JP4737610B2 - Meter - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a measuring instrument that acquires data relating to supply information, such as the amount of measurement system used.

Conventionally, measuring instruments that measure the amount of gas used, the amount of power used, and the amount of water used in general households, factories, and offices have become widespread. The measuring instrument includes a usage detection unit for measuring the amount of gas used, power consumption, and water usage of the system to be measured, a control unit for editing the usage detected by the usage detection unit, and a control unit. And a display unit for displaying the edited data.

Further, as a method of collecting measurement data, a meter reading system (for example, Patent Document 1) in which an IC tag is provided outside the measuring instrument and necessary data such as measurement data is manually stored in the IC tag by a handy terminal or the like, There is a measuring instrument in which an IC tag is provided inside or outside the measuring instrument to store necessary data such as measuring data (for example, Patent Document 2).
JP2003-323686A (6th page, FIG. 1) JP 2001-147144 A (page 5, FIG. 1)

However, in the conventional measuring instrument, since the storage capacity of the IC tag is small, it is not possible to transmit supply information data such as measurement data or supply system abnormality information that requires a large storage capacity. On the other hand, in order to transmit a large amount of data, for example, it is conceivable to transmit with a radio wave transmission / reception circuit using a specific low-power radio etc., but such a radio wave transmission / reception circuit is mounted on a measuring instrument. There was a problem of becoming expensive.

An object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive measuring instrument capable of transmitting supply information data having a large amount of data.

To achieve the above object, a measuring instrument according to the present invention comprises a supply information detection means, a storage means for storing data detected by the supply information detection means, and an IC tag for storing the data stored in the storage means. And a writing means for storing the data.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the cheap measuring device which can transmit supply information data with much data amount by a radio wave can be provided.

  Examples of the present invention will be described below.

  A gas meter which is Embodiment 1 of a measuring instrument according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

Reference numeral 100 denotes a main body of a measuring instrument, which corresponds to a measuring instrument such as a gas meter, a watt hour meter, or a water meter.
Reference numeral 101 denotes a usage amount detection unit serving as supply information detection means, which is composed of a gas amount detection device that superimposes an ultrasonic wave on a gas flow, calculates a gas flow rate from the propagation time of the ultrasonic wave, and calculates a gas flow rate. Gas backflow is detected and converted to an electrical signal. In the case of a watt-hour meter, the watt-hour meter is constituted by a power amount detection device, which detects a voltage supplied from the outside and a current used on the load side, multiplies them, and converts them into an electric signal corresponding to the power amount. Moreover, in the case of a water meter, it is comprised by the water amount detection apparatus, detects water amount, and converts it into an electrical signal.

Reference numeral 102 denotes a pressure detection unit serving as supply information detection means, which includes a pressure sensor and the like, detects an abnormal pressure of the gas in the gas pipe, and converts it into an electrical signal.

Reference numeral 103 denotes a vibration detection unit serving as supply information detection means, which is constituted by a vibration sensor or the like, detects vibration due to an earthquake or the like, and converts it into an electrical signal.

A display unit 104 includes a liquid crystal display or the like, and displays used gas amount data and the like.

Reference numeral 105 denotes a time discriminating means constituted by a clock circuit having a Japanese standard time radio signal reception circuit, which receives the Japanese standard time radio signal, counts clock pulses due to crystal oscillation or the like, and creates time data of year, month, day, hour, minute, and second.

A control unit 106 includes a microcomputer or the like, and edits the gas amount detected by the usage amount detection unit 101 into usage gas amount data. Here, the used gas amount data refers to the total accumulated used gas amount, the used gas amount for each time zone, and the like. Further, the control unit 106 detects the back flow from the gas flow rate detection unit 101, and detects the abnormal pressure in the gas pipe, the pressure detection unit 10.
2, when a vibration such as an earthquake is detected, a detection signal is received from the vibration detection unit 103.
The time data from the time identification means 105 is added to the detected data as the time of occurrence thereof to create abnormal data. The control unit 106 stores the used gas amount data and the abnormality data in the storage unit 107 as supply information data. Further, the control unit 106 displays the used gas amount data on the display unit 1.
04.

