WO2014167791A1

WO2014167791A1 - Communication system and base unit

Info

Publication number: WO2014167791A1
Application number: PCT/JP2014/001707
Authority: WO
Inventors: 小山　正樹
Original assignee: パナソニック株式会社
Priority date: 2013-04-12
Filing date: 2014-03-25
Publication date: 2014-10-16
Also published as: JP2014207575A

Abstract

A base unit (10), wherein a first communication interface (11) is configured so as to communicate with a base station (30) or a first terminal (20A) as a high-order node through a radio communication channel. A second communication interface (12) is configured so as to communicate with a second terminal (20B) as a low-order node through a radio communication channel. A processing unit (13) is configured so as to deliver data to the high-order and the low-order nodes via the first and second communication interfaces (11 and 12), respectively.

Description

Communication system and main unit

The present invention relates to a communication system configured such that a terminal communicates with a host device through a base station, and a parent device in this communication system.

Conventionally, a communication system configured such that a host device communicates with a plurality of terminals has been proposed. For example, a communication system configured to perform communication between a server (upper apparatus) for collecting data and a plurality of slave units (terminals) from which data is collected is known. This type of communication system is used in, for example, a remote meter-reading system for collecting the amount of power used by consumers as data (see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-187328). In this type of communication system, there are a configuration using a wired communication path and a configuration using a wireless communication path as a communication path through which the slave unit communicates with other devices.

A communication system using a wireless communication channel has the advantages of flexibility of the slave unit installation plan and ease of maintenance when communication is poor. On the other hand, a communication system that employs power line communication using a power line as a wired communication path has an advantage of higher communication reliability than a communication system using a wireless communication path. However, when the number of slave units increases, the wired communication path has a problem that it takes time to design the communication path and the facility cost for securing the wired communication path becomes relatively high.

As described above, it is desirable to use a wireless communication path as the communication path of the slave unit from the viewpoints of flexibility of the installation plan of the slave unit and ease of maintenance. However, depending on the installation location and installation environment of the slave unit, communication quality may deteriorate to such an extent that the slave unit cannot communicate with the server. In such a case, it is necessary to go to the site where the handset is installed and acquire the data directly.

An object of the present invention is to provide a communication system that satisfies the flexibility of installation planning and ease of maintenance with respect to a terminal, and that can easily obtain communication reliability, and further provides a master unit used in the communication system. Objective.

The communication system according to the present invention includes at least one first terminal (20A), at least one master unit (10), and at least one second terminal (20B). The first terminal (20A) is configured to communicate with the base station (30) through a wireless communication path using radio waves as a transmission medium. The base unit (10) is configured to communicate with the base station (30). The second terminal (20B) is configured to communicate with the parent device (10) through a wired communication path. The base unit (10) includes a first communication interface (11), a second communication interface (12), and a processing unit (13). The first communication interface (11) is configured to communicate with the base station (30) or the first terminal (20A) as an upper node through the wireless communication path. The second communication interface (12) is configured to communicate with the second terminal (20B) as a lower node through the wired communication path. The processing unit (13) is configured to deliver data to the upper node and the lower node via the first communication interface (11) and the second communication interface (12), respectively. .

In one embodiment, the second communication interface (12) is configured to communicate with the lower nodes by power line communication using a power line (101) as the wired communication path.

In one embodiment, each of the first terminal (20A) and the second terminal (20B) is configured to exchange information about electricity with the base station (30).

In one embodiment, the at least one first terminal (20A) includes a plurality of first terminals (20A), which serve as the source node, as a destination node and a variable number of intermediate relay nodes. A multi-hop communication system is constructed with the station (30).

In one embodiment, the base unit (10) is configured to emulate a destination node having identification information of the second terminal (20B) in the multi-hop communication system. In this embodiment, some or all of the plurality of nodes of the multi-hop communication system have the master unit (10), the identification information of the second terminal (20B), and any of the nodes in the multi-hop communication system. It will be regarded as the first terminal (20A).

In one embodiment, the base unit (10) is arranged in a place where it can communicate with the base station (30).

In one embodiment, the at least one master unit (10) includes a plurality of master units (10A, 10B) connected to the wired communication path.

The parent device according to the present invention is a parent device (10) used in any of the communication systems.

