Monitoring system and communication setting method

Abstract

To achieve automatic setting of communication between controllers.SOLUTION: A primary controller 1 broadcasts a first packet including floor information, an identifier of a radio communication line and monitoring object area information by radio communication, assigns an address when a transmission source address of a second packet from a secondary controller 2 is not set, and transmits by radio a third packet in which the assigned address is set as a transmission destination address. The secondary controller 2 identifies the identifier of the wireless communication line to be used by the secondary controller 2 based on the floor information and the position information of the secondary controller 2, the identifier stored in the first packet, and the monitoring target area information, wirelessly transmits the second packet including the identifier to the primary controller 1 that is the transmission source of the first packet, and sets the transmission destination address stored in the third packet as the address of the secondary controller 2.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a monitoring system and a communication setting method. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, wired communications have been the norm for air conditioning control. However, in recent years, due to labor shortages, wireless technology has been increasingly adopted, and efforts are being made to reduce the amount of work required for wired wiring. Despite concerns about a shortage of employees (engineering personnel) in the future, the number of jobs is expected to increase for the time being, making construction cost reduction an important issue. At the same time, customers' demands for quality are also increasing, and there is a desire to reduce human error through automation. Previously, technologies have been proposed to automate the setup of wireless communications (see Patent Documents 1 to 3).

[0003] Controllers that control air conditioning include primary controllers installed in places like machine rooms, and secondary controllers such as VAV (Variable Air Volume) controllers installed in ceilings above living rooms. Wireless device connections eliminate the need for wiring, reducing the labor required for installation and component costs. However, with wireless connections, engineering work is required to identify which primary and secondary controllers will communicate with each other. This means that settings must be configured directly on the devices before the wireless communication line is established. With wired connections, the same communication line is clearly separated by physical wiring, allowing communication using addresses assigned to sub-controllers. However, with wireless connections, work must be done to identify the communication line that will be used for communication.

[0004] Patent Documents 1 to 3 disclose technologies for automating wireless communication settings. However, the technologies disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 3 do not support a system configuration in which a primary controller monitors and controls secondary controllers within its own monitoring area. In other words, the technologies disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 3 do not take into account the primary controller's monitoring area, and are unable to realize automatic settings for communication between the primary controller and secondary controller based on the primary controller's monitoring area. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-112803 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2013-90053 [Patent Document 3] International Publication No. WO2023 / 157109 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a monitoring system and a communication setting method that can realize automatic setting of communication between a primary controller and a secondary controller based on the area monitored by the primary controller. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] A monitoring system of the present invention comprises a first communication device and a second communication device monitored by the first communication device, wherein the first communication device comprises a first transmitting unit configured to wirelessly broadcast a first packet including floor information indicating the floor of a building on which the first communication device is installed, an identifier of a wireless communication line used by the first communication device, and monitored area information indicating the position on a floor plan of an area to be monitored by the first communication device, a first receiving unit configured to receive the packet from the second communication device, and an address assigning unit configured to assign an address to the second communication device when the first receiving unit receives a second packet from the second communication device and the source address of the second packet is not set, and the second communication device comprises a second receiving unit configured to receive the packet from the first communication device, and and a setting unit configured to set the destination address stored in the third packet as the address of the first communication device when the address of the first communication device is not set, wherein the second transmitting unit of the second communication device stores a value indicating that the address of the second communication device is not set as the source address in the second packet, and the first transmitting unit of the first communication device, in response to receiving the second packet, wirelessly transmits the third packet in which the address assigned by the address assigning unit is set as the destination address.

[0008] In addition, in one configuration example of the monitoring system of the present invention, the second transmitting unit of the second communication device wirelessly transmits the second packet including location information of the device itself, the first transmitting unit of the first communication device wirelessly transmits the third packet including location information obtained from the second packet received by the first receiving unit, and the setting unit of the second communication device is characterized in that the second receiving unit receives the third packet and, if the location information stored in the third packet is identical to the location information of the device itself, determines that the packet is addressed to the device itself. In addition, in one configuration example of the monitoring system of the present invention, the first communication device is characterized by further comprising: a memory unit configured to store a communication status table in which the address and location information of the second communication device, the reception time of the second packet, and the communication status determination result of the second communication device are registered; and a communication status confirmation unit configured to update the communication status table in response to reception of the second packet when the address of the second communication device that is the sender of the second packet has already been set, and to newly register information about the second communication device after the address has been set in the communication status table when the address of the second communication device that is the sender of the second packet has not yet been set.

[0009] In addition, in one configuration example of the monitoring system of the present invention, when the address allocation unit of the first communication device determines that the monitoring area of ​​the first communication device has changed and that it is necessary to initialize the address of a second communication device that will newly join the monitoring area, it generates a fourth packet that stores the location information of the second communication device and a value indicating that the destination address is not set, and the first transmitting unit of the first communication device wirelessly transmits the fourth packet, and the setting unit of the second communication device receives the fourth packet and, if the location information stored in the fourth packet is identical to the location information of the second communication device, determines that the packet is addressed to the second communication device, and if the destination address stored in this packet is a value indicating that it is not set, deletes the address of the second communication device. In addition, in one configuration example of the monitoring system of the present invention, the first communication device further includes a memory unit configured to pre-store floor information indicating the floor of the building on which the device is installed, an identifier of the wireless communication line used by the device, and monitored area information indicating the position on a floor plan of the area to be monitored by the device, and the second communication device further includes a floor identification unit configured to identify the floor of the building on which the device is installed from the reception result of the first packet.

