KR20190045681A - Energy management system and Method of Data communication for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a bidirectional communication method and, more specifically, to an energy management system and a method for bidirectional communication between a server and a gateway. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the bidirectional communication method using a dynamic IP address includes: a step of receiving a first dynamic IP address from a first entity; a step of transmitting a first packet for transmitting data every first transmission cycle or a second packet for maintaining a pipeline to the first dynamic IP address to a second entity by using the first dynamic IP address; a step of making the second entity stand by for the reception of the first or second packet when control data about the first entity is generated from the second entity; and a step of transmitting a third packet including the control data to the first entity through a pipeline to a received packet when the second entity receives the first or second packet.

Description

Energy management system and communication method therefor

The present invention relates to a two-way communication method, and more particularly, to an energy management system and a bi-directional communication method therefor between a gateway and a server.

As interest in energy conservation has increased in recent years, researches for managing energy more efficiently have been actively carried out, and the application fields thereof are also gradually widening. One of the areas where such energy management is applied is the building.

In particular, as the facilities required for buildings are becoming fragmented and complicated due to people's demands and technological developments, there are cases where management is omitted in the process of planning and managing complex systems for maintaining buildings, It may become inefficient. Therefore, the necessity of integrating building management in terms of cost and energy saving was raised, and an energy management system was introduced to buildings.

The energy management system applied to buildings is generally called "Building Energy Management System (BEMS)". Building energy management system (hereinafter referred to as "BEMS" for convenience) is differentiated from existing system in that ICT (Information and Communication Technology) is integrated with highly specialized knowledge related to building energy such as building, machinery, Energy usage information can be automatically collected / analyzed and optimized solutions can be suggested according to the characteristics of the buildings.

In addition, in recent years, some countries have mandated the installation of BEMS in new buildings with power consumption higher than a certain level.

These BEMS typically include one or more gateways and servers (or platforms).

The gateway may be in the form of an IoT device that operates without any direct intervention of the operator, and is connected to various sensors to collect data such as air conditioning, power, and lighting, processes the collected data into a predetermined algorithm, and transmits the processed data to the server . The server performs storage, analysis, and display of data received from the gateway, and can transmit a control signal for energy management to the gateway.

The gateway and the server may be directly connected to the wired network, but the IP-based communication may be used for the freedom of the gateway installation location. For example, the gateway is assigned an IP address through an access point (AP) in the vicinity, and the server uses the IP address assigned by the gateway to find the gateway when it transmits data to the gateway.

However, in the case of a dynamic IP address, there is no problem in the case where the IP address assigned by the gateway is a public (fixed) IP address. However, in the case of a dynamic IP address, quot; pipeline ") may disappear. That is, when there is no public IP address, the gateway transmits data to the server through the dynamic IP address allocated through the AP connected to the gateway, but if the predetermined time elapses from the last transmission, the pipeline defined by the IP address disappears. As a result, the server can not find the gateway and the bidirectional communication becomes impossible.

Of course, this problem can be solved simply by using a public IP address for each gateway, but issuing and maintaining public IPs is costly and is a major obstacle to the installation of small and medium sized BEMS. In addition, since there is a limit to the number of public IP addresses issued by each country, unnecessary increase of public IP addresses puts strain on the nationwide communication system.

In addition, if there is a public IP address, the IP is always present in the network, so there is a high possibility that the IP is exposed from an attacker.

The present invention is intended to provide a bi-directional communication method capable of maintaining communication between a gateway and a server more efficiently when using a dynamic IP address in an energy management system, particularly BEMS.

In particular, the present invention provides a method for maintaining a pipeline between a server and a gateway when using a dynamic IP address, and various packet structures and a method for operating the same.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are not restrictive of the invention, unless further departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. It will be possible.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for bidirectional communication using a dynamic IP address, the method comprising: receiving a first dynamic IP address from a first entity; Transmitting a first packet for data transmission or a second packet for maintaining a pipeline for the first floating IP address to the second entity every first transmission period using the first floating IP address; Waiting for reception of the first packet or the second packet at the second entity when control data for the first entity is generated at the second entity; And transmitting, when the first packet or the second packet is received at the second entity, a third packet including the control data through a pipeline for the received packet to the first entity .

