JP7607481B2 - Counting device and counting method - Google Patents

Description

This invention relates to a counting device and a counting method for counting the operating time of equipment.

Conventionally, a system is known that calculates the electricity usage of each production line from the operation time of the production line (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this system, a usage fee accounting device and each production line are connected by a communication line. The usage fee accounting device then calculates the electricity usage proportionately based on the ratio of the operation time of each production line to the operation time of all production lines.

There is also a known system that remotely monitors the power supply status of electrical devices and performs billing processing according to the power supply status (see, for example, Patent Document 2). In this system, a server device and electrical devices are connected via a wireless communication network. The server device then remotely monitors the power supply status of the electrical devices and performs billing processing according to the power supply status.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-96381 Patent No. 6512498

However, in the system disclosed in Patent Document 1, while the charge accounting device is powered off, the calculation process for the operating time is not performed, and therefore the amount of usage cannot be calculated.
Furthermore, in the system disclosed in Patent Document 2, while the server device is powered off, the power supply state of the electrical equipment cannot be obtained, and therefore billing processing cannot be performed.

As such, when it comes to counting the operating hours of equipment, it is unclear how a status acquisition device that acquires the on/off state of the equipment, or a counting device that counts the operating hours of the equipment from the results acquired by the status acquisition device, will count in the event of a failure such as a power outage or communication interruption. This can cause billing problems with clients. Also, depending on the client, it is important to be able to choose between the owner and tenant sides of the counting, as this can vary.

This invention was made to solve the above problems, and aims to provide a counting device that can perform deemed counting even if a power outage or communication interruption occurs.

The counting device according to the present invention is characterized by comprising a selection unit which selects whether deemed counting is enabled or disabled, a status acquisition unit which acquires the status of the device via a status acquisition device, an abnormality detection unit which detects a power outage of the device itself or the status acquisition device or a communication outage with the status acquisition device, a recovery detection unit which detects a recovery from the power outage or communication outage after the power outage or communication outage is detected by the abnormality detection unit, and a counting unit which counts the operating time of the device from the results acquired by the status acquisition unit based on the state selected by the selection unit and the detection results by the abnormality detection unit and the recovery detection unit.

With the above configuration, this invention makes it possible to perform deemed counting even if a power outage or communication interruption occurs.

1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of an entire system including a counting device according to a first embodiment; 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a counting device according to a first embodiment; 3A to 3C are diagrams illustrating an example of the operation of the counting device according to the first embodiment (when the power to the counting device is cut off and the deemed count is invalid). 4A to 4C are diagrams illustrating an example of the operation of the counting device according to the first embodiment (when the power to the counting device is cut off and deemed counting is enabled). 5A to 5C are diagrams illustrating an example of the operation of the counting device according to the first embodiment (when the status acquisition device is powered off or communication is cut off and the deemed count is invalid). 6A to 6C are diagrams illustrating an example of the operation of the counting device according to the first embodiment (when the status acquisition device is powered off or communication is cut off and deemed counting is valid). FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a counting device according to a second embodiment. 8A to 8C are diagrams illustrating an example of the operation of the counting device according to the second embodiment (when the power to the counting device is cut off and deemed counting is enabled). 9A to 9C are diagrams illustrating an example of the operation of the counting device according to the second embodiment (when the status acquisition device is powered off or communication is cut off and deemed counting is valid).

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
Embodiment 1.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of an entire system including a counting device 3 according to the first embodiment.
As shown in Fig. 1, this system includes a device 1, a status acquisition device 2, and a counting device 3. Although a light is shown as the device 1 in Fig. 1, the device 1 is not limited to this. The status acquisition device 2 and the counting device 3 are connected by a communication line.

The status acquisition device 2 acquires the status of the device 1. The status of the device 1 acquired by the status acquisition device 2 is the on state (operating state) of the device 1 or the off state (stopped state) of the device 1. The acquisition of the status by this status acquisition device 2 is constantly carried out between the target device 1 and the device 1. Data indicating the acquisition result by this status acquisition device 2 is output to the counting device 3 via a communication line.

The counting device 3 counts the operating time of the target device 1 (the time during which the device 1 is on) based on the result acquired by the status acquisition device 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the counting device 3 includes a selection unit 301, a status acquisition unit 302, an abnormality detection unit 303, a recovery detection unit 304, and a counting unit 305.

The counting device 3 is realized by a processing circuit such as a system LSI (Large Scale Integration) or a CPU (Central Processing Unit) that executes a program stored in a memory or the like.