According to the configuration of the present invention, apart from the first terminal configured to communicate with the base station using the wireless communication path, the master unit configured to communicate with the base station using the wireless communication path Is provided. Further, the master unit is configured to communicate with the second terminal through a wired communication path. Therefore, if the first terminal is preferentially installed, there is an advantage that the flexibility of installation planning and the ease of maintenance can be satisfied for the terminal. Further, when communication quality cannot be ensured in the first terminal, there is an advantage that communication reliability can be easily obtained by installing the second terminal and the parent device. That is, according to the configuration of the present invention, it is possible to ensure the communication quality while satisfying the flexibility of the installation plan and the ease of maintenance.

Preferred embodiments of the invention are described in further detail. Other features and advantages of the present invention will be better understood with reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the first embodiment. 2A and 2B are schematic configuration diagrams illustrating an arrangement example of terminals in the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating an arrangement example of terminals in the second embodiment.

(Embodiment 1)
The embodiments described below illustrate a communication system that allows remote meter reading. Remote meter reading means that a host device aggregates and acquires meter reading values of a meter (metering device) configured to measure the amount of resources supplied from a supplier. Examples of resources include electricity, gas, water (waterworks), heat and the like. Based on the meter reading value of the meter, the supplier receives compensation for the usage amount of the resource of the consumer. The use of the communication system described below for remote meter reading is an example of use. For example, the technology described in the present embodiment is used for other purposes such as notifying the terminal of information from the host device. I do not disturb.

In the following description, it is assumed that the resource is electricity and the supplier is an electric power company or a service provider. The service provider is a company that collects a charge for the amount of electricity used (power consumption) on behalf of an electric power company, a company that manages the amount of electricity used by consumers, and the like.

As shown in FIG. 1, each of the plurality of meters 2 includes a measuring unit 21 configured to measure the amount of electricity used by a consumer, and a meter reading value of the amount of electricity used measured by the measuring unit 21 through communication. A terminal 20 configured to notify the device 40. That is, the terminal 20 is arranged for each consumer. The terminal 20 may be configured to have a housing different from the housing of the meter 2 in addition to the configuration of being integrated into the housing of the meter 2. That is, the terminal 20 is a part of the meter 2 or is provided separately from the meter 2.

The host device 40 includes a management device 41 operated by an electric power company or a service provider, and the management device 41 is configured to receive a meter reading value from each terminal 20. In the example of FIG. 1, the higher-level device 40 is connected to the base station 30 via the communication path 100, and the higher-level device 40 and the base station 30 are configured to communicate with each other via the communication path 100. The host device 40 normally communicates with a plurality of base stations 30.

The host device 40 is configured to communicate with the terminal 20 through the base station 30. However, the base station 30 is configured to function only as a relay device without being involved in the content of data transmitted between the terminal 20 and the higher-level device 40. In other words, the base station 30 functions as a communication interface that performs processing of the lower layer below the network layer for the upper device 40. Note that the base station 30 may function as a concentrator described later.

The host device 40 can usually communicate with a plurality of terminals 20 through the base station 30. That is, the host device 40 associates a plurality of terminals 20 under the management of one base station 30. As a communication path between the base station 30 and the terminal 20, a wireless communication path and a wired communication path can be used. However, in consideration of the flexibility of the installation plan and the ease of maintenance when communication is poor, a wireless communication path using radio waves as a transmission medium is used in principle. Each terminal 20 allows one or more other terminals 20 to be used for relay in communication with the base station 30. For example, the multiple terminals 20 construct a multi-hop communication system together with the base station 30 as a source node as a destination node and a variable number of intermediate relay nodes. The other terminal 20 behaves as an intermediate relay node between the source and destination nodes.

For example, in the case of a system for a multi-hop wireless communication path, the communication quality between the terminal 20 as the destination node and the base station 30 as the source node deteriorates due to interference between the terminals 20 or noise other than the terminals 20. There is. The terminal 20 as the destination node only needs to be able to communicate with the terminal 20 or the base station 30 as at least one intermediate relay node, but there is a possibility that a communication path from the destination node to the base station 30 cannot be secured after installation. There is.

