SK18622001A3 - Radio communication system for capturing consumption data - Google Patents

Abstract

The system has a radio network with terminals and data collectors. Each terminal has a device for determining consumption values and a radio transmitter for sending messages with values associated with the terminal. Each data collector has a corresponding message receiver, a computer and a transmitter. The radio transmitters operate in the same frequency range. The data collector re-transmits received radio messages controled by a manager. The system has a radio network with terminals and data collectors. Each terminal has a device for determining consumption values and a radio transmitter for sending messages with values associated with the terminal. Each data collector has a corresponding message receiver, a computer for checking and storing messages and/or consumption values and a radio message transmitter. The radio transmitters operate in the same frequency range and the data collector re-transmits the received radio messages, whereby transmission is controlled by a radio message manager in the collector.

Description

Technical field

The invention relates to a radiocommunication system which, by means of a radiocommunication network with terminal apparatus and data collectors, serves to capture consumption data, in particular in buildings; each terminal apparatus always having a consumption data acquisition device and a transmitter for transmitting radiotelegrams containing consumption data from the respective terminal apparatus, and each data collector always having a receiver for receiving radiotelegrams, a counter with memory for monitoring and storing radiotelegrams and / or relevant data on memory consumption and a transmitter for the transmission of radiotelegrams.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Various concepts of wireless data acquisition systems are known to determine heating costs and the consumption of heat, water, electricity or gas. These systems generally operate in the free ISM frequency bands (434 MHz and 868 MHz in Europe). Very widespread is a system with a number of permanently installed data collectors, the receiving part of which is located in the building. The data collectors shall be located in such a way that the reader has free access to them; it is preferred that they are located in staircases, stairway entrances or passages. The number of data collectors required is determined by the range of the transmitters of the consumption data acquisition devices as well as the required redundancy. As a rule, the data of all data collectors in the building must be read for issuing accounts. Such unidirectional radiocommunication systems for capturing consumption data in buildings where data collectors have only a receiving part and cannot transmit the received consumption data further, have the significant drawback of being able to receive and store only the data of those consumption data transmitters that are located within the range of radio signal propagation. If the data collector fails (which can happen on battery-powered devices), all data required for billing is lost. As a rule, billing is not possible without delay.

Therefore, in similar radio communication systems, redundancy is generated using a larger number of data collectors, but this will deteriorate the system capability indicator, since at least two data collectors must be within reach of one consumption data acquisition device. This increases the cost of purchasing and installing the system, as well as the cost of reading data from multiple data collectors. In addition, taking account of redundancies in the radiocommunications system also entails additional billing costs.

Also known are hierarchically structured radiocommunication systems, in which the determined consumption data are transmitted to the control panel via one or more inter-transmitters, resp. medziprijímačov. With such a system, even if the data collector fails, the readings are not lost, but the cost of the project and the construction of such a hierarchical radiocommunication network are considerable. Firstly, intermediate and intermediate transmitters have to perform different tasks according to the hierarchical level, so that there are always different or different tasks required. appropriately modified apparatus. Second, at every hierarchical level, some redundancy of communication paths must be achieved as far as possible. Therefore, the cost of such a hierarchical radiocommunication network is high.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a cost-effective, first-mentioned radio communication system for capturing consumption data, which has a larger radio signal range, is easy to extend, and which allows consumption data to be read on a single, arbitrary data collector.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This task is essentially solved in such a way that the radio transmitters of the terminal devices and the data collectors operate in the same frequency range and that the data collectors transmit the received radiotelegrams further, the transmission of the received radiotelegrams being controlled by the radiotelegram manager in the data collector. This creates a simple data flow network in which the data collector receives not only data from consumption-capturing devices within the range of the radio signal, but also data transmitted from adjacent data collectors. With such further transmission (or flow) of radiotelegrams to other data collectors, which then transmit (transmit) the radiotelegrams, the consumption data of each terminal is transferred to all data collectors so that the required consumption data can be read at any data collector. In order to prevent or at least limit multiple transmissions of one radiotelegram from the same data collector, the transmission of the radiotelegrams is controlled by the radiotelegram manager in the data collector.

