System for remotely inquiring about the amounts of energy consumed by consumers

The invention relates to a system for remotely querying the amounts of energy drawn from consumers, including energy consumption meters installed at each consumer and data transmission devices connected to them, as well as at least one data processing device with which the data transmission devices can be connected via signal transmission paths.

The invention further relates to a system for remotely querying the amounts of energy drawn from consumers, including energy consumption meters installed at each consumer, connected to data recording devices, which data recording devices are in turn connected to data transmission devices and at least one data processing device with which the data transmission devices are connected via signal transmission paths are bringable.

For energy markets in which there is only one energy provider and many energy consumers who have concluded energy purchase contracts with this one energy provider, it is already known to use energy meters whose meter reading can be queried remotely to record the amount of energy consumed by each consumer. The meter readings are transmitted here, for example, via the telephone or power lines from each consumer to the electricity provider, which saves staff for reading the meter readings on site.

Furthermore, heat meters that can be mounted on radiators are known, which are equipped with a radio transmitter module and which are recorded by you, ie The amount of heat consumed by the radiator on which they are attached is transmitted by radio to a meter reading device equipped with a radio receiver, which is brought close to the heat meter to record the meter readings (for example, by having an employee of the district heating provider through the with District heating-supplied roads).

Both of these known systems have the disadvantage that data exchange with the energy consumption meters is only possible over relatively short distances or The signal transmission routes (power lines, radio) used for this purpose are not standard transmission routes and therefore there are no technically simple and therefore cheap devices with which various people from the energy providers, in particular the owner of the energy consumption meter, can access the meter reading data.

EP-A2-940 967 describes a data receiving station which is connected to the Internet and can consequently send or receive data via the Internet. Furthermore, a communication device, which is designed as an Internet fax machine, for example, is described, which is also connected to the Internet and can exchange data via it.

US Pat. No. 5,541,589 describes a system for remote interrogation of the amounts of energy drawn by consumers. As can be seen from Fig.rf, this system initially includes the consumers, which are combined into several groups. A server is provided for each of these groups, to which the consumers of the group in question are connected via first data transmission links. The servers in turn are connected to a control center via second data transmission links. The data transmission links are formed by radio links.

An electronic device is installed at each consumer, which is connected to the energy consumption counter and records and stores the data supplied by this counter. The electronic device in question sends the current consumption meter reading to the server assigned to it after receiving a corresponding request. Upon receipt of a request in this regard, these servers forward the consumption data to the control center.

US Pat. No. 5,301,122 describes a system for monitoring and measuring the electrical energy consumed by individual devices in an electrical installation. The system comprises sensors installed in the devices to be monitored, which detect whether the device assigned to them is switched on. These sensors are connected to intermediate stations (isolation networks), which in turn are connected to local processors via cables. There is also a central computer (host computer) that communicates with the individual local processors via data modems. The information recorded by the sensors (which can only relate to the operating status of the monitored devices, ie information on whether they are switched on or off, or can be directly energy consumption data) is transmitted to the central computer via the intermediate stations. This central computer can thus calculate or receive the amount of energy consumed by the individual devices

AT 409 677 B supplied directly when using energy consumption sensors.

US Pat. No. 5,315,531 also describes a system for recording the electrical energy consumed by the individual consumers of an electrical installation. Measurement modules are provided that are connected to the terminals of the circuit breakers in the electrical installation (see FIGS. 3D and 4A). The power lines leading from these circuit breakers to the individual consumers are passed through the measuring modules. The measuring modules are equipped with circuits that measure the voltages applied to the power lines and the currents flowing in the power lines and can use this data to calculate the electrical energy currently being drawn from each consumer. As can be seen in particular from FIG. 12, the individual measuring modules are connected to a computer via two-wire lines, to which they transmit the energy consumption data determined. The energy consumption of each participant can be charged individually and the total amount consumed can be recorded. However, this total consumption recording is not intended to replace a conventional meter operated by the energy supplier; such a meter is still available and records the amount of energy consumed in parallel with the system presented by US Pat. No. 5,315,531. A forwarding of the consumption data from the computer to a clearing house of the energy supplier is not provided according to US Pat. No. 5,315,531.

WO 98/45717 relates to a system for remote inquiry of energy consumption data. As can be seen from Fig.la, several energy consumers, such as apartments, office buildings or the like, are provided, each of which is equipped with a consumption meter. These consumption meters are provided with reading devices which are in communication with an intermediate station. Furthermore, a control unit is provided for each energy consumer, which communicates wirelessly with devices installed within the premises of the relevant energy consumer. These devices can be smoke or other alarm sensors, for example, or a control / display unit with which counter readings can be read out / displayed on site or other devices designed as sensors can be checked.

The intermediate station is connected to at least one further intermediate station (base station), which forwards the data received from the first intermediate station (energy consumption data from the consumption meters and status data or alarm messages from the devices) to a central computer. As can be seen from page 9, lines 12-14, this central computer determines the energy consumption of the individual consumers and bills them.