[0010] In addition, in one configuration example of the monitoring system of the present invention, the first communication device further includes a memory unit configured to pre-store an identifier of the wireless communication line used by the device and monitored area information indicating the position on a floor plan of the area to be monitored by the device, a first atmospheric pressure sensor, and a first floor identification unit configured to identify the floor of the building on which the device is installed based on the atmospheric pressure measurement results by the first atmospheric pressure sensor, and the second communication device further includes a second atmospheric pressure sensor and a second floor identification unit configured to identify the floor of the building on which the device is installed based on the atmospheric pressure measurement results by the second atmospheric pressure sensor. In addition, in one configuration example of the monitoring system of the present invention, the first communication device further includes a first GPS device and a first position determination unit configured to determine the position of the device on a floor plan of a building based on the latitude and longitude detected by the first GPS device, and the second communication device further includes a second GPS device and a second position determination unit configured to determine the position of the device on a floor plan of a building based on the latitude and longitude detected by the second GPS device.

[0011] Furthermore, a communication setting method of the present invention includes a first step in which a first communication device wirelessly broadcasts a first packet including floor information indicating the floor of a building on which the first communication device is installed, an identifier of a wireless communication line used by the first communication device, and monitored area information indicating the position on a floor plan of an area to be monitored by the first communication device; a second step in which a second communication device monitored by the first communication device receives the first packet; a third step in which the second communication device specifies an identifier of a wireless communication line to be used by the first communication device based on the floor information indicating the floor of the building on which the first communication device is installed, position information indicating the position of the first communication device on the floor plan of the building, the identifier stored in the first packet received in the second step, and the monitored area information; and a second step in which the second communication device broadcasts a second packet including the identifier specified in the third step. a fourth step of wirelessly transmitting the first packet, which stores the same identifier as the identifier stored in the second packet, to a first communication device that is the sender of the first packet; a fifth step of the first communication device receiving the second packet; a sixth step of the first communication device assigning an address to the second communication device if the source address of the second packet is a value indicating that the address is not set; a seventh step of the first communication device wirelessly transmitting a third packet in response to receiving the second packet, the third packet having the address assigned in the sixth step set as its destination address; an eighth step of the second communication device receiving the third packet; and a ninth step of the second communication device setting the destination address stored in the third packet as its own address if the address of its own device is not set. [Effects of the Invention]

[0012] According to the present invention, by providing a first communication device with a first transmitter, a first receiver, and an address assigner, and providing a second communication device with a second receiver, a communication line identifying unit, a second transmitter, and a setting unit, it is possible to automatically identify a wireless communication line between the first communication device and the second communication device based on the setting of the monitoring area of ​​the first communication device, and to automatically set the address of the second communication device.As a result, the present invention can reduce the number of engineering steps and the possibility of setting errors. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a monitoring system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating communication processing of the primary controller of the monitoring system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating communication processing of the secondary controller of the monitoring system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram illustrating a communication process between the primary controller and the secondary controller in the monitoring system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the structure of a packet broadcast from the primary controller according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of an area monitored by a primary controller according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of distribution timing for each floor from the primary controller. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the structure of a packet transmitted by unicast from the secondary controller according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a communication status table in the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 10]FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the structure of a response packet transmitted by unicast from the primary controller according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the structure of a response packet transmitted by unicast from the secondary controller according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 12] FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a change of the monitoring area in the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 13] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing another example of an area to be monitored by the primary controller according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 14] FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a monitoring system according to a second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 15] FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating communication processing of the primary controller in the monitoring system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 16] FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating communication processing of the secondary controller in the monitoring system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 17] FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional building automation system. [Figure 18] FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a building automation system according to a third embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 19] FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a computer that realizes the systems according to the first to third embodiments of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0014] [First embodiment] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a monitoring system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The monitoring system includes a primary controller 1 (first communication device) and a secondary controller 2 (second communication device). In FIG. 1, facility equipment such as a VAV unit controlled by the secondary controller 2 is omitted.

[0015] The primary controller 1 includes a memory unit 10, a location identification unit 11, a transmitter 12, a receiver 13, a communication status check unit 14, an address assignment unit 15, a clock unit 17, and a GPS (Global Positioning System) device 18.

[0016] The secondary controller 2 includes a receiving unit 20 , a floor identifying unit 21 , a position identifying unit 22 , a communication line identifying unit 23 , a transmitting unit 24 , a setting unit 25 , a storage unit 26 , and a GPS device 27 .

[0017] The primary controller 1 controls the building's air conditioning equipment, sanitary equipment, heat source equipment, etc. through the secondary controller 2. The primary controller 1 also collects data from the secondary controller 2 and monitors the secondary controller 2 and the facility equipment.

[0018] The secondary controller 2 communicates with the primary controller 1 and controls facility devices such as an FCU (Fan Coil Unit) and a VAV. In the following description, it is assumed that a plurality of primary controllers 1 and a plurality of secondary controllers 2 are installed.

[0019] 2 is a flowchart illustrating the communication processing of the primary controller 1, FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the communication processing of the secondary controller 2, and FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram illustrating the communication processing between the primary controller 1 and the secondary controller 2. In FIG.