For this purpose, the radiotelegram manager advantageously maintains the so-called. blocking list of terminal devices from which the data collector has already received and transmitted the radio telegram. The data collector transmits a radio telegram only if the respective terminal device is not listed in the block list. In this way, in order to save energy in the data collector and to reduce the load on the radiocommunication system, it is ensured that the data collector received or sent by radiotelegrams transmitted directly or indirectly in the form of data flow is not sent again.

In order to block the transmission of radiotelegrams of a particular terminal apparatus for a limited period of time, the radiotelegram manager, upon receipt of the telegram, determines whether the respective terminal apparatus (i.e. the apparatus from which the radiotelegram originates) is listed in the blocking list; otherwise, he shall enter it together with the blocking period in the blocking list and, after that period, shall withdraw it from that list. This ensures that only identical radiotelegrams that have just been received are no longer transmitted; however, a new radiotelegram with new consumption data sent from the respective terminal device shall be forwarded again after the expiry of the blocking period.

Maintaining a block list is particularly easy if it is organized chronologically according to start times. First-In-First-Out memory (FIFO, i.e. first in, first out) is particularly suitable for this purpose. At short periodic intervals or immediately before identifying the device in the block list, the radiotelegram manager in the data collector removes the identifier (identifier) of the device whose blocking period has expired from the block list. In accordance with the chronological organization, only the oldest entries are gradually checked until an entry is found whose blocking period has not yet expired.

Another possibility to control the sending of radiotelegrams is that the radiotelegram itself contains a standby counter, which is increasing each time the radiotelegram is transmitted, and the radiotelegram manager checks this information when the radiotelegram is received, and transmits the radiotelegram only when it does not exceed a predetermined threshold. If the received radiotelegram does not yet contain a read-out counter (this indicates that the radiotelegram has not been forwarded in the form of data flow), the radio-telegram manager assigns this data to the radiotelegram. It is very easy to use an emergency counter, which starts counting from zero and whose value gradually increases to the maximum. In this case, the radiotelegram is no longer transmitted by data flow, and the data contained in the radiotelegram is stored in the data collector memory as required. By means of a standby counter, the number of multiple transmissions of the same radiotelegram via the data collector is significantly reduced.

In order to prevent the same data collector from retransmitting radio telegrams in the form of data flow, the standby counter may be combined with a blocking list (containing a flashing period), the duration of the blocking period being determined depending on the standby counter data. In this case, the blocking time is maximum at the first data flow (when the standby counter reading has an initial value). At each subsequent step, i. As the radiotelegram passes through the data flow network, the blocking time may increase as the standby counter increases. This will ensure that the radiocommunication system will be available for new radiotelegrams sooner. If the blocking times did not depend on the standby counter data, the last data collector would take the maximum blocking time in the incremental handover chain because it could not determine how many data collectors had already passed. In this case, the recovery times of the system would be less advantageous after the radiotelegram flow through the network.

In order to avoid a high load on the radiocommunication system by immediately retransmitting the radiotelegram (in the form of data flow) immediately after its first reception, it is advantageous for each radiotelegram to be transmitted to be assigned a pseudo-random transmission time at each data collector. Until this moment, the radiotelegram is temporarily stored in temporary memory; this will create a waiting series of radiotelegrams to be forwarded in the form of data flow. Pseudo-random choice of transmission time avoids systematic collisions that are due to the network structure.

It is also conceivable that the radiotelegrams to be transmitted during a transmit pause, preferably with a pseudo-random duration, are temporarily stored in a temporary memory and transmitted best as a continuous sequence of radiotelegrams after the transmit pause. Thereafter, an individual time of transmission need not be assigned to each radiotelegram and the number of independent radiotelegrams may be reduced.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, the radiotelegrams may only be transmitted at predetermined time intervals during the Duty-Cycle of the radiocommunication system. Duty-Cycle is the ratio of the time the transmitter is on to the time the transmitter is off during a period of time known as the Duty-Cycle interval. Thus, by predetermining the appropriate time intervals for transmitting radiotelegrams, any predefined Duty-Cycle can be easily realized.