In this embodiment, when the terminal 20 in the system for a multi-hop wireless communication path cannot secure a communication path to the base station 30, a configuration in which the base unit 10 is interposed between the terminal 20 and the base station 30 is adopted. Has been. In the example of FIG. 1, base unit 10 is interposed between terminal 20 (20 </ b> B) as a destination node and base station 30. Base unit 10 is configured to relay communication between terminal 20 as a destination node and base station 30, and enables communication between terminal 20 and base station 30.

Base unit 10 is configured to communicate with base station 30 using a multi-hop wireless communication path, and to communicate with terminal 20 as a destination node using a wired communication path. In the example of FIG. 1, since the communication path from the terminal 20 (20B) as the destination node to the base station 30 cannot be secured by the multi-hop wireless communication path, the parent 20 is replaced with the terminal 20 as the intermediate relay node. A machine 10 is provided. The terminal 20 (20B) as the destination node is connected to the parent device 10 through a wired communication path so as to communicate with the host device 40 via the parent device 10, the variable number of intermediate relay nodes, and the base station 30. Composed. Here, the variable number is zero or 1 or more.

Hereinafter, the terminal 20 that communicates using the multi-hop wireless communication path is referred to as a first terminal 20A, and the terminal 20 that communicates using a wired communication path and a multi-hop wireless communication path is referred to as a second terminal 20B. In FIG. 2A, each of the terminals 201 to 207 corresponds to the first terminal 20A. Now, it is assumed that each of

terminals

206 and 207 cannot establish a multi-hop wireless communication path to base station 30. The multi-hop wireless communication path is indicated by a broken line.

Since each of the

terminals

206 and 207 cannot establish a wireless communication path to the base station 30, as shown in FIG. 2B, these two

terminals

206 and 207 are respectively two terminals 208 that use a wired communication path. And 209. Further, since base station 30 does not have a function of communicating with

terminals

208 and 209 through a wired communication path, a base unit configured to relay communication between each of

terminals

208 and 209 and base station 30 10 is provided. When performing remote meter reading, base unit 10 receives meter reading values from

terminals

208 and 209, and transmits the meter reading values to base station 30, thereby transmitting each meter reading value to host device 40. The base unit 10 can communicate with a plurality of terminals 20. Base unit 10 collects the meter reading values received from the plurality of terminals 20 and notifies the base station 30 thereof, or the processing of notifying the base station 30 of the meter reading values received from the plurality of terminals 20 individually. I do. The base unit 10 that performs the former process may be called a concentrator.

Each of base unit 10 and

terminals

208 and 209 is configured to perform power line communication (PLC: Power Line Communication) using power line 101 as a communication path. Hereinafter, power line communication is referred to as “PLC”. Communication between base unit 10 and base station 30 is wireless communication as described above. Therefore, the base unit 10 is required to be placed in a place where communication with the base station 30 can be reliably performed by wireless communication. In the configuration example shown in FIG. 2B, base unit 10 is installed in the vicinity of terminal 202 that communicates with base station 30.

Since the terminal 202 is provided in association with the meter 2, the terminal 202 is arranged at the consumer. On the other hand, since the parent device 10 has no restriction on the arrangement in relation to the customer, the parent device 10 is wireless with the base station 30. If communication is possible using a communication path, the installation location is arbitrary. However, if the terminal 202 communicating with the base station 30 and the surrounding environment are equivalent, there is a high possibility that communication with the base station 30 is possible. Therefore, base unit 10 is arranged in a place where the base station 30 is in an environment substantially equal to terminal 202.

As shown in FIG. 1, the base unit 10 includes a first communication interface 11, a second communication interface 12, and a processing unit 13. Hereinafter, the communication interface is described as “communication I / F”. The first communication I / F 11 is a wireless communication I / F, and a wireless communication path using radio waves as a transmission medium is connected to the first communication I / F 11 and the base station 30 or the first terminal 20A as an upper node. Form between. The second communication I / F 12 is a wired communication I / F, and a PLC wired communication path is formed between the second communication I / F 12 and the second terminal 20B as a lower node. The processing unit 13 is configured to deliver data to the upper node and the lower node via the first communication I / F 11 and the second communication I / F 12, respectively, and to convert the frame format between them. The Master device 10 is realized by using a device (such as a microcomputer) including a processor that operates according to a program and a communication device as main hardware elements.

