KR20140129940A - Battery operated device apparatus and its system - Google Patents

Abstract

According to an aspect of the present invention, a data communications method between a battery operation device and a smart home appliance in a home area network comprises the following steps. A smart home appliance acquires information on a battery operation device from a data mirror device. The smart appliance transmits a first message, of which the final receiver is the battery operation device, to the data mirror device. The data mirror device stores the first message and a first message identifier corresponding to a kind of the first message. The battery operation device starts operating at an arbitrary period and transmits a second message to the data mirror device. The data mirror device transmits a response message corresponding to the second message, wherein the response message contains the first message identifier. The battery operation device analyzes the first message identifier and determines whether to request an original of the first message corresponding to the first message identifier.

Description

BATTERY OPERATED DEVICE APPARATUS AND ITS SYSTEM [0001]

Various embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to data mirroring, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for data mirroring for efficient communication with a battery operated device in a home area network in which a home smart grid is implemented.

IT technologies such as the Internet and high-speed communication have been making remarkable progress in recent years. With the changing perception of environmental issues and high social interest in eco-friendly technologies, interest in smart grid technology, which is a combination of IT and electric power industry, is increasing. The Smart Grid is a technology that utilizes energy efficiently by minimizing environmental pollution by implementing a stable, highly efficient, and intelligent power network through the convergence of IT and power technologies. The Smart Grid is a next-generation intelligent power grid that combines information technology with existing power grids to enable electric power providers and consumers to exchange information in real time in both directions, minimizing unnecessary power generation and increasing the efficiency of power use.

In the Smart Grid system, power generation facilities include traditional large power plants such as thermal power generation, hydropower generation, and nuclear power generation, and solar and wind power solar and wind power plants, which are renewed energy sources. The large power plants send power to the transmission station through the transmission line, and electricity is sent to the substation at the transmission station so that electricity is distributed to final consumers such as the home or the office. Electricity generated from large-scale renewable power generation complexes is also sent to the substation to be distributed to each customer.

In the Smart Grid, many devices that operate by electricity are connected to the IT network and information exchange is used to efficiently control supply and demand. The major problem with existing power networks is that unidirectional power supply and simple metering facilities do not know the power usage in the final customer (house, factory, commercial facility) in real time and can not optimize the power supply. In the smart grid environment, it is possible to collect the energy consumption used in real time through the Smart Meter, so that it is possible to control the power generation amount and to predict the future power consumption, so that the energy cost can be differentiated, .

In the home smart grid environment, information related to energy is exchanged through communication between appliances including smart meters. There are various methods of wired and wireless communication technology that can be used for the above purpose, but the technology that is installed in the most products to date is ZigBee technology. ZigBee, a low-rate wireless personal area network (LR-WPAN) technology, features low-power and low-cost, and is designed to meet the needs of personal wireless network standards for smart grid and home automation applications in the 2.4GHz frequency band. to be.

FIG. 1 shows each layer to which a ZigBee and IEEE 802.15.4 standards are applied.

The ZigBee communication method is a communication standard for short-range networking. The Medium Access Control (MAC) layer and the Physical (PHY) layer adopt the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. The network layer and the application layer form a standard in the ZigBee Alliance . The Zigbee communication method is one of the communication technologies that realize the ubiquitous computing by implementing the Internet of Things (IoT) by providing the short distance communication service of about several tens of meters in the environment of the home and the office. Especially, Zigbee communication method can minimize power consumption and can be mounted on various battery-based smart grid devices and household sensors.

Referring to the ZigBee standard, ZigBee is capable of using 2.4GHz, 915MHz, and 868MHz frequency bands, which are Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) bands, and has a transmission rate of 250Kbps using 16 channels in the 2.4GHz band, It uses 10 channels in the 915MHz band and has a transmission rate of 40kbps. In the 868MHz band, it can have a transmission rate of 20kbps using one channel. In the physical layer, DSSS (Direct Secure Spread Spectrum) technology is used. To sum up, ZigBee technology can exchange data at a rate of 20 ~ 250kbps within a few tens of meters, connect up to 255 devices to a single PAN (Personal Area Network), and configure a large-scale wireless sensor network .

