A method for sending meter reading information and a meter transmission system

Abstract

This application provides a method for sending meter reading information and a meter transmission system. The method includes: a concentrator initiating a meter reading request to the corresponding meter at predetermined intervals; upon receiving the request, if the mobile device is online, the meter sends a first ciphertext to the mobile device; the mobile device performs a second encryption on the first ciphertext using a second encryption algorithm and returns the resulting second ciphertext to the meter; the first ciphertext is generated by the meter using a temporary public key and the first encryption algorithm to encrypt plaintext meter reading data; the meter decrypts and verifies the second ciphertext using the private key corresponding to the temporary public key, and sends the second ciphertext to the concentrator after successful verification; the concentrator encrypts the second ciphertext to obtain a third ciphertext based on the number of re-reading attempts and the time the request was initiated, and sends the third ciphertext to the server. This method ensures the security of meter reading data transmission.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of electricity meter technology, and in particular to a method for sending meter reading information and an electricity meter transmission system. Background Technology

[0002] Smart meter reading technology is a modern metering management solution that replaces traditional manual meter reading. It mainly falls into two categories: wired (such as RS-485 bus, power line carrier) and wireless (such as NB-IoT, LoRa). The core technology uses various communication modules and data acquisition devices to automatically collect, transmit, and aggregate electricity consumption data, eliminating the need for on-site manual operation. This solves the pain points of low efficiency, large errors, and high costs associated with manual meter reading, and also leverages IoT and big data technologies to achieve real-time data monitoring, anomaly warnings, and remote management.

[0003] In existing smart meter reading systems, the electricity meter, as a data acquisition terminal, is limited by the computing power of the embedded low-power chip and cannot independently complete high-strength encryption calculations. This leads to some users illegally using electricity by tampering with the data. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In view of this, the purpose of this application is to provide a method for sending meter reading information and a meter transmission system, which completes complex encryption without changing the meter hardware, thereby ensuring the security of meter reading data.

[0005] In a first aspect, embodiments of this application provide a method for sending meter reading information, applied to an electricity meter transmission system. The electricity meter transmission system includes: a mobile terminal, an electricity meter installed in a resident's home, a concentrator wirelessly connected to the electricity meter, and a server wirelessly connected to the concentrator; one concentrator is wirelessly connected to multiple electricity meters; the mobile terminal maintains a short-range communication connection with the electricity meter after prior verification; the method includes:

[0006] The concentrator sends meter reading requests to the corresponding electricity meter at predetermined intervals.

[0007] After receiving a meter reading request, the electricity meter checks whether the mobile device is online. If the mobile device is online, the meter sends the first ciphertext to the mobile device, so that the mobile device can perform a second encryption process on the first ciphertext using a second encryption algorithm, and then return the second ciphertext to the electricity meter. The first ciphertext is generated by the electricity meter after receiving the meter reading request, using a temporary public key and the first encryption algorithm to perform a first encryption process on the plaintext meter reading data.

[0008] The meter uses the private key corresponding to the temporary public key to decrypt the second ciphertext, verifies the decryption result, and sends the second ciphertext to the concentrator after the verification is successful; the computing power consumption of the second encryption process is greater than that of the first encryption process.

[0009] The concentrator encrypts the second ciphertext based on the number of times the meter reading request was initiated and the time when the meter reading request was initiated, to obtain the third ciphertext, and then sends the third ciphertext to the server.

[0010] In conjunction with the first aspect, this application provides a first possible implementation of the first aspect, wherein, after receiving a meter reading request, the electricity meter checks whether the mobile terminal is online; if the mobile terminal is online, the first encrypted message is sent to the mobile terminal, including:

[0011] After receiving a meter reading request, the electricity meter retrieves the mobile phone communication address pre-stored in its memory and sends a connection establishment request to the mobile phone according to the mobile phone communication address. The mobile phone communication address pre-stored in its memory is sent to the electricity meter's memory by the concentrator after the server verifies the mobile phone.

[0012] If the connection between the electricity meter and the mobile phone is successfully established, the electricity meter will generate a hash digest based on the plaintext meter reading data;

[0013] The meter concatenates plaintext meter reading data and hash digests into a message to be sent according to a preset combination method, performs a first encryption process on the message to be sent using a temporary public key to obtain a first ciphertext, and sends the first ciphertext to the mobile phone.

[0014] In conjunction with the first possible implementation of the first aspect, this application provides a second possible implementation of the first aspect, wherein the electricity meter concatenates plaintext meter reading data and hash digests according to a preset combination method to form information to be sent, performs a first encryption process on the information to be sent using a temporary public key to obtain first ciphertext, and sends the first ciphertext to a mobile terminal, including:

[0015] The electricity meter splits the plaintext meter reading data into a first data group and a second data group;

[0016] The meter uses a temporary public key to perform a first encryption process on the first data group to obtain the first ciphertext to be combined;

[0017] The meter performs a first encryption process on the second data group using a preset encryption algorithm to obtain the second ciphertext to be combined.

[0018] The meter uses a data splitting algorithm corresponding to the time of establishing a connection with the mobile phone to split and reassemble the first and second ciphertexts to be combined, resulting in the first fragment of the first ciphertext and the second fragment of the first ciphertext.

[0019] The electricity meter sends the first fragment of the first ciphertext and the second fragment of the first ciphertext to the mobile terminal at preset time intervals; the hash digest is sent to the mobile terminal in the data packet containing the first fragment of the first ciphertext or the data packet containing the second fragment of the first ciphertext.

[0020] In conjunction with the second possible implementation of the first aspect, this application provides a third possible implementation of the first aspect, wherein the preset time interval is determined based on the time it takes for the electricity meter and the mobile phone to establish a connection.