Hereinafter, an example of a work procedure for installing the second terminal 20B will be described. Here, it is assumed that each meter 2 includes the first terminal 20A in principle. 2A is assumed to be unable to communicate with the base station 30. The host device 40 holds the information of the terminals 20 installed for each customer, and recognizes that there is a terminal 20 that cannot communicate when collecting information from the individual terminals 20.

The worker who performs the maintenance work goes to the customer where the terminal 20 that the host device 40 recognizes as being incapable of communication is installed, and replaces the first terminal 20A with the second terminal 20B. FIG. 2B shows the state after replacement.

Terminals

208 and 209 correspond to second terminal 20B as described above. The second terminal 20B is connected to the power line 101 and can communicate by PLC.

When the second terminal 20 </ b> B is installed at the customer, the base unit 10 is required to communicate with the base station 30. Base unit 10 must communicate with terminals 208 and 209 (20B) through power line 101 and with base station 30 through a wireless transmission path.

That is, the base unit 10 must be connected to a range where communication is possible through the power line 101 to which the

terminals

208 and 209 are connected. The base unit 10 and the

terminals

208 and 209 are usually connected to the power line 101 on the secondary side of a common step-down transformer such as a pole transformer, so that communication between the base unit 10 and the

terminals

208 and 209 by PLC is performed. Is possible. Even if the step-down transformers are different, if a coupler for passing a signal used for communication is provided between the secondary-side power lines 101 of different step-down transformers, the secondary-side power lines 101 of the different step-down transformers can be connected. The power line 101 on the secondary side of the common step-down transformer can be handled equivalently. However, if the line length between the base unit 10 and the

terminals

208 and 209 increases, the signal used for communication between them is attenuated. Installation location candidates are extracted.

In addition, since the base unit 10 is required to be able to communicate with the base station 30 using the wireless communication path, as described above, the place close to the first terminal 20A that can communicate with the base station 30 Installed. That is, base unit 10 communicates directly with base station 30.

Since it is difficult for the operator to extract the installation location of the parent device 10 that satisfies the two conditions described above, the higher-level device 40 extracts candidates for the installation location of the parent device 10 and makes the extracted installation location available to the operator. Inform. The candidate for the installation location is a location where the terminal 20 (for example, the terminal 202) that can already communicate is installed, and the parent device 10 is arranged in the vicinity thereof.

The worker selects the installation location of the parent device 10 from the installation location candidates, performs the adjustment work on the site, and finally determines the installation location of the parent device 10. Here, it is desirable to set a priority order for the installation location candidates. If a priority order is set for the installation location, the worker can try to install the master unit 10 from a higher priority order, and the worker can easily select the installation location.

In order to inform the worker of the candidate for the installation location, the host device 40 may notify the terminal device 50 (see FIG. 2A) carried by the worker of the candidate. It is desirable that the terminal device 50 can also be used as a handy terminal used by a meter reader to read the meter reading value of the meter 2 or a handy terminal used by a maintenance worker to check the meter 2. Alternatively, the general-purpose terminal device may function as the terminal device 50 by operating a required program on a portable general-purpose terminal device such as a smartphone or a tablet terminal.

Here, the operator uses the host device 40 to grasp the outline of the location of the first terminal 20A that cannot communicate and the candidate location of the base unit 10 before using the host device 40. Of course. At the site, the first terminal 20A that cannot communicate is removed, and a second terminal 20B is newly installed. Thereafter, as described above, the installation location is selected from the candidates for the installation location of the parent device 10, and the parent device 10 is installed.

As long as the base unit 10 is designed to have higher transmission output and reception sensitivity in the wireless communication path than the terminal 20, the base unit 10 does not necessarily have to be located near the first terminal 20A. . Here, it is assumed that base unit 10 communicates with base station 30 using a radio channel in a range that can be selected by terminal 20 in the system for a multi-hop wireless communication path. The terminal 20 in the system may be configured to communicate with the base station 30 using a dedicated radio channel that cannot be selected.

If there is a request for the second terminal 20B from the higher-level device 40, the base unit 10 is a request that needs to be notified to all of the second terminals 20B connected to the base unit 10; 2 to the second terminal 20B. Further, if the request from the higher-level device 40 is a request addressed to a specific second terminal 20B, the request can be transmitted only to the second terminal 20B that is the transmission destination. The host device 40 uses these functions of the base unit 10 to request transmission of meter reading values individually for consumers who could not acquire meter reading values, and supply and stop power supply to specific consumers. Can be instructed.

