JPH08289032A - Automatic metering system for gas meter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To realize the convenience for the user to recognize its own gas consumption charge or the like through the use of a telephone set. CONSTITUTION: A controller CT discriminates whether or not a telephone opposite party is a management center equipment CS and sends data of an indication of a gas meter GM to the management center through a public telephone line L when the destination is the management center CS. When the opposite party is not the management center equipment CS, the controller CT connects the telephone set TE to the telephone line L and usual speech is made by the telephone set TE. On the other hand, when the telephone set TE makes a phone call to the management center equipment CS, data stored in the management center equipment CS and relating to the indication value are received by the telephone set TE through the telephone line L. Furthermore, the received data are displayed on a display section of the telephone set TE. Thus, the user recognizes its own gas consumption amount and a gas utility charge or the like by using the telephone set TE.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention uses a public telephone line to collect and manage data indicating the indicated values of a gas meter installed under a plurality of users in a management center device, and to allow each user to use the data. Relates to an automatic meter reading system for a gas meter, which enables the user to know the indicated value or the gas charge of the gas meter by using his own telephone.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been an automatic meter reading system for a gas meter which uses a public telephone line and collects and manages, in a management center device, data indicating an indicated value of a gas meter installed under a plurality of users. .

[0003]

However, in the conventional system, when the user wants to know his / her gas usage amount and gas charge, the user himself / herself directly reads the indicated value of the gas meter to calculate the gas charge. Or, it was necessary to rely on the bill from the gas company, and the merit for the user was small.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic meter reading system for a gas meter which is more convenient for the user.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention of claim 1 uses a public telephone line to display data indicating the indicated value of a gas meter installed under a plurality of users. In the automatic meter reading system of the gas meter that is collected and managed by the management center device, the telephone that is connected to the public telephone line and the data that indicates the indication value that is fetched from the gas meter that is connected to the public telephone line between the management center device and the telephone A control device for transmitting to the management center device through the public telephone line, a destination determination means for determining whether or not the destination of the call coming through the public telephone line is the management center device, and detecting off-hook of the telephone Off-hook detection means to call the public telephone line when the other party is not the management center device or when the telephone is off-hook. The control device is provided with a switching means for switching and connecting to the control device, and a receiving means for receiving the data regarding the indicated value of the gas meter owned by the management center device through the public telephone line and a display means for displaying the received data are provided on the telephone. It is characterized by being provided.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention of claim 2 uses a public telephone line and collects data indicating an indicated value of a gas meter installed under a plurality of users in a management center device. In the automatic meter reading system of the managed gas meter, the telephone connected to the public telephone line,
It is connected to a public telephone line between the management center device and the telephone and is equipped with a control device for transmitting the data indicating the reading value taken from the gas meter to the management center device through the public telephone line. Other party determining means for determining whether the other party is the management center apparatus, off-hook detecting means for detecting the off-hook of the telephone, and public telephone line when the other party is not the management center apparatus and the telephone is off-hook The control device is provided with a switching means for switching and connecting to the telephone, and the telephone is provided with a data receiving means for receiving data indicating the indication value of the gas meter from the control device and a display means for displaying the received data. It is characterized by

[0007]

According to the above construction, when the user calls the management center device by using the telephone, the data regarding the indication value of the gas meter, that is, the data such as the amount of gas used and the gas charge is publicized from the management center device. Since the data is transmitted to the telephone through the telephone line, the user can know the above data by receiving the above data at the telephone and displaying the received data on the display means.