The selection unit 301 selects whether the deemed count is enabled or disabled. The deemed count means that when a power outage occurs in the counting device 3 or the status acquisition device 2, or when a communication outage occurs with the status acquisition device 2, the state of the device 1 is estimated and the operation time is counted.
At this time, for example, the selection unit 301 causes a display device (not shown) to display a selection screen that allows a user who uses the counting device 3 to input a selection for selecting whether to enable or disable the deemed count. Then, the selection unit 301 selects whether to enable or disable the deemed count according to the user's input on the selection screen.

The status acquisition unit 302 acquires the status of the device 1 based on the acquisition result by the status acquisition device 2. Note that the status acquisition unit 302 cannot acquire the status of the device 1 if the counting device 3 or the status acquisition device 2 is powered off or communication with the status acquisition device 2 is interrupted.

The abnormality detection unit 303 detects a power outage of the counting device 3 or the status acquisition device 2, or a communication outage with the status acquisition device 2.

After a power outage or communication interruption is detected by the abnormality detection unit 303, the recovery detection unit 304 detects recovery from the power outage or communication interruption.

The counting unit 305 counts the operation time of the device 1 from the result acquired by the state acquiring unit 302 based on the selection state by the selecting unit 301 and the detection results by the abnormality detecting unit 303 and the recovery detecting unit 304 .
Here, when no power outage or communication outage is detected by the abnormality detection unit 303, the counting unit 305 counts the operation time of the device 1, similarly to the conventional method, based on the result acquired by the status acquisition unit 302. That is, in this case, the counting unit 305 counts the time during which the device 1 is in the ON state.

On the other hand, the counting unit 305 stops counting when a power outage or communication interruption is detected by the abnormality detection unit 303. After that, the counting unit 305 resumes counting when the recovery detection unit 304 detects recovery from the power outage or communication interruption.
Then, when the selection unit 301 has selected to enable deemed counting, the count unit 305 checks the result acquired by the status acquisition unit 302 immediately after the recovery. Then, when the status acquired by the status acquisition unit 302 immediately after the recovery is the on state, the count unit 305 adds the operation time by the time from the power outage or communication interruption to recovery. Note that the time from the power outage or communication interruption to recovery can be grasped by a timer (not shown) of the counting device 3. On the other hand, when the status acquired by the status acquisition unit 302 immediately after the recovery is the off state, the count unit 305 does not add the operation time.
Furthermore, when the selection unit 301 has selected to disable deemed counting, the counting unit 305 does not add up the driving time.

Next, an example of the operation of the counting device 3 according to the first embodiment shown in FIGS.
In the counting device 3 according to the first embodiment, the counting method can be selected from "a method in which counting is possible by predicting the state of the device 1 (deemed counting enabled)" and "a method in which counting is performed only when the state of the device 1 can be accurately acquired (deemed counting disabled)." For example, when charging electricity fees between a building owner and tenants according to the lighting hours, selecting deemed counting enabled is beneficial for the owner, and selecting deemed counting disabled is beneficial for the tenants.

First, an example of the operation of the counting device 3 when a power outage occurs in the counting device 3 will be described with reference to Figures 3 and 4. In Figures 3 and 4, the period indicated by the horizontal arrows indicates the operation time counted by the counting unit 305. Also, Figure 3 shows a case where the deemed count is invalid, and Figure 4 shows a case where the deemed count is valid.
3, when a power outage occurs in the counting device 3, the counting unit 305 stops counting during that period. After that, when the counting device 3 recovers from the power outage, the counting unit 305 resumes counting. Furthermore, when the deemed count is invalid, the counting unit 305 does not add the operating time equivalent to the period from the power outage to the recovery.
On the other hand, as shown in Fig. 4, when deemed counting is enabled, the counting unit 305 adds the operation time corresponding to the period from the power cut to the recovery, depending on the state of the device 1 immediately after the recovery. That is, as shown in Fig. 4A and Fig. 4C, when the device 1 is in the ON state immediately after the recovery, the counting unit 305 adds the operation time corresponding to the period from the power cut to the recovery. On the other hand, as shown in Fig. 4B, when the device 1 is in the OFF state immediately after the recovery, the counting unit 305 does not add the operation time corresponding to the period from the power cut to the recovery.

