REMOTE READING SYSTEM FOR ENERGY METERING EQUIPTMENTS SUCH

AS COUNTERS Technical Field of the Invention

The invention subject to the application is related to a remote reading system of energy metering equipment such as counters and the like on which data packets are established with modems by grouping a desired section of the data received from the counters, wherein said modems are configured with a predefined protocol and a communication mechanism can be identified with the counter that is connected to the modem.

Known State of the Art (Prior Art)

In the improved applications of the present day many procedures need to be carried out simultaneously due to restricted time and the load profiles for the consumption data of classic counters and procedures of load balancing need to be shown at a daily basis, simultaneously. In connection with this situation the reading of the energy consumption data need to be standardized.

The counter needs to have an internal communication hardware directed to provide remote communication or, needs to have an electrical communication port or Ethernet communication port independent from an optical port, which provides communication with external communication hardware. The time synchronization of counters connected to the

Automatic Counter Reading System (OSOS) should be able to be performed remotely.

The amount that is consumed and the energy amount that is used in the Automatic

Counter Reading Systems (OSOS) that have been used in Europe and the United States of America is submitted to the headquarters by means of a communication unit, via an integrated interface or afterwards by means of a communication unit that is connected with certain other interfaces.

The communication mechanism in especially electrical counters is in transparent mode and protocols that have been defined for counters at this mode are used. As only a communication protocol connected to the device is used in transparent mode communication, the modems used are limited with the characteristics of the devices which only perform metering. For this reason, the characteristics of communications units cannot be completely benefited from. Moreover due to the technical capacities and the communication restrictions of the devices that are being metered, communication in transparent mode may prevent the data from being submitted to the headquarters especially in places where internet is slow.

As the central software, present in the known state of the art cannot receive the data to be obtained from the metering devices in a standard format, and as the employability of these software in different OSOS (Automatic Counter Reading System) solutions are reduced, it is difficult for different solutions to be supported easily.

A need for a new protocol has risen in order to carry out communication independent from the device that is metered during communication via communication units in OSOS solutions based on the above mention problem. As it will be possible to convert the modems to smart modems by means of this protocol both the variety of the data that is to be collected shall increase and it shall be possible to provide easier integration with different OSOS systems.

By means of the reliable and correct database that is provided, the consumption can be individually and generally monitored periodically and future planning shall be able to be carried out properly.

Nowadays, it is possible to give the invention subject to the application KR20100018292 as an example to the novel systems that have been developed in order to read the counters particularly remotely and automatically. According to the system described in this invention, it has been aimed to increase maintenance safety rapidly, to prevent the loss of records, information incoherence, and deficiencies in the automatic counter reading system using a meter and a management unit. This remote metering system comprises a modem, a meter data collection unit and a main server. The modem received data from an electronic type Watt-clock counter. The remote metering system comprises a reader and a counter data collection unit. The counter data collection unit compares the first and the second records and verifies the result. The production date, information is transferred by the reader and the second record information are recorded into the main server.

An example to the known state of the art is the invention subject to the document numbered KR 20100022608, and the aim of this invention is to provide data transfer between the main metering device and sub metering devices there by enabling remote reading which in turn reduced workload. A counter according to the invention submits the power used that has been measured via a modem which remotely reads from a counter and the remote counter reading modem submits the read data for the remote counter reading server by means of a communication network. The remote counter reading system classifies the power usage amounts according to the identity of the server.

In all these systems within the scope of the known state of the art comprise transparent mode communication systems, thereby only a communication protocol which is connected to the device is supported and for this reason, the modems used are limited with the characteristics of the devices which perform metering only.

Brief description and aims of the Invention

The aim of the remote reading system of the energy metering equipment such as counters etc subject to the invention is to submit the data obtained from the counters that have been identified to the modems at certain periods to the Main Control Centre (AKM) software located in the counters, and to enable the formation of data packets on the modems by means of grouping the desired sections of the data; and thereby to save both the amount of data transferred and save time, by reducing the data transfer amounts as only the desired data is read. Definitions of the figures describing the Invention

The drawing that has been prepared in order to further explain the remote reading system of energy metering equipment such as counters, etc that have been developed according to the invention has been described below.