WO 98/45717 shows the possibility of installing control units in the consumption meters with which electrical devices (sensors, control / display units) communicate. According to WO 98/45717, however, the data supplied by these devices are forwarded to the central computer (cf. Page 9, lines 5-7), which takes action according to the supplied sensor data, for example notifying the fire brigade or the police in the event of an alarm signal (page 9, lines 10-12).

The object of the present invention is to provide a system for remote inquiry of the amounts of energy drawn by consumers of the type specified at the beginning, in which the data transmission devices or data acquisition devices installed in the energy consumption meters can perform useful auxiliary functions for the consumers themselves.

According to the invention, this is achieved in a system of the type mentioned first in that the data transmission devices in addition to the one or the multiple inputs to which the energy consumption meter (s) are connected, have additional inputs and outputs for electrical / electronic sensor and actuator devices and are designed as control devices that control the actuator devices connected to their outputs Independently control the dependence of the states of the sensor devices connected to their inputs.

In a second type of system initially mentioned for remote interrogation of the amounts of energy drawn from consumers, this is achieved in that the data acquisition devices have additional inputs and outputs for electrical / electronic sensors and actuators in addition to the input to which the energy consumption meter is connected - have devices and are designed as control devices, which independently control the actuator devices connected to their outputs depending on the states of the sensor devices connected to their inputs.

The data transmission devices or the data acquisition devices can thus in addition to their

AT 409 677 B take on the actual task of transmitting the amount of energy consumed to control some electrical devices. This saves every consumer from having to purchase separate controls that are added to the data transmission devices that are already present.

In a system for remotely querying the amounts of energy drawn from consumers, including energy consumption meters installed at each consumer and data transmission devices connected to them, as well as at least one data processing device with which the data transmission devices can be connected via signal transmission paths, the energy drawn from the consumers is supplied by several energy providers, whereby each energy provider is assigned predetermined energy delivery time intervals with regard to each consumer, according to a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention it can be provided that the data transmission devices each have a timer and a memory in which a separate consumer assigned to this data transmission device for each energy provider Storage space allocated to the respective energy provider has been created, whereby in each storage location those energy consumption quantities are stored which were consumed by the respective consumer in time intervals which are assigned to the energy provider to which the relevant storage location is assigned.

In this way, the amount of energy consumed by each consumer can be recorded differently according to the various energy providers in a technically simple manner.

In the method according to the invention for the transmission of data in a system for remote querying of the amounts of energy drawn from consumers, including energy consumption meters installed at each consumer and data transmission devices connected to them, as well as at least one data processing device with which the data transmission devices can be connected via signal transmission paths, it is provided that each energy provider is assigned a specific access code, that when energy consumption quantities are requested by a data processing device, this access code is made known by the data processing device and that each data transmission device only transmits those energy consumption quantities that are assigned to that energy provider to which the access code contained in the request is assigned.

Offsetting errors of the kind that an energy provider offsets amounts of energy that were not supplied by them are effectively avoided.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention it can be provided that each owner of a data transmission device is assigned a specific access code, with which owner access code further data exchange authorizations are connected than with the access codes assigned to the energy providers that when data is requested from the data transmission device or data transmission device assigned to the respective owner When data is transmitted to this data transmission device, this owner access code is made known, and that each data transmission device carries out data exchanges that go beyond the information available to the energy providers regarding the amount of energy consumed, exclusively with the sender of the access code assigned to the owner of the respective data transmission device .

This opens up the possibility for the owner to exchange data with his data transmission device and thus to operate it remotely, although unauthorized access to the data transmission device is excluded.

In a method of the type just discussed, in which the signal transmission paths between the data processing devices and the data transmission devices are formed by Internet connections, it can be provided that at least one Internet server is provided, to which a group of data transmission devices can be connected, which Internet server is used for requests or Transmission of data from or checks the access code contained in these requests / transmissions to data transmission devices and causes the data transmission device in question to transmit / accept the data corresponding to this access code.

The checking of the access codes does not need to be carried out by each data transmission device itself, which means that the data transmission devices are relieved accordingly and can better use their capacities to fulfill the other functions assigned to them.

AT 409 677 B

In a further embodiment of the invention it can be provided that a configuration computer connected to the Internet is provided, which processes and forwards the data transmitted from or to the data transmission devices.

Such configuration computers can be designed with significantly greater storage capacity and computing speed than the data transmission devices, so that communication software installed on configuration computers can offer significantly greater ease of use than software installed on the data transmission devices.

It has proven advantageous that the access codes are formed by code data stored on hardware.

This access code system is more secure than an alternatively usable system based on manually entered character combinations.

In this context it can be provided that the access codes are formed by code data stored on smart cards.

This is a standard technology, which has the advantage that the components required for this (the smart cards themselves, the devices for writing and reading data from the smart cards, the interfaces used in such devices, etc.) are standard components available on the market. These standard components can be used unchanged in a system according to the invention, so no special components need to be developed and built, which would increase the overall production costs of the system according to the invention.