Alternatively, the data indicating the indicated value of the gas meter, which is transmitted from the control device, not from the control center device, is received by the telephone and is also displayed on the display means, so that the user can know the data more easily. be able to.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an example of construction of an automatic meter reading system for a gas meter in this embodiment.
The public telephone line L is connected to the management center device CS of the gas company, and the management center device CS, the control device CT, and the telephone TE are connected by the telephone line L via a telephone station (not shown). Further, the management center device CS has a dial function using the public telephone line L, a call function, a data transmission / reception function, etc. in order to collect and manage data such as the gas usage amount and gas charge for each of a plurality of users. These functions are realized by a well-known configuration. In addition, PT
Is a protector and is provided to protect the user from a large current or a large voltage due to an induced lightning surge of the public telephone line L or a contact of the power line.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the gas meter GM, which includes a flow rate measuring section 2 for measuring the flow rate of gas flowing through the gas pipe 1, a meter display section 3 for displaying an integrated value of the measured gas flow rate, and a gas leak. An abnormality detection unit 4 for detecting an abnormality such as an earthquake or an earthquake, a shutoff valve 5 for shutting off the gas pipe 1 when an abnormality occurs, a drive unit 6 for driving the shutoff valve 5, and a shutoff valve 5 that has been shut off once A return switch unit 7 for restarting gas supply and a microcomputer (hereinafter, abbreviated as “microcomputer”) 8 for controlling each unit are provided. The microcomputer 8 calculates the integrated value of the gas flow rate measured by the flow rate measurement unit 2 and displays it on the meter display unit 3. When an abnormality such as a gas leak or an earthquake is detected in the abnormality detection unit 4, the drive unit 6 drives the shutoff valve 5 to shut off the gas pipe 1 in response to a control signal from the microcomputer 8 to stop the gas supply. It is designed to prevent fires and other secondary disasters. The gas meter GM, which has the microcomputer 8 therein and shuts off the gas supply by shutting off the gas pipe 1 when an abnormality occurs, is commonly called a microcomputer meter.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the telephone TE. The telephone set TE includes a call circuit section 10 having a side-tone prevention circuit, a PB signal transmitting / receiving section 11 for transmitting / receiving a push button signal (hereinafter abbreviated as “PB signal”) via a telephone line L, and a handset. A handset 12, a tone ringer 13 for emitting a ring tone, a hook switch 14, a key operation unit 15 including a numeric keypad, a telephone controller 16 for controlling each unit, and an instruction value of a gas meter GM described later. The display unit 17 includes an LCD panel or the like for displaying the gas charge. That is, in this embodiment, the PB signal transmitting / receiving unit 11 constitutes the receiving means.

On the other hand, the control device CT has a structure as shown in FIG. 4, and has an incoming call detecting section 20 for detecting an incoming call by detecting a calling signal sent from the telephone station via the telephone line L, A diode bridge DB provided between the telephone line L and the incoming call detection unit 20, and a PB signal transmission / reception unit 21 provided between the diode bridge DB and the telephone line L for transmitting / receiving a PB signal via the telephone line L. , A relay contact unit 22 connected to the telephone line L in parallel with the incoming call detection unit 20, a relay drive unit 23 for switching the relay contact unit 22, and a DC close for DC coupling the telephone line L via the relay contact unit 22. It controls the connecting portion 24 and each portion, receives integrated value data of the gas flow rate from the microcomputer 8 of the gas meter GM via the signal line Ls, and connects it via the telephone line L by the PB signal. And a signal processing unit 25 to be transmitted to the center device CS. In addition, the telephone set TE is connected to the control device CT via a call line via the relay contact portion 22.

The relay contact portion 22 has a pair of common contacts c ₁ connected to the DC closing portion 24, a pair of common contacts c ₂ connected to the telephone TE, and ₂ connected in parallel to the telephone line L.
A pair of outside line side contacts a ₁ and a ₂ and two sets of extension line side contacts b ₁ for connecting the control device CT and the telephone set TE
b ₂ and the DC connection part 24 of the control device CT
The telephone set L and the telephone set TE can be individually connected to the telephone line L, and the control device CT and the telephone set TE can be directly connected.

The signal processing unit 25 of the control device CT is connected to the telephone control unit 16 of the telephone TE via a pair of control lines Lc, and determines whether the telephone TE is off-hook or on-hook. It is adapted to be detected by a signal sent from the telephone TE via the control line Lc. Next, the operation of the system of this embodiment will be described.

First, referring to the flow chart of FIG. 5, a case will be described in which the meter of the gas meter GS installed under the user in the management center apparatus CS is measured. The control device CT detects the call signal sent from the telephone station via the telephone line L by the incoming call detection unit 20 (S
1) The PB signal transmitting / receiving unit 21 detects whether or not the PB signal is transmitted between the intermittent call signals (S2). This PB signal is sent from the management center device CS via the telephone line L when the destination of the calling signal is the management center device CS. And PB
When a signal is detected, the signal processing unit 25 controls the relay driving unit 23 to switch the relay contact unit 22 to the outer line side contact a ₁ and the inner line side contact b ₂ , respectively, and to set the DC closing unit 24 to the telephone line L. At the same time as connecting (S3), the telephone TE is disconnected from the telephone line L, and the direct current connection unit 24 is used to make the telephone line L.
Is closed by direct current so that the control center device CS and the control device CT can communicate with each other. That is, the PB signal transmission / reception unit 21 and the signal processing unit 25 constitute the partner discriminating means of this embodiment.

