METHOD FOR ADDRESSING A TERMINAL

Abstract

A method for addressing a terminal, preferably a meter, of a group of terminals, includes providing a primary wireless communication channel between a gateway and the respective terminal, assigned to the gateway, of a wireless communication system, preferably a wireless MBus communication system. In order to improve the primary communication, the gateway is assigned a sub-network which is formed of the gateway in question and at least one terminal, preferably a group of terminals. A terminal network address is generated for each terminal assigned to the gateway of the sub-network, and the terminal network address is used to transfer data in the primary communication channel between the gateway and terminals assigned to the gateway.

Claims

1. A method for addressing a terminal, or a consumption meter, of a group of terminals, the method comprising: providing a primary wireless communication channel between a gateway and a respective terminal, assigned to the gateway, of a wireless communication system or a wireless MBus communication system; assigning to the gateway a sub-network formed by the gateway and at least one terminal or a group of terminals; generating a terminal network address for each terminal assigned to the gateway of the sub-network; and using the terminal network address to transmit data in the primary communication channel between the gateway and the terminal devices assigned to the gateway.

2. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises, in continuous operation, using the terminal network address instead of a standardized address of the wireless communication system.

3. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises providing the terminal network address with a lower number of bytes than a standardized address of the wireless communication system for a terminal.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the terminal network address is shorter than 8 bytes.

5. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises providing the respective terminal network address of each terminal with a primary sub-network address and a meter address.

6. The method according to claim 5, which further comprises providing the primary sub-network address with a length of 1 byte.

7. The method according to claim 6, which further comprises providing the meter address with a length of 2 bytes.

8. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises providing the respective terminal network address of each terminal with a gateway address.

9. The method according to claim 5, which further comprises forming a primary network address from the primary sub-network address and the meter address.

10. The method according to claim 9, which further comprises assigning the terminal network address or the meter address or the primary network address only once within a sub-network.

11. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises using the gateway to generate the terminal network address.

12. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises using the gateway to generate the terminal network address when the gateway is paired with the terminal.

13. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises: providing a tertiary communication channel between the gateway and a headend; and in the headend, assigning data of the terminals transmitted through the tertiary communication channel to the headend based on the terminal network address.

14. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises, in the gateway, assigning the data received from the gateway based on the terminal network address.

15. The method according to claim 13, which further comprises basing the assignment on a combination of a gateway address and a primary network address or a primary sub-network address.

16. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises using the terminal network address in the primary communication channel in both directions.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0025] FIG. 1 is a greatly simplified block diagram of an example of the addressing concept according to the present invention;

[0026] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a terminal network address as it is used in the method according to the invention; and

[0027] FIG. 3 is a greatly simplified block diagram of another example of the addressing concept according to the present invention, in which a terminal of a sub-network is within the range of a gateway of another sub-network.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0028] Referring now to the figures of the drawings in detail and first, particularly, to FIG. 1 thereof, there is seen a communication structure of a generic wireless communication system for wireless communication between terminals 1-1, 1-M, e.g. permanently installed consumption meters for water, heat, gas or electricity, which communicate with a headend 3 through a wireless communication system, in particular a wireless MBus communication system, through gateways 2-1, 2-N. The wireless communication channel between the respective terminal, e.g. 1-1, and the associated gateway, e.g. 2-1, is called the primary communication channel 4. The communication channel between the respective gateway, e.g. 2-1, and the headend 3 is called the tertiary communication channel 5.

[0029] The respective data is provided in the form of data messages in the terminals 1-1, 1-M and is divided into individual data packets for transmission along the primary communication channel 4. After receipt, the data packets are recombined in the gateway to produce the data message. Alternatively, the data messages can also be transferred as they are, i.e. completely, to the gateway. The primary communication channel 4 is usually a narrow-band radio channel.

[0030] The data can be transmitted onward from the respective gateway 2-1, 2-N, through a WAN (e.g. the internet) to the headend 3. For example, the headend 3 is operated by a supplier of water, heat, gas and/or electricity.

[0031] A downlink transmission of data from the headend 3 to the respective gateway 2-1, 2-N as well as on to the respective terminal 1-1, 1-M can also take place, for example, for the transmission of certain commands or in the case of required software updates.

[0032] Within the overall system, each gateway 2-1, 2-N has its own address (e.g. MAC address) and each terminal 1-1, 1-M also has a unique, manufacturer-independent address in the communication system. For example, in OMS a terminal 1-1, 1-M has an 8-byte address, due to the so-called M-field (2 bytes) and A-field (6 bytes) (EN13757-4). This address is unique worldwide.