A storage unit 107 is constituted by a semiconductor memory such as a RAM, and stores supply information data. Here, the supply information data is the total amount of gas used as described above, the amount of gas used such as the amount of gas used for each time zone, and the gas flow rate detection unit 101. This refers to abnormal data in which occurrence date and time is added to backflow data, abnormal pressure data detected by the pressure detector 102, vibration data detected by the vibration detector 103, and the like.

An input / output means 108 is constituted by a serial signal transmission / reception circuit or the like, and performs writing and reading of data with respect to the IC tag 109.

Reference numeral 109 denotes an IC tag, which is composed of a nonvolatile semiconductor memory or the like that can call up data by radio waves, and stores a data request code and supply information data corresponding thereto.
The data request code is written by radio waves from the outside such as an external device having a radio wave transmission / reception function, and is read by the control unit 106 via the input / output means 108. The supply information data is written as serial data or the like by the control unit 106 via the input / output means 108, and is read out from the outside by radio waves.

Next, details of the internal configuration of the IC tag 109 will be described with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 201 denotes an antenna that transmits and receives radio signals to and from an external device such as a handy terminal having a radio wave generation function. A transmission / reception unit 202 receives various data request codes transmitted from an external device such as a handy terminal having a radio wave generation function received by the antenna 201, and a storage unit 20
3 is transmitted from the antenna 201 by radio waves. A storage unit 203 includes a nonvolatile memory, such as a ferroelectric memory (F-RAM), and stores a data request code and supply information data. The data request code is transmitted from an external device such as a handy terminal having a radio wave transmission / reception function by radio waves to the antenna 201 and the transmission / reception unit 2.
02 and is read from the control circuit 204 by serial data or the like. Supply information data is written as serial data or the like via the control circuit 204, and is read out via radio waves from an external device via the transmission / reception unit 202 and the antenna 201.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the program configuration diagrams of FIGS. This program is stored in a program memory in the control unit 106 and controls the operation of the control unit 106.

In order to read supply information data from the measuring instrument 100, an operator such as a meter reader operates an external device such as a handy terminal having a radio wave generation function to acquire data. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 300 denotes an external device, such as a handy terminal. An operation unit 301 includes a keyboard switch and is operated by an operator. A control unit 302 includes a microcomputer and the like, and receives an input from the operation unit 301 to control the tag transmission unit 303 and the storage unit 304. The tag transmission unit 303 is constituted by a radio wave transmission / reception circuit, transmits a radio wave under the control of the control unit 302, writes a data request code to the IC tag 109 in the measuring instrument 100,
Also, supply information data in the IC tag 109 is read. A storage unit 304 includes a semiconductor memory such as a RAM, and stores supply information data acquired from the IC tag 109 by the control unit 302 via the tag reader unit 303.

First, when reading the supply information data from the measuring instrument 100, the operator operates the operation unit 301 of the external device 300 and inputs to perform transmission with the IC tag 109. Then, the external device 300
An internal control unit 302 controls the tag transmission unit 303 to send out radio waves, and the IC tag 1 in the measuring instrument 100.
The data request code is stored in 09. Here, the data request code is measuring instrument 1
It is composed of a transmission command code for instructing transmission to 00 and a data type code indicating the type of data to be transmitted. Since the storage capacity of the IC tag 109 is not large, it is not possible to store all the supply information data held by the measuring instrument at a time. Therefore, when transmitting a data amount exceeding the storage capacity of the IC tag 109, it is necessary to transmit the data by dividing the number of times as many times as necessary. In this case, it is necessary to specify the type of data, but the data type code is for designating the type on the external device side. The data type code of the data request code includes, for example, a measurement value data request code for requesting transmission of measurement value data, a reverse flow data request code for requesting transmission of reverse flow data, a pressure data request code for requesting transmission of pressure data, and vibration data There are types of vibration data request codes that request transmission of Further, the metered value data request code is further divided into a total accumulated used gas amount data request code and a time zone used gas amount data request code for each time zone.
On the other hand, in the measuring instrument 100, the control unit 106 constantly monitors to detect whether the data request code is recorded in the IC tag 109 (step 401).