[0020] Stored in advance in the storage unit 10 of the primary controller 1 are floor information indicating the floor of the building on which the primary controller 1 is installed, a communication line identifier unique to the wireless communication line used by the primary controller 1, an address unique to the primary controller 1, and monitored area information indicating the position on a floor plan of the area to be monitored by the primary controller 1. The monitored area information is the X and Y coordinates of the four corners of the monitored area on the floor plan of the building.

[0021] Figure 6 is a diagram showing an example of a monitored area. Figure 6 shows one floor of a building. The monitored area of ​​primary controller 1-#1 is 3-1, the monitored area of ​​primary controller 1-#2 is 3-2, and the monitored area of ​​primary controller 1-#3 is 3-3.

[0022] During engineering work, an engineering staff member uses an engineering tool connected to the primary controller 1 by wire to set floor information, communication line identifiers, addresses, and monitoring area information in the primary controller 1.

[0023] The GPS device 18 of each primary controller 1 detects the latitude and longitude of the device itself. The position determination unit 11 of each primary controller 1 determines the position of the device itself on a floor plan of the building based on the latitude and longitude detected by the GPS device 18 of the device itself (FIG. 2, step S100). The position information of the primary controller 1 is an XY coordinate on the floor plan of the building. The position determination unit 11 stores the position information in the memory unit 10.

[0024] The transmitter 12 of each primary controller 1 broadcasts by wireless communication a packet P1 including at least the floor information of the own device stored in the memory unit 10, the communication line identifier of the own device stored in the memory unit 10, the location information of the own device identified by the location identification unit 11, the destination address, the source address (the address of the own device stored in the memory unit 10), and the monitored area information of the own device stored in the memory unit 10 (step S101 in Figure 2, step S300 in Figure 4).

[0025] The structure of a packet P1 that is broadcast is shown in Figure 5. The destination address of the packet P1 is an address indicating broadcast. A checksum is also added to the packet P1 to detect corruption.

[0026] The transmitter 12 of each primary controller 1 acquires time information from the clock unit 17 during broadcast distribution. The clock unit 17 of each primary controller 1 periodically corrects the time. Methods for correcting the time include, for example, NTP (Network Time Protocol) and GPS. By periodically correcting the time in this way, the time measured by the clock unit 17 of each primary controller 1 can be synchronized.

[0027] The transmitter 12 of each primary controller 1 broadcasts packets P1 at a distribution timing determined for each floor using time information acquired from its own clock unit 17. One or more primary controllers 1 arranged on the same floor broadcast packets P1 at the same distribution timing.

[0028] An example of the distribution timing for each floor of the primary controller 1 is shown in Figure 7. In the example of Figure 7, the lowest floor of the building (the second basement floor in the example of Figure 7) is set as the starting point (0 seconds), and the distribution timing of packet P1 is determined to be different for each floor. For example, if primary controllers 1-#1 to 1-#4 on the second basement floor perform broadcast distribution at 0 seconds, primary controllers 1-#5 to 1-#8 on the first floor will perform broadcast distribution 1 second later. The transmitter 12 of each primary controller 1 repeatedly broadcasts packet P1.

[0029] The transmitter 12 of the primary controller 1 on each floor broadcasts every 60×N seconds (N is a predetermined number that determines the broadcast interval). As described above, primary controllers 1 located on the same floor broadcast at the same timing. In the example of FIG. 7, the number of floors Fn in the building is 63, including the basement, so the predetermined number N is 2, and broadcasts are performed every 120 seconds. If the remainder when the number of floors Fn is divided by 60 is 0, then the predetermined number N is N=Fn / 60, i.e., the quotient when the number of floors Fn is divided by 60. On the other hand, if the remainder when the number of floors Fn is divided by 60 is not 0, then N=(Fn / 60)+1, i.e., the value obtained by adding 1 to the quotient when the number of floors Fn is divided by 60.

[0030] The receiving unit 20 of each secondary controller 2 receives the packet P1 from each primary controller 1 (step S200 in FIG. 3). The receiving unit 20 has a function of measuring the strength of the radio waves transmitted from each primary controller 1 at the same time as receiving the packet P1.

[0031] The floor identification unit 21 of each secondary controller 2 identifies the floor of the building on which the secondary controller 2 is installed based on the reception result of packet P1 (step S201 in FIG. 3). Specifically, the floor identification unit 21 records the received packet P1 and radio wave intensity for each fixed reception period t (which is the same length as the distribution interval of primary controllers 1 on different floors, and in this embodiment is one second). Then, the floor identification unit 21 calculates the number of packets n(t) weighted by radio wave intensity for each reception period t as shown in equation (1). n(t)=Σαi(t) (1)

[0032] In equation (1), αi(t) is a weight based on the radio wave intensity of the primary controller 1-#i that is the source of packet P1 received in reception period t. Thus, the sum of weights αi(t) for packets P1 received in the same reception period t is set to the number of packets n(t) received in reception period t. The floor identification unit 21 identifies the reception period t with the largest number of packets n(t) from the calculation result of equation (1), and acquires floor information from packets P1 received in the identified reception period t. Then, the floor identification unit 21 determines the floor indicated by the acquired floor information as the floor of the building in which the device itself is installed. The floor identification unit 21 stores the floor information of the device itself in the storage unit 26.

