Automated discovery of devices in large utility monitoring systems

• US 20090287803A1
• Filed: 05/13/2008
• Published: 11/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Square D Company (Schneider Electric SE)
• Original Assignee: Square D Company (Schneider Electric SE)
• Inventors: Bickel, Jon A., McQuillan, Jayme
• Granted Patent: US 8,150,950 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/222
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/004 Remote reading of utility meters to a fixed location
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 90/20 Smart grids as enabling technology in buildings sector smart grids supporting the management or operation of end-user stationary applications in general, or like technologies with no associated climate change mitigation effect Y04S20/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/30 Smart metering, e.g. specially adapted for remote reading

Abstract

An auto-discovery algorithm attempts a scattered-read of register addresses of a device in a utility monitoring system whose identity is unknown to a computer system. If the scattered read is successful, and data from the device includes a device ID code that is matched against a lookup table of devices. If unsuccessful, the algorithm attempts a block-read, and if unsuccessful, iteratively checks each register against the lookup table to determine whether a match exists until either one is found or the device reports an illegal data address exception, whereupon the algorithm stops attempting to read from subsequent addresses. The algorithm analyzes the response from the communications driver of the computer system to determine whether the response is valid, and if not, what type of exception is reported. If a timeout occurs, the algorithm flags the device for a later retry scan, and moves on to attempt to discover the next device.

Claims

1. An automated-discovery method of a utility monitoring system including a plurality of devices in communication with a remote central computer system, comprising:

attempting to read, in a single operation, from a plurality of addresses of a memory in at least one of the devices to ascertain its identity;

responsive to the attempting to read, determining whether a received response is valid;

responsive to the received response being valid and indicating a successful read of the plurality of memory addresses, determining whether any of the plurality of memory addresses includes identification information indicative of an identity of the at least one device;

responsive to the response being invalid, determining whether the invalid response corresponds to an exception;

based on the exception type, determining whether to continue attempting to read from the memory of the at least one device; and

responsive to an address of the plurality of memory addresses including the identification information, storing the identification information in the central computer system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the attempting to read includes attempting to block read and wherein the plurality of addresses is a block of addresses starting with an initial address.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the attempting to read includes attempting to scattered read and wherein at least some of the plurality of addresses are non-consecutive.

4. The method of claim 1, responsive to the response being a timeout, further comprising:

flagging the at least one device with a flag;

reattempting to read from the at least one device; and

responsive to the storing, clearing the flag associated with the at least one device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring system is a utility monitoring system and wherein at least some of the plurality of devices include at least one of power meters, circuit monitors, or trip units.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the exception type is an illegal data address, the method further comprising:

storing in the central computer system a list of memory addresses to read;

determining which memory address of the memory of the at least one device caused the illegal data address exception, and, responsive thereto, removing all memory addresses higher than the memory address that caused the illegal data address exception from the list of the memory addresses to read.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a scan priority list identifying addresses of memory locations associated with different device types of the plurality of devices; and

responsive to the storing, reprioritizing the scan priority list such that the address of the memory location associated with the at least one device has a higher position in the scan priority list.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the plurality of devices communicate data according to a Modbus TCP/IP protocol.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the utility monitoring system includes a gateway for converting between the Modbus TCP/IP protocol and an Ethernet protocol.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the response includes receiving the response from the at least one device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the central computer system communicates with the at least one device according to an Ethernet protocol.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the utility monitoring system is a power monitoring system.

13. A method of determining identities of a plurality of devices that communicate is with a central computer system in a utility monitoring system, comprising:

attempting to scattered read from a plurality of memory addresses of a memory in a first of the plurality of devices;

receiving at the central computer system a response;

responsive to the scattered read being successful, determining whether any of the plurality of memory addresses includes identification information indicative of an identity of the first device;

responsive to the scattered read being unsuccessful, attempting to block read from a block of memory addresses of the memory;

responsive to the block read being successful, determining whether the block of memory addresses includes the identification information;

responsive to the block read being unsuccessful, reading from each memory address of the memory in seriatim until the identification information is read or until there are no further memory addresses in the memory to be read;

determining whether the response is an exception or an error;

responsive to the response being a timeout, flagging the first device for a later read attempt;

responsive to the flagging, attempting to read from a memory address of a memory in a second of the plurality of devices; and

storing the identification information associated with the first device in the central computer system.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein at least some of the plurality of devices communicate data according to a Modbus TCP/IP protocol.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the central computer system communicates with the first device according to an Ethernet protocol, wherein the utility monitoring system is a power monitoring system, and wherein at least some of the plurality of devices include at least one of power meters, circuit monitors, or trip units.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the utility monitoring system includes a gateway for converting between the Modbus TCP/IP protocol and the Ethernet protocol.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the exception type is an illegal data address, the method further comprising:

storing in the central computer system a list of memory addresses to read;

determining which memory address of the memory of the first device caused the illegal data address exception, and, responsive thereto, removing all memory addresses higher than the memory address that caused the illegal data address exception from the list of the memory addresses.