外文翻译自动抄表系统.docx

外文翻译自动抄表系统.docx

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外文翻译自动抄表系统

英文原文：

Automaticmeterreadingsystem

Thepresentinventionrelatestoautomaticmeterreading.Moreparticularly,thepresentinventionrelatestoanautomatedsystemforremotelymonitoringapluralityofutilitymetersoncommandfromahostserverviaanRFoutboundbroadcast.

BACKGROUNDOFTHEINVENTION

Historically,metersmeasuringelectricalenergy,waterflow,gasusage,andthelikehaveusedmeasurementdevices,whichmechanicallymonitorthesubscriber'susageanddisplayareadingoftheusageatthemeteritself.Consequently,thereadingofthesemetershasrequiredthathumanmeterreadersphysicallygotothesiteofthemeterandmanuallydocumentthereadings.Clearly,thisapproachreliesveryheavilyonhumaninterventionand,thus,isverycostly,time-consuming,andpronetohumanerror.Asthenumberofmetersinatypicalutility'sserviceregionhasincreased,insomecasesintothemillions,humanmeterreadinghasbecomeprohibitiveintermsoftimeandmoney.

Inresponse,varioussensingdeviceshavebeendevelopedtoautomaticallyreadutilitymetersandstorethemeterdataelectronically.Thesesensingdevices,usuallyoptical,magnetic,orphotoelectricinnature,arecoupledtothemetertorecordthemeterdata.Additionally,themetershavebeenequippedwithradiofrequency（RF）transceiversandcontroldeviceswhichenablethemeterstotransmitmeterdataoveranRFlinkwhenrequestedtodoso.Hand-helddeviceshavebeendevelopedwhichincludeRFtransceiversdesignedtointerfacewiththemeters'RFtransceivers.Thesehand-helddevicesenablethehumanmeterreadertosimplywalkbythemeter'slocation,transmitareadingrequestoveranRFlinkfromthehand-helddevicetothemeter'sreceivingdevice,waitforaresponsefromthemeter'ssensingandtransmittingdevice,andthenrecord,manuallyorelectronically,themeterdata.

Similarly,meterreadingdeviceshavebeendevelopedfordrive-byreadingsystems.UtilityvansareequippedwithRFtransceiverssimilartothosedescribedinthehand-heldexampleabove.Thehumanmeterreaderdrivesbythesubscriber'slocation,withanautomatedreadingsystemintheutilityvan.Again,themetersarecommandedtoreportthemeterdata,whichisreceivedinthevanviaanRFlink,wherethedataisrecordedelectronically.Whilethismethodologyimprovesuponthepreviousapproaches,itstillrequiresasignificantamountofhumaninterventionandtime.

Recently,therehasbeenaconcertedefforttoaccomplishmeterreadingbyinstallingfixedcommunicationnetworksthatwouldallowdatatoflowfromthemeterallthewaytothehostsystemwithouthumanintervention.Thesefixedcommunicationsnetworkscanoperateusingwirelineorradiotechnology.

FIG.1showsaconventionalfixedcommunicationnetworkforautomatedmeterreading（AMR）technology.AsshowninFIG.1,afixedcommunicationnetworkhavingwirelinetechnologyinwhichutilitymeters10areconnectedtoawideareanetwork（WAN）consistingofasuitablecommunicationsmedium,includingordinarytelephonelines,orthepowerlinesthatfeedthemetersthemselves.

Onedisadvantageofthisapproachhasbeenthatwhenanumberofmeterstransmitmeterdatanearlysimultaneously,theinherentlatencyonthewideareanetworkresultsinpacketcollisions,lostdata,garbleddata,andgeneraldegradationofintegrityacrossthesystem.Tocompensateforthecollisionsandinterferencebetweendatapackagesdestinedforthecentralcomputer,duetothelatencyinherentintheWAN,variousmanagementschemeshavebeenemployedtoensurereliabledeliveryofthemeterdata.However,whilethisapproachmaybesuitableforsmallsystems,itdoesnotservetheneedsofautilitywhichmonitorsthousandsorevenmillionsofmeters.

InanattempttobettermanagethetrafficintheWAN,approacheshavebeendevelopedwhereinmetercontroldevicessimilartothosedescribedabovehavebeenprogrammedtotransmitmeterdatainresponsetocommandsreceivedfromthecentralcomputerviatheWAN.Bylimitingthenumberofmeterreadingcommandstransmittedatagiventime,thecentralcomputercontrolsthevolumeofdatatransmittedsimultaneously.However,theadditionalWANtrafficfurtheraggravatedthedegradationofdataintegrityduetovariousWANlatencyeffects.Thus,whiletheseapproachesmayservetoeliminatetheneedforhumanmeterreaders,relianceontheWANhasproventheseapproachestobeunsatisfactoryforservicingthenumberofmetersinthetypicalserviceregion.

