WO2007036360A1

WO2007036360A1 - Weather station and method for the operation thereof

Info

Publication number: WO2007036360A1
Application number: PCT/EP2006/009414
Authority: WO
Inventors: Roland Baur
Original assignee: Roland Baur
Priority date: 2005-09-28
Filing date: 2006-09-28
Publication date: 2007-04-05
Also published as: DE102005046555B4; DE102005046555A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a weather station and a method for operating such a weather station. Said weather station comprises a measuring apparatus (40, 41) for measuring and supplying weather data (w; T, p) from the environment, a reproduction unit (20) for reproducing the weather data (w) in an optically and/or acoustically detectable form, a transmitter (42) for transmitting the measured and supplied weather data (w), a receiver (22) which is connected to the reproduction unit (20) and is used for receiving the weather data (w) from the transmitter (42) and supplying the received weather data (w) to the reproduction unit (20), and a time signal module (44) for receiving a signal (g) containing time data and/or date data and supplying a time signal (s) encompassing the time data and/or date data. The time signal (s) or corresponding time data (z) is transmitted from the transmitter (42) to the receiver (22) and/or is reproduced or output by the reproduction unit (20) and/or an output device (24) in addition or as an alternative to the weather data (w).

Description

description

Weather station or method for operating a weather station

The invention relates to a weather station according to the preamble features of patent claim 1 and to a method for operating a weather station according to the preamble features of patent claim 8.

From DE 198 01 688 Al a system is known in which a radio converter provided externally of a building receives a time signal of a time signal transmitter and sends a corresponding signal on another frequency to a time switch located within a closed building. The frequency is chosen so that this signal, in contrast to the original time signal can penetrate into the building, so that the timer can always be synchronized. Such an arrangement consists of a plurality of individual components. Regardless, there is the problem that an externally receivable signal of a building at many

Places on earth is not receivable at all. As far as a time signal is receivable, a device is required, which is tailored to individual characteristics of the time signal of a particular current location region.

Generally known is a weather station with an outdoor sensor as an external measuring device for measuring or collecting weather data from the environment in the outdoor area of a building. By means of a transmitting device, which is combined with the measuring device, the weather data are transmitted to the building and received there by an internal receiving device. The transmission of the weather data to the receiving device as part of the weather station, which located within the building, takes place in a suitable data format via radio signal. The weather station comprises a display device combined with the receiving device as a display device for optically reproducing the weather data within the building.

The object of the invention is to further develop a weather station with a view to additional functionality. A further object is to transmit a time signal, which can only be received externally to a building, in a simple manner with little constructional outlay and low cost into the building. This should preferably be made possible worldwide without the use of equipment specially tailored to national standards. The object is also to provide suitable methods for operating such a weather station.

This object is achieved by a weather station according to the features of patent claim 1 or by a method for operating a weather station according to the features of patent claim 8. Advantageous embodiments are the subject of dependent claims.

Accordingly, a weather station with a measuring device for measuring and providing weather data from the environment, a display device for displaying the weather data in optically and / or acoustically detectable form, a transmitting device for transmitting the measured and provided weather data and a receiving device for receiving the weather data from the transmitting device and for providing the received weather data for the playback device, a time signal module for receiving a signal with a time and / or date information and for providing a Time signal with the time and / or date information, wherein the time signal or corresponding time data transmitted from the transmitting device to the receiving device and reproduced or output by the reproducing device and / or an output device in addition to or alternatively to the weather data.

Under a weather station is an arrangement to understand which externally receives a time signal from a building and recorded weather data and then transmits it into the building, the special design within the building can be visually designed in the manner of a clock with additional playback of weather data. Under weather data, in the case of a simple embodiment, simply a single parameter detected externally of the building, e.g. the temperature, without the other parameters, such as. As an air pressure must be detected.

A weather station in which the transmitting device and the receiving device are designed as components for forming a radio interface is advantageous. Advantageously, a weather station in which the transmitting device and / or the time signal module is equipped or connected to a processor for converting the time signal or the time and / or date information into time data with a data format of the weather data. A weather station in which the receiving device and / or the reproduction device is equipped or connected to a processor for converting time data in a data format of the weather data into reproducible time and / or date data is advantageous. A weather station in which the time signal module is designed as a satellite navigation system module, for example a GPS module, is advantageous. for receiving a GPS signal containing the time and / or date information.

Advantageously, a measuring device for such a weather station with an integrated measuring device, a time signal module and a transmitting device. Advantageous is a reproduction device for such a weather station with an integrated receiving device and an integrated display device and / or output device for displaying a received time and / or date information.

Accordingly, a method for operating a weather station according to any preceding claim, in which weather data are detected and transmitted as weather data in a weather data stream via an interface to a spatially separated display device, wherein additionally a time and / or date signal is detected and as time data with means for the transmission of weather data and / or as time data together with the weather data in the weather data stream for the local reproduction or for the local output to the display device and / or the output device is transmitted.

