TWI900188B - Energy-saving meter reading and transmission system and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

An energy-saving meter reading and transmission system and method thereof, the system includes a terminal device, a meter reading device and back-end management platform. The meter reading device includes each module. A power module is used to provide power voltage to the meter reading device. A communication module communicates with the back-end management platform through a mobile communication network. A processing module includes a selection unit. The selection unit is used to select an optimal mobile communication network medium from a plurality of mobile communication network media of the mobile communication network according to a network access success rate, and receives a meter reading instruction sent by the back-end management platform through the optimal mobile communication network medium. The meter reading module performs a meter reading operation on the terminal device according to the meter reading instruction to obtain meter reading data, and transmits the meter reading data to the back-end management platform through the optimal mobile communication network media.

Description

Energy-saving meter reading feedback system and method

The present invention relates to a meter reading feedback system and method, and more particularly to an energy-saving meter reading feedback system and method.

Generally speaking, end devices that need to transmit their own data are usually equipped with a standalone meter reading device. This meter reading device is mainly powered by batteries and uses its communication module to connect to the Internet via wireless network communication technologies such as Cat M1 or narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) to communicate with the backend management platform.

Because the battery in meter reading devices has limited power and cannot be recharged, wireless network communication technologies such as Cat M1 and NB-IoT provide power-saving features such as PSM (Power Saving Mode) and eDRX (Extended Discontinuous Reception) to ensure long-term operation of meter reading devices. These features help the wireless network communication device retain data such as previous meter reading device login information even when the meter reading device is in sleep mode, allowing the device to quickly connect to the network the next time it transmits data, reducing power consumption.

However, many of these end-devices, such as those used for smart metering or environmental monitoring, may be deployed in areas with poor mobile base station coverage or signal reception. This means the mobile network environment in these areas is less than ideal. This can cause meter reading devices to not always communicate successfully with the backend management platform, forcing them to constantly reconnect to the network or use higher RF transmission power. Repeated connections and higher power consumption consume significant power, and over time, this can cause the battery to experience low-battery warnings sooner than originally intended. Once the battery level runs low, personnel must be dispatched to replace it. This not only increases labor costs, but also requires coordination with the user regarding replacement times if the meter reader is located in the user's home, making it more difficult to restore the meter reader to normal operation. While deploying more base stations to increase signal coverage can improve poor communication, installing base stations requires not only finding optimal locations and incurring construction costs, but also facing opposition from local residents, and cannot immediately resolve the problem of increased power consumption caused by poor communication. In addition to installing base stations, many hardware manufacturers have also introduced low-power solutions. However, field testing has shown that the highest power consumption of meter readers occurs when they are restored to normal operation and the communication module is activated to connect to the network and exchange data with the back-end management platform. Conventional low-power solutions don't truly address the increased power consumption caused by the need to connect and reconnect during communication. Furthermore, end devices sometimes must coordinate with backend management platform configurations, potentially executing various commands and transmitting data multiple times a day. This increases the frequency with which meter readers connect to the internet, undoubtedly exacerbating the battery drain issue.

It can be seen from this that the above-mentioned usage method still has many shortcomings and is not a good design, and it urgently needs to be improved.

The present invention provides an energy-saving meter reading feedback system and method. When a meter reading device with limited battery power transmits meter reading data back to a back-end management platform, the system can improve the data transmission success rate, reduce the chance of repeated transmissions, and thus reduce the power consumption of the meter reading device.

The present invention provides an energy-saving meter reading and feedback system, comprising a terminal device, a meter reading device electrically connected to the terminal device, and a back-end management platform. The meter reading device comprises a power module, a communication module, a processing module, and a meter reading module. The power module is used to provide power voltage to the meter reading device. The communication module is communicatively connected to the back-end management platform via a mobile communication network. The processing module is electrically connected to the communication module, wherein the processing module comprises a selection unit. The selection unit is used to select the optimal mobile communication network medium from a plurality of mobile communication network media of the mobile communication network based on the network access success rate, and receive the meter reading instruction transmitted by the back-end management platform via the optimal mobile communication network medium. The meter reading module is electrically connected to the processing module. After receiving a meter reading instruction from the processing module, it performs a meter reading operation on the terminal device according to the meter reading instruction to obtain meter reading data, and transmits the meter reading data to the back-end management platform via the optimal mobile communication network medium.