It is an object of the present invention to provide a data communication method and apparatus between a battery operated device and a smart home appliance in a home area network.

According to an aspect of the present invention,

A method for communicating data between a battery operated device and a smart home appliance in a home area network, the method comprising: acquiring information on a battery operated device from the data mirror device; The smart home appliance transmitting a first message to the data mirror device with the battery operating device as the final recipient; Storing the first message and storing a corresponding first message identifier according to the type of the first message; Transmitting a second message to the data mirror device by the battery operating device starting operation at an arbitrary period; The data mirror device including the first message identifier in a response message corresponding to the second message and transmitting the response message; And a first determining step of the battery operating device analyzing the first message identifier to determine whether to request an original of the corresponding first message.

The data communication method according to the present invention may further include the step of the battery operating device requesting a data mirroring service to the data mirror device, wherein the battery operating device is a device having a data storage capacity of at least a certain level As the data mirror device.

In the data communication method according to the present invention, the battery operating device may request the data mirror device for a first message as a result of the first determination step; And a second determining step of determining a transmission method of the first message according to whether the data mirror device receiving the request stores an original of the first message. The data mirror device transmitting the first message to the battery operated device as a result of the second determination step; And the data mirror device transmitting the first message delivery result to the smart appliance.

In the data communication method according to the present invention, the battery operating device may request the data mirror device for a first message as a result of the first determination step; And a second determining step of determining a transmission method of the first message according to whether the data mirror device receiving the request stores an original of the first message. The data mirror device sending the first message request to the smart appliance as a result of the second determining step; And transmitting the first message to the battery operating device by the smart home appliance.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a message is also transmitted to a battery operating device operating in a sleep mode for most of the time in a home area network. It is possible. According to an embodiment of the present invention, when the battery operating device sets one or more data mirroring devices and an external smart home appliance wants to communicate with the battery operating device, the battery operating device can receive the mirroring service through the data mirroring device.

FIG. 1 shows each layer to which a ZigBee and IEEE 802.15.4 standards are applied.
2 is a block diagram of a home network system of a smart grid according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a home network device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 illustrates a communication frame structure defined by the ZigBee standard and the IEEE 802.15.4 standard according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 illustrates a topology of a ZigBee wireless network according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 illustrates a relationship between a battery operated device, a data mirror device, and a smart home appliance of a data mirroring cluster according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 illustrates a communication step between a battery operated device and a smart home appliance according to an embodiment of the present invention.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to be illustrative of the present invention and not to limit the scope of the invention. Should be interpreted to include modifications or variations that do not depart from the spirit of the invention.

The terms and accompanying drawings used herein are for the purpose of facilitating the present invention and the shapes shown in the drawings are exaggerated for clarity of the present invention as necessary so that the present invention is not limited thereto And are not intended to be limited by the terms and drawings.

In the following description, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear.

2 is a block diagram of a home network system of a smart grid according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the devices in the home area network are equipped with ZigBee, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, PLC (Power Line Communication), and Ethernet modules, It can transmit and receive. Communication within the house can be done via the wireless or wireline. Preferably, each of the home area network devices is preferably capable of communicating with the HEMS server 101, and each home area network device is interconnected with other home area network devices so as to be communicable.

The home network device includes a temperature controller 107 connected to and controlling the smart home appliance 105, the in-home display 106 and the air conditioning system 107a, an electric car charger 108 for charging the electric car 108a, A battery inverter 109 connected to the household battery 109a for controlling charging and discharging, a battery operating device 103 operating as a battery, a data mirror device 104 for mirroring data of the battery operating device 103, A solar power inverter 120 for converting the direct current electricity generated from the solar power generator 120a into AC, a solar inverter 130 for converting the direct current electricity generated in the wind power generator 130a into AC, etc. It refers to various devices requiring energy control.