The invention is described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which particularly preferred exemplary embodiments are shown. It shows:

1 shows a block diagram of a first embodiment of the system according to the invention;

2 shows a block diagram of a data transmission device 4 of the system according to the invention, to which several energy consumption counters 3 and sensor and actuator devices 8-13 are connected;

3 shows a block diagram of a data transmission device 4, to which several energy consumption counters 3 are each connected via data acquisition devices 6;

4 shows a block diagram of a second embodiment of the system according to the invention;

5 shows the assemblies timer 15 and memory 16 contained in a data transmission device 4 in a schematic, block diagram-like representation and FIG

6 shows the memory 16 contained in a data transmission device 4 in a schematic, block diagram-like representation.

In Figure 1, several consumers 1 connected to an energy supply network are shown. These consumers 1 can be, for example, private households - as symbolized by the stylized houses - but also industrial consumers (factories), public buildings, etc.

Any type of energy offered by one or more energy producers, such as in particular electricity or district heating, can be conducted to the consumers via the energy supply network, which is not shown in detail.

The present invention resides in a system with which the amounts of energy that are consumed by the individual consumers 1 can be detected and queried remotely, ie can be forwarded to a central data processing device 2 - symbolically represented by a computer.

This central data processing device 2 is available from the provider of the energy consumed by the consumers 1 or from a billing company commissioned by the latter and is primarily used to bill the amounts of energy consumed by the individual consumers 1.

In the accompanying drawings, two configurations of the system according to the invention are shown, although the basic principle is the same, but different in terms of the number of energy providers.

In FIG. 1, a system according to the invention is first shown in which there is only one energy supplier and consequently only one data processing device 2, although there is a large number of consumers 1.

The system initially comprises energy meters 3 installed at each consumer 1, for example an electricity meter or a heat meter. Data transmission devices 4 are connected to each of these. The energy consumption meters 3 are designed so that they register5

AT 409 677 B te energy consumption is not simply displayed optically on a mechanical or electronic counter, as is the case with conventional meters, but is made available in the form of a data signal. This data signal is forwarded to the data transmission device 4 connected to the energy consumption meter 3.

The data transmission devices 4 are designed in such a way that they can further process the data signals relating to the energy consumption recorded by the energy consumption counters 3, in particular forward them to the data processing device 2. For this purpose, the data transmission devices 4 are formed by appropriately programmed microcomputer circuits.

Each data transmission device 4 can be brought into connection with the data processing device 2 via signal transmission paths 5, which are represented symbolically in the drawing figures with rectangles. These signal transmission links 5 can be designed in any way. One possibility is to form this via the telephone line which is mostly already present or which is routed to each consumer 1.

Another, technically somewhat more complex option is to form the signal transmission links 5 using dedicated lines. It is also conceivable to transmit the meter reading data from the data transmission devices 4 to the data processing device 2 by radio.

The meter reading data can also be transmitted via the power lines leading to each consumer 1 and each data processing device 2 anyway. This can take place independently of the type of energy, the consumption of which is queried remotely by means of the system according to the invention.

The data processing device 2 and the data transmission devices 4 are used to implement the type of signal transmission links 5 used with the corresponding, per se known transmit / receive assemblies, such as modems, circuits for coupling and decoupling data signals in or out of the power lines od. Like. Equipped.

The meter reading data transmitted to the data processing device 2 are primarily used to offset the amount of energy supplied to each consumer 1. This billing usually takes place in certain, predetermined time intervals, for example monthly. It is therefore not necessary that the data transmission devices 4 are constantly connected to the data processing device 2, rather it is sufficient that the data processing device 2 establishes a connection to the relevant data transmission device 4 when a consumer 1 requires meter reading data by sending a corresponding request to send the current meter reading data and then receive it, saved and processed accordingly.

According to the invention, the data transmission devices 4 can be connected to the Internet. In principle, this can be implemented in any suitable manner. For this purpose, the data transmission device 4 is generally equipped with a modem or an ISDN terminal adapter, via which a telephone or ISDN connection to a central Internet server can be established. As an alternative to this, each data transmission device 4 could be assigned its own server, which is directly connected to the Internet, but this is much more complex and is therefore rarely used in practice.

Furthermore, it is possible to connect the data transmission device 4 to a dedicated line leading to an Internet server, thus providing a permanent connection to the Internet. For this purpose, the data transmission device 4 has a corresponding adapter circuit which converts the signals generated internally in the data transmission device 4 into signals that can be transmitted via the dedicated line and, conversely, converts the signals received via the dedicated line into signals that can be further processed by the data transmission device 4.

This makes it possible to transmit the meter reading data via the Internet, that is to say to form the signal transmission paths 5 through Internet connections. Since data transfers carried out over the Internet run the risk of being read, manipulated or intercepted by third parties, ie are prevented from penetrating to the recipient, all data streams relating to the transmission of meter reading data (the request to send the same on the one hand and the meter reading data itself on the other hand) are preferably transmitted in encrypted form.