Figure 1 - Illustrative scheme of the RAW packet structure Detailed description of the Invention

The invention subject to the application comprises a remote reading system of energy metering equipment such as counters, etc wherein the modems are configured according to a predefined protocol, the communication mechanism is defined by means of the counter connected to the system, and data packets are formed on the modems by partially grouping the desired section of the data obtained from the counters.

The system enables the communication of the modems with the counters they have been defined to at certain periods of time, and the alarms received from the counters are transferred to the Main Control Centre (AKM) software.

The required, requested data from the AKM (Main Control Centre) that were present in the energy equipments and metering devices in OSOS solutions have been examined. Particularly all of the data stored in the electrical counters have been examined by taking the brand and model of the counter as basis and generic query mechanisms and packets have been defined according to these data.

It has been aimed to define a device to the communication unit by carrying out definitions regarding the devices to be used in the reading procedure instead of only acting as a bridge between the AKM and the device of query or the device from which the data shall be read similar to the transparent communication mechanism of communication units. As a result, it has been ensured that the AKM had an independent structure in comparison to the device which will be read. As the data communication between electric counters and AKM are carried out particularly with ASCII characters, this increases the data traffic between two ends. For this reason the data stored inside the shell can be compressed with different algorithms.

A shell design which can carry out rapid decoding of packets that are received by the communication unit (HU) via the shell structure is present. It has been enabled by means of this design for the communication unit (HU) to understand the content of the packet and to reply to the AKM as soon as it receives the packet, thereby reducing its own workload (without using CPU time) in case of a negative situation. As a result the limited processing power and the memory of the communication unit are not occupied.

The necessary commands and parameters that are needed in order to obtain data from the communication modules by means of the defined protocol are encapsulated and are submitted inside a shell, which in turn makes it easier to add different packets, and enables the addition of new extensions that are required. A shell parametric carrier can deliver the data and commands safely between the two ends.

The communication units can understand if the received packet has been opened or not, can look at the information on the shell before examination and understand if the packet is addressed to the unit itself or not, can understand if it can decode the packet or not with the defined compression and coding algorithms, and perceive if the request received by the packet is present in the unit or not. By this means, it is enabled for the communication units to carry out the procedures and to respond rapidly, and to reduce processing time. Communication units can easily configure the data collection times, and the collection procedure intervals on the data collection devices. Table 1 Raw Packet Format

In Table 1, the "Raw Packet Format" or in other words the shell design can be seen. When this raw packet reaches the communication units, the communication units perform the below mentioned steps respectively:

1. Checksum control is carried out, and if there is an error the error is notified to the Main Control Centre (AKM) at once.

2. The "modemld" received is checked and if there is an error, the error is notified to the Main Control Centre (AKM) at once.

3. The protocol version is checked and if it is not supported, this situation is notified to the Main Control Centre (AKM) at once.

4. If decoding cannot be carried out by the encryption algorithm received in the header this situation is notified to the Main Control Centre (AKM) at once.

5. If decoding cannot be carried out by the compression algorithm received in the header this situation is notified to the Main Control Centre (AKM) at once.

6. If the command packet defined with the Packet type identifier (pti) in the header is not implemented this situation is notified to the Main Control Centre (AKM) at once.

7. If the command packet defined with the Packet type identifier (pti) in the header is not supported, this situation is notified to the Main Control Centre (AKM) at once. If an error is not present following the 7 controls mentioned above, the Communication Units (HU) receive the command packet located in the shell; they then first decode the encryption, following this the compressed data is decoded and the related command packet is processed and the end result is submitted to the Main Control Centre (AKM).

Table 2 Communication Units (HU) and AKM Communication Mechanism.

The data received at certain periods of time from the counters that are identified to the modems by means of the remote reading systems of counters and similar energy metering equipments subject to the invention, are submitted to the Main Control Centre (AKM) software located in the counter and it is enabled to form data packets on the modems by means of grouping the desired sections of the data; and as a result only the desired data are read which in turn reduces data transfer amounts and saves time and the amount of data that is transferred.

As it shall be possible to convert the modems into smart modems using this protocol, both the variety of the data that is collected shall be increased and easier integration can be performed with different OSOS systems.

It can be ensured that information is supplied regarding the status of the modems. Data and communication safety can be provided by means of the different encryption algorithms that can be used.