The control unit 106 that has detected the data request code determines whether the code is a measurement value data request code (step 402) or a backflow data request code (step 4).
04) It is determined whether it is a pressure data request code (step 406) or a vibration data request code (step 408), and if it is a measurement value data request code, the total accumulated used gas amount specified in the code Data or corresponding time zone gas usage data (step 403), if it is a backflow data request code, backflow data (step 405), if it is a pressure data request code, pressure data (step 40)
7) If it is a vibration data request code, the vibration data is stored in an area different from the area where the various data request codes in the IC tag 109 are stored (step 409). Further, the control unit 106 stores the data in the IC tag in steps 403, 405, 407, and 409, and then deletes various data request codes stored in the IC tag (
Step 410).

Thereafter, in the external device 300, the control unit 302 reads various supply information data stored in the IC tag 109 via radio waves via the tag transmission unit 303 and stores the data in the storage unit 304.
When the number of data is large, the control unit 302 transmits various data request codes a plurality of times and repeats the above operation to acquire supply information data from the measuring instrument 100.

In this way, even supply information data having a large amount of data can be acquired by the external device 300 such as a handy terminal via the IC tag 109.

Further, if this embodiment is used, abnormal data such as backflow, abnormal pressure, vibration, etc. detected by the measuring instrument can be acquired. The backflow is called so-called pulsation, and is generated when the pressure in the supply system such as a gas pipe decreases, but the generation location and time are not constant. Knowing when and where pulsation occurs is an important matter for gas companies trying to supply gas stably. Also, in the event of an earthquake or vibration, supply equipment such as gas pipes may be damaged, and grasping when and where the vibration occurred is trying to supply gas stably This is an important matter for gas companies. If this embodiment is used, it is possible to supply abnormality data as a judgment material to the gas company.

As described above, by using the present invention, an inexpensive measuring instrument capable of transmitting supply information data having a large amount of data can be provided.

The internal block diagram which shows the structure of Example 1 of the measuring instrument by this invention. The internal block diagram which shows the structure of the IC tag concerning the measuring device by this invention Explanatory drawing which shows the usage method of the measuring instrument by this invention The program block diagram which shows the program of Example 1 by this invention

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Measuring device main body 101 Usage detection part 102 Pressure detection part 103 Vibration detection part 104 Display part 105 Time identification means 106 Control part 107 Storage means 108 Input / output means 109 IC tag 201 Antenna 202 Transmission / reception part 203 Storage part 204 Control circuit 300 Terminal Device 301 Operation unit 302 Control unit 303 Tag transmission unit 304 Storage unit

Claims (6)

Supply information detection means for detecting at least one of usage data and abnormal data;
Storage means for storing data detected by the supply information detection means;
Data request code detecting means for detecting the data request code stored in the IC tag;
A measuring instrument comprising: writing means for writing the data stored in the storage means corresponding to the data request code to the IC tag. Supply information detection means for detecting at least one of usage data and abnormal data;
Time identifying means for identifying time;
Storage means for storing data detected by the supply information detection means together with occurrence time information detected by the time identification means;
Data request code detecting means for detecting the data request code stored in the IC tag;
A measuring instrument comprising: writing means for writing the data stored in the storage means corresponding to the data request code and the generation time information into the IC tag. 3. The measuring instrument according to claim 2, wherein the time identification means includes a Japan Standard Time radio signal receiver. The measuring instrument according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the supply information detecting means is a gas flow backflow detecting means. The measuring instrument according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the supply information detecting means is a gas pressure detecting means. 4. The measuring instrument according to claim 1, wherein the supply information detecting means is a vibration detecting means.

Images