[0033] After the floor is determined, the position determination unit 22 of each secondary controller 2 determines the position of the secondary controller 2 on the floor plan of the building based on the latitude and longitude detected by the GPS device 27 of the secondary controller 2 (step S202 in FIG. 3). The position information of the secondary controller 2 is an XY coordinate on the floor plan of the building. The position determination unit 22 stores the position information of the secondary controller 2 in the memory unit 26.

[0034] Next, the communication line identification unit 23 of each secondary controller 2 identifies the identifier of the wireless communication line that the device should use based on the floor of the building on which the device is installed, the position of the device on the floor plan of the building, and the communication line identifier and monitored area information stored in the packet P1 received from the primary controller 1 (step S203 in Figure 3).

[0035] Here, the packet P1 from which the communication line identifier and the monitored area information are obtained is a packet (a packet received during the reception period t in which the number of packets n(t) is the greatest) transmitted from the primary controller 1 installed on the same floor as the floor in which the secondary controller 2 is installed. The communication line identification unit 23 identifies the monitored area information including the position of the device itself on the building floor plan from the monitored area information stored in the multiple packets P1 received during the reception period t in which the number of packets n(t) is the greatest, and sets the communication line identifier obtained from the packet P1 in which the corresponding monitored area information is stored as the identifier of the wireless communication line to be used by the device itself. The communication line identification unit 23 stores the identified communication line identifier in the storage unit 26.

[0036] Next, the transmitter 24 of each secondary controller 2 unicasts a packet P2 via wireless communication to the primary controller 1 that is the sender of the packet P1, which contains at least the floor information of the device identified by the floor identification unit 21, the communication line identifier of the device identified by the communication line identification unit 23, the location information of the device identified by the location identification unit 22, the destination address, and the source address (step S204 in Figure 3, step S301 in Figure 4).

[0037] The structure of packet P2 transmitted by unicast is shown in Figure 8. As described above, the destination address of packet P2 stores the address of the primary controller 1 (the primary controller 1 whose monitoring area is the area including the location of its own device) that is the sender of packet P1, which stored an identifier identical to the communication line identifier of its own device identified by communication line identification unit 23. A checksum is also added to packet P2 in order to detect corruption of packet P2. If the address of its own device has not been set, transmitter 24 stores a value indicating that the address has not been set (for example, 255 for 1-byte data) as the source address, and if the address of its own device has already been set, stores the address of its own device as the source address.

[0038] It should be noted that, for the second and subsequent receptions of packet P1, the floor and position have already been specified, so there is no need to perform the processes of steps S201 and S202 again.

[0039] Next, the receiving unit 13 of each primary controller 1 receives the packet P2 from each secondary controller 2 (step S102 in FIG. 2). The communication status confirmation unit 14 of each primary controller 1 determines whether the packet P2 received by the receiving unit 13 of the own device is a packet addressed to the own device, i.e., whether the destination address of the packet P2 is the same as the address of the own device (step S103 in FIG. 2).

[0040] If the communication status check unit 14 determines that the destination address of the packet P2 is not the same as the address of its own device and that the packet P2 is not addressed to its own device, it discards the packet P2 (step S104 in FIG. 2).

[0041] Furthermore, if the address allocation unit 15 of each primary controller 1 determines that packet P2 is a packet addressed to its own device because the destination address of packet P2 is the same as the address of its own device, and if the address of the secondary controller 2 that sent packet P2 has not been set (YES in step S105 of FIG. 2), it assigns an address to the secondary controller 2 (step S106 of FIG. 2). As described above, if the address of the secondary controller 2 has not been set, the source address of packet P2 has a value indicating that it has not been set (for example, 255). The address allocation unit 15 assigns an address using either of the following predetermined methods (I) or (II).

[0042] (I) A new address is generated by adding 1 to the maximum address of the secondary controller 2 that has already been set, and is assigned to a secondary controller 2 whose address has not yet been set. (II) An address value that is not used in the communication state table stored in the storage unit 10 is generated as a new address, and assigned to a secondary controller 2 for which an address has not yet been set.

[0043] An example of the communication status table is shown in Figure 9. The communication status table associates the location information of the secondary controller 2 monitored by the primary controller 1, the address of the secondary controller 2, the determination result of the communication status of the secondary controller 2, and the time when the packet P2 was received from the secondary controller 2.

[0044] If the address of the secondary controller 2 that is the source of the packet P2 has already been set (if the source address of the packet P2 does not have a value indicating that it is not yet set), the information about this secondary controller 2 has already been registered in the communication status table.

[0045] Therefore, if packet P2 is addressed to its own device and the address of the secondary controller 2 that is the sender of packet P2 has already been set (NO in step S105), the communication status check unit 14 updates the reception time and communication status determination result of the address that is the same as the sender address of packet P2, among the information already registered in the communication status table (step S107 in FIG. 2). In this case, since packet P2 was successfully received, the communication status determination result of "OK" is stored in the communication status table. The processing of steps S114 and S115 will be described later.

[0046] In addition, for secondary controllers 2 registered in the communication status table that have not responded for a predetermined waiting time or longer since the transmission of packet P1, the communication status confirmation unit 14 stores the judgment result of "no response" in the communication status table as the communication status judgment result.