Then, the signal processing unit 25 uses the gas meter G
Data (hereinafter referred to as "meter reading data"), which is an integrated value of the gas flow rate and which is the current indicated value of the gas meter GM, is received from the M microcomputer 8 (S4), and the PB signal is transmitted from the PB signal transmitting / receiving unit 21 by the PB signal. The meter reading data is sent to the telephone line L and sent to the management center device CS (S5). The control center device CS receives the PB signal and receives the current gas meter G.
The meter reading data of M can be acquired, and the amount of gas used and the gas charge of each user can be obtained from this.

When the control center device CS acquires the meter reading data, it disconnects the telephone line L and ends the call. On the other hand, in the control device CT, the control center device CS side has a telephone line L
When it is detected that the switch has been cut off (S6), the DC closing unit 24
Ends the call by disconnecting the telephone line L (S)
7). In addition, when the PB signal is not detected between the calling signals, that is, in the case of a normal calling other than the automatic meter reading from the management center device CS, the signal processing unit 25 controls the relay driving unit 23 to control the relay contact unit 22. Are switched to the extension side contact b ₁ and the outside line side contact a ₂ , respectively, to connect the telephone TE to the telephone line L and disconnect the DC closing part 24 from the telephone line L (S8). As a result, the telephone TE detects an incoming call as usual and causes the tone ringer unit 13 to emit a ringing tone. When the hook switch unit 14 is off-hook, the telephone line L is DC-closed and the handset 12 is used to communicate with the other party. You can make calls. The above state is maintained while the on-hook of the telephone TE is monitored by the control device CT and is maintained while the telephone TE is talking (S9). Further, in order to detect the on-hook / off-hook of the telephone TE, the on-hook / off-hook detection signal from the telephone controller 16 of the telephone TE is input to the signal processing unit 25 of the control device CT via the control line Lc.

Next, the operation of displaying the current gas usage amount and charge on the telephone TE, which is the gist of the present invention, will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
Here, in the control device CT, the normal telephone TE is connected to the control device CT (actually, the DC closing unit 2
4), the relay contacts 22 are switched to the contacts b ₁ and b ₂ on the extension side, respectively, and when making a call using the telephone TE, the handset is picked up and the hook switch 14 is turned off. After that (SS1), for example, by pressing the "0" key of the key operation unit 15, "0" is operated.
By transmitting the PB signal of the control device CT to the control device CT (SS2), the signal processing unit 25 of the control device CT is transmitted.
Switches the relay contact portion 22 to the extension line side contact b ₁ and the outside line side contact a ₂ respectively to connect the telephone set TE to the telephone line L and disconnect the DC closing section 24 from the telephone line L (SS3). It becomes possible to make a call to the management center device CS or the like by TE.

Then, the telephone number of the management center device CS is dialed using the key operation unit 15 and the management center device CS is called via the telephone line L (SS4). When the management center device CS responds and a message prompting the transmission of the personal identification number is sent, the personal identification number previously assigned to each user is transmitted by the PB signal using the key operation unit 15 (SS5). The management center device CS confirms the match / mismatch of the transmitted personal identification numbers and, if they coincide, sends a message to that effect, and if the message indicating the coincidence is not transmitted, transmits the personal identification number again (SS6). . If the passwords match and the message is sent, the key operation unit 15 is then used to request data transmission (SS
7). That is, the PB signal is transmitted by pressing, for example, the "#" key of the key operation unit 15. Management center device CS
Then, when the PB signal indicating "#" is received, the latest meter reading data and charge data of the user recorded in the management center device CS are returned to the telephone set TE by the PB signal.

The telephone set TE waits until the meter reading data and the fee data are received (SS8), and when the data is received, it is displayed on the display unit 17 having an LCD panel or the like (SS9). This allows the user to set the gas meter G by himself.
It is not necessary to check the indicated value of M, and the management center device CS
You can find out how much gas is used and how much it costs by calling. When the telephone TE is on-hook and the telephone line L is disconnected, the call ends (SS10).

On the other hand, it is possible to simply know the current meter reading data without calling the management center device CS.
That is, if the handset is taken off hook and the "0" key of the key operation unit 15 is not operated, the signal processing unit 25 of the control device CT connects the DC closing unit 24 and the telephone TE (SS11), Receive the current meter reading data from the microcomputer 8 of the gas meter GM (SS1
2). Then, it waits until there is a data request from the telephone set TE (SS13). That is, in the key operation unit 15 of the telephone TE, for example, the "*" key is pressed and the PB signal is transmitted via the DC connection unit 24 to the signal processing unit 25.
Then, the signal processing unit 25 transmits the current meter-reading data received from the gas meter GM to the telephone set TE as a PB signal through the DC closing unit 24 (SS14). The telephone set TE displays the received meter reading data on the display unit 17,
The user can know the current meter reading data (meter indication value in the gas meter GM). And the telephone TE
If the device is on-hook, the control device CT and the telephone T
The call with E is terminated (SS15).