Consequently,radiotechnologyhastendedtobethemediumofchoiceduetoitshigherdataratesandindependenceofthedistributionnetwork.ThelatestevolutionofautomatedmeterreadingsystemshavemadeuseofoutboundRFcommunicationsfromafixedsource（usuallytheutility'scentralstation）,directlytoRFreceiversmountedonthemeters.Themetersarealsoequippedwithcontroldeviceswhichinitiatethetransferofmeterdatawhencommandedtodosobythefixedsource.ThemetersrespondviaaWANasinthepreviouswire-basedexample.OnedisadvantageoftheseapproachesisthatthereisstillfartoomuchinterferenceontheWANwhenallofthemetersrespondataboutthesametime.Thus,whiletheseapproachesreducesomeoftheWANtraffic（byeliminatingoutboundcommandsovertheWAN）,theyarestillunabletoaccommodatethelargenumberofmetersbeingpolled.

Itisworthyofnotethatthewire-basedsystemstypicallyuseasinglefrequencychannelandallowtheimpedanceandtransfercharacteristicsofthetransformersinthesubstationtopreventinjectionequipmentinonestationfrominterferingwithreceiversinanotherstation.Thisbuilt-inisolationinthenetworkmakestimedivisionmultiplexinglesscriticalthanforradiobasedmeteringsystems.Typicalfixednetworkradiosystemsalsoutilizeasinglechanneltoreadallmetersbutthesystemsdonothaveanaturalblockingpointsimilartothesubstationtransformerutilizedbydistributionlinecarrier（DLC）networks.Also,thelatencyinherentintheWANhascontributedsignificantlytotheproblemsassociatedwithtimedivisionmultiplexingasinglefrequencycommunicationssystems.Asaresult,thesystemsrequiresophisticatedmanagementschemestotimedivisionmultiplexthechannelforoptimalutilization.

Therefore,aneedexiststoprovideasystemwherebyautilitycompanycanreliablyandrapidlyreadontheorderofonemillionmetersintheabsenceofanysignificanthumanintervention.Further,aneedexiststoprovidesuchasystemwhichaccommodateschangestothenetworkaswellaschangesinoperatingconditionswithoutsignificantdegradationofperformance.

SUMMARYOFTHEINVENTION

Thepresentinventionfulfillstheseneedsbyprovidinganautomatedmeterreadingsystemhavingahostserverinterfacedtoapluralityofnodes,eachnodecommunicatingwithanumberofutilitymeters.Inapreferredembodiment,thesystemhasaselectionmeansforselectingagroupofnoninterferingnodes;andanoutboundRFbroadcastchannelfromthehostserverforcommunicatingwiththeselectedgrouptoinitiatethereadingofmetersthatcommunicatewiththosenodesandtheuploadingofmeterdataprovidedbythosemeterstothosenodes.ThisoutboundRFbroadcastchannelcanbeanexistingchannelcurrentlybeingusedfordemandsidemanagement.Inapreferredembodiment,thesystemalsohasatwo-waycommunicationlinkoverawideareanetworkbetweenthehostserverandeachofthenodes.Inamorepreferredembodiment,thehostserverreceivesmeterdatareadfromatleastonemillionmetersinnomorethanaboutfiveminutes.

Inyetanotherpreferredembodiment,thesystemalsohasanumberofgateways,eachcommunicatingwithapluralityofnodes,groupedtoformsetsofnoninterferinggateways.Inthisembodiment,thesystemalsohasaselectionmeansforselectingoneofthesetsofnoninterferinggateways,andasecondoutboundRFbroadcastchannelfromthehostserverforcommunicatingwiththeselectedsettoinitiateuploadingofmeterdatafromtheselectedsettothehostserver.ThissecondoutboundRFbroadcastchannelcanbeanexistingchannelcurrentlybeingusedfordemandsidemanagement.

ThepresentinventionfurtherfulfillstheseneedsbyprovidingamethodforusinganoutboundRFchanneltoautomaticallyreadmeters.Inapreferredembodiment,themethodcomprisesthestepsof:

defininganumberofgroupsofnoninterferingnodes:

selectingafirstgroup;broadcastingareadcommandtoeachnodeinthefirstgroup;selectingasecondgroup;andbroadcastingareadcommandtoeachnodeinthesecondgroup.

Inanotherembodiment,themethodfurthercomprisesthestepsof:

readingmeterdata,inresponsetothereadcommand,fromeachmetercommunicatingwiththenodereceivingthereadcommand;recordingthemeterdatainadatastoragemeansassociatedwiththatnode;broadcastinganuploadmessagetoeachnodeinthefirstgroup;uploadingthemeterdatarecordedinthedatastoragemeansassociatedwiththenodesofthefirstgrouptothehostserver;broadcastinganuploadmessagetoeachnodeinthesecondgroup;anduploadingthemeterdatarecordedinthedatastoragemeansassociatedwithnodesofthesecondgrouptothehostserver.

Inyetanotherembodiment,atleastsomeofthenodescommunicatethroughoneofanumberofgatewaystothehostserver.Inthisembodiment,themethodfurthercomprisesthestepsof:

selectingafirstsetofnoninterferinggateways;broadcastinganuploadmessagetoeachgatewayinthefirstset;uploadingthemeterdatarecordedinthedatastoragemeansassociatedwiththenodesthatcommunicatewiththefirstsetofnoninterferinggatewaystothehostserver;selectingasecondset