[0047] Next, the communication status check unit 14 of each primary controller 1 generates a response packet P3 for the secondary controller 2 that is the sender of packet P2, and passes it to the transmitter 12 of its own device. The transmitter 12 of each primary controller 1 unicasts the response packet P3 received from the communication status check unit 14 of its own device to the secondary controller 2 that is the sender of packet P2 via wireless communication (step S108 in FIG. 2, step S302 in FIG. 4).

[0048] The structure of the response packet P3 is shown in Fig. 10. The response packet P3 includes at least the floor information of the primary controller 1 stored in the storage unit 10 (the same as the floor information of packet P2), the communication line identifier of the primary controller 1 stored in the storage unit 10 (the same as the communication line identifier of packet P2), the destination address, the source address (the address of the primary controller 1 stored in the storage unit 10), and the location information of the secondary controller 2 acquired from packet P2.

[0049] If the address of the secondary controller 2 that sent the packet P2 has not yet been set, the address newly assigned by the address assignment unit 15 is stored as the destination address. If the address has already been set, the known address of the secondary controller 2 (the source address stored in the packet P2) is stored as the destination address. A checksum is also added to detect corruption of the response packet P3.

[0050] Next, the receiving unit 20 of each secondary controller 2 receives the response packet P3 from the primary controller 1 (step S205 in FIG. 3). The setting unit 25 of each secondary controller 2 determines whether the response packet P3 received by the receiving unit 20 of its own device is a packet addressed to its own device, i.e., whether the location information stored in the response packet P3 is the same as the location information of its own device (step S206 in Figure 3).

[0051] If the setting unit 25 determines that the location information stored in the response packet P3 is not the same as the location information of its own device and that the response packet P3 is not addressed to its own device, it discards the response packet P3 (step S207 in FIG. 3).

[0052] Furthermore, if the setting unit 25 determines that the response packet P3 is a packet addressed to the device itself because the location information stored in the response packet P3 is identical to the location information of the device itself, and if the address of the device itself has not been set (YES in step S208 of Figure 3), the setting unit 25 sets the destination address stored in the response packet P3 as the address of the device itself and stores it in the memory unit 26 (step S209 of Figure 3).

[0053] The setting unit 25 generates a response packet P4 for the primary controller 1 that is the sender of the response packet P3, and passes the response packet P4 to the transmitting unit 24 of its own device. The transmitting unit 24 of each secondary controller 2 unicasts the response packet P4 received from the setting unit 25 of its own device to the primary controller 1 that is the sender of the response packet P3 via wireless communication (step S210 in FIG. 3, step S303 in FIG. 4).

[0054] The structure of the response packet P4 is shown in Fig. 11. The response packet P4 includes at least the floor information of the secondary controller 2 stored in the storage unit 26 (the same as the floor information of packet P3), the communication line identifier of the secondary controller 2 stored in the storage unit 26 (the same as the communication line identifier of packet P3), the destination address (the source address stored in packet P3), the source address (the address of the secondary controller 2 stored in the storage unit 26), and the location information of the secondary controller 2 stored in the storage unit 26. A checksum is added to detect corruption of the response packet P4.

[0055] Next, the receiving unit 13 of each primary controller 1 receives the response packet P4 from the secondary controller 2 (step S109 in FIG. 2). The communication status confirmation unit 14 of each primary controller 1 determines whether the response packet P4 received by the receiving unit 13 of the own device is a packet addressed to the own device, i.e., whether the destination address of the response packet P4 is the same as the address of the own device (step S110 in Figure 2).

[0056] If the communication status check unit 14 determines that the destination address of the response packet P4 is not the same as the address of its own device and that the response packet P4 is not addressed to its own device, it discards the response packet P4 (step S111 in FIG. 2).

[0057] Furthermore, when the communication status check unit 14 determines that the response packet P4 is a packet addressed to its own device because the destination address of the response packet P4 is the same as the address of its own device, and when it determines that the address setting has been accepted because the source address of the response packet P4 is the same as the address newly assigned by the address assignment unit 15 of its own device (YES in step S112 of FIG. 2), it registers the source address of the response packet P4, the location information of the secondary controller 2 stored in the response packet P4, the reception time of the response packet P4, and the communication status determination result in the communication status table (step S113 of FIG. 2). In this case, because the response packet P4 was successfully received, the communication status determination result of "OK" is stored in the communication status table.

[0058] As described above, in this embodiment, by periodically broadcasting packet P1, receiving packet P2 in response to packet P1, and updating the communication status table, it is possible to check whether communication is normal between the primary controller 1 and secondary controller 2. Furthermore, if a new secondary controller 2 is installed, or if the location of the secondary controller 2 is changed and the area to be monitored changes, the above processing can be used to add information about the new secondary controller 2 to the communication status table as information about the controller to be managed.

[0059] In addition, if the communication status determination result shows that the ``no response'' state continues for a period of time equal to or longer than a predetermined no response time threshold, the communication status confirmation unit 14 of the primary controller 1 may delete the information of the ``no response'' secondary controller 2 from the communication status table.

[0060] Next, when the primary controller 1 changes the area to be monitored and a new address is set in the secondary controller 2, it is necessary to first initialize the address set in the secondary controller 2. For example, when the areas to be monitored 3-1 to 3-3 of the primary controllers 1-#1 to 1-#3 are changed from the state in Fig. 12(A) to the state in Fig. 12(B), the secondary controllers 2 included in the areas to be monitored 3-1 to 3-3 will change, and it is therefore necessary to change the addresses of the secondary controllers 2-#8 to 2-#13 in Fig. 12(B).