[0021] In conjunction with the second possible implementation of the first aspect, this application provides a fourth possible implementation of the first aspect, wherein the method further includes:

[0022] After the mobile device receives the first fragment and the second fragment of the first ciphertext, it checks whether the time interval between receiving the first fragment and the second fragment of the first ciphertext meets the preset time condition.

[0023] If the preset time conditions are met, the mobile device will generate a data restoration algorithm based on the time the connection was established.

[0024] The mobile device uses a data restoration algorithm to restore the first fragment of the first ciphertext and the second fragment of the first ciphertext into the first ciphertext to be combined and the second ciphertext to be combined.

[0025] The first ciphertext to be combined, the second ciphertext to be combined, and the hash digest are subjected to a second encryption process using a second encryption algorithm, and the second ciphertext obtained after the second encryption is returned to the electricity meter.

[0026] If the preset time condition is not met, the mobile device returns a verification request to the meter so that the meter can resend the first fragment of the first ciphertext and the second fragment of the first ciphertext.

[0027] If the time interval between the first fragment and the second fragment of the first ciphertext received multiple times does not meet the preset time condition, then an error message is uploaded to the server.

[0028] In conjunction with the first aspect, this application provides a fifth possible implementation of the first aspect, wherein the concentrator encrypts the second ciphertext based on the number of re-reading attempts initiated by the meter reading request and the time in which the meter reading request was initiated, to obtain a third ciphertext, and sends the third ciphertext to the server, including:

[0029] Extract the time code corresponding to the time period in which the meter reading request was initiated from the pre-stored data table;

[0030] A dynamic key is generated based on the time encoding and the number of times the key has been rewritten.

[0031] The second ciphertext is encrypted using the dynamic key to obtain the third ciphertext;

[0032] The third encrypted message, the time of initiating the meter reading request, and the number of times the meter is reread are sent to the server in a single data packet.

[0033] In conjunction with the first aspect, this application provides a sixth possible implementation of the first aspect, wherein the method further includes:

[0034] If the mobile device is not online, the meter will use the initial password to encrypt the meter reading data to generate ordinary ciphertext;

[0035] The meter sends plain ciphertext to the concentrator, which then sends plain ciphertext to the server.

[0036] Secondly, embodiments of this application also provide an electricity meter transmission system, which includes: a mobile phone terminal, an electricity meter installed in a household, a concentrator wirelessly connected to the electricity meter, and a server wirelessly connected to the concentrator; one concentrator is wirelessly connected to multiple electricity meters respectively; the mobile phone terminal maintains a short-range communication connection with the electricity meter after pre-verification.

[0037] The concentrator is used to send meter reading requests to the corresponding electricity meter at predetermined intervals.

[0038] The electricity meter is used to detect whether the mobile terminal is online after receiving a meter reading request. If the mobile terminal is online, the meter sends the first ciphertext to the mobile terminal so that the mobile terminal performs a second encryption process on the first ciphertext using a second encryption algorithm and returns the second ciphertext obtained after the second encryption process to the electricity meter. The first ciphertext is generated by the electricity meter after receiving the meter reading request and performing a first encryption process on the plaintext meter reading data using a temporary public key and the first encryption algorithm.

[0039] The meter is also used to decrypt the second ciphertext using the private key corresponding to the temporary public key, verify the decryption result, and send the second ciphertext to the concentrator after the verification is successful; the computing power consumption of the second encryption process is greater than that of the first encryption process.

[0040] The concentrator is further configured to encrypt the second ciphertext based on the number of times the meter reading request was initiated and the time when the meter reading request was initiated, to obtain a third ciphertext, and then send the third ciphertext to the server.

[0041] In conjunction with the second aspect, this application provides a first possible implementation of the second aspect, wherein when the electricity meter detects whether the mobile terminal is online after receiving a meter reading request, and if the mobile terminal is online, sends the first encrypted message to the mobile terminal, specifically it is used for:

[0042] Upon receiving a meter reading request, the system retrieves the mobile phone communication address pre-stored in the memory and sends a connection establishment request to the mobile phone according to the mobile phone communication address. The mobile phone communication address pre-stored in the memory is sent by the server to the meter's memory through the concentrator after the server verifies the mobile phone.

[0043] If the connection between the electricity meter and the mobile phone is successfully established, a hash digest is generated based on the plaintext meter reading data.

[0044] The plaintext meter reading data and hash digest are concatenated into a message to be sent according to a preset combination method. The message to be sent is then encrypted using a temporary public key to obtain a first ciphertext, and the first ciphertext is sent to the mobile phone.

[0045] In conjunction with the first possible implementation of the second aspect, this application provides a second possible implementation of the second aspect, wherein, when the electricity meter is used to concatenate plaintext meter reading data and hash digests according to a preset combination method to form information to be sent, and to perform a first encryption process on the information to be sent using a temporary public key to obtain a first ciphertext, and to send the first ciphertext to the mobile terminal, it is specifically used for:

[0046] The plaintext meter reading data is split into a first data group and a second data group;

[0047] The first data group is encrypted using a temporary public key to obtain the first ciphertext to be combined.

[0048] The second data group is first encrypted using a preset encryption algorithm to obtain the second ciphertext to be combined.

[0049] Based on the data splitting algorithm corresponding to the time of establishing a connection with the mobile terminal, the first and second ciphertexts to be combined are split and recombined to obtain the first fragment of the first ciphertext and the second fragment of the first ciphertext.

[0050] At preset time intervals, the first fragment of the first ciphertext and the second fragment of the first ciphertext are sent to the mobile terminal respectively; the hash digest is sent to the mobile terminal in the data packet containing the first fragment of the first ciphertext or the data packet containing the second fragment of the first ciphertext.

