Remote contractor system with summary display screen

• US 10,139,123 B2
• Filed: 11/03/2014
• Issued: 11/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ademco Inc. (Resideo Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Quam, David, Ragland, Amy, Peterson, Steve R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Van
• Application Number:
  US14/531,241
• Publication Number:
  US 20150127167A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,485 Days
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/30 for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/38 Failure diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/56 Remote control
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/58 using Internet communication
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/62 characterised by the type of control or by internal processing, e.g. using fuzzy logic, adaptive control or estimation of values
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/63 Electronic processing
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/64 using pre-stored data
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/70 Control systems characterised by their outputs; Constructional details thereof
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/89 Arrangement or mounting of control or safety devices
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/00 Control inputs relating to air properties
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/24033 Failure, fault detection and isolation
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2614 HVAC, heating, ventillation, climate control
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/34477 Fault prediction, analyzing signal trends
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2825 Reporting to a device located outside the home and the home network access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with telemetering systems H04M11/002
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• 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 67/125 : involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/82 : Energy audits or management systems therefor
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/18 : Network protocols supporting networked applications, e.g. including control of end-device applications over a network

Abstract

A system that allows a contractor to remotely monitor and/or interact with its customers'"'"' building control systems, such as heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, and analyze information obtained from the building control systems over time. Such a system may help the contractor monitor and diagnosis customer building control systems, setup service calls, achieve better customer relations, create more effective marketing opportunities, as well as other functions. In some cases, the disclosed system may help a contractor pro-actively identify possible issues with its customer'"'"'s building control systems. A controller of the system may populate a display screen on a remote device to display a summary display screen with selectable features for obtaining detailed information related to the selected feature. The summary display screen may display a summary of business performance data, customer performance data, and/or HVAC performance data associated with a set of log-in credentials.

Claims

1. A remote monitoring system for use by a contractor, the remote monitoring system configured to communicate with a plurality of client heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) controllers associated with the contractor over a network, wherein each of the client HVAC controllers is part of a corresponding client HVAC system that services a corresponding client building, the remote monitoring system comprising:

a communications port configured to operatively communicate with a plurality of client HVAC controllers associated with the contractor, and to receive data related to the operation of a plurality of client HVAC systems;

a memory for storing received data related to the operation of the plurality of client HVAC systems associated with the contractor, business performance data associated with the contractor, and customer performance data associated with the contractor;

a controller operatively coupled to the communications port and the memory, wherein the controller is configured to send an invite to a particular client via the communications port for granting access to the particular client'"'"'s HVAC system, and if acceptance of the invite is received from the particular client, the controller is configured to grant the contractor access to data related to the operation of the particular client HVAC system, and once access is granted, the contractor uses the remote monitoring system to initiate and run tests, run diagnostics, and/or change settings on the particular client HVAC system; and

wherein the controller is further configured to populate via the communications port a summary display screen on a remote display device, the summary display screen comprising;

a summary of business performance data associated with the contractor;

a summary of customer performance data associated with the contractor; and

a summary of HVAC performance data associated with the plurality of client HVAC controllers associated with the contractor.

2. The remote monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the summary of HVAC performance data comprises a listing of alerts associated with the plurality of HVAC systems associated with the contractor.

3. The remote monitoring system of claim 2, wherein the listing of alerts is sorted by a severity of the alerts.

4. The remote monitoring system of claim 2, wherein at least some of the alerts of the listing of alerts include a link, and wherein in response to selection of the link, the controller is configured to provide more detailed information to the remote display device.

5. The remote monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the summary display screen includes one or more links, wherein in response to selection of a link, the controller is configured to provide more detailed information corresponding to the selected link.

6. The remote monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the summary of business performance data comprises an indication of a number of client HVAC controllers that are associated with the contractor.

7. The remote monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the summary of business performance data comprises an indication of a number of leads received by the remote monitoring system.

8. The remote monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the summary of business performance data comprises an indication of a number of truck rolls avoided.

9. The remote monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the summary of customer performance data comprises an indication of customer satisfaction.

10. A remote monitoring system for aiding a contractor in monitoring client building automation systems, comprising:

a remote server configured to be in communication with one or more monitored client building automation systems;

the remote server configured to populate a user interface of a display device with a collection of information, wherein the collection of information that is populated on the display device is dependent on a log-in credential;

the user interface is populated with a plurality of selectable blocks of information, including a first block that comprises information related to one or more monitored client building automation systems that are associated with the login credential, and a second block that comprises information related to business performance of a contractor that is associated with the log-in credential; and

wherein the contractor uses the first block to gain access to and initiate and run tests, run diagnostics, and/or change settings on a particular client'"'"'s building automation system from a remote location.

11. The remote monitoring system of claim 10, wherein a first block comprises a first set of information when a first log-in credential is active and a second different set of information when a second log-in credential is active, wherein the first login credential and the second log-in credential are both associated with the same contractor.

12. The remote monitoring system of claim 11, wherein a second block comprises a first set of information when a first log-in credential is active and a second different set of information when a second log-in credential is active, wherein the first log-in credential and the second log-in credential are both associated with the same contractor.

13. The remote monitoring system of claim 10, wherein a location of the first block and a location of the second block are configured to be movable on the display by a user.

14. The remote monitoring system of claim 10, wherein the log-in credential is associated with a particular contractor.

15. The remote monitoring system of claim 14, wherein the particular information displayed in one or more of the first block and the second block is configurable by the particular contractor.

16. The remote monitoring system of claim 10, wherein one or more of the first block and the second block is configured to display a first level of information, and upon selection, display a second level of information related to the first level of information but in more detail.

17. The remote monitoring system of claim 16, wherein the second level of information includes one or more of historical HVAC performance information and historical user interaction information.

18. A remote monitoring system for use by a contractor, the remote monitoring system configured to communicate with a plurality of client heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) controllers associated with the contractor over a network, wherein each of the client HVAC controllers is part of a corresponding client HVAC system that services a corresponding client building, the remote monitoring system comprising:

a communications port configured to operatively communicate with a plurality of client HVAC controllers associated with the contractor, and to receive data related to the operation of a plurality of client HVAC systems;

a memory for storing received data related to the operation of the plurality of client HVAC systems associated with the contractor, business performance data associated with the contractor, and customer performance data associated with the contractor;

a controller operatively coupled to the communications port and the memory, wherein the controller is configured to send an invite to a particular client via the communications port for granting access to the particular client'"'"'s HVAC system, and if acceptance of the invite is received from the particular client, the controller is configured to gain access to data related to the operation of the particular client HVAC system; and

wherein the controller is configured to populate a customizable summary display screen on a remote display device via the communications port, wherein the customizable summary display screen includes two or more selected display widget applications, selected from a plurality of selectable display widget applications, each having at least one link, wherein each of the two or more selected display widget applications are configured to display a first level of information on the summary display screen, and upon selection of a link of a display widget application, display a second level of information that is related to the first level of information of the display widget application but in more detail.

19. The remote monitoring system of claim 18, wherein the two or more display widget applications of the summary display are selected from a library of display widget applications.

20. The remote monitoring system of claim 19, wherein the two or more display widget applications are selected from the library according to a log-in credential.