[0061] The communication status confirmation unit 14 of each primary controller 1 periodically communicates with other primary controllers 1 via wired or wireless communication, and shares the communication status table registered by its own device with the communication status confirmation units 14 of the other primary controllers 1.

[0062] When the address allocation unit 15 of each primary controller 1 receives a packet P2 addressed to itself from the secondary controller 2 after the monitoring area of ​​its own device has been changed, it determines whether it is necessary to initialize the address of the secondary controller 2 that is newly added to the monitoring area of ​​its own device (step S114 in Figure 2).

[0063] The address allocation unit 15 determines whether there is a secondary controller 2 that will be newly added to the monitoring area of ​​its own device, based on the changed monitoring area of ​​its own device and the location information of the secondary controllers 2 registered in the communication status tables of the other primary controllers 1, and if there is a newly added secondary controller 2, determines that it is necessary to initialize the address of this secondary controller 2. Then, the address allocation unit 15 generates a packet P3 for the secondary controller 2 whose address is to be initialized, and passes it to the transmitter 12 of its own device (step S115 in FIG. 2). The transmitter 12 of each primary controller 1 wirelessly transmits the packet P3 received from the address allocation unit 15 of its own device (step S108 in FIG. 2).

[0064] 10, packet P3 in this case includes the floor information of the primary controller 1 stored in storage unit 10, the communication line identifier of the primary controller 1 stored in storage unit 10, the destination address, the source address (the address of the primary controller 1 stored in storage unit 10), and location information of the secondary controller 2 whose address is to be initialized. The location information of the secondary controller 2 whose address is to be initialized can be acquired from the communication status table of another primary controller 1. Furthermore, when initializing the address of the secondary controller 2, the address allocation unit 15 sets a value indicating that the address is not set (for example, 255) as the destination address (step S115).

[0065] If the setting unit 25 of each secondary controller 2 determines that packet P3 received from the primary controller 1 is a packet addressed to its own device because the location information stored in the packet P3 is identical to the location information of its own device, and if the address of its own device has already been set and the destination address stored in packet P3 has a value indicating that it is not set, it determines that address initialization is necessary (YES in step S211 of Figure 3).

[0066] If the setting unit 25 determines that the address of its own device needs to be initialized, it deletes the address of its own device stored in the storage unit 26 (step S212 in FIG. 3). In this way, the address of the secondary controller 2 is initialized, and the secondary controller 2 once again waits to receive packet P1. The primary controller 1, which has initialized the address of the secondary controller 2, broadcasts packet P1, and a new address is set in the secondary controller 2.

[0067] 2, the transmission of packet P3 for initializing the address of secondary controller 2 is triggered by the reception of packet P2, but because the secondary controller 2 to be initialized is different from the secondary controller 2 that sent packet P2, the reception of packet P2 does not have to be the trigger. In other words, when it becomes necessary to initialize the address of secondary controller 2, address allocation unit 15 of primary controller 1 can simply generate and send packet P3 to this secondary controller 2.

[0068] The primary controller 1 can transmit packets P1 and P3 to multiple areas and can monitor multiple areas. In the example of Fig. 13, the areas monitored by the primary controller 1-#1 are 3-4 and 3-5, the area monitored by the primary controller 1-#2 is 3-2, and the area monitored by the primary controller 1-#3 is 3-3.

[0069] When using wireless communication as in this embodiment, it is not clear to what extent wireless packets can be received. Therefore, there is a possibility that packets may reach a controller in an adjacent building. However, by including the location information of the controller in each packet, it is possible to prevent packets from being misrecognized. Furthermore, the reason why a set address is used for continuous communication rather than always using unique location information is that it is expected that the packet size of the location information will be large, and since the conventional communication method is used as is, converting the address into a simple logical address for communication maintains compatibility with the old system and allows messages to be sent and received using less power.

[0070] Furthermore, in this embodiment, communications are encrypted using a common key based on floor information and information specific to the company's equipment, making it possible to prevent spoofing by unspecified users. Conventionally, actual equipment was identified and assigned addresses based on address information set in user-configured engineering data. However, with the availability of advance access to equipment location information from BIM data and other sources, equipment location information can be determined at the engineering data stage. Therefore, even with the address setting method described above (I), it is possible to reflect the location information of automatically assigned addresses and the address table information on the engineering tool.

[0071] [Second Example] Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. This embodiment describes another example of specifying floors of a primary controller and a secondary controller. FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a monitoring system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The monitoring system of this embodiment includes a primary controller 1a (first communication device) and a secondary controller 2a (second communication device). In FIG. 14, facility equipment such as a VAV unit controlled by the secondary controller 2a is omitted.

[0072] The primary controller 1a of this embodiment includes a memory unit 10, a location identification unit 11, a transmission unit 12, a reception unit 13, a communication status confirmation unit 14, an address assignment unit 15, an output unit 16, a clock unit 17, a GPS device 18, a floor identification unit 19, and an air pressure sensor 30.

[0073] The secondary controller 2a of this embodiment includes a receiving unit 20, a floor identification unit 21a, a position identification unit 22, a communication line identification unit 23, a transmitting unit 24, a setting unit 25, a memory unit 26, a GPS device 27, and an air pressure sensor 28.

