Systems and methods for managing smart building systems

• US 10,116,513 B1
• Filed: 02/10/2016
• Issued: 10/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Symantec Corporation (NortonLifeLock Inc.)
• Inventors: Sundaram, Ramakrishnan Meenakshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Mundur, Padma
• Application Number:
  US15/041,002
• Time in Patent Office: 993 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/245 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2816 Controlling appliance services of a home automation network by calling their functionalities arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station; in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for managing smart building systems may include (1) detecting a set of smart devices comprising first and second smart devices in a smart building network, (2) maintaining a smart device management repository by, for each smart device, maintaining information indicating capabilities of the smart device and tracking a location of the smart device, (3) detecting a change in a state of the first smart device, (4) using the smart device management repository to evaluate a proximity of the first smart device to the second smart device and determine that a capability of the second smart device is correlated with the change in state of the first smart device, and (5) triggering a management action in the smart building network based on both the proximity of and the correlation between the first and second smart devices. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for managing smart building systems, at least a portion of the method being performed by a computing device comprising at least one processor, the method comprising:

detecting a set of smart devices in a smart building network, the set of smart devices comprising first and second smart devices;

maintaining a smart device management repository by, for each smart device in the set of smart devices;

maintaining information indicating one or more capabilities of the smart device and one or more smart recipes used to manage the smart device based on contextual information; and

tracking a location of the smart device;

detecting a change in a state of the first smart device;

in response to detecting the change in state of the first smart device, using the smart device management repository to;

evaluate a proximity of the first smart device to the second smart device; and

determine that a capability of the second smart device is correlated with the change in state of the first smart device after detecting additional contextual information about at least one scheduled event in the smart building network that affect states of the first smart device and/or the second smart device; and

triggering a management action in the smart building network using the additional contextual information to modify at least one existing smart recipe that applies to the first smart device and/or the second smart device based on both the proximity of the first smart device to the second smart device and the correlation between the first and second smart devices, wherein the state of the second smart device is modified in response to the at least one scheduled event and the at least one modified smart recipe.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein maintaining the information indicating one or more capabilities of the smart device comprises at least one of:

detecting identifying information about the smart device;

adding the identifying information to the smart device management repository;

querying a database of smart device capabilities based on the identifying information; and

detecting the capabilities of the smart device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the location of the smart device comprises at least one of:

a type of room in which the smart device is located; and

an orientation of the room within a smart building.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the change in state of the first smart device comprises at least one of:

a change in state of a sensor associated with the first smart device; and

a change in state of a component of the first smart device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the proximity of the first smart device to the second smart device comprises at least one of:

a physical proximity indicative of a difference in location between the first and second smart devices; and

a temporal proximity indicative of a difference in timing of the change in state of the first smart device with a change in a state of the second smart device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that a capability of the second smart device is correlated with the change in state of the first smart device comprises correlating the second smart device with the first smart device based on the additional contextual information and the proximity of the first smart device to the second smart device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the management action in the smart building network comprises:

retrieving the at least one existing smart recipe from a smart recipe database;

presenting the at least one modified smart recipe to a user of the smart building network.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a smart recipe selection from the user of the smart building network; and

executing at least one action in the smart building network based on the smart recipe selection.

9. A system for managing smart building systems, the system comprising:

a device module, stored in memory, that detects a set of smart devices in a smart building network, the set of smart devices comprising first and second smart devices;

a maintenance module, stored in memory, that maintains a smart device management repository by, for each smart device in the set of smart devices;

maintaining information indicating one or more capabilities of the smart device and one or more smart recipes used to manage the smart device based on contextual information; and

tracking a location of the smart device;

a detection module, stored in memory, that detects a change in a state of the first smart device;

a correlation module, stored in memory, that, in response to detecting the change in state of the first smart device, uses the smart device management repository to;

evaluate a proximity of the first smart device to the second smart device; and

determine that a capability of the second smart device is correlated with the change in state of the first smart device after detecting additional contextual information about at least one scheduled event in the smart building network that affect states of the first smart device and/or the second smart device;

a response module, stored in memory, that triggers a management action in the smart building network using the additional contextual information to modify at least one existing smart recipe that applied to the first smart device and/or the second smart device based on both the proximity of the first smart device to the second smart device and the correlation between the first and second smart devices, wherein the state of the second smart device is modified in response to the at least one scheduled event and the at least one modified smart recipe; and

at least one processor that executes the device module, the maintenance module, the detection module, the correlation module, and the response module.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the maintenance module maintains the information indicating one or more capabilities of the smart device by at least one of:

detecting identifying information about the smart device;

adding the identifying information to the smart device management repository;

querying a database of smart device capabilities based on the identifying information; and

detecting the capabilities of the smart device.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the location of the smart device comprises at least one of:

a type of room in which the smart device is located; and

an orientation of the room within a smart building.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the change in state of the first smart device comprises at least one of:

a change in state of a sensor associated with the first smart device; and

a change in state of a component of the first smart device.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the proximity of the first smart device to the second smart device comprises at least one of:

a physical proximity indicative of a difference in location between the first and second smart devices; and

a temporal proximity indicative of a difference in timing of the change in state of the first smart device with a change in a state of the second smart device.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the correlation module determines that a capability of the second smart device is correlated with the change in state of the first smart device by correlating the second smart device with the first smart device based on the additional contextual information and the proximity of the first smart device to the second smart device.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the management action in the smart building network comprises:

retrieving the at least one existing smart recipe from a smart recipe database;

presenting the at least one modified smart recipe to a user of the smart building network.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving a smart recipe selection from the user of the smart building network; and

executing at least one action in the smart building network based on the smart recipe selection.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising one or more computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to:

detect a set of smart devices in a smart building network, the set of smart devices comprising first and second smart devices;

maintain a smart device management repository by, for each smart device in the set of smart devices;

maintaining information indicating one or more capabilities of the smart device and one or more smart recipes used to manage the smart device based on contextual information; and

tracking a location of the smart device;

detect a change in a state of the first smart device;

in response to detecting the change in state of the first smart device, use the smart device management repository to;

evaluate a proximity of the first smart device to the second smart device; and

determine that a capability of the second smart device is correlated with the change in state of the first smart device after detecting additional contextual information about at least one scheduled event in the smart building network that affect states of the first smart device and/or the second smart device; and

trigger a management action in the smart building network using the additional contextual information to modify at least one existing smart recipe that applied to the first smart device and/or the second smart device based on both the proximity of the first smart device to the second smart device and the correlation between the first and second smart devices, wherein the state of the second smart device is modified in response to the at least one scheduled event and the at least one modified smart recipe.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the computing device to maintain the information indicating one or more capabilities of the smart device by at least one of:

detecting identifying information about the smart device;

adding the identifying information to the smart device management repository;

querying a database of smart device capabilities based on the identifying information; and

detecting the capabilities of the smart device.