[0051] This application provides a method for sending meter reading information and a meter transmission system. Before the meter sends the meter reading data to the mobile terminal, a lightweight encryption is performed. Then, the mobile terminal also uses a heavyweight encryption strategy to encrypt the meter reading data again. Therefore, the originally complex encryption task is securely transferred to the mobile terminal, so that the complex encryption work can be completed without changing the meter hardware.

[0052] To make the above-mentioned objectives, features and advantages of this application more apparent and understandable, preferred embodiments are described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Attached Figure Description

[0053] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, the accompanying drawings used in the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. It should be understood that the following drawings only show some embodiments of this application and should not be regarded as a limitation of the scope. For those skilled in the art, other related drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0054] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of an electricity meter transmission system provided in an embodiment of this application is shown;

[0055] Figure 2 A flowchart of a meter reading information transmission method provided in an embodiment of this application is shown. Detailed Implementation

[0056] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the embodiments of this application clearer, the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of this application, and not all embodiments. The components of the embodiments of this application described and shown in the accompanying drawings can generally be arranged and designed in various different configurations. Therefore, the following detailed description of the embodiments of this application provided in the accompanying drawings is not intended to limit the scope of the claimed application, but merely represents selected embodiments of this application. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of this application without inventive effort are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0057] In related technologies, most regions have already adopted smart meter reading systems. These systems can proactively collect, aggregate, upload, and monitor meter reading data on a regular schedule. However, with technological advancements, techniques have emerged that allow for the illegal use of electricity by intercepting and modifying meter reading data. To address this, some technologies have proposed encrypting meter reading data using the meter itself and then uploading the encrypted data to a concentrator. However, in practical applications, the relatively low computing power of the chips used in the meters makes large-scale chip replacements costly and time-consuming.

[0058] Based on this, this application provides a method for sending meter reading information and a meter transmission system, which will be described below through embodiments.

[0059] To facilitate understanding of this embodiment, a method for transmitting meter reading information disclosed in this application will first be described in detail. This method operates on an electricity meter transmission system, such as... Figure 1 As shown, the electricity meter transmission system includes: a mobile phone terminal, an electricity meter installed in the household, a concentrator wirelessly connected to the electricity meter, and a server wirelessly connected to the concentrator; one concentrator wirelessly connects to multiple electricity meters; the mobile phone terminal maintains a short-range communication connection with the electricity meter after pre-verification.

[0060] Among them, the electricity meter is a device installed in the home of the resident to measure, calculate and store the user's electricity consumption and other power parameters in real time, the concentrator accesses the electricity meter at regular intervals to complete the meter reading, and the mobile terminal is the mobile phone of the resident in the home where the electricity meter is located.

[0061] like Figure 2 As shown, the method includes the following steps:

[0062] S101: The concentrator sends a meter reading request to the corresponding electricity meter at predetermined intervals.

[0063] S102: After receiving a meter reading request, the electricity meter checks whether the mobile terminal is online. If the mobile terminal is online, the meter sends the first ciphertext to the mobile terminal so that the mobile terminal can perform a second encryption process on the first ciphertext using a second encryption algorithm and return the second ciphertext obtained after the second encryption process to the electricity meter. The first ciphertext is generated by the electricity meter after receiving the meter reading request and performing a first encryption process on the plaintext meter reading data using a temporary public key and the first encryption algorithm.

[0064] S103: The meter uses the private key corresponding to the temporary public key to decrypt the second ciphertext, verifies the decryption result, and sends the second ciphertext to the concentrator after verification; the computing power consumption of the second encryption process is greater than that of the first encryption process.

[0065] S104: The concentrator encrypts the second ciphertext based on the number of times the meter reading request was initiated and the time when the meter reading request was initiated, to obtain the third ciphertext, and sends the third ciphertext to the server.

[0066] In step S101, meter reading requests are initiated periodically. Typically, the concentrator generates a meter reading request every 15 minutes and distributes these requests to the corresponding meters in batches. After the request is distributed, in traditional solutions, the meters will send the collected meter reading data back to the concentrator. This meter reading data usually includes two parts: electricity consumption information and equipment status information. Electricity consumption information includes total electricity consumption, time-of-use electricity consumption, and reverse electricity consumption. Equipment status information includes meter identification, model, version, meter operating status, and abnormal event records.

[0067] However, as explained earlier, if the meter directly sends unencrypted meter reading data to the concentrator, this data may be tampered with. In this case, if the meter is directly encrypted, the meter reading speed will be very slow due to the limited computing power of the meter chip. Since the concentrator sends reading requests to several meters simultaneously in a single reading cycle, if one meter is slow to respond (due to excessive encryption calculation time), the reading cycle will fail, causing all other meters participating in the cycle to fail to complete their readings properly.

[0068] To address this situation, step S102 of this application employs mobile-side encryption. Specifically, after the meter receives the meter reading request, it first checks if the mobile device is online, i.e., whether the meter can connect to the mobile device. The connection between the mobile device and the meter is via a short-range wireless connection. If the mobile device is online, the meter can delegate the encryption to the mobile device. However, considering the possibility of the resident's mobile phone being compromised, this solution does not directly send the meter reading data in plaintext to the mobile device. Instead, it first performs lightweight encryption (using a first encryption algorithm) at the meter. This lightweight encryption uses a temporary public key. The first ciphertext obtained using the first encryption algorithm and the temporary public key is the ciphertext sent to the mobile device. After receiving the first ciphertext, the mobile device uses a second encryption algorithm to perform a heavyweight encryption on the first ciphertext and returns the encrypted second ciphertext to the meter.

