KR20120110859A

KR20120110859A - A meter reading apparatus for rotary scale device and method therefor

Info

Publication number: KR20120110859A
Application number: KR1020110029016A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 안건준
Original assignee: 크루셜텍 (주)
Priority date: 2011-03-30
Filing date: 2011-03-30
Publication date: 2012-10-10

Abstract

The meter reading terminal for a rotation scale integrating meter according to the present invention comprises: an image obtaining unit for acquiring image data of an integrated weighing value displayed on a rotation scale number plate of the integrating meter; A number recognition unit for pattern recognition of image data received from the image acquisition unit to generate and output a data code corresponding to the integrated weighing value; And a communication unit configured to receive a data code from a number recognition unit, convert the received data code into a wireless transmission format, and transmit the converted data code to an external server. According to the present invention, the meter reader can read the cumulative amount accurately in a wireless remote method at a supplier or a central inspection station without directly reading the cumulative amount with the naked eye, thereby improving convenience.

Description

A meter reading apparatus for rotary scale device and method therefor}

The present invention relates to a meter reading terminal for the rotation scale integrating meter. More specifically, the present invention relates to a meter reading terminal capable of reading a meter reading and transmitting the meter reading of the rotation scale integrating meter to an external remote server.

In general, consumers, as well as suppliers of electricity, water and gas, are equipped with meters to read the amount of electricity, water, gas, etc. that they supply or use. This meter usually takes the form of an integrated meter, ie an integrated meter, in which the amount used is accumulated or summed to visually display the amount.

Among these meters, the totalizer includes a board on which various information or numbers are printed, a rotating plate whose rotation speed varies depending on the amount of use, and an integrated amount measured by the rotation of the measuring plate. It consists of a plurality of numeric plates that are represented by numbers such as hundreds, thousands, and so on. Of course, the front of the meter is provided with a transparent cover for checking the number plate. Here, each numeric plate is displayed in Arabic numerals from 0 to 9, and displays the integrated amount in a continuous manner such as a clock. That is, when the number plate of one digit rotates once, the amount of power is displayed in such a manner that the number plate of ten digits is rotated by the unit number. On the other hand, the number plate of one digit is displayed as the integration amount of the one digit number continuously, that is, analog type as the rotating plate is rotated.

On the other hand, such a conventional integrated meter has been metered by a method that the meter reading the current number through the naked eye to record the current number in the state where the integrated amount continuously changes, and has charged a fee corresponding to the metering amount to the user.

However, it has been shown that various problems arise with the totalizer and the metering method. First of all, the meter reader must visit Gagaho to read the meter, so it takes too much metering time and metering manpower, and when the meter is installed in a position where the meter cannot be directly read without the user's guidance, there is a problem in that the correct amount can not be read. .

In order to solve the problems described above, various systems and methods for configuring the totalizer in a digital manner using pulses rather than an analog method by rotation of a number plate, and remotely reading the wires or wirelessly have been proposed.

However, such a digital remote meter reading system and method has a problem in that the manufacturing cost is expensive and the economical efficiency is lowered and the reliability of the meter reading is lowered.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a meter reading terminal that allows the meter reader to read the cumulative amount in a wireless remote manner from a supplier or a central office without reading the cumulative amount of the rotation scale integrating meter.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a metering terminal capable of reading the integrated amount at a precise metering reference point by maintaining the metering amount of the metering terminal in a digital state.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a wireless remote meter terminal and a method of metering that improve the reliability, safety and economics of meter reading.

The meter reading terminal for a rotation scale integrating meter according to the present invention comprises: an image obtaining unit for acquiring image data of an integrated weighing value displayed on a rotation scale number plate of the integrating meter; A number recognition unit for pattern recognition of image data received from the image acquisition unit to generate and output a data code corresponding to an integrated weighing value; And a communication unit configured to receive the data code from the number recognition unit, convert the received data code into a wireless transmission format, and transmit the converted data code to an external server.

According to the meter reading terminal for the rotation scale integrating meter according to the present invention, the meter reader can read the cumulative amount accurately by wireless remote method at the supplier or the central inspection station without directly reading the cumulative amount with the naked eye. There is.