Furthermore, it must be ensured that not everyone - as theoretically possible due to the Internet connection of the data transmission device 4 - has access to the meter reading data

AT 409 677 B can, but only that energy provider with whom the owner of the data transmission device 4 has concluded an energy supply contract. This is achieved by assigning an access code to the energy provider, which is transmitted before or together with the command sent to the relevant data transmission device 4 to transmit meter reading data and is checked by the latter.

The software installed on the data processing device 2 and on the data transmission devices 4 has algorithms that are known per se for performing encryption or decryption of the data and for sending or checking the access code.

These access codes - as will be explained in detail below - are preferably formed by code data stored on hardware. This technology offers a particularly high level of security, so that the use of this technology alone can be sufficient to secure the transmission of the meter reading data. An encrypted transmission of this data can be omitted.

As will be explained further below in connection with the explanation of FIG. 4, it is possible to have this checking of the access code contained in a request carried out by an Internet server 14. If the signal transmission lines 5 are formed by Internet connections, this can also be provided here in an analogous manner, ie if only one energy provider is provided. The provision of such an internet server 14 which carries out the access code check represents only one possibility, the internet server 14 is therefore not mandatory. If - which will be the case with most applications - the internet server 14 is missing at all or does not carry out this access code check, the access code check is carried out by the requesting data processing device 2 and the relevant data transmission device 4.

The Internet has the advantage that data can be transmitted very easily and inexpensively between any two locations in the world which have an Internet connection. Large spatial distances between the data processing device 2 of the energy provider and the individual consumers 1 do not stand in the way of reliable data transmission between them when the Internet is used.

The data transmission devices 4 can be designed so that they are connected not only to one but to several energy consumption meters 3, as shown in FIG. Each of these multiple energy consumption meters 3 can be assigned to its own electrical device 7 (for example, an electric stove, a radiator and a motor are provided in FIG. 2). It is thus possible to record the amount of energy drawn from a consumer 1 in a differentiated manner according to the individual electrical devices 7. Instead of individual electrical devices 7, 3 groups of energy consumers can be assigned to each energy consumption meter. In this sense, for example, in the case of an industrial consumer, the office building, the warehouse, the production building, the electroplating department etc. can each have their own energy consumption meter 3 assigned.

These multiple energy consumption meters 3 can, as provided in accordance with FIG. 2, each be connected directly to the data transmission device 4.

As an alternative to this, it is possible to interpose data acquisition devices 6 between the energy consumption meters 3 and the data transmission device 4, as shown in FIG.

In this Figure 3, the consumer 1 is formed by a residential building comprising a plurality of individual apartments. In such an application area, it is primarily not the total energy consumption of the entire house that is of interest, but the energy consumption of each individual apartment, since the energy consumed is billed separately for each apartment.

Each energy consumption meter 3 is connected here to a data acquisition device 6 and the data acquisition devices 6 are connected to the data transmission device 4. Energy meter 3 and associated data acquisition device 6 are in the apartments assigned to them, the data transmission device 4 common to all meters 3 / acquisition devices 6 is spaced apart from them, for example in the house connection box or the transformer station assigned to the house.

The main task of the data acquisition devices 6 is to receive the data signals supplied by the energy consumption meters 3 relating to their meter readings and to forward them to the data transmission devices 4. The data acquisition devices 6 are to this as correspond 7

AT 409 677 B chend programmed microcomputer circuits formed.

The type of connection between the energy consumption meters 3 and the data acquisition devices 6 and between these and the data transmission devices 4 or between the energy consumption meters 3 and the data transmission devices 4 (see FIG. 2) is not essential to the invention and can therefore be selected as desired.

In the simplest case, separate electrical lines are used for this, which are connected directly to the two devices concerned. Point-to-point connections or data buses can be established between the individual devices 3, 4, 6.

The protocol according to which the data is transmitted via these connections can also be selected as desired, preferably (especially because appropriate interface modules suitable for processing these protocols are available on the market) standard protocols, such as RS- 232, Ethernet, LON or the like. It is also possible to route the data between the individual devices 3, 4, 6 via the power lines that are already present between them.

The devices 3, 4, 6 have interfaces corresponding to the selected type of the connections between them or the data transmission protocols used on these connections, ie connecting plugs and associated encoder / decoder modules.

The data transmission device 4 transmits the meter reading data received from the individual data acquisition devices 6 independently of one another to the data processing device 2, so that the amount of energy recorded by each energy consumption meter 3 can be offset independently of the other amounts of energy.

As already stated above, data transmission between the data transmission device 4 and the data processing device 2 only has to be carried out on a case-by-case basis. The data transmission device 4 is not used in the times between such data transmissions or, due to its high computing capacity, is only very little utilized even while data transmissions are being carried out. In addition, the duration of data transmissions is very short compared to the times in which no data transmissions take place. Overall, the transmission of meter reading data therefore takes up very little of the data transmission device 4. The data transmission device 4 could therefore practically constantly - due to its design as a microcomputer circuit - perform quite different tasks.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, this idea is taken up and the data transmission device 4 is designed as a control device with which various electrical devices can be controlled.