The present invention discloses an energy-saving meter reading and feedback method for use in an energy-saving meter reading and feedback system comprising a terminal device, a meter reading device, and a backend management platform communicatively connected to the meter reading device via a mobile communication network. The energy-saving meter reading and feedback method includes providing a power voltage to the meter reading device; selecting an optimal mobile communication network medium from multiple mobile communication network media based on the network access success rate; receiving a meter reading instruction transmitted from the backend management platform to the meter reading device via the optimal mobile communication network medium; and the meter reading device performing a meter reading operation on the terminal device in accordance with the meter reading instruction to obtain meter reading data, and transmitting the meter reading data to the backend management platform via the optimal mobile communication network medium.

Based on the above, the present invention provides an energy-saving meter reading and transmission system and method. When a meter reading device with limited battery sends meter reading data back to a back-end management platform, it can not only select the optimal mobile communication network medium to upload or receive data according to the mobile communication quality data of the terminal device deployment location, but also use the file transmission method to improve the efficiency of firmware update and read the changing data to reduce the time spent on reading data. In addition, it can use the best transmission time estimated by continuous training optimization. A calculation model is used to estimate the transmission time with the highest data upload success rate. This allows the optimal transmission time for meter reading devices to be determined, thereby improving the data transmission success rate and reducing the chance of retransmissions, thereby lowering the power consumption of the meter reading devices. This allows the meter reading devices to efficiently read data and exchange information with the backend management platform without consuming too much power, achieving the goal of maintaining normal operation of the meter reading devices for a long time after installation without replacing their batteries.

In order to make the above features and advantages of the present invention more clearly understood, embodiments are given below and described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Some embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. When the same reference numerals appear in different drawings, they are considered to represent the same or similar elements. These embodiments are only part of the present invention and do not disclose all possible implementations of the present invention.

The ordinal numbers used in the specification and the scope of the invention, such as "first", "second", etc., are used to modify the components. They themselves do not mean or represent any previous ordinal number of the component or components, nor do they represent the order of one component and another component, or the order of the manufacturing method. The use of these ordinal numbers is only used to make it possible to clearly distinguish a component with a certain name from another component with the same name. The scope of the invention and the specification may not use the same terms. Accordingly, the first component in the specification may be the second component in the scope of the invention. It should be noted that the embodiments listed below can replace, reorganize, and mix the technical features of several different embodiments to complete other embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure.

FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of an energy-saving meter reading and feedback system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1 , an energy-saving meter reading and feedback system of the present invention includes a meter reading device 100 , a backend management platform 200 , a mobile communication network 300 , and a terminal device 400 .

The backend management platform 200 communicates with the meter reading device 100 via a mobile communication network 300 to transmit meter reading commands to the meter reading device 100. The meter reading device 100 is electrically connected to a terminal device 400, reads data from the terminal device 400 according to the meter reading commands, and transmits the data back to the backend management platform 200 via the mobile communication network 300. In one embodiment, the terminal device 400 may be a water meter, an electricity meter, or the like. The backend management platform 200 may be a server, for example.

The meter reading device 100 may include a processing module 101 , a communication module 102 , a meter reading module 103 , a timing module 104 , a storage module 105 , and a power module 106 .

The power module 106 is used to provide power voltage to the meter reading device 100 so that each module in the meter reading device 100 can perform operations such as communication, timing, and meter reading. In one embodiment, the power module 106 can be a battery.

The communication module 102 is connected to the backend management platform 200 via the mobile communication network 300 .

FIG2 is a schematic diagram of a processing module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1 and 2 , the processing module 101 is electrically connected to the communication module 102 , wherein the processing module 101 may include a selection unit 1011 , a variable data reading unit 1012 , and a transmission unit 1013 .

The selection unit 1011 is used to select the best mobile communication network medium from multiple mobile communication network media according to the network access success rate, and receive the meter reading command sent by the back-end management platform 200 via the best mobile communication network medium.