[0033] The respective terminal 1-1, 1-M retains this (unique) address thereafter. However, in the method according to the invention, a further “shorter” address is also assigned, which is then used in the primary communication, i.e. in continuous operation, between the relevant gateway, e.g. 2-1, and the associated terminals 1-1, 1-M, preferably in both directions. This is a terminal network address 7-1, 7-M, which is assigned for each terminal 1-1, 1-M within a sub-network 6-1, 6-L of the associated gateway 2-1, 2-N. The terminal network address 7-1, 7-M is assigned by the gateway, for example 2-1, of the relevant sub-network, for example 6-1, when pairing the relevant terminal, for example 7-1, with the gateway, for example 2-1.

[0034] FIG. 2 shows how the terminal network address 7-1, 7-M is structured. It includes a primary sub-network address PSA, which identifies the respective sub-network 6-1, 6-L. For example, the primary sub-network address PSA is 1 byte long. Furthermore, the terminal network address 7-1, 7-M includes a primary host address PHA which identifies the relevant terminal 1-1, 1-M within the sub-network and preferably has a length of 2 bytes. Within the respective sub-network 6-1, 6-L, the primary host address PHA may only be assigned once. The primary sub-network address PSA and the primary host address jointly form the primary network address PNA, which is therefore only 3 bytes long, for example, i.e. much shorter than the 8-byte (unique) address of the terminal in the standard.

[0035] The gateway address uniquely identifies a specific gateway 2-1, 2-N in the overall system. For example, a MAC address can be used as the gateway address. A combination of gateway address and terminal network address 7-1, 7-M or primary network address PNA thus uniquely identifies a terminal in the overall system (primary and tertiary communication).

[0036] Each gateway 2-1, 2-N is thus assigned the respective sub-network 6-1, 6-L through the primary sub-network address PSA. The primary sub-network address PSA does not need to be unique. However, it should be ensured that the sub-networks are located physically far enough apart from each other that a meter cannot be located in two sub-networks. The address range offers 255 possible sub-networks, which is more than sufficient for all known fixed networks.

[0037] Each terminal 7-1, 7-M is thus assigned to a gateway, e.g. 2-1, and thus to a fixed network, e.g. 6-1. When the gateway 2-1 is first paired with the meter 7-1, the gateway assigns the primary host address PHA for the relevant terminal. Together with the primary sub-network address PSA, the primary network address PNA is formed and assigned to the meter, e.g. 7-1, as a short address. Mapping from the wireless MBus to PNA in the gateway is possible at any time.

[0038] In the example shown in FIG. 3, the meter 7-M is accessible not only from the gateway 2-1 but also from the gateway 2-2. The gateway 2-2 forwards the data received from the meter 7-M to the headend 3 in the uplink. On the basis of the known network structure, the headend 3 can correlate the primary network address PNA with the standardized (i.e. unique) meter address of the communication protocol (e.g. MBus address with a length of 8 bytes).

[0039] In the example shown in FIG. 3, the meter 7-M is within range of gateway 2-1 and gateway 2-2. However, the terminal 7-M is assigned to the gateway 2-1 and from this it has the primary sub-network address PSA=1 (sub-network 6-1) and the primary host address PHA=7777 (terminal 7-M). The primary network address PNA is therefore 1-7777. The gateway 2-1 can uniquely identify the meter 7-M at any time using the pairing. The gateway 2-2 has no knowledge of the pairing of the terminal 7-M with the gateway 2-1. However, the gateway 2-2 uses the primary sub-network address PSA to detect that the terminal 7-M is in a different sub-network (sub-network 6-1) than the sub-network 6-2. If the gateway 2-2 forwards the data or messages from the terminal 7-M to the headend 3, the headend 3 detects that the primary sub-network address PSA and the gateway address do not match. Using the network structure, the primary sub-network address PSA can then be correlated with the gateway 2-1.

[0040] Alternatively or in addition, an assignment (correlation) can also take place in the gateway 2-1, 2-N. If the gateway 2-1, 2-N knows its primary sub-network address PSA, it can independently assign primary network addresses PNA to terminals 1-1, 1-M and correlate them.

[0041] The following is a summary list of reference numerals and the corresponding structure used in the above description of the invention.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0042] 1-1, 1-M terminal [0043] 2-1, 2-N gateway [0044] headend [0045] primary communication channel [0046] tertiary communication channel [0047] 6-1, 6-L sub-network [0048] 7-1, 7-M terminal network address [0049] PHA primary host address [0050] PNA primary network address [0051] PSA primary sub-network address