A transmission of the time data together with the weather data is thus to be understood in particular as meaning that the transmission takes place via the same transmission medium and with the same devices. The transmission of the actual data can then take place, for example, in alternating sequence of weather data, time data, weather data, etc. However, a combination of weather data and time data in a common transmission block is also possible. It is also possible, for example, for a time-unequal transmission in which the always current time data and the only slowly changing weather data are transmitted at temporally different intervals. A method is advantageous in which the time data for transmission via the interface are converted into a data format of the weather data. Advantageously, a method in which the receiver side, the time data from the data format of the weather data are converted into a reproducible time and / or date information. Advantageously, a method in which a four-digit time and / or date information of the time signal is converted into a three-digit time information as time data for transmission via the interface. A method is advantageous in which location data and height data are determined from a GPS signal as a received signal, by means of which a relative air pressure is determined, which is reproduced or output by the display device and / or the output device.

As well as independently advantageous, a method is preferred in which location data is determined from a satellite navigation system signal as a received signal, by means of which a specific from the received time data

Time is converted to the respective time zone. By satellite navigation data, the location is known, with which the time can be converted to the respective time zone. Navigation satellites usually send the time as world time UTC (Universal Time Counting). So far, the correction to a local time by manual adjustment of the time zone is performed. An automatic calculation and correction of the time zone is possible by the location data and is advantageously implemented.

Thus, a combination of these two systems is proposed, wherein the weather system is extended by functionality and components for receiving a time signal. Such a catching time signal is then additionally transmitted over the existing radio link and displayed or output as additional information on the display of the weather station. Conveniently, the time signal is converted in order to be transmitted by means of a more compact data format.

An embodiment will be explained in more detail with reference to the drawing. It shows

Fig. 1 shows schematically components of a weather station and a time transmission system.

As can be seen from Fig.l, there is a preferred weather station of two separate components, which are connected to each other via a transmission link. In addition to a cable connection which is possible in principle, a radio interface 3 is particularly preferred as the transmission path. In addition to an embodiment by means of only two compact devices, these in turn can be made up of individual and optionally via e.g. Cable connections connected components may be formed.

Shown is within a building 1, a motor home or caravan, an internal device 2, which is connected via a radio interface 3 with an external and thus outside the building, caravan or motor home arranged device 4, which is arranged outside the building 1.

The external device 4 includes one or more sensors as measuring devices 40 for acquiring weather data such as a temperature T of, for example, 22.6 ⁰ C or a Pressure p with, for example, 1001.3 hPa. Measured by the measuring device 40 values T, p or signals are a control device 41, which may be formed for example by a processor supplied. The values T, p are converted in the control device 41 into a suitable data format as weather data w and forwarded to a transmission device 42. The transmitting device 42 transmits the weather data w via an antenna 43 and the radio interface 3 to the internal device 2.

In addition, the external device 4 has a time signal module 44, which receives a signal g from a remote transmitter 5 via an antenna 45 and a further radio interface 46. The signal g from the transmitter 5 contains a current instantaneous time and / or ^' date information. The transmitter 5 is, for example, a so-called DCF time signal transmitter for supplying radio-controlled clocks with an accurate time signal. However, since such a time signal of a DCF transmitter is not widely available, the transmitter 5 is particularly preferably a transmitter which transmits a satellite navigation system signal such as a GPS signal (Global Positioning Signal) as the signal g sending out. Accordingly, the time signal module 44 is preferably designed as a satellite navigation system module, eg a GPS module.

The time signal module 44 extracts the time and / or date information from the received signal g and transmits it as a time signal s to the control device 41. The control device 41 converts the obtained time signal s into a suitable data format, which preferably corresponds to the data format of the weather data w equivalent. Accordingly, the controller 41 transmits, besides the weather data w Time data z, wherein the time data include the time and / or date information. Optionally, of course, the time signal module 44 already provide the time data z.

The internal device 2 comprises in a conventional manner a display device 20 for reproducing the weather data w received via the radio interface 3. Preferably, the display device 20 is configured as a display device for displaying optical weather data w * and optionally additional information such as a weather tendency z *. In principle, the display device 20 may alternatively or additionally also be provided with an acoustic reproduction in the form of e.g. allow spoken weather data.

In addition, the display device 20 is also designed to display the time and / or date information z *, which were received as the time data z via the radio interface 3 from the external device 4. As a result, an always correct time and / or date information is displayed, which is not falsified by setting a base value and its counting up by means of a possibly incorrectly clocked clock.