In one embodiment, when the terminal device 400 is accessing the network and uploading meter reading data, it can select the optimal mobile communication network medium with a high network access success rate to transmit the meter reading data. In other words, the network connection mode to be used can be selected from the network access priority table. In other words, the meter reading device 100 will select the optimal mobile communication network medium suitable for the regional communication environment based on the communication conditions of the mobile network environment at that time to improve the success rate of data transmission or reception, so as to enable the terminal device 400 to complete the data upload or download of the new firmware in one go as much as possible.

The variable data reading unit 1012 is electrically connected to the selection unit 1011 and is used to read variable data during a meter reading operation. In one embodiment, the data read during the meter reading operation may include variable data and non-variable data. The variable data may be, for example, meter reading data read from the terminal device 400. The non-variable data, or fixed data, may be, for example, device data of the terminal device 400 (e.g., device ID). The present invention is not limited to this.

The variable data reading unit 1012 can reduce the time required to read data from the terminal device 400. For example, after a reboot, the complete data will be read, and fixed data (such as the device ID, etc.) will be stored. Then, only the variable data (such as the meter reading data) will be read. This not only saves the overall working time of the meter reading device 100, but also improves the communication efficiency between the meter reading device 100 and the remote management platform 200.

The retransmission unit 1013 is electrically connected to the variable data reading unit 1012. When the meter reading device 100 receives a firmware update command from the backend management platform 200, it receives the firmware update data from the backend management platform 200 via the mobile communication network 300. The retransmission unit 1013 can be used to continue receiving the firmware update data from the backend management platform 200 after the meter reading device 100 loses connection with the mobile communication network 300 and then restores the connection. This retransmission method is used to continue receiving the firmware update data from the backend management platform 200 that was not received before the disconnection between the meter reading device 100 and the mobile communication network 300.

In one embodiment, when the meter reading device 100 needs to perform a firmware update, the amount of file data that can be transmitted each time for the firmware update can be increased to quickly complete the firmware download and execute the update. If a connection is disconnected during the transmission, the remaining portion can be downloaded through the resume technology after the connection is restored. This reduces the working time of the communication module 102 on the meter reading device 100 to save energy consumption. In addition, the data that failed to be successfully transmitted in the previous time can be stored in the storage module 105, eliminating the need for the meter reading device 100 to repeatedly read the same data, thereby speeding up the speed required for the communication module 102 to retransmit data after leaving the sleep state.

The meter reading module 103 is electrically connected to the processing module 101 and is used to perform a meter reading operation on the terminal device 400 according to the meter reading instruction to obtain meter reading data after receiving the meter reading instruction from the processing module 101, and transmit the meter reading data to the back-end management platform 200 via the optimal mobile communication network medium.

The following describes how to estimate the optimal transmission time in conjunction with specific embodiments.

In one embodiment, when the meter reading device 100 fails to transmit the meter reading data to the backend management platform 200 , the meter reading device 100 may retransmit the meter reading data to the backend management platform 200 until the meter reading data is successfully transmitted to the backend management platform 200 .

The meter reading device 100 can record the number of times the meter reading device 100 retransmits the meter reading data to the backend management platform 200 until the meter reading data is successfully transmitted to the backend management platform 200 and the transmission time of each retransmission of the meter reading device 100 to the backend management platform 200.

After the meter reading device 100 transmits the number of retransmissions and the transmission time to the backend management platform 200, the backend management platform 200 can obtain various mobile communication network quality data, such as Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), and Signal-to-noise Ratio (SNR), from the meter reading device 100 retransmitting the meter reading data to the backend management platform 200 until the meter reading data is successfully transmitted to the backend management platform 200. However, the present invention is not limited to such data.

The backend management platform 200 can estimate the best transmission time with the highest success rate for the meter reading device 100 to transmit the meter reading data to the backend management platform 200 based on the number of retransmissions, transmission time, mobile communication network quality data around the meter reading device 100, and the best transmission time estimation model.

In one embodiment, the optimal transmission time estimation model may be, for example, a logical regression model, a random forest, a decision tree, or even a neural network, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

The backend management platform 200 transmits the optimal transmission time to the meter reading device 100. The meter reading device 100 can transmit the meter reading data to the backend management platform 200 via the optimal mobile communication network medium according to the optimal transmission time.