In the home smart grid, a home energy management system (HEMS) server 101 for real time real-time power management of the home and a real-time prediction of power consumption and a smart meter 102 for measuring power consumption in real time play a pivotal role I am responsible.

The home energy management system (HEMS) server 101 is a central device of the home energy management system. The home energy management system 101 is a home energy management system in which, in response to energy related information received from a HEMS management server 301 operated by a power additional service provider 300, Perform load control and energy usage control of internal devices. The HEMS server 101 may be a separate physical device or may be incorporated in the smart meter 102 or incorporated into a smart appliance 105 such as a TV. have. The HEMS management server 105 of the service provider performs functions of remotely managing and setting the HEMS server 101 of the customer.

The smart meter 102 is an electronic watt hour meter equipped with a communication function having a function of measuring the total usage amount of a home by time and transmitting it to an AMI server 201 operated by the utility company 200. It is possible to provide an LCD display unlike the conventional mechanical watt-hour meter, measure the power consumption in real time, and transmit the message in both directions to the power company and the user through the neighboring area network 204 and the home area network 100 communication function, respectively . Therefore, through the smart meter 102, the electric power company 200 and the user can achieve the effects of the reduction of the inspection cost and the energy cost savings through manpower.

The smart meter installed in the office or the home grasps the amount of real time electric power used in each customer and transmits it to the AMI server 201. On the contrary, the smart meter receives the real time electric charge, load control, Area network devices. Through this, the user can recognize the current amount of electric power and the electric charge, and can find a way to reduce the electric power consumption or electric charge according to the situation.

The Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system, which monitors the electricity consumption of customers in real time, is the core infrastructure of the smart grid. The AMI is a system capable of collecting energy usage in real time. The AMI is a smart meter (102) installed in each household for measuring the total power consumption, and an intermediate data collecting device (DCU A data collection unit 203 and finally an AMI server 201 for collecting data from a plurality of DCUs 203 through a large area network 202. [ The DCU 203 communicates with a plurality of adjacent smart meters 102 through a Neighborhood Area Network (NAN) and communicates with the AMI Server 50 through a large area network (WAN) do. The smart meter also communicates with home appliances in the home via a home area network (HAN) 100. The AMI server 201 manages the smart meter 102 as a server located in the network of the power company 200 and transmits the real time energy price information to the smart meter 102 or the real time energy consumption Lt; / RTI >

Electricity is supplied to the house through the solar inverter 120 or the wind inverter 130, which generates electricity through the solar power generator 120a or the wind power generator 130a in the home area network and converts the electricity into AC And the remaining electricity can be returned to the outside.

The IHD (In-Home Display) 106 is a device for displaying the real-time energy usage amount of the home. The IHD (In-Home Display) And other information.

The mobile device 110 is a portable device capable of wireless communication with home area network devices such as a smart phone and a computer.

In the customer, the HEMS server 101, the smart meter 102 and the home area network devices send and receive messages via an application standard protocol called energy profile for demand response. As an example of the above energy profile, there is a ZigBee SEP (Smart Energy Profile) energy profile. The SEP standard is based on SEP 1.x version which operates only in ZigBee communication technology, SEP 2 which can operate in any communication technology supporting IP There is a separate .x standard. The SEP can be standardized through the ZigBee Alliance and loaded into each home appliance including the smart meter 102 within the home area network area. However, there are variations of various energy profiles depending on functions or countries, and therefore, there may be devices supporting these various energy profiles.

3 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a home network device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The device may be one of the devices in the home network 100 shown in FIG.

3, a device according to the present invention includes a ZigBee 101a, a wireless LAN 101b, a PLC 101c, a mobile communication module 101d, and a user input signal for bidirectional communication with home area network devices A display unit 101f for displaying power information received through the communication modules 101a, 101b, 101c, and 101d or information about the home network devices, Receives the setting information, the power information, or the information on the home network devices through the input unit 101e or the communication units 101a, 101b, 101c, and 101d, And a control unit 101h for controlling the operation.

The apparatus may include a memory unit 101g in which a control command or program for an electrical product is stored.

