JPH06303676A - Radio transmitter-receiver for metering - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the time required for developing the software while reducing the standby time by making transmission reception with a metering device not through a microcomputer according to a content of a character. CONSTITUTION:The transmitter-receiver is provided with an output changeover circuit 15 selecting a transmission reception circuit 12 in the 1st transmission reception mode making transmission reception with a metering device not through a microcomputer 11 in a metering transmitter-receiver 10 according to the content of characters upon the receipt of an input output switching character included in a command communication from a radio metering device or in the 2nd transmission reception mode making transmission reception with the metering device through the microcomputer 11. Thus, the information from the metering device is quickly extracted by the transmission reception circuit 12 of the radio transmitter-receiver 10 not through the microcomputer 11 of the radio transmitter-receiver 10 connecting to the metering device when information of the metering device is obtained from a radio metering device. Thus, a time required from the transmission of a text from the radio metering device till the reception of information of the metering device is enough to be short.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wireless meter-reading system for remotely meter-reading the measured value of a meter such as a gas meter or a water meter by wirelessly connecting to the meter and transmitting / receiving to / from the wireless meter. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 5 shows the configuration of a conventional wireless transmitter / receiver for meter reading. This wireless transmitter / receiver is composed of a microcomputer 1, a transmitter / receiver circuit 2, a battery 3 and a power supply control circuit 4, and is used by being connected to a telemeter terminal of a measuring instrument (not shown) such as a gas meter or a water meter. In this wireless transmitter / receiver, as shown in FIG. 6, the ID code is first compared with its own in the message transmitted and received from the wireless meter detector, and if they match, the corresponding content code is transmitted subsequently. Select the downloaded downlink message and output it to the measuring instrument. Next, after once receiving the upstream message sent back from the measuring instrument, it adds its own ID code and transmits it.

[0003]

However, conventionally, the operation of receiving the message from the wireless meter and then outputting it to the meter, and also receiving the reply message from the meter and outputting it to the transmission / reception circuit 2 is performed. Therefore, for gas meters and water meters, the communication speed of telemeter telegrams is 200 bp.
In addition to the relatively low speed of s, there is a problem that it takes more time than necessary from the time the wireless meter detector issues a request until the information is actually obtained. Further, the telemeter message corresponding to the content code must be held on the RAM of the microcomputer 1 in the transmitter / receiver, which tends to increase the program size.

The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems.
Meter reading that can shorten the waiting time when trying to obtain information from the measuring instrument by the wireless transceiver, reduce the program size of the microcomputer in the wireless transceiver, and shorten the time required for software development It is to provide a transceiver for use.

[0005]

A wireless transmitter / receiver for meter reading according to the present invention, when an input / output switching character included in a command communication sentence from the wireless meter is received, the transmitter / receiver for meter reading is performed according to the content of the character. An output switching circuit capable of switching a transmission / reception circuit between a first transmission / reception mode in which transmission / reception is performed with a weighing instrument without a microcomputer in the instrument and a second transmission / reception mode in which transmission / reception is performed via a microcomputer. Be prepared.

[0006]

According to such a radio transmitter / receiver, when the information of the measuring instrument is to be obtained from the wireless meter-reading device, the information from the measuring instrument is not sent through the microcomputer of the radio transmitter / receiver connected to the measuring instrument. Can be quickly taken out by the transmission / reception circuit of the wireless transmitter / receiver.

[0007]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a wireless transmitter / receiver for meter reading, which is an example of the present invention connected to a gas meter. The wireless transceiver 10 includes a microcomputer 11 and a transceiver circuit 1.
2, an output switching circuit 15 is provided in addition to the battery 13 and the power supply control circuit 14. The microcomputer 11
It stores and discriminates the ID, controls the operation of the transmission / reception circuit 12, and switches the input / output target of the transmission / reception circuit 12. The transmission / reception circuit 12 performs modulation / demodulation of input / output data. The output switching circuit 15 is connected to the telemeter terminal 17 of the gas meter 16, and switches the input / output partner of the transmission / reception circuit 12 between the microcomputer 11 and the gas meter 16 according to a switching signal from the microcomputer 11. The power supply control circuit 14 supplies the power supply voltage from the battery 13 to the transmission / reception circuit 12 according to the control signal from the microcomputer 11. That is, the transmission / reception circuit 12 has
A constant period T is set by the timer in the microcomputer 11.
_{At 1} , the power supply voltage is intermittently supplied for a short time (for example, 20 ms every 2 seconds), and the receivable state is intermittently provided at a constant cycle.

FIG. 2 shows the format of a communication message for ID change setting sent from a wireless meter (not shown).
This message includes an ID code, a setting character and a setting I.
It consists of a D code. Further, FIG. 3 shows the gas meter 1.
6 shows an example of the format of a communication message for meter reading when an information request is made, and this communication message is composed of an ID code and a telemeter message which indicates a meter reading value request. ID here
The code is for identifying each meter, and has the initial value at the time of shipment at the time of initial setting, and the value already set at the time of change. Further, the set ID code has a value to be newly set instead of the current ID code. Further, the telemeter telegram means that the gas meter 16 receives the NR from the telemeter terminal 17.
-A message used when communicating with the center via a telephone line via the NCU.