By adjusting the transmission time point of the communication module 102 in the meter reading device 100 when data retransmission is required, and to prevent the battery from running low prematurely in meter reading devices 100 that experience multiple successful retransmissions, the backend management platform 200 uses a trained optimal transmission time estimation model based on the number of retransmissions, transmission time, and mobile communication network quality data to estimate a more accurate connection communication time, namely the optimal transmission time. This is then downloaded to the meter reading device 100 by updating operating parameters to help improve the data transmission success rate.

The timing module 104 is electrically connected to the processing module 101 to perform timing operations so that the meter reading device 100 transmits the meter reading data to the back-end management platform 200 according to the optimal transmission time.

The storage module 105 is electrically connected to the processing module 101 and the meter reading module 103, and is used to store meter reading data, device data of the meter reading device, and the number of retransmissions and transmission time described in the following embodiments, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

The processing module 101, the communication module 102, the meter reading module 103, the timing module 104, the storage module 105, the power module 106, the selection unit 1011, the variable data reading unit 1012, and the transmission unit 1013 can be implemented through software, firmware, hardware circuits, or any combination thereof. The present disclosure does not limit the implementation of the processing module 101, the communication module 102, the meter reading module 103, the timing module 104, the storage module 105, the power module 106, the selection unit 1011, the variable data reading unit 1012, and the transmission unit 1013.

Hereinafter, the method of the present invention will be described with reference to the devices, components, and modules in Figures 1 and 2. The various processes of the method can be adjusted according to the implementation situation, but are not limited thereto.

FIG3 is a flow chart of a meter reading device performing a meter reading operation and uploading meter reading data according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to Figures 1 and 3 , during normal operation, the meter reading device 100 performs the following tasks: receiving commands, reading data, organizing and packaging the data, selecting a network access method, transmitting data packets, and receiving response messages from the remote management platform. When the meter reading device 100 is in operation, the power module 106 provides a constant supply of power to the device. Initially, the entire device 100 is in a dormant state.

In step S201, the timing module 104 continuously detects whether the sleep setting time has expired. If the sleep setting time has not expired, the process returns to the beginning.

If the sleep setting time ends, in step S202, the timing module 104 will notify the processing module 101 to return the entire meter reading device 100 to the working state.

In step S203, the processing module 101 retrieves the work to be processed from the storage module 105.

In step S204 , it is determined whether the task to be processed requires returning data to the backend management platform 200 .

If the task to be processed requires returning data to the backend management platform 200 , in step S205 , the processing module 101 obtains the data from the storage module 105 .

In step S206, a network connection mode is selected. In one embodiment, the network connection mode that selects the optimal mobile communication network medium as the transmission medium is selected from the network access priority table.

In step S207, the communication module 102 is activated.

In step S208, the mobile communication network 300 is connected using the networking mode selected in step S206 to transmit data to the backend management platform 200.

In step S209 , after receiving the data, the backend management platform 200 sends a return message (ACK message), which is then received by the communication module 102 and passed to the processing module 101 .

In step S210, the processing module 101 continues to execute other tasks or tasks according to the plan of the timing module 104.

In step S211, the meter reading device 100 enters a sleep state.

If the task to be processed does not require returning data to the backend management platform 200, for example, it may only be to read the latest data of the terminal device 400, in step S212, the processing module 101 controls the reading module 103 to obtain the current data of the terminal device 400.

In step S213, the processing module 101 stores the data in the storage module 105 and returns to step S211. The operation of the processing module 101 returns the entire meter reading device 100 to the sleep state.

FIG4 is a flow chart of a meter reading device uploading meter reading data according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

1 and 4 , in step S301 , the processing module 101 checks whether there is data to be transmitted. If there is no data to be transmitted, the process jumps to step S306 .

If there is data to be transmitted, in step S302, the processing module 101 activates the communication module 102 to transmit the data.

In step S303, the communication module 102 connects to the network and determines whether the data is transmitted successfully.

If the data transmission is successful, in step S304, wait for the backend management platform 200 to send a response message.

In step S305, after receiving the response message, the response message is transmitted to the processing module 101.

In step S306, after the data transmission is completed, the processing module 101 sends a command to the meter reading device 100 to enter the sleep state.

If the data transmission is unsuccessful, the processing module 101 sends a command to make the meter reading device 100 sleep for 60 seconds, and then the communication module 102 retransmits the data.

In step S307, it is determined whether the data is transmitted successfully.