Preferably, the control unit 101h of the device may control the display unit 101f to graphically provide the user with the setting information, the power information, or the information about the electrical product.

The mobile communication module 101d enables the device to transmit and receive wireless signals to and from external devices in the mobile communication network.

The user input 101e section allows a command for controlling the apparatus to be input by the user.

The display 101f displays results and statuses according to the operation of the device, and can display information provided from the outside.

4 illustrates a communication frame structure defined by the ZigBee standard and the IEEE 802.15.4 standard according to an embodiment of the present invention.

ZigBee supports both slotted-mode and non-slotted-mode. In the slotted mode, all devices in the PAN synchronize using the beacon message of the PAN (Personal Area Network) coordinator. In non-slotted mode, the start of the frame is detected using the preamble signal. Slotted-mode has the advantage of increasing the network efficiency because it shares the synchronous signal, but it is not used due to the overhead of the synchronous signal in the actual network environment. The message frame structure is commonly defined for slotted-mode and non-slotted-mode.

The IEEE 802.15.4 standard specifies the PHY (physical) layer and the MAC (medium access control) layer, and the ZigBee Alliance specifies the NWK (Network) layer. There are 4 bytes of Preamble Sequence located at the beginning of the PHY Layer and 1 byte of Start of Frame Delimiter. The 5 bytes are called SHR (Synchronization Header). Followed by a 1-byte frame length to indicate the length of the subsequent PSDU (PHY Layer Service Data Unit). The PSDU is a data set including all the signals of the MAC layer and can be up to 127 bytes.

The MAC Layer starts with a 2-byte Frame Control and has a Sequence Number of 1 byte and Addressing Fields with a minimum of 4 bytes and a maximum of 20 bytes. The length of Addressing Fields will vary depending on whether you want to use short addresses in any PAN or longer IEEE Addresses. After that, the frame body carrying the NWK layer data comes along and finally the frame check sequence (FCS) is used to detect the frame error. The data payload is also called the MAC layer Service Data Unit (MSDU). If the PSDU of the PHY layer is a maximum of 127 bytes, the MAC header 7 bytes and the FCS 2 bytes are excluded, so that the length of the MSDU is maximum 118 bytes.

Necessary items in NWK Header are 2 bytes of Frame Control, 2 bytes of Destination Address, 2 bytes of Source Address, 1 byte of Radius, 1 byte of Sequence Number. If the MSDU is up to 118 bytes, the maximum payload available in the NWK layer is 110 bytes minus the NWK Header 8 bytes.

5 illustrates a topology of a ZigBee wireless network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The ZigBee standard defines three network topologies: Star, Tree, and Mesh. The ZigBee standard defines three types of network nodes.

The coordinator acts as the center of the network and manages the information of all devices connected to the network. Only the FFD (Full Function Device) defined in IEEE 802.15.4 can operate as a coordinator.

Routers are not in a star topology, and can only be applied to tree topologies and mesh topologies. The router is responsible for connecting the coordinator and the end device, and it only consists of FFD. The router itself may also act as an end device, in which case the name is a router, but it is treated the same as an end device.

The end device constitutes the end node of the network and collects and transmits sensor data or performs a control function by receiving a command from the coordinator. The termination device is generally composed of RFD (Reduced Function Device) defined in the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. RFD uses less memory compared to FFD to lower the price and reduce power consumption.

The star topology is the simplest to implement, with the ZigBee coordinator at the center and the end devices directly behind it. In order to transmit data from the end device to the end device, two steps are required to be transmitted through the coordinator because the coordinator must pass through the coordinator, so inefficiency occurs when the neighboring nodes communicate with each other.

The mesh topology increases the size of the network, with the coordinator at the center, under which end devices or routers are connected, other routers are connected beneath the router, and end devices are directly connected. The difference from tree topology is that each node can have multiple parent nodes rather than having one parent node. Mesh topology has a disadvantage of consuming a lot of memory because network configuration is complicated and each router needs to have information about all nodes. However, even if one node is lost, the bypass path can be secured immediately, thereby improving the network stability and reducing the total traffic since the data can be directly transmitted through the shortest path without going through the coordinator.