In addition, a building energy management system (BEMS) according to an embodiment of the present invention may be configured such that a first dynamic IP address is allocated and data A gateway for transmitting a first packet for transmission or a second packet for maintaining a pipeline for the first floating IP address; And when the control data for the gateway is generated, waiting for reception of the first packet or the second packet, and if the first packet or the second packet is received from the gateway, And transmitting a third packet including the control data to the gateway through the gateway.

The gateway and the server of the BEMS according to at least one embodiment of the present invention configured as described above can stably maintain communication even when using a dynamic IP address.

In particular, by defining a packet structure for control and a packet structure for pipeline maintenance, the efficiency and stability of bidirectional communication are improved.

The effects obtained by the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned effects, and other effects not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description will be.

1 is a block diagram showing an example of a BEMS structure that can be applied to embodiments of the present invention.
2 illustrates an example of a communication procedure for maintaining a pipeline between a gateway and a server according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 shows an example of a communication process between a plurality of gateways and a server according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a graph showing the indoor / outdoor temperature change trend when the air conditioner is off, and FIG. 5 is a graph showing the indoor / outdoor temperature change trend when the air conditioner is in the on state.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily carry out the present invention. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. In order to clearly illustrate the present invention, parts not related to the description are omitted, and similar parts are denoted by like reference characters throughout the specification.

Throughout the specification, when an element is referred to as " comprising ", it means that it can include other elements as well, without excluding other elements unless specifically stated otherwise. In addition, parts denoted by the same reference numerals throughout the specification denote the same components.

Before describing specific embodiments of the present invention, the structure of BEMS that can be applied to embodiments of the present invention will be described first. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a BEMS structure that can be applied to embodiments of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the BEMS 100 may include a gateway 110 and a server 120. Although only one gateway 110 is shown for convenience of explanation, a plurality of gateway 110 may be provided depending on the number of control points set in the building. Here, the monitoring point is a location for the building manager to monitor various facilities such as air conditioning, lighting, sensors, and the like in order to grasp the situation of the building, and a sensor, a controller, and a valve may be installed at each control point.

The gateway 110 may be an IoT device as described above and may include a transceiver 111, an application 112, and a processor 113. The transceiver unit 111 may include at least one modem for communicating with various facilities 131 to 134 and a server 120 to be described later and may support a plurality of communication protocols have. The embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the communication method, and the detailed description of the communication protocols will be omitted. The application 112 may refer to a program code for overall control of the function of the gateway 110, such as control of the transceiver 111 and processing / processing of input / output data, and may be driven by the processor 113.

The gateway 110 is connected to building facilities such as the sensor 131, the air conditioning system 132, the power control system 133 and the lighting system 134 to receive data on the operation status of each facility, . Here, the sensor 131 may include a sensor for sensing temperature, humidity, illuminance, operation, etc., but this is merely an example, and any type of sensor that can be installed in a building is not limited thereto. The air conditioning system 132 corresponds to any equipment related to cooling / heating, and the power control system 133 may be a switch for power supply / shutdown of the corresponding point, or may be a simple watt-hour meter.

The server 120 is also referred to as a platform and may include a transceiver 121, a communication analyzer 122, a database 123, an application 124, a processor 125, and the like. The transmission / reception unit 121, the application 124, and the processor 125 are similar in function to those of the gateway, and omit redundant descriptions for simplicity of description. The communication analyzer 122 can manage and analyze communication states such as pipeline management to be described later with one or more gateways 110. The database 123 stores the data of each point transmitted from each gateway 110 It can perform the role of management.

Of course, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the components of each of the devices described above are exemplary and may include more or fewer components depending on the functionality to be implemented.

Hereinafter, a communication method between a gateway and a server according to embodiments of the present invention applicable to the BEMS having the above-described structure will be described.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when a dynamic IP is used in a gateway, it is proposed that efficient communication is performed while a pipeline between a server and a gateway is maintained through various types of packets.

According to one aspect of the present embodiment, the packet type may be three types of control point monitoring packet, pipeline acknowledgment packet, and control packet. Here, the monitoring point monitoring packet may be referred to as monitoring point monitoring data, and may be a packet for transmitting information obtained from various facilities such as a sensor connected to the gateway to the server. Pipeline validation packets can also be referred to as pipeline validation data, which is periodically transmitted when a dynamic IP address is used to keep the pipeline between the server and the gateway from disappearing. The purpose of maintaining the pipeline is to ensure that the server sends control packets at any point in time that is required to transmit.