If the data transmission is unsuccessful, in step S308, the meter reading device 100 sleeps for one or several hours.

In step S309, the meter reading device 100 returns to the working state and the communication module 102 retransmits data.

In step S310, it is determined whether the data is transmitted successfully.

If the data transmission is successful, in step S311, the processing module 101 records the number of retransmissions and the transmission time of each retransmission. The meter reading device 100 then uses this transmission time as the new transmission cycle and stores it in the storage module 105. It then jumps to steps S305 and S306 to provide it to the backend management platform during the next transmission. The processing module 101 then puts the entire meter reading device into sleep mode.

If the data transmission is unsuccessful, return to step S308.

The following describes how a meter reading device downloads and executes a new version of firmware update with reference to the specific embodiment of Figure 5. Figure 5 is a flow chart of a meter reading device executing a firmware update according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1 and 5, in step S401, the timing module 104 determines whether the sleep time has ended and notifies the processing module 101 when the sleep time has ended. The processing module 101 then returns the entire meter reading device 100 to a working state.

In step S402, the processing module 101 requests the storage module 105 to connect to the backend management platform 200.

In step S403, the version number of the firmware file is used to determine whether the version comparison result in the response message from the backend management platform 200 is consistent.

If the version comparison result is consistent, in step S404, the processing module 101 sends a command to make the entire meter reading device 100 enter a sleep state.

If the version comparison result is inconsistent, in step S405, the processing module 101 sends a command to drive the communication module 102 to connect to the backend management platform 200 to obtain the firmware file and electronic signature to be updated, and download the firmware file and electronic signature.

In step S406, it is determined whether the download process has timed out.

If the download process does not time out, in step S407, it is determined whether the network is disconnected.

If the download process times out or the network is disconnected, in step S408, the processing module 101 will record the disconnection point and jump to step S404 to immediately put the reading device 100 into sleep mode.

If the network is not disconnected, in step S409, the processing module 101 compares the file size of the downloaded firmware file with the file size of the firmware file to be updated recorded by the backend management platform 200 to see if they are the same.

If the file size of the downloaded firmware file is the same as the file size of the firmware file to be updated recorded by the backend management platform 200, it means that the download is complete. In step S410, the processing module 101 compares the electronic signature of the downloaded firmware file with the electronic signature provided by the backend management platform to determine whether the electronic signatures of the two are the same.

If the electronic signatures are the same, in step S411, the processing module 101 performs a firmware update on the meter reading device 100 according to the downloaded firmware file. After the firmware update is completed, the process jumps to step S404, where the processing module 101 puts the entire meter reading device 100 into a dormant state.

If the electronic signatures are different, the process jumps to step S404, where the processing module 101 abandons the download and returns the entire meter reading device 100 to a dormant state.

If the file size of the downloaded firmware file is different from the file size of the firmware file to be updated recorded by the backend management platform 200, that is, the downloaded firmware file is smaller than the file size of the firmware file to be updated recorded by the backend management platform 200, it means that the firmware file has not been downloaded completely. Jump to step S405, connect to the backend management platform 200 again to obtain the firmware file to be updated and the electronic signature, and download the firmware file and the electronic signature.

As shown in the embodiments of FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 , when the meter reading device 100 returns to the working state from the sleep state, the communication module 102 is activated to transmit data or download a new firmware file. Since the network connection may fail during the process and the network must be reconnected, the battery power of the meter reading device 100 is consumed additionally, which has an adverse effect on the long-term power supply to the battery of the meter reading device 100.

In order to reduce the number of times the meter reading device 100 retransmits data, the processing module 101 will add a record of the number of times the meter reading device 100 retransmits the meter reading data to the backend management platform 200 when uploading the data to the backend management platform 200, until the meter reading data is successfully transmitted to the backend management platform 200, and the transmission time each time the meter reading device 100 retransmits the meter reading data to the backend management platform 200.

After receiving the retransmission count and transmission time, the backend management platform 200 uses the calculation process of Formula 1 to determine that frequent retransmissions indicate that the power module 106 (e.g., the power module 106 may be a battery module) may not be able to support the normal operation of the meter reading device 100 for an extended period, such as more than eight years. The backend management platform 200 then uses the mobile network communication quality data from the meter reading device 100 during retransmissions, the number of retransmissions received by the backend management platform 200, and the time it took for successful retransmissions as parameters. The backend management platform 200 then uses the parameters in an optimal transmission time estimation model to estimate the optimal transmission time for the meter reading device 100. The optimal transmission time estimation model can employ, for example, logical regression, random forests, decision trees, or even neural networks.