For this purpose, the data transmission device 4 has, in addition to the one or more inputs to which the energy consumption meter (s) 3 are connected, further inputs and outputs for electrical / electronic sensor devices (a switch is an example in FIG 8, a temperature sensor 9 and an ammeter 10) and actuator devices (a motor 11, a lamp 12 and a heater 13 are shown by way of example in FIG. 2).

The software running on the data transmission device 4, like that of known microcomputer controls, is designed in such a way that it can perform control functions, ie it can control the outputs as a function of input signals or at preprogrammed times.

A preferred implemented control functionality of the data transmission device 4 is to switch off individual electrical loads connected to their outputs as soon as the total amount of energy consumed, recorded by the data transmission device 4 connected to the data transmission device 4, exceeds a predetermined amount or if the energy provider is currently unable to to cover the entire energy demand of all of its consumers 1.

The control functionalities can be fixed, i.e. cannot be changed by the user. Since, as a rule, however, each user would like to implement different control functions, it is more advantageous to provide options for the desired control functionalities to be selected individually by each user, so that the data transmission device 4 can be parameterized accordingly by the user.

For this purpose, the data transmission device 4 has interfaces via which suitable input devices can communicate with the data transmission device 4. As a rule, this is at Festle8

AT 409 677 B supply of the control functions of the data transmission device 4 used input device is a computer 18 usable by the owner of the data transmission device 4, which is spatially separated from the data transmission device 4

A special configuration computer 19, accessible via the Internet, is provided with which both the data transmission device 4 and the computer 18 via which the owner wishes to configure his data transmission device 4 can communicate.

If a data transmission device 4 is installed for the first time and connected to the Internet, this data transmission device 4 logs on to this special configuration computer 19 via the Internet using an automatically started routine (bootstrap) and transmits its hardware configuration, ie the number of its inputs and outputs, the type of each input and output (analog, digital, connection for energy consumption meter) etc.

This hardware configuration is transmitted to the computer 18, which displays this configuration to the owner and enables him to carry out parameterizations. These parameterizations are based on the fact that the owner announces which control functionalities his data transmission device 4 should have (e.g. the room temperature is connected to analog input 2; this is to regulate the room temperature via outputs A3 / A4; The fountain's water pump is connected to exit A5 and should run daily between 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., etc.).

If - as will be shown below in connection with the explanation of FIG. 4 - the owner of the data transmission device 4 has concluded energy purchase contracts with one or more energy providers, this parameterization also specifies which energy provider supplies energy in which period.

These parameterization data are transmitted from the computer 18 to the configuration computer 19. The latter creates a control program in accordance with this data and transmits this control program to the data transmission device 4.

The parameterization data are also stored on the computer 18 so that the parameterization data transmitted to the data transmission device 4 can be displayed on this computer 18 at any time.

The configuration computer 19 is not assigned to a special data transmission device 4, but is used to parameterize several, as a rule even all, data transmission devices 4 provided in the entire system.

The energy providers named in the parameterization receive the information about the ability to query or read out the customer's energy consumption as well as the required access code which authorizes them to read out the respective consumption value.

It could also be provided that the computer 18, into which the owner enters the parameterization data of his data transmission device 4, is located in the immediate vicinity of the relevant data transmission device 4. In this case, the route just described need not be followed via a configuration computer 19 and the Internet, but this computer 18 can be connected directly to the data transmission device 4 via standard interfaces such as RS 232. In addition to the software for entering the parameterization data, the software running on the configuration computer 19 in the above variant for the creation and transmission of a control program for the data transmission device 4 must then run on this computer 18.

Such a parameterization of the data transmission device 4 is not only possible when it is first installed. The control functionality of the data transmission device 4 can subsequently be changed at any time, just like energy providers and the periods in which this energy supply can be updated at any time.

The data transmission device 4 can also have interfaces via which data, in particular the meter reading of the connected energy meter (s) 3 or data recorded by other sensors 8, 9, 10 can be read from the data transmission device 4. The data transmission device 4 can also be equipped with a display for a particularly simple display of this data, which does not require any additional devices. In summary, the data transmission device 4 can thus be configured in accordance with control devices known per se, such as PLCs or microcomputer circuits.

AT 409 677 B

If, as shown in Fig. 3, not a separate data transmission device 4 is provided for each user, but only a data acquisition device 6 in connection with a central data transmission device 4 common to several data acquisition devices 6, this data acquisition device 6 can be used as a control device in the sense of the above Designs can be designed (cf. the sensor and actuator devices 8-13 connected to the data acquisition device 6 at the bottom in FIG. 3).

Because the data transmission device 4 can be connected to the Internet or is connected to the Internet, anyone can -bzw. if, as explained above, access is restricted by the allocation of access codes - everyone who has an access code can exchange data with the data transmission device 4. However, this data exchange is not restricted to the meter reading data that is only of interest to the energy provider, but can also relate to data relating to the sensor and actuator devices 8-13 and the control functionality of the data transmission device 4. This means that the owner of a data transmission device 4 (or the one to whom the owner has given an access code), can read values ​​from sensor devices 8, 9, 10 connected to the data transmission device 4 via the Internet or can switch actuator devices 11, 12, 13 on and off or the control functionality of the Data transmission device 4, so its program part relating to the control of the sensor and actuator devices 8-13 can change.