Next, the operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When the ID setting is changed, the communication message shown in FIG.
When it is received (step S1), the transmission / reception circuit 12 which intermittently checks the presence / absence of reception output at regular intervals (step S2) enters the continuous reception state, and the ID code is first input to the microcomputer 11. (Step S
3). Then, the microcomputer 11 compares whether it matches the ID code stored in itself (step S4), and if it matches, determines whether the character following the ID code is the set character. (Step S5) If it is a set character, wait until a newly set ID code is sent. When the new ID code is received and input to the microcomputer 11 (step S6), the microcomputer 11 rewrites the ID (step S7), switches the transmission / reception circuit 12 to the transmission mode (step S8), and inputs the new ID code. The new ID code is transmitted (step S9). After that, after storing the new ID code as its own ID, the transmitting / receiving circuit 12 is switched to the receiving mode again to return to the intermittent receiving state (step S10).

On the other hand, when the communication text shown in FIG. 3 is transmitted when the meter reading value is requested and is received by the transmission / reception circuit 12, first, the ID is sent.
The code is input to the microcomputer 11. The microcomputer 11 compares it with its own stored ID, and after confirming the match, if the character following the ID code is the communication control character ETX which means the end of the electronic message, the microcomputer 11 sends the output switching circuit 15 A switching signal is output and the input / output destination of the transmission / reception circuit 12 is switched to the gas meter 16 (step 11).

Next, the telemeter telegram (downstream telemeter telegram) indicating the received meter reading value request is directly input from the telemeter terminal 17 to the CPU (not shown) of the gas meter 16 without going through the microcomputer 11 ( Step S12). After the transmission / reception circuit 12 is set to the transmission mode (step S13), the CPU of the gas meter 16 outputs a telemeter telegram of the meter reading data in response to the meter reading value request, and the telemeter telegram (uplink telemeter telegram) is wirelessly transmitted through the transmission / reception circuit 12. It is transmitted as a signal (step S14).

Thereafter, the output switching circuit 15 switches the input / output destination of the transmission / reception circuit 12 to the microcomputer 11 under the control of the microcomputer 11 (step S1).
5) Then, the mode is returned to the intermittent reception state as the reception mode again (step 10). On the other hand, when the meter reading data telegram is received, the wireless meter reading device displays the obtained integrated value, displays the stored previous integrated value and the current usage amount, and further prints. .

Although the meter reading data is taken as an example, when the other information such as security data is obtained from the meter, similarly, the microcomputer 11 only checks the ID, and the reception output of the telemeter telegram that follows is as it is to the meter. Outputs and sends the upstream message returned from the meter as it is. In this case, although the ID code is not added to the upstream message from the meter, in practice, there is almost no simultaneous message transmission from the meter reading device and a plurality of meters in the receiving state, so there is no problem.

[0014]

As described above, according to the present invention, in the wireless meter reading system, the wireless transmitter / receiver on the measuring instrument side is
A circuit for switching the input / output target of the transmission / reception circuit is provided,
In the message sent from the wireless meter, whether the content of the message sent after the first ID code can be processed in the microcomputer of the wireless transmitter / receiver such as the setting change of the ID code, or to the measuring instrument By adding a character indicating whether or not it is necessary to output a telemeter message, the transmission / reception circuit needs to input / output data to / from the microcomputer only when the ID code setting is changed to obtain information from the measuring instrument. Sometimes, the transmission / reception circuit is switched to directly input / output with the measuring instrument after performing ID check with the microcomputer, and the received downlink telemeter message is directly output to the measuring instrument, and the upstream message from the measuring instrument is also unchanged. It can be transmitted to a transmission / reception circuit.

Therefore, the time required from the transmission of the electronic message from the wireless meter to the reception of the information held by the meter is short, and the waiting time of the meter reader can be shortened. Further, since the weighing instrument and the transmission / reception circuit directly input / output data, the microcomputer of the wireless transmission / reception does not need a processing function related to telemeter telegrams, and the processing is limited to those related to ID check and ID code setting change. Since the program size is small, not only can the program storage capacity be reduced by that much, but the time required to develop the program can be shortened, and most of the programs can be used for different types of measuring instruments. Since it can be shared, various measuring instruments can be supported with a slight program change.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a wireless meter transmitter / receiver according to an example of the present invention, which is connected to a gas meter.

FIG. 2 is an ID sent from a wireless meter detector in the same as above.
It is a figure which shows the format of the communication message for change settings.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a format of a communication message for meter reading when making a request for information to a gas meter.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the wireless transceiver according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional wireless transceiver.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a format of a conventional electronic message.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 wireless transmitter / receiver circuit 11 microcomputer 12 transmitter / receiver circuit 15 output switching circuit 16 gas meter 17 telemeter terminal

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A transmitter / receiver for meter reading, which is connected to a telemeter terminal of a measuring instrument such as a gas meter or a water meter, and transmits / receives to / from a wireless meter by a transmitting / receiving circuit under the control of a microcomputer. When an input / output switching character included in a communication text is received, a first transmission / reception mode in which transmission / reception is performed with the weighing instrument without the microcomputer according to the content of the character, and via the microcomputer A wireless transmitter / receiver for meter reading, comprising an output switching circuit capable of switching the transmission / reception circuit in a second transmission / reception mode for transmission / reception.