In short, when the communication quality is not satisfied in the first terminal 20A that communicates with the base station 30 through the wireless communication path, the second terminal 20B and the base station are installed by installing the second terminal 20B and the base unit 10. It is possible to satisfy the communication quality between 30 and 30.

For example, when performing remote meter reading, if only the first terminal 20A is used, it has been necessary for a meter reading person to go to the site and read the measured value for a customer with low communication quality on the wireless communication path. On the other hand, in the technique of the present embodiment, the communication quality is ensured by installing the second terminal 20B for the consumer with low communication quality, so that the work by the meter reader becomes unnecessary, and as a result In addition, the cost required for dispatching the meter reader is reduced.

Note that, in the configuration example described above, a configuration in which the base unit 10 communicates with the base station 30 using a wireless communication path is employed, but a wired connection such as an optical fiber is used between the base unit 10 and the base station 30. Communication using a communication path may be performed.

(Embodiment 2)
In the first embodiment, the base unit 10 has a concentrator function for the second terminal 20B. That is, the base unit 10 is treated as a device different from the terminal 20 when viewed from the base station 30, and communication between the base unit 10 and the base station 30 is performed between the terminal 20 (first terminal 20A) and the base station 30. Communication and frame format between are different. Therefore, the base station 30 treats the second terminal 20B that communicates with the higher-level device 40 through the parent device 10 and the first terminal 20A that communicates with the higher-level device 40 through a route that does not pass through the parent device 10 as a distinction. .

For example, when transmitting data from the base station 30 to the second terminal 20 </ b> B that communicates with the host device 40 through the parent device 10, the base station 30 is required to communicate with the parent device 10. On the other hand, communication with the second terminal 20B is requested. On the other hand, when the base station 30 communicates with the first terminal 20A, since the first terminal 20A is treated equally, there is an optimal communication path to the first terminal 20A that is the data transmission destination. Used. In short, when the second terminal 20B and the base station 30 communicate with each other, the communication path is fixed by the intermediary of the base unit 10, whereas the first terminal 20A and the base station 30 are connected to each other. When communicating, the communication path becomes variable.

As described above, when the base station 30 distinguishes between the base unit 10 and the first terminal 20A, the base station 30 must perform two types of processing depending on the type of the terminal 20, 30 processing loads may increase. Therefore, in the present embodiment, a function for performing emulation of the first terminal 20A is given to the base unit 10 so that the base station 30 can handle the base unit 10 equivalently to the first terminal 20A. That is, base unit 10 operates to acquire the identification information (address) of second terminal 20B capable of PLC communication and simulate first terminal 20A having this identification information.

The identification information of the second terminal 20B with which the parent device 10 communicates by PLC is acquired and stored in advance by the processing unit 13 in the parent device 10. Accordingly, when the identification information of the second terminal 20B stored in the parent device 10 is designated, the parent device 10 operates as if it is the first terminal 20A having the designated identification information. Thus, base unit 10 is configured to emulate a destination node having identification information of second terminal 20B in the multi-hop communication system. In addition, although the main | base station 10 and the 2nd terminal 20B are actually communicating, it is assumed that the time required for this communication is short enough here. Therefore, the base station 30 operates in the same manner as when communicating with the first terminal 20A, although it is actually communicating with the base unit 10.

As described above, since base unit 10 has a function of performing emulation of first terminal 20A, base station 30 regards all terminals 20 as first terminals 20A and performs communication. In other words, the second terminal 20B connected to the parent device 10 is also handled as the first terminal 20A configuring the multi-hop communication network.

Therefore, the base unit 10 only needs to be able to communicate with one of the first terminals 20A through a wireless communication path. By adopting the configuration of the present embodiment, the second terminal 20B is treated equivalently to the first terminal 20A from the base station 30 and the host device 40 while communicating with the base unit 10 through the PLC. Is possible. That is, the base station 30 and the higher-level device 40 do not need to handle the second terminal 20B specially. As a result, while adding the second terminal 20B that performs PLC communication in the system, the base station 30 and the host device 40 can cope with the conventional configuration without adding a new configuration or function. Is possible.