A transmission counter can be used to determine time intervals, which adds each radiotelegram transmission from the data collector. The fact that transmitting a radiotelegram requires a certain, essentially constant time that can be ascertained is exploited. If the transmission counter reading reaches the maximum value allowed for compliance with the Duty-Cycle, the data collector stops the flow of other radiotelegrams. At the end of the Duty-Cycle interval, the transmit counter returns to zero and, in the new Hollow Cycle interval, the data collector can transmit the radio telegrams again.

In addition, after each transmission of a radiotelegram or a sequence of radiotelegrams, a transmission pause may be included, which consists of a minimum period of time and possibly a variable, preferably pseudo-randomly determined period of time. Thus, the time points of transmitting radio telegrams, respectively. Define radiotelegram sequences only using variable pause times to meet the requirements that the continuous broadcast time (transmitter on) is maximum and the continuous pause time (transmitter off) is minimized. The random portion may be formed continuously or discreetly in the form of time gaps (breaks). During the break, the data collector further receives radio telegrams from terminal equipment or other data collectors, or sorts irrelevant radio telegrams; the radiotelegrams to be sent are then stored in the form of a waiting queue in a temporary memory and finally transmitted in bloc at the end of the broadcast pause. The radiotelegram manager then determines a new random pause in the data collector.

To ensure consumption data, the consumption data contained in the received radiotelegram is stored in the data collector memory when the entire data set is not yet available. Recency of consumption data, resp. The data set can advantageously be detected by means of a time stamp or a defined memory structure, in particular of the matrix type, in which the data storage location is given as a function of the terminal apparatus identifier and the data capture time. For example, it can be imagined that the data collector can store consumption data from 500 terminals for a period of 12 or 18 months. In such a case, the memory would constitute a two-dimensional array with 12 times, respectively. 18 times with 500 elements. The storage location is then given by the month character 1 to 12, respectively. 18, and a device feature that is calculated using a hash table. A calendar-type memory matrix is suitable if radio telegrams are to be received at regular time intervals and if data must be managed at a certain fixed number of terminals. If such boundary conditions are not known, the incoming data sets can be stored together with the time stamp in any way, e.g. as a linear list. Depending on the degree of time required, timestamps can distinguish between days, weeks, months or years. Other degrees of differentiation may be envisaged depending on the method of use. The data set becomes usable only if its timestamp matches the system's timestamp.

In order to save electricity, according to the present invention, the data collector (in particular when powered by batteries) is switched on only at certain time intervals, wherein the switch-on times of the receivers and / or transmitters can be synchronized with other data collectors in particular by flow of synchronization telegrams. In order to achieve an efficient radiotelegram flow, battery-powered data collectors only switch on their receivers at relatively long intervals, with all data collectors having to turn on their receivers and / or transmitters approximately simultaneously. Each data collector is equipped with a timer to determine the power-on time. Structural elements, e.g. the oscillating crystals used to determine time naturally have their own

tolerance. The timers in the data collectors can therefore accumulate so great time differences over a longer period of time that the switch-on times of the receivers of the different data collectors rarely coincide, respectively. will not match at all. Therefore, to synchronize the timer, the flow of synchronizing radiotelegrams is used, which at the time of transmission includes the current timer status in the data collector and the character from which it originates. This can serve, for example, as in the case of terminal devices. for unambiguous and unique identification. The radiotelegram manager of each data collector also includes a decision action to decide which timer is the system's determining timer to adapt its own timer to it. The synchronization takes place at such time intervals that the sum of time tolerances cannot exceed a certain critical magnitude.

