Device and method for managing electronic facilities of buildings

• US 10,135,617 B2
• Filed: 01/28/2013
• Issued: 11/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bentel Security Srl (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Original Assignee: Bentel Security Srl (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Inventors: Bizzarri, Pier Giuseppe
• Primary Examiner(s): Thiaw, Catherine B
• Application Number:
  US14/377,710
• Publication Number:
  US 20150016603A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,122 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0426 Programming the control sequence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/12 Details relating to cryptographic hardware or logic circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/14 using a plurality of keys or algorithms

Abstract

A device and a method for managing electronic facilities of buildings. The device may include one or more interface elements for connecting the device to one or more electronic facilities of a building, a connection element for the connection of a portable storage device, and a control unit for reading files from the portable storage device, in which the reading of the files from the portable storage device is based on cryptography techniques, and in which the control unit is adapted to operate the electronic facilities by means of the interface elements on the basis of the result of the reading of the files from the portable storage device. The device according to the present disclosure enables a user to manage various types of electronic facilities of buildings simultaneously in a simple manner and by using a single portable storage device.

Claims

1. A device to simultaneously manage plural electronic facilities provided in one or more buildings, comprising:

plural interface elements to simultaneously connect the device to the plural electronic facilities, respectively each of the plural electronic facilities operating according to a set of operating parameters;

a connection element to connect the device to a portable storage device; and

a control unit to;

configure the portable storage device by creating and saving an installer file to the portable storage device, the installer file including an installer code (I-code) and a system code (S-code) used to recognize the portable storage device as being a configured portable storage device by other control units of other devices managing the plural electronic facilities;

configure the portable storage device with a unique identifier and operating parameters of one or more electronic facilities;

determine the portable storage device is authorized to operate the device based on recognizing the unique identifier stored in the portable storage device;

read one or more files from the portable storage device to obtain at least one personalized operating parameter setting set for a user who is assigned possession of the portable storage device;

temporarily control operation of at least one electronic facility of the plural electronic facilities via a respective interface element of the plural interface elements, by temporarily setting at least one operating parameter of the set of operating parameters to the at least one personalized operating parameter setting dictated by the one or more files read, while the portable storage device is connected to the connection element;

write one or more generated files to the portable storage device based on a signal indicating a type of electronic facility of a building of the plural electronic facilities.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is programmed to simultaneously manage two or more electronic facilities.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the reading of the one or more first files from the portable storage device is based on cryptography techniques, wherein the writing of the one or more generated files to the portable storage device is based on cryptography techniques.

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit operates to generate the one or more generated files based on the result of the reading of the one or more files from the portable storage device.

5. The device according to claim 1, wherein one or more properties of the one or more generated files written to the portable storage device depend on a kind of the plural electronic facilities connected to the device via the plural interface elements.

6. The device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is programmed to delete at least one file from the portable storage device in response to one or more predetermined condition.

7. The device according to claim 1, wherein the connection element comprises a USB (Universal Serial Bus) receptacle.

8. The device according to claim 1, wherein the plural electronic facilities comprise one or more of the following facilities:

an intrusion system, an access control system, a home automation system, a climate control system, and an illumination control system.

9. The device according to claim 1, wherein each of the plural of interface elements to connect the device to one of the plural of electronic facilities such that the device can simultaneously manage different electronic facilities.

10. The device according to claim 3, wherein the cryptography techniques comprise a RSA (Rivest, Shamir, Adleman) technique.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to recognize the portable storage device during the reading of the one or more files based on the at least one of the one or more files written to the portable storage device.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the at least one file comprises a system code (S-code).

13. The device according to claim 1, wherein the one or more read files includes a unique identifier to identify and authorize the user as an authorized user to at least one electronic facility of the plural electronic facilities, and at least one specific parameter configuration including plural personalized parameter settings preferred by the user for a subject electronic facility of the plural electronic facilities, and wherein the control unit is further to:

utilize the unique identifier to determine whether the user is authorized to temporarily control the subject electronic facility; and

use the plural personalized parameter settings of the specific parameter configuration to temporarily set the operating parameters of the subject electronic facility, where it is determined that the user is authorized to temporarily control the subject electronic facility.

14. The device according to claim 13, wherein the one or more read files includes one or more period of validity of the unique identifier, and wherein the control unit is to:

further consider the one or more period of validity to determine whether the user is authorized to temporarily control the subject electronic facility during a current period.

15. A method to set up a device for managing one or more plural electronic facilities provided in one or more buildings, comprising:

creating an installer portable storage device to which an installer file is saved, the installer file comprising an installer code (I-code) and a system code (S-code) associated with the installer code (I-code), the installer code (I-code) and the system code (S-code) used to recognize the installer portable storage device as being a configured portable storage device by other devices managing the plural electronic facilities;

reading of the installer portable storage device via the device to save the installer file in a memory of the device;

authorizing, via the device using the installer file, at least one portable storage device comprising the system code (S-code) to operate the device;

reading by a control unit of the device having plural interface elements to simultaneously connect the device to the plural electronic facilities, one or more files from the at least one portable storage device to obtain at least one personalized operating parameter setting set for a user who is assigned possession of the at least one portable storage device; and

temporarily controlling, by the control unit, ongoing operation of at least one electronic facility of the plural electronic facilities via a respective interface element of the plural interface elements, by temporarily setting at least one operating parameter of the at least one electronic facility to the at least one personalized operating parameter setting dictated by the one or more files read, while the at least one portable storage device is connected to the device;

writing one or more generated files to the at least one portable storage device based on a signal indicating a type of electronic facility of a building of the plural electronic facilities.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising:

creating an updated installer portable storage device, the updated installer portable storage device comprising an updated installer file, the updated installer file comprising the installer code (I-code), the system code (S-code), and a further updated installer code (I-code′

) to associate the system code (S-code) to the further updated installer code (I-code′

).

17. The method according to claim 15, further comprising:

creating an updated installer portable storage device, the updated installer portable storage device comprising an updated installer file, the updated installer file comprising the installer code (I-code), the system code (S-code), a further updated installer code (I-code″

), and a further updated system code (S-code″

), the further updated system code (S-code″

) being associated with the further updated installer code (I-code″

).