The two preceding packets are packets transmitted by the gateway to the server and the rest of the control packets are transmitted to the gateway by the server and may include control data for controlling at least one of the gateway itself and various facilities connected to the gateway.

Further, according to an aspect of this embodiment, the above-described packets may follow a packet format. For example, the packets described above may conform to the JSON standard format. The JSON standard format is an open standard format that uses human-readable text to convey data objects consisting of attribute-value pairs. It is widely used for asynchronous browser / server communication (AJAX), XML (AJAX used) Is widely used. Of course, such a JSON standard format is illustrative, and it is apparent to those skilled in the art that any packet format can be applied to a predefined packet format between a server and a gateway. However, for convenience of explanation, it is assumed that each packet follows the JSON standard format.

The following shows an example of the monitoring point monitoring packet structure according to one aspect of the present embodiment.

[Monitoring point monitoring packet]

PUT / HTTP / 1.1

Host: api.cyclogic.net

Accept: application / json

User-Agent: Net-1

Content-Type: application / json

{"protocol": "v1", "sn": "XXXX", "etype"

"field": {"device": "aircon", YYYYY,

"data": [{XXXXX, XXXXX, XXXXX, XXXXX}]}}

A packet consists of a header ("{" preceding information) and a body ("{" starting with a header) containing information related to the JSON standard format, the body including packet information, device serial number, Lt; / RTI > The packet information includes information indicating the protocol version and the type of the packet. Information indicating the type of packet is set to one of Monitor, Event Pipe, and Control depending on the type of packet, and corresponds to the monitoring point monitoring packet, the pipeline confirmation packet, and the control packet, respectively. Depending on the type of packet, the server process can be different. The data field is only referenced if the packet type is Monitor and Control. The data field may include information such as device type, point data information, and control point.

[Pipeline Verification Packet]

PUT / HTTP / 1.1

Host: api.cyclogic.net

Accept: application / json

User-Agent: Net-1

Content-Type: application / json

{"protocol": "v1", "sn": "XXXX", "etype": "evtpipe"

On the other hand, the pipeline confirmation packet can have the above structure. The header of the pipeline confirmation packet can have the same structure as the point monitoring packet, but the data field is empty. This is to minimize data traffic with a minimum packet structure due to the characteristics of being transmitted in a relatively short period (for example, 1 second) for the purpose of pipeline maintenance. Therefore, the data field is empty in the body, and includes the serial number of the device classification.

As described above, the pipeline confirmation packet is transmitted in a short period. The reason for this is as follows.

The control point selection of the server is automatic, either manually or through an algorithm, and it must operate the same as the existing system because of the need for arbitrary control. Therefore, if the server needs control at any time, the pipeline confirmation packet is transmitted in a short period so that the control packet can be transmitted to the gateway through the valid pipeline. By minimizing the packet size according to the short transmission period, There is an effect. On the other hand, the server can only check the pipeline with a pipeline confirmation packet and then discard it.

Hereinafter, a mode in which communication between the gateway and the server using the packet described above with reference to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 is performed will be described.

2 illustrates an example of a communication procedure for maintaining a pipeline between a gateway and a server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 2, it is assumed that the gateway is assigned a dynamic IP address, the period of time at which the gateway transmits a packet to the server is 1 second, and the monitoring point monitoring data is transmitted from the gateway to the server every 4 seconds.

Referring to FIG. 2, data for pipeline identification is transmitted to the server at intervals of 1 second (s) after the first monitoring point monitoring data is transmitted (1s). When four seconds have elapsed after the first point monitoring data is transmitted (5s), the point monitoring data is again transmitted, and no data for pipeline confirmation is transmitted. This is because the pipeline is maintained by transmission of point monitoring data. After the second monitoring point monitoring data is transmitted, the pipeline check data is transmitted again to the server at intervals of 1 second until the next monitoring point monitoring data is transmitted.

Through this process, the gateway transmits the packet to the server every second. Therefore, even if the dynamic IP address is used, the pipeline is maintained and the server can transmit the control packet to the gateway at the desired time through the maintained pipeline. In addition, since pipeline identification data having a minimum capacity is transmitted between the transmission points of monitoring point monitoring data, it is also possible to prevent excessive traffic generation.

3 shows an example of a communication process between a plurality of gateways and a server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 3, it is assumed that a plurality of gateways (G / W) 110A to 110D are connected to one server 120, unlike FIG. 2, and all the gateways use a dynamic IP address. However, as shown in FIG. 2, it is assumed that each gateway transmits a packet to the server every second, and the monitoring point monitoring data is transmitted every 4 seconds.