In the usual way, the internal device 2 also comprises a control device 21 for processing the received weather data w and time data z, so that they can be reproduced via the reproduction device 20. In addition, the internal device 2 comprises a receiving device 22 with an antenna 23 for receiving the weather data w and time data z via the radio interface 3. The data thus received by the receiving device 22 are fed to the control device 21 for further processing. Optionally, the control device 21 can also have a further interface 24, via which the weather data and / or the time data z can be transmitted to a separate device, for example a computer.

Both the internal device 2 and the external device 4 are shown as one unit each with a plurality of integrated components. Alternatively, however, a split into several individual components is possible. For example, the external device 4 consist of a separate network device and an independent time signal module, which are both connected to a turn independent transmitting device. Accordingly, the internal device 2 may be formed of an independent display device and a separate receiving device, which are interconnected.

In particular, the control devices 41 can be designed both as separate devices, but preferably as integrated devices in combination with one or more of the other devices. Thus, for example, in the external device 4, a control device can already be integrated, which at the same time also includes the transmitting device for the weather and time data w, z and optionally the receiving device for the signal g of the transmitter 5. The internal device 2 may be designed such that one or more of the components described are formed by integrating functions and structural units in a single component. An essential aspect is the detection of both external weather data w as well as an external time and / or date information in the external device 4 and their transmission via preferably the radio interface 3 to the internal device 2 in a manner that for the internal Means 2, a time and / or date information is available as the time data z. Accordingly, a type of data transmission is selected for transmission over the radio interface 3 or other transmission medium, which can penetrate eg masonry of the building 1, to provide an internal device 2 with time data z, ^• which otherwise due to a shield by the internal device 2 would not be receivable by an external time transmitter. The combinability is exploited with a weather station, which is designed for such transmission purposes. Accordingly, such a weather station to appropriate components and / or functions for receiving the time and / or date information and to expand components and / or functions for their transmission via the radio interface 3.

Can be implemented a variety of variants and alternative embodiments. In addition to the combination of a GPS receiver as the time signal module 44 with a weather transmitter, for example, an integration of a GPS receiving antenna in a weather transmitter is possible. It is also advantageously possible to connect a remote external GPS antenna to such a weather transmitter via an RF switch. Particularly preferably, the time is calculated out of the GPS data stream of the transmitter 5, which is actually intended for location determination. For this purpose, an independent processor or an existing processor of the weather station, which by the measuring device 41 and / or the transmitting device 42 is formed can be used. By the transmitting device 42, a pseudo-weather data packet is correspondingly transmitted to the internal device 2, which in addition to weather data w time data z includes.

Advantageously, in the presence of a GPS module as the time signal module 44 and a height determination of the external device 4 are performed so that with the aid of a extracted from the signal g of the transmitter 5 height information, an actual relative air pressure by a corresponding processor of the external Device 4 can be determined. Such a relative air pressure can then be transmitted to the internal device 2 as additional or possibly alternative information in addition to measured air pressure data. In principle, it is also possible to carry out only such acquisition of raw data in the external device 4 and to transmit this to the internal device 2, so that only in a processor 21 of the internal device is a corresponding processing of received raw data made.

Weather data transmitters typically send information about temperature, humidity, rainfall, wind speed, wind direction, and possibly other data. These data are packed into data packets and sent to the receiving device. In order to make the reception routine of the receiver-side processor simple and to be able to evaluate the received protocol even with slow processors, eg 4-bit processors, it is helpful if all data packets have the same format. This means that regardless of which information is transmitted, the same number of bits is always transmitted via the interface. After receiving the predetermined number of bits, it is then possible to check on the receiver side, what type of data it is. This advantageously avoids the fact that the data must already be checked during reception in order to determine how many bits are to be expected. If the weather data transmission unit 42 is used to transmit a time and, if necessary, a date as the time data z, it is of great advantage to compress and / or convert the time data z such that they finally have the same data format as weather data w have and therefore can be sent as a weather data packet.

In the context of an exemplary procedure for the conversion of weather and time information into weather data w and time data z, it is assumed that numbers with only three digits can be transmitted via the interface.

A temperature of, for example 22.6 ⁰ C is provided as a number with three digits. This means that 3 nibbles or 12 bits must be transmitted, since 1 nibble has 4 bits and can represent a hexadecimal number. Correspondingly, an air humidity of, for example, 45.3% RH can be provided as a number with 3 digits, which is transmitted again with 3 nibbles or 12 bits. In addition, for example, a rainfall or a wind speed and / or after appropriate transformation, an air pressure in the form of a three-digit count by means of 3 nibbles or 12 bits are transmitted.

By contrast, a time, for example 22:57, initially has four digits and therefore can not be integrated directly into a data packet for three-digit numbers. The time is therefore packed or converted as follows. If the value of the ten-hour equals zero, the tenth-hour is canceled, nothing else is done. Ie from 02:57 o'clock becomes 257. If the value of the ten-hour equals the value one, the tens hour is canceled and the value A is added in hexadecimal to the tens minutes. That is, from 12:57 clock is 2F7 or 5 + OA hex = OF hex. If the value of the ten-hour equals two, the ten-hour mark is canceled and the value A is added to the one-hour hexadecimal. This means that from 22:57 C57 becomes 2 + OA hex = OC hex.