Next, an example of the operation of the counting device 3 when a power interruption occurs in the status acquisition device 2 or when a communication interruption occurs between the status acquisition device 2 and the counting device 305 will be described with reference to Figures 5 and 6. In Figures 5 and 6, the period indicated by the horizontal arrows indicates the operation time counted by the counting unit 305. Also, Figure 5 shows a case where the deemed counting is invalid, and Figure 6 shows a case where the deemed counting is valid.
5, when a power outage occurs in the status acquisition device 2 or when a communication outage occurs with the status acquisition device 2, the counting unit 305 stops counting for that period. After that, when the status acquisition device 2 recovers from the power outage or when the communication outage with the status acquisition device 2 recovers, the counting unit 305 resumes counting. Furthermore, when the deemed count is invalid, the counting unit 305 does not add the operating time equivalent to the period from the power outage or communication outage to recovery.
On the other hand, as shown in Fig. 6, when deemed counting is enabled, the counting unit 305 adds the operation time corresponding to the period from the power cut or communication cut to recovery, depending on the state of the device 1 immediately after the recovery. That is, as shown in Fig. 6A and Fig. 6C, when the device 1 is in the on state immediately after the recovery, the counting unit 305 adds the operation time corresponding to the period from the power cut or communication cut to recovery. On the other hand, as shown in Fig. 6B, when the device 1 is in the off state immediately after the recovery, the counting unit 305 does not add the operation time corresponding to the period from the power cut or communication cut to recovery.

As described above, according to this embodiment 1, the counting device 3 includes a selection unit 301 that selects whether the deemed count is enabled or disabled, a status acquisition unit 302 that acquires the status of the device 1 via the status acquisition device 2, an abnormality detection unit 303 that detects a power outage of the device itself or the status acquisition device 2 or a communication interruption with the status acquisition device 2, a recovery detection unit 304 that detects a recovery from the power outage or communication interruption after the power outage or communication interruption is detected by the abnormality detection unit 303, and a counting unit 305 that counts the operating time of the device 1 from the acquisition result by the status acquisition unit 302 based on the selection state by the selection unit 301 and the detection results by the abnormality detection unit 303 and the recovery detection unit 304. As a result, the counting device 3 according to the embodiment 1 is capable of deemed counting even when a power outage or communication interruption occurs. As a result, in this counting device 3, charging processing can be performed by deemed counting even during a period when a power outage or communication interruption occurs.

Embodiment 2.
In the counting device 3 according to the first embodiment, a deemed counting method is adopted in which "a method of counting assuming that the state of the device 1 recognized immediately after recovery" is adopted. In contrast, in the counting device 3 according to the second embodiment, a deemed counting method is adopted in which "a method of counting assuming that the state of the device 1 recognized immediately before the occurrence of an abnormality" is adopted.

Figure 7 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a counting device 3 according to embodiment 2. In the counting device 3 according to embodiment 2 shown in Figure 7, the counting unit 305 is changed to counting unit 305b in comparison with the counting device 3 according to embodiment 1 shown in Figure 2. The other configurations of the counting device 3 according to embodiment 2 shown in Figure 7 are the same as those of the counting device 3 according to embodiment 1 shown in Figure 2, and the same reference numerals are used and the description thereof is omitted.

The counting unit 305 b counts the operation time of the device 1 from the result acquired by the state acquiring unit 302 based on the selection state by the selecting unit 301 and the detection results by the abnormality detecting unit 303 and the recovery detecting unit 304 .
Here, when no power outage or communication outage is detected by the abnormality detection unit 303, the counting unit 305b counts the operation time of the device 1, similarly to the conventional method, based on the result acquired by the status acquisition unit 302. That is, in this case, the counting unit 305b counts the time during which the device 1 is in the ON state.

On the other hand, when a power outage or communication interruption is detected by the abnormality detection unit 303 and the selection unit 301 has selected to enable deemed counting, the counting unit 305b checks the result acquired by the status acquisition unit 302 immediately before the occurrence of the power outage or communication interruption. Then, when the status acquired by the status acquisition unit 302 immediately before the occurrence is an ON state, the counting unit 305b continues counting. On the other hand, when the status acquired by the status acquisition unit 302 immediately before the occurrence is an OFF state, the counting unit 305b stops counting. Thereafter, when the recovery detection unit 304 detects recovery from the power outage or communication interruption, the counting unit 305b resumes counting.
Furthermore, the counting unit 305b stops counting when the abnormality detection unit 303 detects a power outage or communication outage and the selection unit 301 selects invalid deemed counting. Thereafter, when the recovery detection unit 304 detects recovery from the power outage or communication outage, the counting unit 305b resumes counting.

