meter-reading on a predetermined meter-reading day and greatly reducing the load on the center device and the communication line.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an entire system incorporating an automatic meter reading system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the inside of a terminal NCU to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the automatic meter-reading system according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing another embodiment of the automatic meter-reading system according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Center device 2 Center NCU 3 Switch 4 Terminal NCU 5 Meter 6 Adapter 401 Telephone line interface 402 Microcomputer 403 Meter interface 404 Internal memory (RAM) 405 ROM 406 Meter reading date storage area 407 Transmission date storage area 408 Telephone line 409 Connection with meter Cable 410 Meter reading value storage area

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An automatic meter reading system for performing data communication between a center device and a terminal through a telephone line and collecting data from the terminal at a predetermined date and time, and data collecting means for collecting predetermined data. A first storage means for storing the collected data; a transmitting means for transmitting the collected data to the center device; a first date and time when the data collecting means is operated; and the collected data. Second storage means for separately storing a second date and time when the data is transmitted to the center device; and data stored in the first storage means and collected at the first date and time for the first data. An automatic meter-reading system comprising: a control unit that controls the transmission unit to perform data communication at the second date and time different from the date and time.