The receiver-side unpacking is carried out as follows. If none of the three transmitted numbers is greater than the value nine, then only the value zero is entered as tens of hours. That 745 will be 7:45 clock. If the first digit is greater than the value nine, then the value A is subtracted from that digit in hexadeconds and a two is entered as a ten-second. That from D51 becomes 23:51 o'clock with OD hex - OA hex = 3. If the second digit is greater than the value nine, then the value A is subtracted hexadecimally from this place and a one is entered as tenth hour 1. That from 2F3 becomes 12:53 clock with OF hex - OA hex = 5.

In principle, however, other packaging methods are also conceivable for converting the time of day to a corresponding data format, e.g. if a different data format with more or less than 3 nibbles is selected for the weather data. The use of the listed packing method is therefore not absolutely necessary, but merely an exemplary advantageous method. Advantageously for avoiding e.g. Multiple transmission frequencies or a complex control method is that the time data z somehow available in a data format or are converted accordingly, so that they can be sent the same as weather data packets.

Claims

claims

1st weather station with

a measuring device (40, 41) for measuring and providing weather data (w; T, p) from the environment,

a reproduction device (20) for displaying the weather data (w) in optically and / or acoustically detectable form,

- a transmitting device (42) for transmitting the measured and provided weather data (w) and - a receiving device (22) which is connected to the display device (20) for receiving the weather data (w) from the transmitting device (42) and for providing the received weather data (w) for the display device (20),

a time signal module (44) for receiving a signal (g) with time and / or date information and for providing a time signal (s) with the time and / or date information, the time signal (s) or corresponding time data ( z) are transmitted from the transmitting device (42) to the receiving device (22) and are reproduced or output by the reproducing device (20) and / or an output device (24) additionally or alternatively to the weather data (w),

G e n e c i n e s by the other features:

the time signal module (44) is provided for receiving a satellite navigation system signal and for evaluating a time information contained therein and a height information about the location of the time signal module (44) contained therein, from the ascertained height information, a real-time air pressure can be displayed in the reproduction device (20),

the measured weather data (w) and time data (z) are transmitted to the playback device (20) with the same data format.

2. Weather station according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting device (42) and the receiving device (22) as components for forming a radio interface (3) are formed.

3. Weather station A method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the transmitting device (42) and / or the time signal module (44) with a processor for converting the time signal (s) or the time and / or date information into time data (z). is equipped or connected with a data format of the weather data (w).

4. Weather station according to any preceding claim, wherein the receiving device (22) and / or the playback device

(20) is equipped or connected to a processor for converting time data (z) in a data format of the weather data (w) into reproducible time and / or date data (z *).

5. Weather station according to any preceding claim, wherein the time signal module (44) as a satellite navigation system module, in particular a GPS module is formed, for receiving a GPS signal (g), which the time and / or or contains date information.

6. Measuring device (4) for a weather station with an integrated measuring device (41, 40), a time signal module (44) and a transmitting device (42) according to any preceding claim.

A weather station reproducing apparatus (2) having an integrated receiving device (22) and an integrated display device (20) and / or output device (24) for displaying a received time and / or date information according to any preceding claim.

8. A method for operating a weather station according to any preceding claim, wherein

Weather data (T, p; w) are detected and transmitted as weather data (w) in a weather data stream via an interface (3) to a spatially separated display device (20), characterized in that additionally detects a time and / or date signal and as time data (z) with means for transmitting weather data and / or as time data (z) together with the weather data (w) in the weather data stream to the local playback or local output to the playback device (20) and / or the output device (24) transmitted becomes.

A method according to claim 8, wherein the time data (z) for transmission via the interface (3) is converted into a data format of the weather data (w).

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the receiver side, the time data (z) from the data format of the weather data (w) are converted into a reproducible time and / or date information.

11. The method of claim 9 or 10, wherein a four-digit time and / or date information of the time signal (s) in a three-digit time information is converted as time data (z) for transmission via the interface (3).

12. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 11, wherein from a satellite navigation system signal, in particular a GPS signal, as a received signal (g) location data are determined by means of which a relative air pressure is determined, which by the display device (20) and / or the output device (24) is reproduced or output.

13. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 12, wherein from a satellite navigation system signal as a received signal (g) location data are determined, by means of which one of the received time data (z) certain time is converted to the respective time zone.

14. Use of the weather station according to one of claims 1 to 5 in a building, a motorhome or the like, wherein the measuring device (40, 41) and the transmitting device (42) outside the building, motorhome or the like. And the display device (20) and Receiving device (22) within the building, RV or the like. Is arranged.