[0069] In step S103, the meter needs to use the private key corresponding to the temporary public key to decrypt the second ciphertext and verify the decryption result. If the verification is correct, the second ciphertext can be sent to the concentrator. In step S104, the concentrator performs a final encryption to obtain the third ciphertext, and finally sends the third ciphertext to the server, thus completing the upload of the meter reading data.

[0070] In the above process, the temporary public key and the corresponding private key are calculated using an asymmetric encryption algorithm. Commonly used algorithms include RSA and ECDSA (Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm). The specific calculation requires first generating the private key, and then performing corresponding operations based on the private key to obtain the public key.

[0071] Specifically, a temporary private key can be generated first by the electricity meter: the meter generates a 256-bit random number SK (temporary private key) using a hardware random number generator. This process typically takes only 1-2 microseconds and requires very little computing power. Then, using pre-stored elliptic curve primitive points G, a temporary public key PK is generated through the elliptic curve point scalar multiplication operation PK = SK × G (i.e., multiple superposition operations of primitive point G and the temporary private key SK). In practice, the public and private key calculation methods for electricity meters in different regions can be fine-tuned to ensure cross-regional security.

[0072] This solution requires that the computational power consumption of the second encryption process be greater than that of the first encryption process; more specifically, the computational power consumption of the second encryption process should be significantly greater than that of the first encryption process. Only in this way can it be meaningful to delegate the main encryption computation to the mobile device. Furthermore, the second encryption algorithm used by the mobile device and the first encryption algorithm used by the meter are preferably different encryption algorithms to ensure security.

[0073] In step S103, the reason why the second ciphertext encrypted on the mobile phone is not sent directly to the concentrator is mainly because the security of the mobile phone cannot be completely guaranteed, so an additional verification process is needed.

[0074] Specifically, in one possible implementation, after the meter receives the meter reading request in step S102, it checks whether the mobile phone is online. If the mobile phone is online, the first encrypted message is sent to the mobile phone, which can be executed according to the following steps S1021-S1023:

[0075] S1021: After receiving a meter reading request, the electricity meter extracts the mobile phone communication address stored in the pre-stored memory and sends a connection establishment request to the mobile phone according to the mobile phone communication address; the mobile phone communication address stored in the pre-stored memory is sent to the electricity meter's memory by the concentrator after the server verifies the mobile phone.

[0076] S1022: If the connection between the electricity meter and the mobile phone is successfully established, the electricity meter will generate a hash digest based on the plaintext meter reading data.

[0077] S1023: The meter concatenates the plaintext meter reading data and hash digest into a message to be sent according to a preset combination method, and performs a first encryption process on the message to be sent using a temporary public key to obtain a first ciphertext, and sends the first ciphertext to the mobile phone terminal.

[0078] In step 1021, after receiving the meter reading request, the meter first extracts the mobile phone communication address pre-stored in its local memory and initiates a connection establishment request. Specifically, there are two scenarios: First, the meter has been maintaining communication with the mobile phone via a persistent connection, and initiating the connection request here is merely a wake-up call, not a complete re-establishment of the connection. Second, the meter only actively establishes a connection with the mobile phone when encryption is required. Since maintaining a persistent connection requires a certain amount of energy and keeping the meter's processor in that state, the choice can be made based on the meter reading frequency and the specific model of the meter: either the meter maintains a persistent connection with the mobile phone in step S1021, or a temporary connection is established when encryption is required on the mobile phone.

[0079] The mobile phone address pre-stored in the memory is verified by the server and then sent to the electricity meter. Since the server is the final unit for verifying meter reading information, it is fully capable of this in terms of both computing power and functional completeness. In practice, this step can simply involve the user logging into their electricity account, verifying their identity (e.g., through facial recognition), and then uploading their mobile phone address to the server. The server then sends this address to the corresponding electricity meter via a concentrator.

[0080] In step S1022, if the connection between the electricity meter and the mobile phone is successfully established (either a newly established connection or a wake-up connection), it means the mobile phone can perform encryption. At this point, the electricity meter can generate a corresponding hash digest based on the plaintext meter reading data. This hash digest is used for verification. The hash digest is included in the data packet sent from the electricity meter to the mobile phone and also exists in the data packet returned from the mobile phone to the electricity meter. That is, the hash digests in these two data packets must be the same value. If the electricity meter detects a difference, it indicates an anomaly. Furthermore, after receiving the data packet returned from the mobile phone, the electricity meter can determine whether it has been tampered with simply by verifying the hash digest, thus reducing the scope of verification.

[0081] In step S1023, the meter needs to concatenate the plaintext meter reading data with the hash digest from step S1022 (the concatenation method can also be adjusted to increase encryption density) to obtain the information to be sent. Then, a first encryption process is performed using a temporary public key to generate the first ciphertext, which is sent to the mobile device. The mobile device then parses the ciphertext, performs a second encryption, and completes the subsequent processes.

[0082] In one possible implementation, when performing step S1023, it can be specifically implemented according to the following steps 10231-10235:

[0083] Step 10231: The meter splits the plaintext meter reading data into a first data group and a second data group;

[0084] Step 10232: The meter uses a temporary public key to perform a first encryption process on the first data group to obtain the first ciphertext to be combined;

[0085] Step 10233: The meter performs a first encryption process on the second data group using a preset encryption algorithm to obtain the second ciphertext to be combined;

[0086] Step 10234: The meter uses a data splitting algorithm corresponding to the time of connection establishment with the mobile phone to split and reassemble the first and second ciphertexts to be combined, resulting in the first fragment of the first ciphertext and the second fragment of the first ciphertext.

[0087] Step 10235: The meter sends the first fragment of the first ciphertext and the second fragment of the first ciphertext to the mobile terminal at preset time intervals; the hash digest is sent to the mobile terminal in the data packet containing the first fragment of the first ciphertext or the data packet containing the second fragment of the first ciphertext.