So that it is also possible to communicate via the Internet with data acquisition devices 6 as they are used in a structure of the system according to the invention shown in FIG. 3, these can also be configured to be connectable to the Internet.

Alternatively, it can also be provided that only the data transmission device 4 common to several data acquisition devices 6 can be connected to the Internet and forwards the data arriving via the Internet to the data acquisition device 6, for which the data are intended in each case, or those coming from the data acquisition devices 6 Forwards data that are to be sent via the Internet accordingly. Both functionalities can be implemented in a manner known to those skilled in the art by appropriate parameterization of the data transmission device 4.

Programming of the data transmission device 4 in the sense of affecting its basic functionality is not permitted in order to prevent functions used for billing purposes (namely the recording of energy consumption values) or values ​​used for billing purposes (the recorded energy consumption values ​​themselves) from being changed.

Deviating from the previous statements, it can also be provided that only data relating to the sensor and actuator devices 8-13 and the control functionality of the data transmission devices 4 or the data acquisition devices 6 are transmitted via the Internet, but that the data processing device 2 and the data transmission devices 4 are transmitted via the Internet other signal transmission links, for example via a telephone point-to-point connection or via the power lines, communicate with one another. Data streams relating to the transmission of meter reading data (the command to transmit the same on the one hand and the meter reading data itself on the other hand) are not transmitted over the Internet.

4 shows an embodiment of the system according to the invention for remote querying of the amounts of energy drawn from consumers 1, which can then be used when there are several energy providers who sell one and the same form of energy via one and the same energy supply network.

The most common example of such a structured energy market in practice is the deregulated electricity market, some of which has already been implemented in the European countries, and which is currently being established.

On a deregulated electricity market, not only individual companies that have the electricity supply monopoly in a state or federal state of a state, but - as in other areas of the free market economy - can offer electricity to everyone. Every electricity consumer can thus freely choose from which provider he draws electricity.

Since electrical energy always has the same properties regardless of its provider - or must even have the same properties in accordance with the relevant standards, it can never be clearly assigned to a specific provider on the basis of these properties.

AT 409 677 B

The allocation of the supplied energy to the individual providers and, in connection with this, the charging of the energy by the individual providers can only take place on the basis of time criteria:

If, for example, electricity purchase contracts are concluded with three providers A, B and C, they oblige the providers to deliver electricity at different time intervals (e.g. provider A for the time from Monday to Thursday, provider B on Friday and provider C and during that time from Saturday to Sunday or provider A daily from 6:00 am to 10:00 am, provider B daily from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm and provider C daily from 6:00 pm to 6:00 am). In accordance with these delivery obligations, the providers charge the amount of energy actually consumed by the respective consumer in the energy delivery time intervals assigned to them.

However, this system creates difficulties with regard to the recording of the amount of electricity supplied by each electricity provider to each electricity consumer, because electricity meters used as a rule only record the total amount supplied to a consumer, but cannot assign this total amount to the individual electricity providers with whom the consumer in question has one Has a power purchase agreement.

This problem can be avoided with a system shown in FIG. With regard to its hardware components, the system provided here corresponds to the system discussed above. A plurality of consumers 1 are again provided, in each of which an energy consumption meter 3 is installed. These energy consumption counters 3 are connected to data transmission devices 4. Since there are several energy providers here, there are accordingly also several data processing devices 2.

The data transmission devices 4 here do not add up all the energy consumption data supplied by the energy consumption counters 3 assigned to them, but instead store the energy consumption that has occurred separately for each energy delivery time interval.

For this purpose, the data transmission device 4 is programmed with the number of providers with whom the consumer 1 has concluded electricity purchase contracts, as well as the energy delivery time intervals that have been agreed with the individual providers. This is carried out by the owner of the data transmission device 4 as part of the parameterization of the data transmission device 4 already explained above.

The data transmission device 4 has a timer 15 by means of which the current time can be determined. There is also a memory 16 in which a separate storage space 17a, 17b, 17c assigned to the respective energy supplier is created for each energy provider (see the schematic representation in FIG. 5).

The amount of energy consumed by the consumer 1 in each delivery time interval is recorded by the energy consumption counter 3 and forwarded to the data transmission device 4. Each amount of energy consumed is stored in that memory location 17a, 17b, 17c which is assigned to the energy provider to which the time interval in which the relevant amount of energy was consumed is assigned.

The energy consumption quantities newly stored in each storage location 17a, 17b, 17c are added to the consumption values ​​that may already exist there, so that in each storage location 17a, 17b, 17c the entire energy consumed in the time interval assigned to the relevant storage location 17a, 17b, 17c. Consumption quantity is stored.