As described above, the telephone TE makes a call to the management center apparatus CS, and the telephone TE receives the data such as the gas usage amount and the gas charge collected and managed by the management center apparatus CS through the public telephone line L. Alternatively, since the indicated value data of the gas meter can be directly received from the control device CT and the above data can be displayed on the display unit 17 provided in the telephone TE, the user can use the telephone TE to use the gas consumption amount or the gas charge. Therefore, the convenience of the automatic meter reading system of the gas meter can be improved for the user.

In the present embodiment, the PB signal is used for transmitting and receiving the meter reading data between the management center device CS and the control device CT, but the data transmission format is not limited to this. Further, the technical idea of the present invention can be applied not only to the automatic meter reading of a gas meter but also to the automatic meter reading of electricity or water in which the meter is installed under the user.

[0024]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the automatic meter reading of the gas meter uses the public telephone line and collects and manages the data indicating the indicated value of the gas meter installed under the plurality of users in the management center device. In the system, a telephone connected to the public telephone line and a control device connected to the public telephone line between the management center device and the telephone and transmitting data indicating an instruction value taken from the gas meter to the management center device through the public telephone line. And a destination determination unit for determining whether or not the destination of the call received through the public telephone line is the management center device, an off-hook detection unit for detecting the off-hook of the telephone, and the destination is the management center device. If not, and if the telephone is off-hook, the public telephone line is switched to the telephone and the switching means is connected. In addition to being installed in the control device, the telephone is provided with a receiving means for receiving the data regarding the indicated value of the gas meter held by the management center device through the public telephone line and a display means for displaying the received data. If you call the management center device using, the management center device sends data related to the indicated value of the gas meter, that is, data such as the amount of gas used and the gas charge, to the telephone through the public telephone line. By receiving and displaying the received data on the display means, the user can know the above data,
There is an effect that the convenience for the user can be improved.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic meter reading system for a gas meter, which uses a public telephone line and collects and manages, in a management center device, data indicating an indicated value of a gas meter installed under a plurality of users. , A telephone connected to the public telephone line, and a control device connected to the public telephone line between the management center device and the telephone, and transmitting data indicating the indicating value taken from the gas meter to the management center device through the public telephone line. In the case where the other party is not the management center device, the other party determining means for determining whether or not the other party of the call coming through the public telephone line is the management center device, the off-hook detecting means for detecting the off-hook of the telephone. And a switching means for connecting the public telephone line to the telephone when the telephone is off-hook. In addition to being installed in the control device, a data receiving means for receiving data indicating the indicated value of the gas meter from the control device and a display means for displaying the received data are provided in the telephone. By receiving the data indicating the indicated value of the gas meter on the telephone and displaying it on the display means in the same manner, the user can know the data more easily, and the convenience for the user can be improved. The effect is that you can do it.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a gas meter used in the above.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a telephone used in the above.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a control device used in the above.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the above.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the above.

[Explanation of symbols]

 CS management center device CT control device GM gas meter TE telephone

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An automatic meter reading system for a gas meter, which uses a public telephone line and collects and manages, in a management center device, data indicating the indicated values of gas meters installed under a plurality of users. The public telephone line is equipped with a connected telephone and a control device that is connected to the public telephone line between the management center device and the telephone and transmits the data indicating the reading value taken from the gas meter to the management center device through the public telephone line. A destination determination means for determining whether or not the other party of the incoming call is the management center device, an off-hook detection means for detecting the off-hook of the telephone, and when the destination is not the management center device and the telephone is off-hook. If the control device is provided with a switching means for switching the public telephone line to the telephone in the case of In addition, an automatic meter-reading system for a gas meter, characterized in that a telephone is provided with a receiving means for receiving data concerning the indicated value of the gas meter held by the management center device through a public telephone line, and a display means for displaying the received data. . 2. An automatic meter reading system for a gas meter, which uses a public telephone line and collects and manages, in a management center device, data indicating the indicated values of gas meters installed under a plurality of users. The public telephone line is equipped with a connected telephone and a control device that is connected to the public telephone line between the management center device and the telephone and transmits the data indicating the reading value taken from the gas meter to the management center device through the public telephone line. A destination determination means for determining whether or not the other party of the incoming call is the management center device, an off-hook detection means for detecting the off-hook of the telephone, and when the destination is not the management center device and the telephone is off-hook. If the control device is provided with a switching means for switching the public telephone line to the telephone in the case of An automatic meter-reading system for a gas meter, characterized in that a telephone is provided with a data receiving means for receiving data indicating the indicated value of the gas meter from the control device and a display means for displaying the received data.