Advantageously, the belonging of the terminal and / or data collector to the system can be determined in particular by means of a device identification list and / or a corresponding system code. For this purpose, when commissioning eg. inserts in each data collector an identification list of all (the system belonging to) the consumption capturing devices (terminal devices) and the data collectors. As soon as all data collectors in the system are identifiable, terminal device identifiers can be entered via the radiocommunication system as operating parameters using special radiotelegrams. Inserting an identification list containing devices in the system, resp. however, the system code can also be entered via the operator interface or manually, via the respective operating elements. When entering a single system code, make sure that different system codes are assigned to different systems. The system code must be contained in the radiotelegrams in order to identify the system.

In addition, further simplification of the radiocommunication system can be achieved by setting the operating parameters of the data collector as variable by means of service radiotelegrams and / or by means of the instrumentation setting. A distinction is made between radio-technical (in terms of severity) permissible and inadmissible operating parameters; in order to optimize the operation of the system, parameters that are unacceptable in terms of severity may be changed during commissioning or during normal operation. In order to minimize the possibility of interference with adjacent radio communication systems, it may be advantageous to set different operating times in different systems. In addition to the transmission of billing data necessary for billing, the radio communication system should also allow for servicing, such as deleting, replacing or attaching system components and setting their parameters. For service operations, the first step, eg. set the desired values on any data collector and, in a second step, a data flow is initiated. If there is a permanent reception system (mains-operated) in the data collector system, the respective service radiotelegrams can be immediately transmitted in the form of data flow. However, if the data collector system is powered by batteries that only switch on their receivers for certain operating times, preferably the service radiotelegrams will be sent at the earliest time common to all data collectors. In this case, a waiting sequence of commands may be created in the data collector memory to temporarily store a sufficient number of service commands therein.

In order to further optimize the radiocommunication system, it can be ensured that the data collector automatically adapts its operational parameters using radiotelegrams to the state of the radiocommunication environment. Data collectors can interrupt operation automatically (eg if there is interference from the environment).

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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following, the radiocommunication system of the present invention is described in more detail with reference to the figures. The operating parameters reported refer to typical applications for capturing consumption data inside a building. However, the radio communication system according to the present invention can also be implemented with other operating parameters and / or in a different area, e.g. in several buildings, part of the city, etc.

The images show:

Fig. 1 a block diagram of a data collector of the radiocommunications present invention; system by Fig. 2 data flow control flowchart; Fig. 3 basic time schedule of radiocommunications system by the present invention; Fig. 4 the exact time diagram of the radiocommunication system according to the present invention invention; Fig. 5 radiotelegram with consumption data; Fig. 6 radiotelegram to synchronize and ensure operational flow parameters and Fig. 7 radiotelegram for service operations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The terminal devices of the radiocommunication system are the consumption detection devices, e.g. to determine the cost of heating, consumption of heat, electricity, gas, etc., with a radio transmitter that transmits radiotelegrams 1 containing consumption data at pseudo-randomly determined times. On average, radiotelegrams 1 are transmitted about every 180 seconds. The radiotelegram 1 contains an indication of consumption V on the day of deduction and in the last four months. On the day of the countdown and up to six weeks thereafter, the number of terminal device transmissions increases on average for every 60 seconds to achieve a fast and accurate reading. safe distribution of relevant consumption data. The content of radiotelegrams 1 changes in a typical three-rhythm: instead of consumption data in the last four months, consumption data in the previous months 1 to 4, 5 to 8 and 9 to 12 before the day of deduction are now cyclically transmitted. The consumption data on the day of deduction is, as the most important billing information contained in each radiotelegram 1.

Radio telegrams 1 transmitted from terminals are received in battery-powered data collectors 2, which can manage up to 500 terminals. For this purpose, the data collector 2 is equipped with a radio receiver for receiving radiotelegrams 7, a counter with a memory 4, 7 for checking and storing radiotelegrams 1, 5 and / or associated consumption data V as well as a radio transmitter for transmitting radiotelegrams 5 to other data collectors 2. . The counter is equipped as a processing and control unit built-in 3 radiotelegram manager. In order to access the data collector 2, e.g. for reading consumption data or for servicing operations, an interface 9 for reading (s) and / or for operation is further provided.