Via the timer 15, the data transmission device 4 has information about the current date and the current time, so that the data transmission device 4 can determine at any time which delivery time interval is currently running and, subsequently, the just discussed allocation of the energy consumption quantities to the individual storage locations 17a, 17b, 17c can make.

The timer 15 is calibrated via a time signal that is applied to the power lines or is made available on the Internet, that is to say it is set to the actually present date and the actually present exact time.

Although not shown in FIG. 4, it is also possible when the system according to the invention is used in energy supply networks in which there are several energy providers to send several energy consumption counters 3 to a data transmission device 4 (either directly (analogous to FIG. 2) or via data acquisition devices 6 (analogous to Fig. 3)) to connect, which are assigned to separate consumers 1, which are independent of each other with different energy providers

AT 409 677 B

Can conclude electricity purchase contracts and their energy consumption quantities must therefore be recorded separately.

in this case, memory locations 17a-c, 17a'-17c 'and 17a-17c are created in memory 16 of the data transmission device 4 common to these consumers 1 for each consumer 1 separately assigned to the individual energy providers (see FIG. 6). The result is a matrix-like organization of the storage spaces provided for storing the individual amounts of energy consumed.

With regard to the reading of the energy consumption data from the data transmission device 4, a distinction is made between the individual energy providers with whom electricity purchase contracts have been concluded: Each energy provider only makes those consumption data available which relate to time intervals with which the energy provider in question is obliged to supply electricity.

This differentiation is technically solved in such a way that each energy provider is assigned a specific access code. If one of the data processing devices 2 of the energy provider requests the transmission of quantities of energy consumed, the access code assigned to the energy provider must be made known when this request is made.

In response to such a request, each data transmission device 4 only transmits those energy consumption quantities that are assigned to the energy provider to which the access code contained in the request is assigned.

Organizationally, this access code check is usually implemented in such a way that the data transmission device 4 itself checks the access code and transmits the data corresponding to the result of this check to the requesting data processing device 2. These data are formed by the content of the storage space 17a-17c, 17a'-17c ', 17a-17c, which is assigned to the inquiring energy provider.

This type of access code verification is to be used above all when the signal transmission links 5 between the data processing devices 2 and the data transmission devices 4 are not through Internet connections, for example through telephone point-to-point connections, dedicated lines, power lines or the like. are formed.

However, the signal transmission links 5 are preferably formed by Internet connections. At least one internet server 14 is provided, to which a group of data transmission devices 4 can be connected. If there are so many data transmission devices 4 in the entire system that they can no longer be served by a single Internet server 14, the data transmission devices 4 are combined into groups and each such group is assigned its own Internet server 14, via which these data transmission devices 4 connect to the Internet are connectable. These Internet servers 14 represent the conventional Internet servers operated by Internet providers and made available to their customers for entry into the Internet.

As a rule, the previously illustrated check of the access code is maintained by each data transmission device 4 even if an internet server 14 is present. However, it would be possible for each of these Internet servers 14 to check the access codes contained in requests relating to the transmission of energy consumption data for the data transmission devices 4 assigned to it.

So that an internet server 14 can carry out the access code check, the access parameters of all data transmission devices 4 assigned to it are to be stored on this internet server 14. These access parameters are to be understood as the time intervals for which the individual energy providers have concluded electricity purchase contracts with the owner of the relevant data transmission device 4, as well as information on the basis of which the access codes of the respective providers can be checked.

If the Internet server 14 receives a request for energy consumption quantities, the Internet server 14 checks the access code contained in the request and initiates that data transmission device 4 in which the requested energy consumption quantities are stored, this energy provider to which the access code contained in the request corresponds to submit.

If a request contains an access code that is unknown to the Internet server 14 and thus originating from an unauthorized inquirer, the Internet server 14 initiates the action

AT 409 677 B does not transmit data but rejects the request or sends a message back to the requestor indicating the lack of authorization.

In a system according to FIG. 4 with several energy providers, provision can also be made for the data transmission devices 4 to be designed as control devices so that various sensor and actuator devices 8-13 can be controlled with them. The statements made above in connection with the design of the data transmission devices 4 therefore apply here in an analogous manner.

In addition to the energy providers, the owner of a data transmission device 4 can also exchange data with the latter via the Internet, ie request the transmission of data stored in his data transmission device 4 or transfer data to be stored in this to the data transmission device 4. Such an exchange of data between the owner and the data transmission device 4 also takes place, above all, in the parameterization of the data transmission device 4 already explained above.

To carry out this data exchange, the owner of a data transmission device 4 is also assigned a specific access code which is to be disclosed when data is requested or when data is transmitted to this data transmission device. The assignment of a user access code or the reading of data from a data transmission device 4 or the transmission of data to a data transmission device 4 by an Internet subscriber who transmits the user access code to the relevant data transmission device 4 can also be provided in the first embodiment of the system according to the invention, accordingly there is only one energy provider.

This owner access code is associated with more extensive data exchange authorizations than with the access codes assigned to the energy providers: The owner can view all the energy consumption quantities stored in the data transmission device 4, and also query data relating to the status of sensor and actuator devices or as well change the control functionality of the data transmission device 4.

