US 10,989,746 B2Granted

Method for reading information from a set of electricity meters

AssigneeSagemcom Energy & Telecom SAS

InventorsHenri Teboulle, Jérôme Barois, Julien Barthes, Ziv Roter

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Abstract

Electric meters are connected by an electricity supply network to a data concentrator with which the meters communicate by powerline. A method for reading information from meters is based on a classification of the meters in a plurality of classes. A first class, read first, groups together meters that haven't been read in a last execution of the method. The other classes group together the meters according to a rate of response to requests for information coming from the concentrator. The classes grouping together the meters that have the lowest response rates are read last. In each class, each meter is classified according to information representing a topology of the network having an influence on the failure risk of the transmissions of information by the meter. The concentrator accounts for the classification of the meters when the meters in the network are read to reduce occurrences of periods of contention.

Claims15

Dependent claims

A method for reading information from a set of electricity meters, referred to as meters, connected by an electricity supply network to a data concentrator, referred to as a concentrator, with which said meters communicate by powerline, wherein the method is executed by said concentrator and comprises:

obtaining information representing a set of meters classified in a plurality of classes, a first class comprising meters for which no up-to-date information is available, and a plurality of second classes containing meters according to a rate of response to requests for information transmitted by said concentrator, the second classes being ordered by decreasing order of response rate;
during a predefined period fixing a time allocated to the concentrator for carrying out the reading of the meters in said set, running through each class one by one by increasing order of classes, passing from a class currently being read to a new class when there no longer remain any meters to be read in the class currently being read;
and, in each class:
defining a list of a predefined number of meters in the class, each meter in the list being associated with information representing a topology of the network in a zone comprising said meter having an influence on a risk of failure of the transmissions of information by said meter, referred to as risk information, said list satisfying a predetermined condition such that at least one of the meters in the list is associated with risk information below a predetermined threshold, a request for information being transmitted to each meter following insertion thereof in said list;
and,
for each meter in the list, on reception of a response to a request for information concerning said meter or at the expiry of a predefined maximum response time concerning said meter, updating the list by replacing said meter in the list with another meter in the class so that the updated list satisfies the predetermined condition.

3 more elements

A device for reading information from a set of electricity meters, referred to as meters, connected by an electricity supply network to a data concentrator, referred to as a concentrator, with which said meters communicate by powerline, wherein the device comprises electronic circuitry configured to:

obtain information representing a set of meters classified in a plurality of classes, a first class comprising meters for which no up-to-date information is available, and a plurality of second classes containing meters according to a rate of response to requests for information transmitted by said concentrator, the second classes being ordered by decreasing order of response rate;
run through, for a predefined period fixing a time allocated for making the reading of the meters in said set, each class one by one by increasing order of classes, passing from a class currently being read to a new class when there no longer remain any meters to be read in the class currently being read;
and in each class:
define a list of a predefined number of meters in the class, each meter in the list being associated with information representing a topology of the network in a zone comprising said meter having an influence on a risk of failure of the transmissions of information by said meter, referred to as risk information, said list satisfying a predetermined condition such that at least one of the meters in the list is associated with risk information below a predetermined threshold;
transmit a request for information to each meter following insertion thereof in said list;
and
update the list, executed for each meter in the list, on reception of a response to a request for information concerning said meter or at the expiry of a predefined maximum response time concerning said meter, the list being updated by replacing said meter in the list with another meter in the class so that the updated list satisfies the predetermined condition.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 16/629,356Filed 11 Jul 2018
Priority: FR 175685519 Jul 2017
Published: US 2020/0209292 A12 Jul 2020
Granted: 27 Apr 2021
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification8 codes

G01R 22/063
Details of electronic electricity meters: related to remote communication
H04Q 9/00
Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from
H04Q 9/02
Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus…:…
H04Q 2209/30
Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems: using a wired architecture