The tree topology is a topology in which the coordinator is at the center, the end devices or routers are connected beneath it, the other routers are connected under the router, and the end devices are directly connected and the size of the network is increased. In a tree topology network, all data is concentrated in the coordinator, so the total traffic tends to increase.

FIG. 6 illustrates the relationship between a battery operating device, a data mirror device, and a smart home appliance in a data mirroring cluster according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The battery operating device operates as a server of a data mirroring cluster, and the data mirror device receives information as a client. However, to other external home network devices, the data mirror device may operate as a server of the data mirroring cluster to provide the mirrored data.

FIG. 7 illustrates a communication step between a battery operated device and a smart home appliance according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A data mirroring method and apparatus for efficiently communicating with a battery operating device in a home area network (HAN) will be described. In particular, the present invention enables a battery operating device to efficiently communicate with other devices in a home area network while utilizing other peripheral devices as a data mirroring device.

In the home area network (100 of FIG. 2), there may be a battery operated device 103 operating as a battery. In Europe, for example, gas meters are specified to operate only with a small amount of power, such as batteries, due to the risk of explosion due to electrical sparks during gas spills. In addition, devices such as sensors, meters, controllers, etc., which are installed in places where it is difficult to supply wired power, are classified as "Sleepy" end nodes in the ZigBee network due to the necessity of battery operation.

In the ZigBee standard, messages directed to the battery operated device 103 operating as such Sleepy end nodes are kept by the parent node of the devices. However, according to the present ZigBee standard document, the parent nodes store the messages to be the receiver of the battery operated devices located at the lower level of the parent nodes only for a short time of about 7.68 seconds. In this case, there may not be a big problem in the conventional home automation application, but it is not enough time in the home area network situation of the smart grid environment due to the characteristics of each battery operating device. For example, in the case of the aforementioned gas meter, it is possible to wake up from about 30 minutes to 24 hours to report the change in the gas metering value. Therefore, in the case of the gas meter, it is impossible to transmit a message from the external device to the gas meter by the current ZigBee standard.

To this end, in the present invention, the battery operating device 103 uses the surrounding data mirror device 104 to enable communication with other devices (for example, the smart home appliance 105) in the home electric appliance network 100 Method and apparatus.

In the data communication method between the battery operating device 103 and the smart home appliance 105 in the home area network, the battery operating device 103 may first perform a step of requesting the data mirroring device 104 for data mirroring service . The battery operating device 103 identifies a device that provides a data mirroring service in the vicinity, and then requests data mirroring of the device. Preferably, the data mirror device 104 is a node that receives stable power, has sufficient computational power and message storage capability, and can always receive messages without entering sleep mode. The data mirror device 104 may provide a data mirroring service for at least one battery operating device 103. Similarly, the battery operating device 103 may secure at least one data mirror device 104 to be provided with a service.

When any smart home appliance 105 enters the home area network (100 in FIG. 2), the service discovery step recognizes that the data mirror 104 device is responsible for the data mirroring service of the battery operating device 103.

If a message to be transmitted to the battery operating device 103 by the smart appliance 105 is generated at an arbitrary time, the smart appliance 105 transmits the message to the corresponding data mirror device 104 without directly transmitting the message to the battery operating device 103 (S101). The smart appliance 105 then stores the original of the first message (S105). At this time, the original of the first message may be deleted from the smart appliance 105 after a predetermined time has passed.

The data mirror device 104 receiving the first message stores the original of the first message and sets a corresponding identifier according to the type of the first message (S103). At this time, the original of the first message may be deleted from the data mirror device 104 after a predetermined time elapses. At this time, the corresponding recognizer according to the type of the first message can hold the battery operated device 103, which is the final recipient of the first message, until the recognizer is received.