Furthermore, the data transmission device 4 can be provided with information on the energy providers with whom there are energy purchase contracts (in particular the delivery time intervals agreed with the individual energy providers) via the Internet (see the explanations given above on the parameterization of the data transmission device 4).

The checking of the owner access code takes place analogously to the checking of the energy provider access codes, as a rule by the data transmission devices 4 themselves. If an internet server 14 is present, this owner access code check can be carried out by this. For the purpose of checking the owner access codes, information for recognizing the access codes assigned to the owners of the data transmission devices 4 is stored on the Internet server 14. If, in a request or transmission of data, the Internet server 14 recognizes a valid data transmission device 4 assigned to the owner of it, it causes the relevant data transmission device 4 to transmit / accept the corresponding data.

In both cases (verification of the access code by the data transmission device 4 itself or by the Internet server 14), each data transmission device 4 carries out data exchanges that go beyond the information available to the energy providers regarding the amount of energy consumed, exclusively with the sender of the owner of the respective data transmission device 4 assigned access codes.

All access codes used in the system can be designed in any way. For example, they can consist of a combination of letters or numbers known only to the energy provider or the owner, which are entered manually into the device by means of which the data transmission devices 4 are to be accessed. Since such access code systems offer little protection against forgery, the access codes are particularly preferably formed by code data stored on hardware. Examples of such code systems are, for example, dongles that are to be attached to an interface of the device used to access a data transmission device 4. The access codes are preferably formed by code data stored on smart cards (= ID cards with an integrated processor chip). In order for the code data stored on them to be read out and transmitted, these smart cards must be inserted into a corresponding reading device that is connected to the device that is used to request / transmit data from or to a data transmission device

AT 409 677 B is used.

Any type of communication with the data transmission devices 4 (i.e. both the requests sent by energy providers and the data subsequently sent by the data transmission devices 4 as well as the data exchanged between the owners and the data transmission devices 4 can be carried out directly between the two participants concerned (data transmission device 4 on the one hand and data processing device 2 or owner on the other hand). The communication programs required for this must be installed on the data transmission device 4 itself or on the devices via which communication takes place with the data transmission devices 4.

In particular, with the parameterization of the data transmission device 4 already described above by means of a computer 18 and a configuration computer 19, it is more advantageous to install appropriate communication software on this configuration computer 19 via which the data exchange is carried out. This makes it superfluous to install special software on each of the two devices participating in the data exchange, because it is sufficient if standard software (e.g. a standard Internet browser) is running on these devices, by means of which data can be transmitted and received in a standardized format .

The processing of the data transmitted in standardized format is carried out by the communication software running on the configuration computer 19. In the context of this processing, in particular energy consumption data, data relating to the status of sensor and actuator devices and relating to the control functionality of the data transmission device can be graphically displayed or graphically changed by the user. For example, the control functionality can be displayed in the form of a circuit diagram in which the user can insert or remove circuit symbols, electrical connections, logical links, etc. with the aid of the mouse. After the changes to the circuit diagram have been completed, the communication software converts it into control commands that are understandable for the data transmission device 4 and these are transmitted to the data transmission device 4.

Furthermore, the energy consumption data can be shown, for example, in the form of a bar chart.

These graphic representations, which are also created by the communication software running on the configuration computer 19, are transmitted in a standard format, preferably as HTML pages that can be displayed by standard Internet browsers.

The system configuration of each data transmission device 4 (this includes information about the energy delivery time intervals that have been agreed with the individual energy providers, the type and number of the sensor and actuator devices 8-13 connected to the data transmission device 4 as well as its control functionalities that have just been set) can be configured on the configuration computer 19 must be saved. This information can thus be made available by the configuration computer 19 immediately and without querying the relevant data transmission device 4.

Furthermore, there is the possibility, already mentioned above, of saving the system configuration of the data transmission device 4 on the computer 18 used by the user for entering and reading out parameterization data, so that the current parameterization data on this computer 18 is offline, i.e. without it being connected to the configuration computer 19 should be able to be represented.

A transfer of the current system configurations to the configuration computer 19 can be carried out automatically, ie without the need to send a corresponding command by the owner, each time a connection is established between the configuration server 19 and the relevant data transmission device 4 or at predetermined time intervals.

The rule, however, is that such an intermediate storage of the configuration data of the data transmission devices 4 on the configuration computer 19 is not carried out. These data are transmitted to the configuration computer 19 as required or the meter reading data are transmitted directly to the requesting data processing device 2 without intermediate storage on the configuration computer 19 or on the Internet server 14.

If in the above description, with priority and in particular when explaining the system in the presence of several energy providers according to FIG. 4, it was assumed that the

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Energy type, the reference of which is to be queried remotely by the respective consumer 1, is electrical energy, the invention is not to be understood as limiting the invention to this energy type. The system according to the invention is equally suitable for recording any type of energy, such as district heating, which can also be fed into one and the same pipeline network by several energy providers.