The total radiocommunication system consists of max. of 500 terminals that transmit their V-consumption data to max. fifteen 2 data collectors. This results in an equipment indicator of approx. 33, which is defined as the ratio of the number of terminals to the number of data collectors 2 in the radio communication system. Such a configuration of the radiocommunication system has proven to be very advantageous for capturing the consumption data inside the building, precisely with respect to the time required to further transmit the radiotelegrams 6 to the other data collectors 2 (data flow).

The frequency range in which the radiocommunication system operates is near 868 MHz and the Duty-Cycle, the ratio of time when the transmitter is on to the time when the transmitter is off will be around 0.1%. In a 1-hour Duty-Cycle interval, the time when the transmitter is turned on (and in which radiotelegrams 6 can be transmitted further) will be 3.6 seconds accordingly, and the time when the transmitter is off (and in which data collector 2 must not transmit) , 4 seconds. The maximum continuous transmission time and maximum continuous break time shall always be 720 milliseconds. The length of a typical radiotelegram is about 4.1 milliseconds, so gaps in transmission time, respectively. the time gaps for extending broadcast breaks can be set at 5 milliseconds. Thus, the maximum continuous transmission time and time gap duration result in 144 time slots to send radiotelegrams 1., 6. A maximum of 878 radiotelegrams 7, 6 can be transmitted during the Duty-Cycle interval. The maximum data flow time through data collector 2 is about 1540 milliseconds. it is assumed that processing of one radiotelegram 1, 6 requires about 100 milliseconds. This results in a maximum data flow duration of 23.1 seconds for the entire radio telecommunications system. In typical systems with fewer element counts, the average data flow duration is typically about 4 seconds.

The operation of the radiocommunication system is further described with reference to Fig. 1. The radiotelegram 1 transmitted from the terminal (consumption data acquisition apparatus not shown) and received by the data collector 2 includes the instrument identifier ID, the AC standby and the consumption data V. The received radiotelegram 1 is received in the radiotelegram manager 3 (which receives it the role of radio control and memory management). In this case, the device identifier ID is first entered in the blocking list 4, and at the same time, each blocking identifier is assigned a blocking time t (w). Furthermore, the radiotelegram 1 is stored in that memory area in the data collector 2, which serves as a waiting line 5 at the output. In this case, the AC readout of the standby counter is increased by 1, that is to say AC + 1, and a transmission time t (s) is assigned to the radiotelegram 6. Once this transmission time t (s) occurs, the radiotelegram 6 is transmitted (in the form of a data flow) and the other data collectors 2 receive it. In order to capture the consumption, the consumption data V is taken from the received radiotelegram 1. and, together with the device ID and the standby counter AC, are stored in the memory area 7 of the data collector 2 for storing data; the consumption data V is assigned to a specific location V1 to V18 in the memory. Since the data storage memory 7 has a matrix structure, by assigning it to a particular location V1 to V18, the consumption data V is allocated over time. Another option would be to memorize the time stamp. Upon checking the received radiotelegram 1, the radiotelegram manager 3 determines whether the current consumption data V of the terminal together with its ID is already stored in the data storage 7. If such an indication already exists, the consumption data V is no longer stored. In addition, the radiotelegram 1, whose AC standby count has already been removed. 99 ··· «· ···· has reached the maximum value, cancels the deletion operation 8 without passing on to the wait queue 4 at the output. In addition, an interface 9 for reading (data) and for operation is available for reading consumption data V and for configuring data collector 2. Fig. 2 shows, in a more detailed flow diagram, the operation of the data collector manager 3 of the radiotelegrams.

As can be seen from FIG. 3, the data collector 2 is not ready for operation every tenth day. On days without reception, the data collector 2 is disconnected to save energy. The data collector transmitter and receiver 2 are only connected on certain reception days. Such a reception day is subdivided into 24 Duty-Cycle 11 intervals after one hour during which radio transmission takes place in time gaps according to predefined radio transmission rules 12. The radio transmission rules 12 assume breaks 13 in the Duty-Cycle given by the minimum transmitter off time and the transmission times 14 given by the maximum transmitter on time. The transmission times 14 are divided into time slots 15, during which one radiotelegram 6 corresponding to definition 16 of the radioteleqram can be sent at a time.