Since the battery operating device 103 is operated by a battery, it enters a sleep mode periodically to shut down all communication means and minimize energy consumption stored in the battery. In step S107, the battery operating device 103 periodically wakes up to the data mirror device 104 in accordance with the set period, and transmits the changed data to the data mirror device 104 in the second message during the sleep mode. If there is no changed data during the sleep mode, a second message may be transmitted to the data mirror device 104 to check whether the message directed to the battery operating device 103 is mirrored (S107).

Upon receipt of the second message, the data mirror device 104 may transmit a response message corresponding to the second message, together with an identifier of the first message (S109).

The battery operating device receiving the response of the second message and the first message recognizer may determine whether to request the first message source based on the identifier (S111).

If it is determined in step S111 to request the first message source, the battery operating device can transmit a first message request message (S113).

If it is determined in step S111 not to request the first message source, the battery operating device may no longer transmit the related message (step S114).

In step S113, the data mirror device 104 having received the first message request may determine the next operation according to whether or not the first message source is stored in step S115.

If the data mirror device 104 stores the first message source, the first message may be transmitted to the battery operating device (S117a). Then, the data mirror device 104 may transmit the first message delivery ACK to the smart appliance 105 (S119a). The smart appliance 105 receiving the first message delivery ACK may delete the first message (S121a).

If the data mirror device 104 does not store the first message source, the data mirror device 104 may transmit the first message request to the smart appliance 105 (S117b). Then, the smart appliance 105 can directly transmit the first message to the battery operating device 103 (S119b). The smart appliance 105 which transmitted the first message can delete the stored first message (S121b).

100: Home area network
101: HEMS server
102: Smart meter
103: Battery operated device
104: Data mirror device
105: Smart Appliances
201: AMI server
204: Neighbor area network

Claims (12)

As a battery operated device,
A control unit for controlling operation of the battery operating device; And
And at least one communication module for transmitting / receiving data based on a command of the control unit,
Wherein,
And transmits the second message to the data mirror device,
Wherein the data mirror device includes an identifier of the first message received from an external smart home appliance in a response message corresponding to the second message,
And analyzing the first message identifier to determine whether to request a corresponding original first message.
The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising the battery operating device requesting a data mirroring service to the data mirror device
In the second aspect,
Further comprising selecting, by the battery operating device, a device having a data storage capacity of at least a certain level among neighboring home network devices as a data mirror device
The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising: the battery operating device requesting a first message to the data mirror device as a result of the first determining step
The method of claim 4, further comprising receiving the first message from the data mirror device
In the fourth aspect,
The data mirror device sending the first message request to the smart appliance as a result of the second determining step;
Transmitting the first message to the battery operating device by the smart home appliance;
Further comprising a battery operating device
A data mirroring system between a battery operated device and a smart home appliance in a home area network,
The smart home appliance acquires the information of the battery operating device from the data mirror device,
The smart home appliance transmits a first message to the data mirror device with the battery operating device as the final recipient,
Wherein the data mirror device stores the first message, stores a corresponding first message identifier according to the type of the first message,
The battery operating device starts operation at an arbitrary cycle and transmits a second message to the data mirror device,
Wherein the data mirror device includes the first message identifier in a response message corresponding to the second message,
And a first determining step of the battery operating device analyzing the first message identifier to determine whether to request an original of the corresponding first message.
The method of claim 7,
Further comprising the step of the battery operating device requesting a data mirroring service to the data mirroring device
The method of claim 8,
Further comprising selecting, by the battery operating device, a device having a data storage capacity of at least a certain level among neighboring home network devices as a data mirror device
The method of claim 7,
Wherein the battery operating device requests a first message to the data mirror device as a result of the first determining step and transmits the first message according to whether the data mirror device receiving the request stores an original of the first message And a second determining step of determining a method
The method of claim 10,
The data mirror device transmits the first message to the battery operating device as a result of the second determining step, and the data mirror device transmits the first message transfer result to the smart appliance. Data mirroring system
The method of claim 10,
The data mirror device transmits the first message request to the smart appliance as a result of the second determination step, and the smart appliance transmits the first message to the battery operating device. Data mirroring system

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