In one embodiment, taking the optimal transmission time estimation model of logical regression as an example, the mobile communication network communication quality data (such as RSRP, RSRQ, SNR, retransmission times, and transmission time) obtained by the backend management platform 200 is represented as a one-dimensional array and then substituted into the assumption function of Formula 2.

Formula 2

By continuously training and optimizing θ (the weights and deviations of the various parameters required) in Equation 2 through the algorithm in Equation 3, an optimal transmission time estimation model can be obtained. This optimal transmission time estimation model can help meter reading device 100 transmit data at the appropriate time, thereby improving the success rate. Equation 3 is shown below.

Formula 3

After the optimal transmission time obtained by the optimal transmission time estimation model is tested and meets the standard for reducing the number of retransmissions, it can be transmitted to certain meter reading devices 100 that require multiple retransmissions to successfully complete the transmission by updating the operating parameters, thereby improving the data transmission success rate of the meter reading device 100 and reducing the additional power consumption of the meter reading device 100.

The following describes, with reference to specific embodiments, the current consumption and estimated battery life of the meter reading device 100 when it is operated for one day using the new version of firmware and the old version of firmware.

First, the current consumption of the meter reading device 100 obtained when it uses the old version of firmware for one day and the estimated battery life are calculated.

Power module 300 supplies a stable 3V DC voltage to meter reading device 100. Meter reading device 100 operates only once a day. Each successful data upload and response from remote management platform 200 takes 11.9 seconds, and the rest of the time it is in sleep mode. Under these operating conditions, meter reading device 100 consumes 84.195mA during operation and 0.001489mA during sleep. Using this result, the total daily power consumption is:

The average daily current consumption (voltage fixed at DC 3V) is:

To quickly determine the number of times the meter reading device 100 successfully uploaded data and received a response before the battery failed, the device was modified to send and receive data every 2 minutes. The operating time remained at 11.9 seconds, but the sleep time was increased to 120 - 11.9 = 108.1 seconds. Based on this condition, the meter reading device 100 can maintain normal data transmission and reception 9455 times. To determine the number of times the device can successfully transmit and receive data under the original 11.9-second operating time and battery power, the following formula 1 can be used:

Formula 1

Where n is the number of times the meter reading device can normally send and receive data if it is powered by batteries and sends and receives data once a day. _n0 is the number of times the meter reading device can normally send and receive data if it sends and receives data once every two minutes, which is 9455 times in this case. _Q0 is the total power consumed by meter reading device 100 if it sends and receives data once a day, which is 1130 mA in this case. Q is the total power consumed by meter reading device 100 if it is powered by batteries and sends and receives data once a day. Its value is:

Substituting the above data into Formula 1, we find that when powered by batteries, the meter reading device 100 can only normally send and receive data a maximum of 8380 times. If we factor in a 5% loss of battery capacity due to self-discharge or other wear, the meter reading device 100 can only normally send and receive data a maximum of 8380 times * 0.95 = 7962 times. Assuming data is sent and received once per day, the battery can maintain normal operation for a total of 7962/365 years = 21 years. This is the expected battery life when the meter reading device 100 uses traditional firmware (i.e., older firmware).

Furthermore, the current consumption and the useful life of the battery are estimated when the meter reading device 100 operates for one day using the new version of the firmware.

When running on the meter reading device 100 using the new firmware, the operating time is shortened from 11.9 seconds to 8.56 seconds. After repeating the above calculation process, the battery life that can maintain the normal operation of the meter reading device 100 is extended to 27 years. This effectively increases the battery's margin for maintaining normal operation of the meter reading device 100, achieving the goal of providing power for a long time, such as 8 years, without requiring replacement.