The exact timing diagram of the radiocommunication system can be seen in FIG. 4. Since the consumption data V on the day of deduction and the monthly consumption data V are sufficient for the accuracy of data capture on the sending terminal side, the data collector 2 shall have only one reception day per month and possibly one more reception day after the deduction day. At the beginning of the countdown day, all data collectors 2 simultaneously turn on their receivers every four hours. The first time the receiver is switched on on the day of countdown, the monthly timers are synchronized first, with a typical timer tolerance of about 100 ppm. This synchronization takes about four to five minutes. During the monthly synchronization, data collectors 2 can already receive radio telegrams 1 from terminal devices. With the flow of radiotelegrams 6, however, they wait until the end of the synchronization phase, since it is not guaranteed that all data collectors 2 are already able to receive. After the synchronization is completed, the data collectors 2 remain in reception for a further five minutes and mediate the flow of the radio telegrams 6. Then they interrupt the radio communication until the next four-hour interval. In this further four-hour interval, the timing tolerances that have so far since the previous monthly synchronization may be only a few seconds. Therefore, only the daily synchronization will take place in the next four-hour intervals. Daily synchronization consists of several sporadically transmitted synchronization radiotelegrams, which are inserted into the normal data flow. Thus, also the data collectors 2 have missed the monthly synchronization, e.g. as a result of external disturbances, the possibility to offset own time tolerances.

Switch-on times should always be 10 minutes at five additional four-hour intervals. In sum, the data collector 2 is on the day of reception, and thus in a month, about 60 minutes in operation. The switch-on time of the transmitter, which is available on the basis of the Duty-Cycle, is about 22 seconds. With such a result, it is possible to realize without difficulty battery-powered data collectors 2, which can operate for several years if long-life batteries (eg lithium cells) are used. If sufficient battery capacity is available, the radio communication properties of the system can be further improved by switching on radio communication at shorter intervals (eg one or two-hour intervals).

Permanently powered data collectors 2 (eg with mains power) can operate without any limitation of the supply current. They can therefore receive and transmit permanently. Transmission is limited only by the Duty-Cycle of the selected frequency band. Such data collectors 2 can serve as ordinary regenerative amplifiers in addition to the actual function of collecting and managing the data of terminal devices. Owing to the extension of the radio communication paths of the terminal devices by means of data collectors 2, this can be advantageously used for data reading (at patrol routes). Such a way of reading on foot or by using a motor vehicle can be usefully used if the entrance to the building where the data is to be read is linked to difficulties or where the cost / benefit ratio directly requires enforcement. In such cases, the storage of data in the data collector 2 can be omitted altogether, thereby reducing system costs even further.

Possible definitions of radiotelegrams used in the operation of a radio communication system are based on the International Standard IEC 870-5-1, Format Class FT 3, and the draft European Standard CEN TC 294. In this Standard, resp. This draft standard describes the appropriate telegram formats and operating modes for efficient data transmission or transmission. for radio transmission. The prior art prefers non-DC coding for wireless transmission of information e.g. such that the useful information flow is overlapped by a sufficiently defined pseudo-random bit stream. This method does not guarantee the absence of DC voltage, but only approximates to a statistical average. The advantage of the so-called. Data-Scrambling is that it does not create any additional bits. A method that ensures the absence of DC voltage is coding 3 out of 6, as suggested in CEN TC 294. Here, 4 data bits are always changed to 3 null bits and 3 unit bits. At the same data flow, 50% of the additional bits are generated compared to the NRZ encoding. For coding, CEN TC 294 for radio transmission also recommends so-called radio transmission. Manchester Code (M-code) known from information technology. The M-code generates at least one chip change and two chips ("einen Flankenwechsel und zwei Chips") from each NRZ bit. This code is least preferred because it generates 100% additional bits. However, the advantage of the M-code is that it can be easily implemented with a small number of logic elements.