1 is a view for explaining a meter terminal for a rotation scale integrating meter according to the present invention.

The meter reading terminal according to the present invention is attached to an existing rotation scale integrating meter and captures the integrated measurement value of the rotation scale number plate as an image, and then reads the integration measurement value according to the pattern recognition (or character recognition) technology, and based on the data code (E.g. ASCII code for weighing digits) is transmitted to an external server (e.g., a central management server).

The meter reading terminal is configured to include an image acquisition unit, number recognition unit, communication unit as described below.

Hereinafter, a meter reading terminal for a rotation scale integration meter according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a view for explaining a meter reading terminal for a rotation scale integration meter according to the present invention.

Referring to Figure 1, the meter reading terminal according to the present invention from the image acquisition unit 101, the image acquisition unit 101 for obtaining the image data of the integrated measurement value displayed on the rotation scale numeric plate 10 of the rotation scale integrating meter Pattern recognition of the received image data to generate and output a data code corresponding to the integrated weighing value, and receives the data code from the numeric recognition unit 105, and the wireless data transmission can be received It is provided with a communication unit 105 for converting the form to an external server.

When the meter reading terminal of the present invention operates in a power saving mode and receives a wake-up signal from an external server (not shown), the meter reading terminal decodes the received data and returns a response signal (ACK) if it is normal. If there is a problem, request retransmission. When the external server receives the response signal (ACK) from the meter reading terminal, the external server transmits a meter reading command to the meter reading terminal. The meter reading terminal receiving the metering command from the external server senses the integrated weighing value displayed on the rotation scale number plate 10 of the integrating meter through the image acquiring unit 101 as described below, and uses the pattern recognition technique to detect the image data. After reading the metered value through image processing, the data code corresponding to the normalized reading value is generated and transmitted to the external server. If the read value is abnormal, the above-described reading process is repeated.

According to the meter reading terminal of the present invention, it is possible to automatically read the integrated weighing value of the totalizing meter with a rotating scale without using a metering source, to reduce labor costs, and to read the meter data after reading the image data. The ASCII code is sent, which reduces the amount of data.

The image acquiring unit 101 includes a light receiving unit (not shown) for forming a numerical image of the rotation scale number plate 10 of the integrating meter into an image sensor (not shown), and a two-dimensional image formed on the light receiving unit for converting the two-dimensional image into an electrical signal. It consists of an image sensor. When the integrating meter is installed in a dark place, it may include a light source for generating light for sensing an image. Such light sources include not only light in the visible light band but also light in other bands such as infrared or ultraviolet light. Can also be used.

The number recognition unit 103 includes a storage means such as a flash memory, a control means including an input / output port, an ID setting means for setting an ID of a meter reading terminal, and an analog received from the image acquisition unit 101. After converting the image signal to digital, the numerical value displayed on the rotating scale numeric plate 10 is read and converted into an ASCII code according to a predetermined pattern recognition algorithm, and then transmitted to the communication unit 105. At this time, the number recognition unit 103 stores the image data for the numerical shape ('0' to '9') of the rotation scale number plate 10 in advance in the memory for the above-described reading, and the image acquisition unit 101 When the image data is received, the numerical value displayed on the rotation scale number plate 10 may be read by comparing with the image data previously stored in the memory.

The communication unit 105 modulates the digital data from the number recognition unit 103 into a high frequency radio signal, transmits the data to an external server, and demodulates the radio signal received from the external server to reproduce digital data. Include.

While a preferred embodiment according to the present invention has been described above, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

10: rotation scale integrating meter 101: image acquisition unit
103: number recognition unit 105: communication unit

Claims

The present invention relates to a meter reading terminal for a rotation scale integrating meter,
An image acquiring unit for acquiring image data of an integrated weighing value displayed on a rotation scale number plate of the totalizer;
A number recognition unit for pattern recognition of image data received from the image acquisition unit to generate and output a data code corresponding to an integrated weighing value; And
And a communication unit for receiving the data code from the number recognition unit, converting the received data code into a form capable of wireless transmission, and transmitting the data code to an external server.