In the above embodiment, by recording the power consumption of the meter reading device 100 during sleep and operation, and by selecting a network mode with a better success rate (i.e., selecting the optimal mobile communication network medium), a method for continuing data transmission, improving firmware update efficiency, reading changing data to reduce the time spent reading data and shortening the overall transmission time, etc., the operating time of the meter reading device 100 is shortened from 11.9 seconds to 8.56 seconds, thereby saving internal battery power consumption, extending the service life, and reducing the cost of future battery replacement. If a meter reading device 100 transmits data too frequently due to communication environment factors, the system can collect local mobile network communication quality data, retransmission counts, and successful transmission times, and use a continuously trained and optimized optimal transmission time estimation model to estimate the optimal transmission time. This can help identify the optimal transmission time for the meter reading device 100 to transmit data, reduce the number of retransmission attempts, and minimize excess battery power consumption.

Based on the above, the present invention provides an energy-saving meter reading and transmission system and method. When a meter reading device with limited battery sends meter reading data back to a back-end management platform, it can not only select the optimal mobile communication network medium to upload or receive data according to the mobile communication quality data of the terminal device deployment location, but also use the file transmission method to improve the efficiency of firmware update and read the changing data to reduce the time spent on reading data. In addition, it can use the best transmission time estimated by continuous training optimization. A calculation model is used to estimate the transmission time with the highest data upload success rate. This allows the optimal transmission time for meter reading devices to be determined, thereby improving the data transmission success rate and reducing the chance of retransmissions, thereby lowering the power consumption of the meter reading devices. This allows the meter reading devices to efficiently read data and exchange information with the backend management platform without consuming too much power, achieving the goal of maintaining normal operation of the meter reading devices for a long time after installation without replacing their batteries.

Although the present invention has been disclosed above by way of embodiments, they are not intended to limit the present invention. Any person having ordinary skill in the art may make slight modifications and improvements without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention shall be determined by the scope of the attached patent application.

100: Meter Reading Device 200: Back-end Management Platform 300: Mobile Communication Network 400: Terminal Device 101: Processing Module 102: Communication Module 103: Meter Reading Module 104: Timing Module 105: Storage Module 106: Power Module 1011: Selection Unit 1012: Variable Data Reading Unit 1013: Transmission Unit S201, S202, S203, S204, S205, S206, S207, S208, S209, S210, S211, S212, S213, S301, S302, S303, S304, S305, S306, S307, S308, S309, S310, S311, S401, S402, S403, S404, S405, S406, S407, S408, S409, S410, S411: Steps

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of an energy-saving meter reading and feedback system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a processing module according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 3 is a flow chart of a meter reading device performing a meter reading operation and uploading meter reading data according to a first embodiment of the present invention. Figure 4 is a flow chart of a meter reading device uploading meter reading data according to a second embodiment of the present invention. Figure 5 is a flow chart of a meter reading device performing a firmware update according to an embodiment of the present invention.

100: Meter reading equipment

200: Backend Management Platform

300: Mobile communication network

400:Terminal equipment

101: Processing Module

102: Communication Module

103: Meter Reading Module

104: Timing Module

105: Storage Module

106: Power module

Claims (8)