[0088] The method of splitting the data into two groups in the above steps is mainly to further improve the encryption density. The data splitting algorithm can be pre-stored or generated on the spot, but to ensure computational efficiency, the pre-stored method is preferred. Since the connection between the electricity meter and the mobile phone is newly established (newly created or recently activated), both the electricity meter and the mobile phone know the specific time, and therefore both know the specific data splitting algorithm, or in other words, the mobile phone knows the data restoration algorithm corresponding to the data splitting algorithm. This allows the mobile phone to restore the data before encrypting it after receiving it.

[0089] In step 10231, the process of splitting the plaintext meter reading data into the first data group and the second data group is actually an adjustment from the perspective of data frame format. As shown in Table 1 below, the general data frame structure contains 23 bytes. The splitting in this step refers to splitting a field completely into a certain data group, rather than splitting a complete field into different data groups. This is mainly a solution adopted to take into account the computing power of the electricity meter.

[0090] Table 1:

[0091] .

[0092] It should be noted that the encryption in steps 10232 and 10233 is also performed at the field level, that is, the same field is encrypted as a whole, and no further distinction is made within a field, so as to ensure that the computing power consumed is low.

[0093] The splitting and recombination in step 10234 refers to simply shuffling the order, not adding content, nor is it a splitting and recombination at the underlying binary level. Since the previous steps were performed at the field level, this step also uses a simple field-level processing method to avoid excessive consumption of computing power.

[0094] Preferably, the preset time interval is determined based on the time it takes for the electricity meter to establish a connection with the mobile phone. This further increases the difficulty of tampering with the information if the device that steals the information is a device other than the mobile phone.

[0095] Specifically, this could involve reading the timestamp recorded by the built-in RTC clock module of the electricity meter when the connection was established, then extracting the last two digits of the timestamp, and using the number of seconds corresponding to those two digits as the time interval. For example, if the timestamp is displayed as "1718000025", then 25 can be extracted and used as the time interval.

[0096] In one possible implementation, after receiving the first fragment and the second fragment of the first ciphertext, the mobile device can process them according to the following steps 201-206:

[0097] Step 201: After the mobile device receives the first fragment and the second fragment of the first ciphertext, it checks whether the time interval between receiving the first fragment and the second fragment of the first ciphertext meets the preset time condition.

[0098] Step 202: If the preset time conditions are met, the mobile device generates a data restoration algorithm based on the time the connection was established.

[0099] Step 203: On the mobile device, the first fragment of the first ciphertext and the second fragment of the first ciphertext are restored into the first ciphertext to be combined and the second ciphertext to be combined, according to the data restoration algorithm.

[0100] Step 204: Perform a second encryption process on the first ciphertext to be combined, the second ciphertext to be combined, and the hash digest using a second encryption algorithm, and return the second ciphertext obtained after the second encryption to the electricity meter.

[0101] Step 205: If the preset time condition is not met, the mobile device returns a verification request to the meter so that the meter resends the first fragment of the first ciphertext and the second fragment of the first ciphertext.

[0102] Step 206: If the time interval between the first fragment and the second fragment of the first ciphertext received multiple times does not meet the preset time condition, then upload the abnormal information to the server.

[0103] In step 201, the purpose of the mobile device detecting the time interval between the two received segments is to enhance encryption and prevent information tampering due to interception by other smart devices. After the preset time is met, the mobile device can call a pre-stored data restoration algorithm or a temporarily generated data restoration algorithm, which corresponds to the previous data splitting algorithm. After using the data restoration algorithm to restore the first segment and the second segment of the first ciphertext into the first and second ciphertexts to be combined, the second encryption algorithm can be applied to encrypt the first and second ciphertexts to be combined and the hash digest. Under normal circumstances, the first and second ciphertexts to be combined obtained in step 203 should be the same as those in steps 10232 and 10233.

[0104] The encryption here involves encrypting the first ciphertext to be combined, the second ciphertext to be combined, and the hash digest simultaneously. After the meter receives the second ciphertext, it verifies whether the content of the hash value in the second ciphertext is the same as the content of the previously sent hash value by decryption. If they are the same, there is no need to verify the first and second ciphertexts to be combined.

[0105] Correspondingly, if the time interval between receiving the first fragment and the second fragment of the first ciphertext does not meet the preset time condition, the mobile phone can request the meter to resend the first fragment and the second fragment of the first ciphertext. If the condition is not met after multiple resends, either the meter's hardware or software is malfunctioning, or a tampering device is operating. In this case, the abnormality should be reported to the server.

[0106] The above content reflects the interaction process between the mobile phone and the electricity meter. The specific processing of the concentrator is as follows, that is, step S104 can be executed according to the following steps S1041-S1044:

[0107] S1041: Extract the time code corresponding to the time period in which the meter reading request was initiated from the pre-stored data table.

[0108] S1042: Using a dynamic key generation method, a dynamic key is generated based on the time encoding and the number of times the key has been rewritten.

[0109] S1043: Encrypt the second ciphertext using a dynamic key to obtain the third ciphertext.

[0110] S1044: Send the third ciphertext, the time of initiating the meter reading request, and the number of times to reread the meter in a data packet to the server.

[0111] In step S1041, the time code is a pre-stored value, mainly to improve the computational efficiency and reduce complexity of subsequent steps. The division of time periods is usually based on one hour or multiple hours. Generally speaking, a day should be divided into at least 3-4 segments, preferably 8-10 segments. This can control the storage amount while ensuring a certain level of complexity.

[0112] As shown in Table 2 below, time periods and corresponding event codes can be divided in this way:

[0113] .