In order to operate the data communication radiocommunications network efficiently, short radio-telegrams 1, 6 are required. On the one hand, the number of self-collisions per unit of time must be kept low, and on the other hand the limitation of the Duty-Cycle allows only limited transmission time. This time should be used as effectively as possible. Short telegrams 1, 6 are produced by limiting themselves to really important data and operating at a high transmission power. The radiotelegram 1, 6 of FIG. 5, which contains consumption data at a transmission power of 100 kilocips per second [kcps], is only 4.1 milliseconds and may contain five consumption data relevant for billing.

In FIG. 6, the synchronization flow telegram shown can be used to send date and hour data in order to synchronize the switching times of the receivers. 11x8 bits of payload data can be attached to such flow telegram, e.g. operating parameters to be transferred to all system data collectors. Such useful data may be input into any data collector 2 of the radio communication system.

The flow telegram shown in FIG. 7 can be used for service tasks such as adding, replacing or canceling the machine.

In the case of device replacement, the flow telegram data part contains the device identifier that has been replaced (old manufacturer, old ID, old media or version), followed by the new device identifier (new manufacturer, new ID, new media or version). When other data collectors 2 in a given system receive such a telegram, they replace the old device identifier in memory with the new device identifier and consider it to belong to the system. The telegram header contains the ID of the data collector from which the service instruction was based, and in the function / AC function code field for that service operation.

The device can be canceled as a special case of device replacement. For example, one option would be to identify the old instrument identifier to be replaced with the new identifier. Another option is to set the new identifier to an invalid or impossible value, such as. possible when BCD encoding is used. The telegram header contains the ID of the data collector from which the service action command came, and in the function / AC field, it contains the function code for that service action.

The service procedure of adding the device can be performed analogously. In this case, the new identifier of the device being added can be identified with the old identifier, or the old identifier can be set to an invalid or impossible value. The telegram header contains the ID of the data collector 2 from which the service action command originated, and in the function / AC field contains the function code for that service action.

The elementary advantage of the described radio communication system lies in the simplicity of the concept, which is positively reflected in the saving of time and money in the technical implementation of the data collector 2 and in the subsequent functional tests. This advantage is due, inter alia, to the fact that no superior network rule or special Send / Confirm or Request / Respond procedures were required to establish a communication network of data collectors 2. With their transmitting side, the data collectors 2 behave almost like multiple terminals. Therefore, the radiotelegrams 1, 6 from terminal devices and data collectors can be processed on the receiving side in the same way.

Another advantageous aspect of the present invention is to significantly simplify typical servicing operations. In particular, the reading of consumption data can be highlighted here. In systems where data collectors are not networked, each data collector must be read separately. The raw data obtained in this way contains numerous redundancies. Therefore it is necessary to organize and clean this data before further processing. In the system according to the present invention, it can be assumed in the information flow network that all data collectors 2 receive and manage the consumption data in all terminal devices of the system.

It follows that, as a rule, it is sufficient to read only one data collector 2 in order to obtain all consumption data V relevant for the bill. Redundancies cannot occur; data obtained from one data collector 2 can thus be directly processed.

Other service cases, such as The transfer of operating parameters and configuration data to all system data collectors 2 can be accomplished very simply by means of the data flow. The data can be inserted into any data collector 2 and transferred automatically by the data flow network.

A further advantage of the radio communication system of the present invention is that the Duty-Cycle requirements for new ISM frequency bands can be met in a simple manner by limiting the transmission of transmitters using the Duty-Cycle Interval Counter.

The radio communication system of the present invention thus creates a data flow network that does not have a fixed topology. This is generated randomly during operation, through the range of the radio signal. Therefore, lengthy projecting and network configuration can be avoided. Since all data collectors 2 are the same and that there are no significant hierarchical stages in the radio communication system, a high robustness of radio communication is achieved. Failures of the individual data collectors 2 do not result in the automatic collapse of the radio communication system as there are no fixed communication paths. This creates a Plug & Play solution that is user-friendly and easy to maintain.