3, each of the gateways 110A to 110D transmits monitoring point monitoring data to the server 120 according to a predetermined period, and transmits data for identifying the pipeline to the transmission period in which the monitoring point monitoring data is not transmitted . The server 120 stores data transmitted from the gateways 110A to 110D, and can perform energy analysis using the data.

If it is necessary to control the gateway C (G / W C, 110C) by a data analysis result or another reason (for example, an administrator's operation), the server 120 generates control data. The server 120 checks the serial number of the gateway 110C and confirms that the pipeline confirmation data (or monitoring point monitoring data) is received from the server 110C, and transmits the control data generated through the pipeline .

The gateway control data can be transmitted through the pipeline that is maintained for communication with the gateway C. [

Through the above-described method, since the pipeline for each of the plurality of gateways is maintained, the server can directly transmit the control data to the gateway in which the control need arises.

Hereinafter, the transmission period of monitoring point monitoring data will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG.

In the BEMS, the monitoring data is periodically transmitted because the main point of communication is the monitoring point. It is desirable that the transmission period of such data is set in a line that does not load the server (platform) due to the BEMS characteristic. Since the information monitored in real BEMS is mostly temperature data, a data transmission period optimized for temperature data can be set.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing the indoor / outdoor temperature change trend when the air conditioner is off, and FIG. 5 is a graph showing the indoor / outdoor temperature change trend when the air conditioner is in the on state.

The indoor and outdoor temperatures by time of FIG. 4 and the indoor and outdoor temperatures by time of FIG. 5 are summarized in Tables 1 and 2, respectively.

Time (hour: minute) Out Temp In Temp 8:00 2.6 23.516 8:01 2.6 23.384 8:02 2.6 23.384 8:03 2.6 23.438 8:04 2.6 23.462 8:05 2.6 23.624 8:06 2.6 23.624 8:07 2.6 23.792 8:08 2.7 23.48 8:09 2.7 23.48 8:10 2.7 23.552 8:11 2.8 23.636 8:12 2.8 23.636 8:13 2.9 23.534 8:14 2.9 23.414 8:15 2.9 23.414 8:16 2.9 23.252 8:17 3 23.474 8:18 3 23.474 8:19 3 23.444 8:20 3 23.234 8:21 3 23.234 8:22 3 23.366 8:23 3 23.552 8:24 3.1 23.432 8:25 3.1 23.432 8:26 3.1 23.438 8:27 3.1 23.432 8:28 3.1 23.432

Referring to FIG. 4 and Table 1 together, the indoor / outdoor temperature change has a fluctuation range of 0.1 to 0.3 degrees per 10 minutes in a state where the air conditioner is off.

Time Out Temp In Temp 12:00 4.2 20.858 12:01 4 20.858 12:02 4 20.858 12:03 4.2 21.038 12:04 4.3 20.984 12:05 4.3 20.984 12:06 4.3 21.194 12:07 4.3 21.104 12:08 4 21.104 12:09 3.9 20.87 12:10 3.9 20.87 12:11 3.8 20.966 12:12 3.8 21.008 12:13 3.8 21.008 12:14 4.1 21.122 12:15 4.4 20.828 12:16 4.4 20.828 12:17 4.4 20.96 12:18 4.7 21.278 12:19 4.7 21.278 12:20 4.4 20.936 12:21 4.5 21.254 12:22 4.5 21.254 12:23 4.6 21.008 12:24 4.6 21.188 12:25 4.6 21.188 12:26 4.8 21.524 12:27 4.8 21.524 12:28 4.5 22.148

5 and Table 2 together, the variation of the indoor / outdoor temperature is 0.5 to 0.8 degrees per 10 minutes, although the variation width of the air conditioner is slightly larger than that of the air conditioner off state. Even in the case of the summer season, the temperature variation difference tends to be larger than that during the winter season, but the variation width is also about 1 degree or less per 5 minutes. Therefore, when the monitoring point monitoring data is transmitted at a cycle of about 5 seconds or less, there is not a large deviation from the data transmitted in real time.