[0074] FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating the communication processing of the primary controller 1a, and FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating the communication processing of the secondary controller 2a. In the first embodiment, floor information is pre-registered in the storage unit 10 of the primary controller 1, but in this embodiment, floor information is not pre-registered in the primary controller 1a in the initial state. That is, in the storage unit 10 of the primary controller 1a in the initial state, a communication line identifier unique to the wireless communication line used by the primary controller 1a, an address unique to the primary controller 1a, and monitored area information indicating the position on a floor plan of the area to be monitored by the primary controller 1a are pre-registered.

[0075] The floor identification unit 19 of each primary controller 1a identifies the floor of the building on which the device is installed based on the results of air pressure measurement by the air pressure sensor 30 mounted on the device (FIG. 15, step S99). Generally, the air pressure changes by 1 hPa per 10 m altitude. Therefore, it is possible to identify the floor from the measured air pressure value. The floor identification unit 19 stores the floor information in the memory unit 10. The processing in steps S100 to S115 is the same as that described in the first embodiment.

[0076] On the other hand, the floor identification unit 21a of each secondary controller 2a identifies the floor of the building on which the secondary controller 2a is installed based on the result of air pressure measurement by the air pressure sensor 28 mounted on the secondary controller 2a (FIG. 16, step S201a). The floor identification unit 21a stores the floor information in the storage unit 26.

[0077] The processes of steps S200, and S202 to S212 are the same as those described in Example 1. Note that, for the second and subsequent receptions of packet P1, the floor and position have already been identified, so there is no need to perform the processes of steps S201a and S202 again.

[0078] In this way, in this embodiment, by using the air pressure sensors 28 and 30, it is possible to identify the floors of the primary controller 1a and the secondary controller 2a, and it is possible to obtain the same effects as in the first embodiment.

[0079] [Third Example] Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. This embodiment is a specific example of the first and second embodiments. Fig. 17 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional building automation system. In Fig. 17, reference numeral 100 denotes a central monitoring device, 101 denotes a monitoring PC, 102 denotes an engineering tool, 103 denotes a switching hub, 104 denotes a primary controller, and 105 denotes a secondary controller. The existing primary controller 104 and secondary controller 105 communicate via wire (serial communication). The serial communication is based on, for example, the BACnet standard, and a one-byte serial address is set for each controller.

[0080] On the other hand, Figure 18 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the building automation system of this embodiment. In this embodiment, communication between the primary controller 1 (or primary controller 1a) and the secondary controller 2 (or secondary controller 2a) is performed wirelessly, and at that time, it is necessary to assign an address to each of the secondary controllers 2, 2a. As explained in the first and second embodiments, by automatically setting this address, the burden of engineering work can be reduced. In addition, since the allocation of location information can be performed automatically, it is expected that it will be easier to identify the replacement location in the event of equipment failure.

[0081] From the perspective of a building operator, when a tenant user's partition changes and the monitored area changes, the primary controller 104 and secondary controller 105 were conventionally connected by a physical trunk line, making it impossible to change the monitored secondary controller 105, and engineers had to perform logical grouping settings through engineering work. In contrast, in this embodiment, wireless communication between the primary controller 1, 1a and the secondary controller 2, 2a allows the monitored secondary controller 2, 2a to be freely changed. This allows the central monitoring device 100 to change the physical monitoring configuration in coordination with the operator's work to change the tenant user's partition area, leading to automation of engineering work. As is clear from this embodiment, the application of the present invention is not limited to air conditioning systems.

[0082] The first to third explanations do not provide a detailed explanation of the communication after the address of the secondary controller 2 is set, but it goes without saying that after the address is set, wireless communication is appropriately carried out between the primary controller 1 and the secondary controller 2 for controlling and monitoring the equipment.

[0083] Each of the primary controllers 1, 1a and secondary controllers 2, 2a described in the first to third embodiments can be realized by a computer equipped with a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a storage device, and an interface, and a program that controls these hardware resources. An example of the configuration of this computer is shown in Figure 19.

[0084] The computer includes a CPU 200, a storage device 201, and an interface device (abbreviated as I / F) 202. In the case of the primary controller 1, 1a, the I / F 202 is connected to the hardware of the transmitter 12 and receiver 13, the GPS device 18, the barometric pressure sensor 30, etc. In the case of the secondary controller 2, 2a, the I / F 202 is connected to the hardware of the receiver 20 and transmitter 24, the GPS device 27, the barometric pressure sensor 28, etc. In such a computer, a program for realizing the method of the present invention is stored in the storage device 201. The CPU 200 of each device executes the processes described in the first to third embodiments in accordance with the program stored in the storage device 201. [Explanation of symbols]

[0085] 1,1a...primary controller, 2,2a...secondary controller, 10,26...memory unit, 11,22...location determination unit, 12,24...transmitting unit, 13,20...receiving unit, 14...communication status confirmation unit, 15...address assignment unit, 17...clock unit, 18,27...GPS device, 19,21,21a...floor determination unit, 23...communication line determination unit, 25...setting unit, 28,30...barometric pressure sensor.