An energy-saving meter reading and feedback system includes: a terminal device; and a meter reading device electrically connected to the terminal device, wherein the meter reading device includes: a power module for providing a power voltage to the meter reading device; a communication module, wherein the communication module is connected to a back-end management platform via a mobile communication network; a processing module electrically connected to the communication module, wherein the processing module includes: a selection unit for selecting an optimal mobile communication network medium from a plurality of mobile communication network media of the mobile communication network according to a network access success rate, and transmitting the data to the back-end management platform via the optimal mobile communication network medium. The meter reading module receives a meter reading instruction transmitted by the back-end management platform; and the meter reading module is electrically connected to the processing module, and is used to perform a meter reading operation on the terminal device according to the meter reading instruction to obtain meter reading data after receiving the meter reading instruction from the processing module, and transmit the meter reading data to the back-end management platform via the optimal mobile communication network medium, wherein the operation of the meter reading module transmitting the meter reading data to the back-end management platform via the optimal mobile communication network medium further includes: when the meter reading device fails to transmit the meter reading data to the back-end management platform, The meter reading device retransmits the meter reading data to the back-end management platform until the meter reading data is successfully transmitted to the back-end management platform; the meter reading device records the number of retransmissions of the meter reading data to the back-end management platform until the meter reading data is successfully transmitted to the back-end management platform and the transmission time of each retransmission of the meter reading data to the back-end management platform by the meter reading device; the meter reading device transmits the number of retransmissions and the transmission time to the back-end management platform; the back-end management platform obtains the number of retransmissions of the meter reading data to the back-end management platform by the meter reading device platform until the meter reading data is successfully transmitted to the mobile communication network quality data of the back-end management platform; the back-end management platform estimates the optimal transmission time for the meter reading device to transmit the meter reading data to the back-end management platform based on the number of retransmissions, the transmission time, the mobile communication network quality data, and the optimal transmission time estimation model; the back-end management platform transmits the optimal transmission time to the meter reading device; and the meter reading device transmits the meter reading data to the back-end management platform based on the optimal transmission time and via the optimal mobile communication network medium. The energy-saving meter reading feedback system as described in claim 1, wherein the meter reading device further includes: a timing module electrically connected to the processing module for performing a timing operation so that the meter reading device transmits the meter reading data to the back-end management platform according to the optimal transmission time. The energy-saving meter reading feedback system as described in claim 1, wherein the processing module further includes: a variable data reading unit electrically connected to the selection unit, for reading variable data when performing the meter reading operation, wherein the variable data is the meter reading data. The energy-saving meter reading feedback system as described in claim 3, wherein when the meter reading device receives a firmware update command transmitted by the back-end management platform, it receives firmware update data from the back-end management platform via the mobile communication network. The processing module further includes: a transmission continuation unit electrically connected to the variable data reading unit, which is used to continue receiving the firmware update data that was not received by the meter reading device before the disconnection from the mobile communication network when the connection is restored after the meter reading device is disconnected from the mobile communication network, from the back-end management platform using a transmission continuation method. The energy-saving meter reading feedback system as described in claim 1, wherein the meter reading device further includes: a storage module electrically connected to the processing module and the meter reading module, respectively, for storing the meter reading data, device data of the meter reading device, the number of retransmissions, and the transmission time. An energy-saving meter reading and feedback method is applied to an energy-saving meter reading and feedback system including a terminal device, a meter reading device, and a back-end management platform that is communicatively connected to the meter reading device via a mobile communication network. The method comprises: providing a power voltage to the meter reading device; selecting an optimal mobile communication network medium from multiple mobile communication network media based on the network access success rate; receiving a meter reading instruction transmitted from the back-end management platform to the meter reading device via the optimal mobile communication network medium; and The meter reading device performs a meter reading operation on the terminal device according to the meter reading instruction to obtain meter reading data, and transmits the meter reading data to the back-end management platform via the optimal mobile communication network medium, wherein the step of the meter reading device transmitting the meter reading data to the back-end management platform via the optimal mobile communication network medium further includes: when the meter reading device fails to transmit the meter reading data to the back-end management platform, the meter reading device retransmits the meter reading data to the back-end management platform until the meter reading data is successfully transmitted. The meter reading device retransmits the meter reading data to the back-end management platform until the meter reading data is successfully transmitted to the back-end management platform; the number of retransmissions and the transmission time of each retransmission of the meter reading data to the back-end management platform are recorded; the number of retransmissions and the transmission time are transmitted to the back-end management platform; the back-end management platform obtains the meter reading data retransmitted by the meter reading device to the back-end management platform until the meter reading data is successfully transmitted to the back-end management platform. The back-end management platform estimates the optimal transmission time for the meter reading device to transmit the meter reading data to the back-end management platform based on the number of retransmissions, the transmission time, the mobile communication network quality data, and the optimal transmission time estimation model; the back-end management platform transmits the optimal transmission time to the meter reading device; and the meter reading device transmits the meter reading data to the back-end management platform via the optimal mobile communication network medium based on the optimal transmission time. An energy-saving meter reading feedback method as described in claim 6, wherein the method further includes: when the meter reading device receives a firmware update command transmitted by the back-end management platform, receiving firmware update data from the back-end management platform via the mobile communication network; and after the meter reading device is disconnected from the mobile communication network and the connection is restored, using a retransmission method to continue to receive the firmware update data that was not received before the meter reading device was disconnected from the mobile communication network from the back-end management platform. The energy-saving meter reading feedback method as described in claim 6 further includes: storing the meter reading data, the device data of the meter reading device, the retransmission number and the transmission time in the meter reading device.