HIGH PRIORITY DATA READS FOR ACQUISITION OF REAL-TIME DATA IN WIRELESS MESH NETWORK

• US 20110188444A1
• Filed: 01/28/2011
• Published: 08/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Elster Solutions LLC (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Elster Solutions LLC (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Borleske, Andrew J., Mason, Robert T. JR.
• Application Number:
  US13/015,780
• Publication Number:
  US 20110188444A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/315
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 2204/45 Utility meters networked together within a single building
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/002 Remote reading of utility meters
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/004 Remote reading of utility meters to a fixed location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/04 based on wireless node resources
• 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

A wireless mesh network, method, and processor-readable storage medium for operating a network that has a control node that communicates with a plurality of communication nodes are disclosed herein. The control node schedules time-limited sample windows and only collects data that is designated as having a priority, such as voltage data, during those scheduled sample windows. Because the sample window has a defined end point time, the reading software that executes at the head end and that reads data from the collector can follow a known schedule because, by definition, the collector will already be finished collecting priority data when the sample window expires.

Claims

1. A wireless network comprising:

a control node; and

a plurality of communication nodes in wireless communication with the control node, each of the communication nodes having a wireless communication path to the control node that is either a direct path or an indirect path through one or more other communication nodes that serve as repeaters,

wherein the control node is configured to schedule sample time windows for collecting data that is designated as having a priority and to initiate a request to the communication nodes for the data that is designated as having a priority only during the scheduled sample time windows.

2. The wireless network of claim 1, wherein the control node is configured to, during a scheduled sample time window:

attempt to collect the data from a communication node using a primary communication path without using any application level retry attempts; and

if the communication node has not responded to the attempt to collect the data, then attempt to collect the data from the communication node using the primary communication path a number of times that does not exceed a maximum number of application level retry attempts using the primary communication path.

3. The wireless network of claim 2, wherein the control node is further configured to, during the scheduled sample time window:

if the communication node has not responded to the attempt to collect the data using the primary communication path, then attempt to collect the data from the communication node using an alternative communication path a number of times that does not exceed a maximum number of attempts using the alternative communication path.

4. The wireless network of claim 1, wherein the control node is configured to, during a scheduled sample time window:

attempt to collect the data from a communication node using a primary communication path;

if the communication node has not responded to the attempt to collect the data using the primary communication path, then attempt to collect the data from the communication node using an alternative communication path; and

if the communication node has not responded to the attempts to collect the data using the primary communication path and the alternative communication path, then attempt to collect the data from the communication node, alternating between using the primary communication path and using the secondary communication path a number of times that does not exceed a maximum number of attempts.

5. The wireless network of claim 1, wherein a head end device reads the collected data from the control node when the scheduled sample time window expires.

6. The wireless network of claim 5, wherein the control node notifies the head end device if the control node has collected data from all of the communication nodes in wireless communication with the control node.

7. The wireless network of claim 1, wherein the data that is designated as having a priority comprises voltage data.

8. In a network having a control node that communicates with a plurality of communication nodes, wherein each of the communication nodes has a wireless communication path to the control node that is either a direct path or an indirect path through one or more other communication nodes that serve as repeaters, a method of operating the network, the method comprising causing the control node to:

schedule sample time windows for collecting data that is designated as having a priority;

during a scheduled sample time window, attempt to collect the data from a communication node using a primary communication path without using any application level retry attempts; and

during the scheduled sample time window, if the communication node has not responded to the attempt to collect the data, then attempt to collect the data from the communication node using the primary communication path a number of times that does not exceed a maximum number of application level retry attempts using the primary communication path.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising causing the control node to, during the scheduled sample time window:

if the communication node has not responded to the attempt to collect the data using the primary communication path, then attempt to collect the data from the communication node using an alternative communication path a number of times that does not exceed a maximum number of attempts using the alternative communication path.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising causing the control node to, during a scheduled sample time window:

attempt to collect the data from a communication node using a primary communication path;

if the communication node has not responded to the attempt to collect the data using the primary communication path, then attempt to collect the data from the communication node using an alternative communication path; and

if the communication node has not responded to the attempts to collect the data using the primary communication path and the alternative communication path, then attempt to collect the data from the communication node, alternating between using the primary communication path and using the secondary communication path a number of times that does not exceed a maximum number of attempts.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising using a head end device to read the collected data from the control node when the scheduled sample time window expires.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising causing the control node to notify the head end device if the control node has collected data from all of the communication nodes in wireless communication with the control node.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the data that is designated as having a priority comprises voltage data.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising repeating, for other communication nodes of the plurality of communication nodes, the steps of causing the control node to attempt to collect the data from a communication node using a primary communication path without using any retry attempts and causing the control node to attempt to collect the data from the communication node using the primary communication path a number of times that does not exceed a maximum number of retry attempts using the primary communication path.

15. A processor-readable storage medium storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to operate a wireless mesh network having a control node that communicates with a plurality of communication nodes, wherein each of the communication nodes has a wireless communication path to the control node that is either a direct path or an indirect path through one or more other communication nodes that serve as repeaters, the processor-executable instructions comprising instructions for causing the control node to:

schedule sample time windows for collecting data that is designated as having a priority;

during a scheduled sample time window, attempt to collect the data from a communication node using a primary communication path without using any application level retry attempts; and

during the scheduled sample time window, if the communication node has not responded to the attempt to collect the data, then attempt to collect the data from the communication node using the primary communication path a number of times that does not exceed a maximum number of application level retry attempts using the primary communication path.

16. The processor-readable storage medium of claim 15, further storing processor-executable instructions for causing the control node to, during the scheduled sample time window:

if the communication node has not responded to the attempt to collect the data using the primary communication path, then attempt to collect the data from the communication node using an alternative communication path a number of times that does not exceed a maximum number of attempts using the alternative communication path.

17. The processor-readable storage medium of claim 15, further storing processor-executable instructions for causing the control node to, during a scheduled sample time window:

attempt to collect the data from a communication node using a primary communication path;

if the communication node has not responded to the attempt to collect the data using the primary communication path, then attempt to collect the data from the communication node using an alternative communication path; and

if the communication node has not responded to the attempts to collect the data using the primary communication path and the alternative communication path, then attempt to collect the data from the communication node, alternating between using the primary communication path and using the secondary communication path a number of times that does not exceed a maximum number of attempts.

18. The processor-readable storage medium of claim 15, further storing processor-executable instructions for causing a head end device to read the collected data from the control node when the scheduled sample time window expires.

19. The processor-readable storage medium of claim 18, further storing processor-executable instructions for causing the control node to notify the head end device if the control node has collected data from all of the communication nodes in wireless communication with the control node.

20. The processor-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the data that is designated as having a priority comprises voltage data.