[0114] In step S1042, the dynamic key is generated temporarily, and its generation method is known only to the concentrator and the server. The generation of the dynamic key is related to the time encoding and the number of times the meter reading is repeated. Since the concentrator uploads the meter reading data to the server quickly after completing the meter reading, the server can use the time of receiving the meter reading data to determine the time encoding. Alternatively, the time encoding or the time of initiating the meter reading request can be carried in the third-party encrypted data packet. Similarly, the number of times the meter reading is repeated can also be directly carried in this data packet.

[0115] In step S1043, the second ciphertext is encrypted using a dynamic key, but the time of initiating the meter reading request and the number of times the meter is reread are not encrypted. This allows the service to directly read the time of initiating the meter reading request and the number of times the meter is reread, thereby completing the decryption operation.

[0116] Finally, the solutions described above are all implemented when the user's mobile phone is online. If the user's mobile phone is offline, encryption can be performed using a basic password to generate plain ciphertext. This plain ciphertext is then sent to the concentrator through the normal meter reading process. The concentrator then sends the plain ciphertext to the server, thus completing the upload of the meter reading data. In other words, the method provided in this embodiment also includes the following:

[0117] If the mobile device is not online, the meter will use the initial password to encrypt the meter reading data to generate ordinary ciphertext;

[0118] The meter sends plain ciphertext to the concentrator, which then sends plain ciphertext to the server.

[0119] Overall, the solution provided in this embodiment performs a lightweight encryption before the meter sends the meter reading data to the mobile device, and further improves the encryption level by using data splitting. Then, the mobile device also uses a heavyweight encryption strategy to encrypt the meter reading data again. Therefore, the originally complex encryption task is securely transferred to the mobile device, so that the complex encryption work can be completed without changing the meter hardware.

[0120] Furthermore, after the meter receives the reply from the mobile phone, it can verify whether the received content has been tampered with by verifying the hash digest, thus reducing the possibility of the outgoing data being tampered with.

[0121] Based on the same technical concept, this application also provides an electricity meter transmission system, which includes: a mobile phone terminal, an electricity meter installed in a household, a concentrator wirelessly connected to the electricity meter, and a server wirelessly connected to the concentrator; one concentrator is wirelessly connected to multiple electricity meters respectively; the mobile phone terminal maintains a short-range communication connection with the electricity meter after passing a prior verification.

[0122] The concentrator is used to send meter reading requests to the corresponding electricity meter at predetermined intervals.

[0123] The electricity meter is used to detect whether the mobile terminal is online after receiving a meter reading request. If the mobile terminal is online, the meter sends the first ciphertext to the mobile terminal so that the mobile terminal performs a second encryption process on the first ciphertext using a second encryption algorithm and returns the second ciphertext obtained after the second encryption process to the electricity meter. The first ciphertext is generated by the electricity meter after receiving the meter reading request and performing a first encryption process on the plaintext meter reading data using a temporary public key and the first encryption algorithm.

[0124] The meter is also used to decrypt the second ciphertext using the private key corresponding to the temporary public key, verify the decryption result, and send the second ciphertext to the concentrator after the verification is successful; the computing power consumption of the second encryption process is greater than that of the first encryption process.

[0125] The concentrator is further configured to encrypt the second ciphertext based on the number of times the meter reading request was initiated and the time when the meter reading request was initiated, to obtain a third ciphertext, and then send the third ciphertext to the server.

[0126] Optionally, when the meter detects whether the mobile terminal is online after receiving a meter reading request, and sends the first encrypted message to the mobile terminal if the mobile terminal is online, the specific function is as follows:

[0127] Upon receiving a meter reading request, the system retrieves the mobile phone communication address pre-stored in the memory and sends a connection establishment request to the mobile phone according to the mobile phone communication address. The mobile phone communication address pre-stored in the memory is sent by the server to the meter's memory through the concentrator after the server verifies the mobile phone.

[0128] If the connection between the electricity meter and the mobile phone is successfully established, a hash digest is generated based on the plaintext meter reading data.

[0129] The plaintext meter reading data and hash digest are concatenated into a message to be sent according to a preset combination method. The message to be sent is then encrypted using a temporary public key to obtain a first ciphertext, and the first ciphertext is sent to the mobile phone.

[0130] Optionally, when the meter is used to concatenate plaintext meter reading data and hash digests into information to be sent according to a preset combination method, and to perform a first encryption process on the information to be sent using a temporary public key to obtain a first ciphertext, and to send the first ciphertext to the mobile terminal, the specific uses are as follows:

[0131] The plaintext meter reading data is split into a first data group and a second data group;

[0132] The first data group is encrypted using a temporary public key to obtain the first ciphertext to be combined.

[0133] The second data group is first encrypted using a preset encryption algorithm to obtain the second ciphertext to be combined.

[0134] Based on the data splitting algorithm corresponding to the time of establishing a connection with the mobile terminal, the first and second ciphertexts to be combined are split and recombined to obtain the first fragment of the first ciphertext and the second fragment of the first ciphertext.

[0135] At preset time intervals, the first fragment of the first ciphertext and the second fragment of the first ciphertext are sent to the mobile terminal respectively; the hash digest is sent to the mobile terminal in the data packet containing the first fragment of the first ciphertext or the data packet containing the second fragment of the first ciphertext.

[0136] Optionally, the preset time interval is determined based on the time it takes for the electricity meter to establish a connection with the mobile phone.

[0137] Optionally, the mobile device is also used for:

[0138] After receiving the first fragment and the second fragment of the first ciphertext, check whether the time interval between receiving the first fragment and the second fragment of the first ciphertext meets the preset time condition;

[0139] If the preset time conditions are met, a data restoration algorithm is generated based on the time the connection was established.