Of course, the transmission period of the monitoring point monitoring data can be variably set according to the situation of the building where the BEMS according to the embodiment is installed, and the embodiments of the present invention are not limited by the transmission period of the monitoring point monitoring data. However, it is preferable that the transmission period of the monitoring point monitoring data is a multiple of the basic packet transmission period. For example, if the basic packet transmission period is 1 second, the transmission period of monitoring point monitoring data is set to 4 seconds, 5 seconds, or 6 seconds. In a transmission period in which no point monitoring data is transmitted in every basic packet transmission period, Data for line identification can be transmitted.

The present invention described above can be embodied as computer-readable codes on a medium on which a program is recorded. The computer readable medium includes all kinds of recording devices in which data that can be read by a computer system is stored. Examples of the computer readable medium include a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state disk (SSD), a silicon disk drive (SDD), a ROM, a RAM, a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, .

Accordingly, the above description should not be construed in a limiting sense in all respects and should be considered illustrative. The scope of the present invention should be determined by rational interpretation of the appended claims, and all conversions within the scope of equivalents of the present invention are included in the scope of the present invention.

Claims (19)

In a bidirectional communication method using a dynamic IP address,
Receiving a first dynamic IP address from a first entity;
Transmitting a first packet for data transmission or a second packet for maintaining a pipeline for the first floating IP address to the second entity every first transmission period using the first floating IP address;
Waiting for reception of the first packet or the second packet at the second entity when control data for the first entity is generated at the second entity; And
And transmitting a third packet including the control data through a pipeline for the received packet to the first entity when the first packet or the second packet is received at the second entity. A two - way communication method using a dynamic IP address. The method according to claim 1,
The first entity comprising a gateway to a Building Energy Management System (BEMS)
Wherein the second entity comprises a server or platform of the BEMS. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein each of the first packet and the second packet includes:
Including headers and body,
Wherein the first packet includes data in a data field of the body,
And wherein the second packet is empty of the data field. The method of claim 3,
The bodies of the first packet and the second packet, respectively,
Further comprising packet information and device identification information for indicating a type of packet, and a bidirectional communication method using a dynamic IP address. 5. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the device identification information includes a serial number,
Wherein the waiting comprises:
And identifying the first packet or the second packet transmitted from the first entity via the serial number. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the first packet is transmitted to the second entity every second transmission period set to a multiple of the first transmission period,
Wherein the second packet is transmitted to the second entity every transmission period in which the first packet is not transmitted in the first transmission period. The method according to claim 6,
The first transmission period is one second,
Wherein the second transmission period is 5 seconds. The method according to claim 1,
And generating control data for the first entity if the predetermined condition is satisfied. 9. The method of claim 8,
The predetermined condition is that,
When a control command is input from the manager to the second entity, or when a control origin point according to a predetermined server algorithm is set, the two-way communication method using the dynamic IP address. A computer-readable recording medium recording a program for executing a two-way communication method using a dynamic IP address according to any one of claims 1 to 9. In a building energy management system (BEMS)
A first packet for data transmission or a second packet for maintaining the pipeline for the first dynamic IP address is allocated to each of the first transmission period by using the allocated first dynamic IP address, A transmitting gateway; And
When control data for the gateway is generated, waiting for reception of the first packet or the second packet, and when the first packet or the second packet is received from the gateway, And sending a third packet containing the control data to the gateway. 12. The method of claim 11,
Wherein the gateway is coupled to a facility including at least one of a sensor, an air conditioning system, a power control system, and a lighting system to generate the first packet using data transmitted from the facility. 12. The method of claim 11,
Wherein each of the first packet and the second packet includes:
Including headers and body,
Wherein the first packet includes data in a data field of the body,
And the second packet is empty of the data field. 14. The method of claim 13,
The bodies of the first packet and the second packet, respectively,
Further comprising packet information and device identification information indicating a type of packet. 15. The method of claim 14,
Wherein the device identification information includes a serial number,
The server comprises:
And identifies the first packet or the second packet transmitted at the gateway via the serial number. 12. The method of claim 11,
Wherein the first packet is transmitted to the server every second transmission period which is set to a multiple of the first transmission period,
Wherein the second packet is transmitted to the server every transmission cycle in which the first packet is not transmitted in the first transmission period. 17. The method of claim 16,
The first transmission period is one second,
Wherein the second transmission period is 5 seconds. 12. The method of claim 11,
The server comprises:
And generates control data for the gateway when a predetermined condition is satisfied. 19. The method of claim 18,
The predetermined condition is that,
When a control command is input from the manager to the server, or when a control origin according to a predetermined server algorithm is set.

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