Claims

1. a first communication device and a second communication device monitored by the first communication device; the first communication device, a first transmitting unit configured to broadcast a first packet via wireless communication, the first packet including floor information indicating a floor of a building on which the device is installed, an identifier of a wireless communication line used by the device, and monitoring target area information indicating a position on a floor plan of an area to be monitored by the device; a first receiver configured to receive packets from the second communication device; an address assignment unit configured to assign an address to the second communication device when the first receiving unit receives a second packet from the second communication device and a source address of the second packet is not set; the second communication device a second receiver configured to receive packets from the first communication device; a communication line specifying unit configured to specify an identifier of a wireless communication line to be used by the device itself, based on floor information indicating a floor of a building on which the device itself is installed, position information indicating a position of the device itself on a floor plan of the building, the identifier stored in the first packet received by the second receiving unit, and the monitoring target area information; a second transmitting unit configured to wirelessly transmit the second packet including the identifier identified by the communication line identifying unit to a first communication device that is a source of the first packet containing the same identifier as the identifier identified by the communication line identifying unit; a setting unit configured to set a destination address stored in the third packet as an address of the first communication device when the second receiving unit receives a third packet from the first communication device and the address of the first communication device is not yet set; a second transmitting unit of the second communication device, when an address of the second communication device is not set, stores a value representing that the address is not set as a source address in the second packet; a first transmitting unit of the first communication device wirelessly transmitting the third packet in response to receiving the second packet, the third packet having the address assigned by the address assigning unit set as the destination address.

2. 2. The monitoring system according to claim 1, a second transmitting unit of the second communication device wirelessly transmitting the second packet including location information of the second communication device; a first transmitting unit of the first communication device wirelessly transmitting the third packet including the location information acquired from the second packet received by the first receiving unit; A monitoring system characterized in that the setting unit of the second communication device determines that the packet is addressed to the device when the second receiving unit receives the third packet and the location information stored in the third packet is identical to the location information of the device itself.

3. 2. The monitoring system according to claim 1, the first communication device, a storage unit configured to store a communication status table in which the address and location information of the second communication device, the reception time of the second packet, and a communication status determination result are registered; a communication status confirmation unit configured to update the communication status table in response to reception of the second packet when the address of the second communication device that is the sender of the second packet has already been set, and to newly register information about the second communication device after the address has been set in the communication status table when the address of the second communication device that is the sender of the second packet has not yet been set.

4. 2. The monitoring system according to claim 1, an address allocation unit of the first communication device, when determining that a monitoring area of ​​the first communication device has been changed and that it is necessary to initialize an address of a second communication device that will newly join the monitoring area, generates a fourth packet that stores location information of the second communication device and a value indicating that the destination address is not set; a first transmitter of the first communication device wirelessly transmits the fourth packet; A monitoring system characterized in that when the second receiving unit receives the fourth packet and the location information stored in the fourth packet is identical to the location information of the device itself, the setting unit of the second communication device determines that the packet is addressed to the device itself, and when the destination address stored in this packet is a value indicating that it is not set, deletes the address of the device itself.

5. 2. The monitoring system according to claim 1, the first communication device, a storage unit configured to store in advance floor information indicating the floor of a building on which the device is installed, an identifier of a wireless communication line used by the device, and monitoring target area information indicating the position on a floor plan of an area to be monitored by the device, the second communication device A monitoring system further comprising a floor identification unit configured to identify the floor of the building on which the device is installed based on a reception result of the first packet.

6. 2. The monitoring system according to claim 1, the first communication device, a storage unit configured to store in advance an identifier of a wireless communication line used by the device itself and monitoring target area information indicating a position on a plan view of an area to be monitored by the device itself; a first barometric pressure sensor; a first floor identification unit configured to identify the floor of the building on which the device is installed based on the result of measurement of the atmospheric pressure by the first atmospheric pressure sensor; the second communication device a second barometric pressure sensor; A monitoring system further comprising a second floor identification unit configured to identify the floor of the building on which the device is installed based on the air pressure measurement results by the second air pressure sensor.

7. 2. The monitoring system according to claim 1, the first communication device, a first GPS device; a first position determination unit configured to determine a position of the GPS device on a floor plan of a building based on the latitude and longitude detected by the first GPS device; the second communication device a second GPS device; a second position determination unit configured to determine the position of the device on a floor plan of a building based on the latitude and longitude detected by the second GPS device.

8. a first step in which a first communication device wirelessly broadcasts a first packet including floor information indicating the floor of a building on which the first communication device is installed, an identifier of a wireless communication line used by the first communication device, and monitoring target area information indicating the position on a floor plan of an area to be monitored by the first communication device; a second step in which a second communication device monitored by the first communication device receives the first packet; a third step in which the second communication device specifies an identifier of a wireless communication line to be used by the device itself, based on floor information indicating the floor of the building on which the device itself is installed, location information indicating the location of the device itself on a floor plan of the building, the identifier stored in the first packet received in the second step, and the monitoring target area information; a fourth step in which the second communication device wirelessly transmits a second packet including the identifier identified in the third step to the first communication device that is the source of the first packet containing the same identifier as the second packet; a fifth step of receiving the second packet by the first communication device; a sixth step of assigning an address to the second communication device by the first communication device when the source address of the second packet is a value indicating that the address is not set; a seventh step of wirelessly transmitting, by the first communication device in response to receiving the second packet, a third packet having the address assigned in the sixth step set as a destination address; an eighth step of receiving the third packet by the second communication device; A communication setting method characterized by including a ninth step in which the second communication device sets the destination address stored in the third packet as the address of its own device if the address of its own device has not been set.

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