[0140] According to the data restoration algorithm, the first fragment of the first ciphertext and the second fragment of the first ciphertext are restored to the first ciphertext to be combined and the second ciphertext to be combined.

[0141] The first ciphertext to be combined, the second ciphertext to be combined, and the hash digest are subjected to a second encryption process using a second encryption algorithm, and the second ciphertext obtained after the second encryption is returned to the electricity meter.

[0142] If the preset time condition is not met, a verification request is sent back to the meter so that the meter can resend the first fragment of the first ciphertext and the second fragment of the first ciphertext.

[0143] If the time interval between the first fragment and the second fragment of the first ciphertext received multiple times does not meet the preset time condition, then an error message is uploaded to the server.

[0144] Optionally, when the concentrator encrypts the second ciphertext based on the number of times the meter reading request was initiated and the time when the meter reading request was initiated, to obtain the third ciphertext, and sends the third ciphertext to the server, it is specifically used for:

[0145] Extract the time code corresponding to the time period in which the meter reading request was initiated from the pre-stored data table;

[0146] A dynamic key is generated based on the time encoding and the number of times the key has been rewritten.

[0147] The second ciphertext is encrypted using the dynamic key to obtain the third ciphertext;

[0148] The third encrypted message, the time of initiating the meter reading request, and the number of times the meter is reread are sent to the server in a single data packet.

[0149] Optionally, the meter is also used for:

[0150] If the mobile device is not online, the meter reading data will be encrypted using the initial password to generate plain ciphertext;

[0151] Send plain ciphertext to the concentrator, so that the concentrator will send plain ciphertext to the server.

[0152] Those skilled in the art will understand that, for the sake of convenience and brevity, the specific working process of the system described above can be referred to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0153] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed methods and systems can be implemented in other ways.

[0154] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate. The components shown as units may or may not be physical units; that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0155] In addition, the functional units in the various embodiments of this application can be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit can exist physically separately, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit.

[0156] If the aforementioned functions are implemented as software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a processor-executable, non-volatile, computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this application, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or a portion of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of this application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media capable of storing program code, such as USB flash drives, portable hard drives, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disks, or optical disks.

[0157] Finally, it should be noted that the above-described embodiments are merely specific implementations of this application, used to illustrate the technical solutions of this application, and not to limit them. The scope of protection of this application is not limited thereto. Although this application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that any person skilled in the art can still modify or easily conceive of changes to the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments, or make equivalent substitutions for some of the technical features, within the scope of the technology disclosed in this application. Such modifications, changes, or substitutions do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, and should all be covered within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be determined by the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A meter reading information transmission method characterized by comprising: The method is applied to an electric meter transmission system, and the electric meter transmission system comprises a mobile phone terminal, an electric meter arranged in a household, a concentrator in wireless communication connection with the electric meter, and a server in wireless communication connection with the concentrator; one concentrator is in wireless communication connection with a plurality of electric meters respectively; the mobile phone terminal is in short-distance communication connection with the electric meter after pre-verification; and the method comprises the following steps: The concentrator initiates a meter reading request to the corresponding electric meter at a predetermined time interval; After receiving the meter reading request, the electric meter detects whether the mobile phone terminal is in an online state, and if the mobile phone terminal is in the online state, sends first ciphertext to the mobile phone terminal, so that the mobile phone terminal performs second encryption processing on the first ciphertext by using a second encryption algorithm, and returns second ciphertext obtained after the second encryption processing to the electric meter; the first ciphertext is generated by using a first encryption algorithm to perform first encryption processing on plaintext meter reading data by using a temporary public key after the electric meter receives the meter reading request; The electric meter decrypts the second ciphertext by using a private key corresponding to the temporary public key, checks the decrypted result, and sends the second ciphertext to the concentrator after the checking is correct; the algorithm consumption of the second encryption processing is greater than that of the first encryption processing; The concentrator encrypts the second ciphertext to obtain third ciphertext according to a current re-reading number of the meter reading request and a time at which the meter reading request is initiated, and sends the third ciphertext to the server; After receiving the meter reading request, the electric meter detects whether the mobile phone terminal is in an online state, and if the mobile phone terminal is in the online state, sends first ciphertext to the mobile phone terminal, comprising the following steps: After receiving the meter reading request, the electric meter extracts a mobile phone communication address pre-stored in a memory, and sends a connection establishment request to the mobile phone terminal according to the mobile phone communication address; the mobile phone communication address pre-stored in the memory is sent to the memory of the electric meter by the server after the mobile phone terminal is verified by the server; If the connection between the electric meter and the mobile phone terminal is successfully established, the electric meter generates a hash digest according to the plaintext meter reading data; The electric meter splices the plaintext meter reading data and the hash digest into to-be-sent information according to a preset combination mode, performs first encryption processing on the to-be-sent information by using a temporary public key to obtain first ciphertext, and sends the first ciphertext to the mobile phone terminal; The electric meter splices the plaintext meter reading data and the hash digest into to-be-sent information according to a preset combination mode, performs first encryption processing on the to-be-sent information by using a temporary public key to obtain first ciphertext, and sends the first ciphertext to the mobile phone terminal, comprising the following steps: The electric meter splits the plaintext meter reading data into a first data group and a second data group; The electric meter performs first encryption processing on the first data group by using a temporary public key to obtain first to-be-combined ciphertext; The electric meter performs first encryption processing on the second data group by using a preset encryption algorithm to obtain second to-be-combined ciphertext; The electric meter splits and recombines the first to-be-combined ciphertext and the second to-be-combined ciphertext according to a data splitting algorithm corresponding to the time at which the connection with the mobile phone terminal is established to obtain a first segment of the first ciphertext and a second segment of the first ciphertext; The electric meter sends the first segment of the first ciphertext and the second segment of the first ciphertext to the mobile terminal according to a preset time interval; and the hash digest is sent to the mobile terminal in a data packet in which the first segment of the first ciphertext is located or a data packet in which the second segment of the first ciphertext is located.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The preset time interval is determined according to a time when the electric meter and the mobile terminal establish a connection.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein, The method further comprises: After the mobile terminal receives the first segment of the first ciphertext and the second segment of the first ciphertext, the mobile terminal detects whether a time interval when the first segment of the first ciphertext and the second segment of the first ciphertext are received meets a preset time condition; If the preset time condition is met, the mobile terminal generates a data restoration algorithm according to a time when the connection is established; The mobile terminal restores the first segment of the first ciphertext and the second segment of the first ciphertext into a first to-be-combined ciphertext and a second to-be-combined ciphertext according to the data restoration algorithm; The first to-be-combined ciphertext, the second to-be-combined ciphertext and the hash digest are subjected to a second encryption processing by a second encryption algorithm, and a second ciphertext obtained after the second encryption is returned to the electric meter; If the preset time condition is not met, the mobile terminal returns a verification request to the electric meter, so that the electric meter re-sends the first segment of the first ciphertext and the second segment of the first ciphertext; If time intervals between the first segment of the first ciphertext and the second segment of the first ciphertext received multiple times all do not meet the preset time condition, abnormal information is uploaded to the server.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein, The concentrator encrypts the second ciphertext according to a time when the meter reading request is initiated and a number of times of re-reading this time when the meter reading request is initiated, to obtain a third ciphertext, and sends the third ciphertext to the server, comprising: extracting a time code corresponding to a time period when the meter reading request is initiated from a pre-stored data table; generating a dynamic secret key according to the time code and the number of times of re-reading this time by using a dynamic secret key generation mode; encrypting the second ciphertext by using the dynamic secret key to obtain the third ciphertext; sending the third ciphertext, the time when the meter reading request is initiated and the number of times of re-reading this time to the server through a data packet.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein, The method further comprises: If the mobile terminal is not in an online state, the electric meter encrypts meter reading data by using an initial password to generate a normal ciphertext; The electric meter sends the normal ciphertext to the concentrator, so that the concentrator sends the normal ciphertext to the server.

