Non real-time metrology data management

• US 9,027,035 B2
• Filed: 12/17/2012
• Issued: 05/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Itron, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Itron, Inc.
• Inventors: Whitfield, Samuel Lee, Barrett, Gregory Shane, Miller, Michael Clarence, Guthrie, Kevin David
• Primary Examiner(s): Dao, Tuan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wood, William C
• Application Number:
  US13/717,462
• Publication Number:
  US 20140173630A1
• Time in Patent Office: 869 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 719/314
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/548 Queue
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/28 in relation to timing considerations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/31 by tagging of packets, e.g. using discard eligibility [DE] bits

Abstract

The techniques described herein implement an operating system that can reliably process time sensitive information in non real-time manner. Thus, the operating system described herein is capable of processing an instance of time sensitive input during a time period after the instance of time sensitive input is received (e.g., at a future point in time). To accomplish this, the techniques timestamp each instance of time sensitive input when it is received at a device. The techniques then store the timestamped instance of time sensitive input in a temporary queue, and make the timestamped instance available to the operating system at a time period after the time period when it is received, as indicated by the timestamp. Additional techniques described herein prioritize the activation of a driver configured to receive the time sensitive information during a boot sequence or a reboot sequence.

Claims

1. A method of non real-time processing of metrology data comprising:

under control of one or more processors configured with executable instructions;

receiving a plurality of messages at a metering node from a sensor of the metering node, each message including metrology data;

associating a timestamp with each of the plurality of messages including the metrology data, the timestamp defining a time interval when a message is received;

storing each of the plurality of messages including the metrology data and the associated timestamp in a temporary queue;

determining another time interval after the time interval defined by the timestamp, the determining being at least partially based on an availability of processing resources; and

for each message, processing the metrology data during the other time interval after the time interval defined by the timestamp.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the metrology data for each message includes storing the metrology data in a database so that one or more processes can access the metrology data via the associated timestamp.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising removing each message from the temporary queue after processing the metrology data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the respective time intervals for the plurality of messages define a sequential period of time.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising processing the plurality of messages in an order based at least in part on the associated timestamps.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the temporary queue stores more than three messages.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the plurality of messages from a plurality of metering nodes via one or more communication protocols.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the metrology data in each message includes one or more defined fields, each field including a value measured at the metering node and/or a value calculated at the metering node.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating the timestamp with each of the plurality of messages occurs when a first piece of data for the respective message is received.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating the timestamp with each of the plurality of messages occurs when a last piece of data for the respective message is received.

11. One or more computer readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, perform operations to implement non real-time processing of metrology data comprising:

receiving first metrology data from a metering node;

determining a first time period when the metrology data is received, and associating first timing information defining the first time period with the first metrology data;

storing the first metrology data and the first timing information in a temporary queue for later processing;

receiving second metrology data from the metering node;

determining a second time period when the second metrology data is received, and associating second timing information defining the second time period with the second metrology data;

storing the second metrology data and the second timing information in the temporary queue for later processing; and

accessing the temporary queue to sequentially process, based on the first timing information and the second timing information, the first metrology data and the second metrology data during a third time period after the first time period and the second time period.

12. The one or more computer readable media of claim 11, wherein sequentially processing the first metrology data and the second metrology data includes storing the first metrology data and the second metrology data in a database so that one or more processes can access the first metrology data and the second metrology data based on the first timing information and the second timing information, respectively.

13. The one or more computer readable media of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise removing the first metrology data and the second metrology data from the temporary queue after processing the first metrology data and the second metrology data.

14. The one or more computer readable media of claim 11, wherein each of the first the metrology data and the second metrology data includes one or more defined fields, each field including a time dependent value.

15. A system comprising:

a metering node of a communication network, the metering node comprising;

one or more processors;

memory; and

a driver, stored in the memory and operated by the one or more processors, that;

receives a plurality of instances of time sensitive information including metrology data from a sensor of the metering node or from one or more other nodes;

associates a timestamp with each instance of time sensitive information including metrology data, wherein the timestamp defines a time when each instance of time sensitive information including metrology data is received;

stores each timestamped instance of time sensitive information including metrology data in a temporary queue; and

allows access to the temporary queue so that the plurality of timestamped instances of time sensitive information including metrology data can be processed at another time after the respective time each instance of time sensitive information is received.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more other nodes comprise metering nodes that obtain the metrology data as the time sensitive information.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

a metrology processing module, stored in the memory and operable by the one or more processors, that requests access to the temporary queue and exports the plurality of timestamped instances of time sensitive information from the temporary queue to a system database where one or more processes can access the time sensitive information to perform a non real-time calculation.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the driver partitions the plurality of instances of time sensitive information based on a node identification associated with each of the one or more other nodes.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the plurality of timestamped instances of time sensitive information are separately processed based on the partitioning and the respective node identifications.