When the parent device 10 configured to communicate with the second terminal 20B has a function configured to perform emulation of the first terminal 20A as in the present embodiment, the parent device 10 Can communicate not only with the base station 30 but also with the first terminal 20A. Therefore, base unit 10 does not need to be provided in a place where it can communicate directly with base station 30, and may be provided in a place where it can communicate with first terminal 20A that has established a communication path with base station 30. It will be. That is, restrictions on the installation location of base unit 10 are reduced.

By the way, as shown in FIG. 3, when a plurality of base units 10 (two in the illustrated example) are connected within a range in which communication with the second terminal 20B is possible, the base station 30 When communicating with the second terminal 20B, it is necessary to decide which parent device 10 is to be routed. Now, of the base unit 10 shown in FIG. 3, the left side is the base unit 10A, and the right side is the base unit 10B. It is assumed that base unit 10A directly communicates with base station 30, and base unit 10B communicates with base station 30 using a plurality of first terminals 20A for relay.

When the base station 30 communicates with the second terminal 20B, the base station 30 evaluates whether the communication quality of the communication path (wireless or wired section) via the parent device 10A or the parent device 10B is good. For example, when the base station 30 communicates with the terminal 208, if it is determined that the communication quality of the communication path passing through the base unit 10A is higher than that of the communication path passing through the base unit 10B, the base station 30 A communication path passing through 10A is selected, and communication with the terminal 208 is performed through this communication path. On the other hand, if it is determined that the communication quality of the communication path passing through the base unit 10B is higher than that of the communication path passing through the base unit 10A, the base station 30 communicates with the terminal 208 using the communication path passing through the base unit 10B. .

That is, in the configuration example shown in FIG. 3, since the two

master units

10A and 10B can communicate with the second terminal 20B, the base station 30 uses different master units 10A for communication with the second terminal 20B. And one communication path can be selected from the communication paths passing through 10B. In other words, the communication paths between the base station 30 and the second terminal 20B are multiplexed by providing the plurality of

master units

10A and 10B.

From this, the base station 30 can select a communication path with good communication quality from a plurality of communication paths for the second terminal 20B as well as the first terminal 20A. That is, the frequency of communication failure with the second terminal 20B is reduced by multiplexing the communication path between the base station 30 and the second terminal 20B. Other configurations and operations are the same as those of the first embodiment. *

Claims

At least one first terminal configured to communicate with a base station through a wireless communication path using radio waves as a transmission medium;
At least one base unit configured to communicate with the base station;
And at least one second terminal configured to communicate with the parent device through a wired communication path,
The base unit is
A first communication interface configured to communicate with the base station or the first terminal as an upper node through the wireless communication path;
A second communication interface configured to communicate with the second terminal as a lower node through the wired communication path;
A communication system comprising: a processing unit configured to deliver data to the upper node and the lower node via the first communication interface and the second communication interface, respectively.
The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the second communication interface is configured to communicate with the lower node by power line communication using a power line as the wired communication path.
The communication system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein each of the first terminal and the second terminal is configured to exchange information about electricity with the base station.
The at least one first terminal includes a plurality of first terminals, which construct a multi-hop communication system with the base station as a source node as a destination node and a variable number of intermediate relay nodes. 4. The communication system according to any one of 1 to 3.
The communication system according to claim 4, wherein the base unit is configured to emulate a destination node having identification information of the second terminal in the multi-hop communication system.
The communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the parent device is arranged in a place where communication with the base station is possible.
The communication system according to claim 6, wherein the at least one master unit includes a plurality of master units connected to the wired communication path.
A master unit used in a communication system comprising at least one first terminal and at least one second terminal, configured to communicate with a base station,
The first terminal is configured to communicate with the base station through a wireless communication path using radio waves as a transmission medium, while the second terminal is configured to communicate with the parent device through a wired communication path. And
The base unit is
A first communication interface configured to communicate with the upper node being the base station or the first terminal through the wireless communication path;
A second communication interface configured to communicate with the lower node being the second terminal through the wired communication path;
A master unit comprising: a processing unit configured to deliver data to the upper node and the lower node via the first communication interface and the second communication interface, respectively.