Claims (16)

PATENT CLAIMS A radio communication system for capturing consumption data consisting of a radio communication network with terminal equipment and data collectors (2), each terminal apparatus each having a data acquisition device (V) and a radio transmitter for transmitting radiotelegrams (1) with consumption data (V) associated with this terminal and each data collector (2) has a radio receiver for receiving radiotelegrams (1), a memory counter (4, 7) for checking and storing radiotelegrams (1,6) and / or consumption data (V) ) and a radio transmitter for transmitting radiotelegrams (6), characterized in that the radio transmitters of the terminal devices and data collectors (2) operate in the same frequency range and that the data collectors (2) retransmit the received radio telegrams (1), 6) is checked by the radiotelegram manager (3) in the data collector (2). Radio communication system according to claim 1, characterized in that the radiotelegram manager (3) maintains a block list (5) of terminal devices which have already received and re-transmitted the radiotelegram (1, 6) via the data collector (2) and that the radiotelegram (5). 6) shall only be retransmitted from the collector (2) if the corresponding terminal is not included in the blocking list (5). The radio communication system according to claim 2, characterized in that, upon receipt of the radio telegram (1), the radio telegram manager (3) checks whether the terminal belonging to the radio telegram (1) is already contained in the lock list (5) and if not. , writes it together with the blocking time (t (w)) in the blocking list (5) and deletes it from the blocking list (5) after the blocking time (t (w)) has elapsed. Radio communication system according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the blocking list (5) is organized chronologically according to the times of reception, in particular as a First-in-First-Out memory. Radio communication system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the radiotelegram (1, 6) comprises a standby counter (AC), the reading of which increases each time the radiotelegram (6) is transmitted, that the radiotelegram manager (3) receives it. 1) checks the standby counter (AC) and re-transmits the radiotelegram (6) only if the standby counter (AC) has not reached the specified limit value. Radio communication system according to either of Claims 3 or 4 and Claim 5, characterized in that the duration of the blocking period (t (w)) is determined in dependence on the standby counter (AC). Radio communication system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the radiotelegram (6) to be transmitted is preferably allocated a pseudo-random time of transmission (t (s)) and that the radiotelegram (6) remains temporarily stored in a temporary memory (4) until the time of transmission (t (s)) is reached. Radio communication system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the radiotelegrams (6) to be transmitted are temporarily stored in a temporary memory (4) during the transmission pause, preferably with a pseudo-random duration, and preferably after the transmission pause. transmitted as a continuous sequence of radiotelegrams (6). Radio system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the transmission of the radio telegrams (6) takes place only for a given period of time in the Duty-Cycle interval of the radio system. Radio communication system according to claim 9, characterized in that the time intervals are determined by means of a transmission counter. A radio communication system according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that after each transmission of the radiotelegram (6) or a sequence of radiotelegrams, a transmission pause is included, which consists of a minimum period of time and possibly a variable, preferably pseudo-randomly determined period. Radio communication system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the consumption data (V) contained in the received radio telegram (1) is stored in the data memory (7) of the data collector (2) when the current data is not yet available. data set, where the up-to-date consumption data (V) resp. the data set can be detected by means of a time stamp or by a defined, especially matrix memory structure. Radio communication system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the data collector (2), in particular with battery power, is only switched on at certain operating intervals, wherein the switch-on times of the receivers and / or transmitters can be synchronized in particular with synchronization flow telegrams. other data collectors (2). Radio communication system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the affiliation of the terminal and / or data collector (2) to the system can be determined in particular by means of a device identification list and / or a corresponding system code. Radio communication system according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the operating parameters of the data collector (2) can be set as variable by means of service radiotelegrams and / or by means of parameters in the manufacture of the apparatus. • ·········································································· ·· «··· Radio communication system according to claim 15, characterized in that the data collector (2) automatically adapts its operating parameters by means of service radio telegrams by detecting the state of the radio communication environment.