Next, an example of the operation of the counting device 3 according to the second embodiment shown in FIG. 7 will be described.
First, an example of the operation of the counting device 3 when a power outage occurs in the counting device 3 will be described with reference to Fig. 8. In Fig. 8, the period indicated by the horizontal arrow is the operation time counted by the counting unit 305b. Fig. 8 also shows a case where the deemed count is valid. Note that an example of the operation of the counting device 3 when the deemed count is invalid is the same as that in Fig. 3, and a description thereof will be omitted.
As shown in Fig. 8, when a power outage occurs in the counting device 3 and deemed counting is enabled, the counting unit 305b continues or stops counting depending on the state of the device 1 immediately before the power outage occurred. That is, as shown in Fig. 8A and Fig. 8B, the counting unit 305b continues counting if the device 1 was in an on state immediately before the occurrence. On the other hand, as shown in Fig. 8C, the counting unit 305b stops counting if the device 1 was in an off state immediately before the occurrence. Thereafter, when the recovery detection unit 304 detects recovery from the power outage, the counting unit 305b resumes counting.

Next, an example of the operation of the counting device 3 when a power outage occurs in the status acquisition device 2 or when a communication outage occurs with the status acquisition device 2 will be described with reference to Fig. 9. In Fig. 9, the period indicated by the horizontal arrow is the operation time counted by the counting unit 305b. Fig. 9 also shows a case where deemed counting is valid. Note that an example of the operation of the counting device 3 when deemed counting is invalid is the same as that in Fig. 5, and a description thereof will be omitted.
As shown in Fig. 9, when a power outage occurs in the status acquisition device 2 or a communication outage occurs between the status acquisition device 2 and the status acquisition device 2, and when deemed counting is valid, the counting unit 305b continues or stops counting depending on the state of the device 1 immediately before the power outage. That is, as shown in Fig. 9A and Fig. 9B, the counting unit 305b continues counting when the device 1 is in an on state immediately before the occurrence. On the other hand, as shown in Fig. 9C, the counting unit 305b stops counting when the device 1 is in an off state immediately before the occurrence. Thereafter, when the recovery detection unit 304 detects recovery from the power outage or communication outage, the counting unit 305b resumes counting.

In addition, within the scope of the present invention, it is possible to freely combine the various embodiments, modify any of the components of each embodiment, or omit any of the components of each embodiment.

1 Device 2 Status acquisition device 3 Counting device 301 Selection unit 302 Status acquisition unit 303 Abnormality detection unit 304 Recovery detection unit 305, 305b Counting unit

Claims (4)

A selection unit for selecting whether the deemed count is valid or invalid;
a status acquisition unit that acquires a status of the device via a status acquisition device;
an abnormality detection unit that detects a power cut of the device itself or the status acquisition device, or a cut of communication with the status acquisition device;
a recovery detection unit that detects recovery from a power failure or communication failure after the power failure or communication failure is detected by the abnormality detection unit;
a counting unit that counts the operation time of the device from the result acquired by the status acquisition unit based on the selection state by the selection unit and the detection results by the abnormality detection unit and the recovery detection unit. The counting device according to claim 1, characterized in that the counting unit stops counting when a power outage or communication interruption is detected by the abnormality detection unit, and resumes counting when the recovery detection unit detects a recovery from the power outage or communication interruption, and when the selection unit selects to enable deemed counting, if the state acquired by the status acquisition unit immediately after the recovery is an on state, adds operating time by the time from the power outage or communication interruption to recovery. The counting device according to claim 1, characterized in that, when a power outage or communication interruption is detected by the abnormality detection unit and the selection unit selects to enable deemed counting, the counting unit continues counting if the state acquired by the status acquisition unit immediately before the power outage or communication interruption occurred is an on state. A selection unit selects whether the deemed count is valid or invalid;
A status acquisition unit acquiring a status of the device via a status acquisition device;
an abnormality detection unit detecting a power cut of the device itself or the status acquisition device, or a cut of communication with the status acquisition device;
a recovery detection unit detecting a recovery from the power cut or communication cut after the power cut or communication cut is detected by the abnormality detection unit;
A counting method comprising: a counting step of counting the operating time of the device from the result acquired by the status acquisition unit based on the selection state by the selection unit and the detection results by the abnormality detection unit and the recovery detection unit.

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