6. An electricity meter transmission system characterised in that, The electric meter transmission system comprises a mobile terminal, an electric meter arranged in a house of a resident, a concentrator wirelessly communicatively connected with the electric meter and a server wirelessly communicatively connected with the concentrator; one concentrator is wirelessly communicatively connected with a plurality of electric meters; the mobile terminal is communicatively connected with the electric meter at a short distance after a pre-verification; The concentrator is configured to initiate a meter reading request to a corresponding electric meter at a predetermined time interval. The electric meter is used for detecting whether the mobile terminal is in an online state after receiving the meter reading request, and if the mobile terminal is in the online state, sending the first ciphertext to the mobile terminal, so that the mobile terminal performs second encryption processing on the first ciphertext through a second encryption algorithm, and returns second ciphertext obtained after the second encryption processing to the electric meter; the first ciphertext is generated by using a first encryption algorithm to perform first encryption processing on the meter reading data of the plaintext through a temporary public key after the electric meter receives the meter reading request; The electric meter is also used for decrypting the second ciphertext by using a private key corresponding to the temporary public key, verifying the decrypted result, and sending the second ciphertext to the concentrator after the verification is correct; the calculation power consumption of the second encryption processing is greater than that of the first encryption processing; The concentrator is also used for encrypting the second ciphertext to obtain third ciphertext according to the current re-reading number of initiating the meter reading request and the time of initiating the meter reading request, and sending the third ciphertext to the server; When the electric meter is used for detecting whether the mobile terminal is in an online state after receiving the meter reading request, and if the mobile terminal is in the online state, sending the first ciphertext to the mobile terminal, the electric meter is specifically used for: After receiving the meter reading request, extracting the mobile communication address pre-stored in the memory, and sending a connection establishment request to the mobile terminal according to the mobile communication address; the mobile communication address pre-stored in the memory is sent to the memory of the electric meter by the server through the concentrator after verifying the mobile terminal; If the connection between the electric meter and the mobile terminal is successfully established, generating a hash digest according to the meter reading data of the plaintext; Splicing the meter reading data of the plaintext and the hash digest into to-be-sent information according to a preset combination mode, and performing first encryption processing on the to-be-sent information by using the temporary public key to obtain the first ciphertext, and sending the first ciphertext to the mobile terminal; When the electric meter is used for splicing the meter reading data of the plaintext and the hash digest into to-be-sent information according to a preset combination mode, and performing first encryption processing on the to-be-sent information by using the temporary public key to obtain the first ciphertext, and sending the first ciphertext to the mobile terminal, the electric meter is specifically used for: Splitting the meter reading data of the plaintext into a first data group and a second data group; Performing first encryption processing on the first data group by using the temporary public key to obtain first to-be-combined ciphertext; Performing first encryption processing on the second data group by using a preset encryption algorithm to obtain second to-be-combined ciphertext; According to a data splitting algorithm corresponding to the time of establishing the connection with the mobile terminal, splitting and recombining the first to-be-combined ciphertext and the second to-be-combined ciphertext to obtain a first segment of the first ciphertext and a second segment of the first ciphertext; According to a preset time interval, sending the first segment of the first ciphertext and the second segment of the first ciphertext to the mobile terminal respectively; the hash digest is sent to the mobile terminal in a data packet where the first segment of the first ciphertext is located or a data packet where the second segment of the first ciphertext is located.

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