Sequential Utility-Meter Storage with Placeholder Records
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Solution Overview
Problem
Utility meters, especially battery-powered ones, face challenges in aligning consumption data with accurate start times when network time is unavailable, leading to inefficient storage use, corruption of data, and loss of diagnostic value due to the maintenance of two distinct buffers and the use of empty records.
Innovation Solution
A single buffer system is used to store both normal and standby records, with placeholder records generated to align data upon network time recovery, eliminating the need for padding and reducing storage inefficiencies, and ensuring data integrity by avoiding interrupted data copying.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If two distinct buffers are used to store normal records and standby records separately, then data alignment accuracy is improved, but storage space is wasted and device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the main buffer and temporary buffer into a single buffer structure. Standby records are stored contiguously with normal records in the same buffer, eliminating the need for separate buffer allocations. This reduces storage space waste while maintaining the ability to distinguish and process different record types through buffer markers or metadata.
Solution Approach 2:
The single buffer is segmented into different regions using markers or delimiters. Normal records and standby records are separated within the same buffer through structural segmentation, allowing the system to maintain logical separation benefits while achieving physical consolidation for space efficiency.
2Measurement precision
If empty records are used to pad the main buffer for skipped time intervals, then time alignment is maintained, but storage efficiency decreases and data corruption risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the padding function from the main buffer by storing skipped interval information separately in the temporary buffer. Instead of filling the main buffer with meaningless empty records, the system maintains a compact structure where only actual consumption data is stored, and skipped intervals are tracked through separate metadata or counters.
Solution Approach 2:
When network time becomes available, the system copies standby records from the temporary buffer to the main buffer at the appropriate positions. This copying mechanism eliminates the need for persistent empty records while maintaining time alignment, as records are inserted only when their correct positions are known.
3Measurement precision
If records are copied from temporary buffer to main buffer after network time recovery, then time alignment is achieved, but data corruption risk increases due to interrupted copying
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary validation and positioning before copying records. It calculates the exact insertion positions in advance based on network time recovery information, and prepares the main buffer structure beforehand. This preliminary preparation ensures that copying can complete atomically without interruption risks.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces buffer markers or delimiters as intermediary elements that facilitate safe record insertion. These markers act as boundaries that protect against corruption by providing clear insertion points and validation mechanisms, ensuring that copying operations cannot overwrite or corrupt adjacent records even if interrupted.
4Quantity of substance
If a single buffer is used to store both normal and standby records, then storage efficiency is improved, but data organization complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses buffer markers or metadata flags (analogous to color changes) to distinguish between normal records and standby records within the single buffer. These markers provide visual or structural differentiation without requiring separate physical buffers, simplifying management while maintaining organization.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method performed by a node includes writing normal records to a buffer. Each normal record is associated with a respective time interval having a respective start time and end time according to network time, and each normal record includes respective collected data describing an activity. The method includes detecting that access to network time has become unavailable as well as detecting that access to network time has become available after having been unavailable. The method includes determining information describing an incomplete period during which network time was unavailable, where the incomplete period includes at least one of a skipped interval and a standby interval. During each skipped interval, no collected data describing the activity is collected. Each standby interval is associated with respective collected data describing the activity during the incomplete period. The method includes writing to the buffer a placeholder record including the information describing the incomplete period.