Building management system with heuristics for configuring building spaces

• US 10,139,792 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2015
• Issued: 11/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tyco Fire & Security GmbH (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Original Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Inventors: Schmitt, John J., Debbink, Justin R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cao, Chun
• Application Number:
  US14/872,105
• Publication Number:
  US 20170090441A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,154 Days
• Field of Search: 700275, 715700, 715735
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house

Abstract

A building management system (BMS) includes building equipment located within a building space and a controller that receives input from the building equipment and provides a control signal to the building equipment. A floorplan geolocator receives a map providing geolocation data and overlays a building floorplan onto the map. A space geolocator receives an input defining a location of the building space relative to the floorplan and determines a geolocation of the building space using the geolocation data. A equipment geolocator receives an input defining a location of the building equipment relative to the floorplan and determines a geolocation of the building equipment using the geolocation data. A parent space detector uses geometric heuristics and the geolocations of the building space and the building equipment to identify a spatial relationship between the building space and the building equipment. The controller uses the spatial relationship to generate the control signal.

Claims

1. A building management system comprising:

building equipment located within a building space;

at least one of a building management system (BMS) controller or a client device comprising one or more processing circuits having one or more processors and memory, the one or more processing circuits comprising;

a space controller configured to receive input from the building equipment and provide a control signal to the building equipment;

a floorplan geolocator configured to receive a map providing geolocation data and overlay a building floorplan onto the map;

a space geolocator configured to receive a first input defining a location of the building space relative to the floorplan and determine a geolocation of the building space using the geolocation data;

an equipment geolocator configured to receive a second input defining a location of the building equipment relative to the floorplan and determine a geolocation of the building equipment using the geolocation data; and

a parent space detector configured to use geometric heuristics and the geolocations of the building space and the building equipment to identify a spatial relationship between the building space and the building equipment;

wherein the space controller is configured to use the spatial relationship between the building space and the building equipment to generate the control signal provided to the building equipment.

2. The building management system of claim 1, wherein:

the floorplan geolocator is configured to use the geolocation data provided by the map to determine a geolocation of the floorplan;

the space geolocator is configured to use the geolocation of the floorplan and the location of the building space relative to the floorplan to determine the geolocation of the building space; and

the equipment geolocator is configured to use the geolocation of the floorplan and the location of the building equipment relative to the floorplan to determine the geolocation of the building equipment.

3. The building management system of claim 1, wherein:

the space geolocator is configured to generate and provide a graphical user interface that displays the floorplan overlaid onto the map; and

the first input defining the location of the building space relative to the floorplan comprises a user input received via the graphical user interface.

4. The building management system of claim 1, wherein the first input defining the location of the building space relative to the floorplan comprises a user drawing a border of the building space onto the floorplan via a graphical user interface.

5. The building management system of claim 1, wherein:

the equipment geolocator is configured to generate and provide graphical user interface that displays the floorplan overlaid onto the map; and

the second input defining the location of the building equipment relative to the floorplan comprises a user input received via the graphical user interface.

6. The building management system of claim 1, wherein the second input defining the location of the building equipment relative to the floorplan comprises a user placing an icon representing the building equipment onto the floorplan via a graphical user interface.

7. The building management system of claim 1, wherein the parent space detector is configured to identify a parent space for the building equipment, wherein identifying the parent space for the building equipment comprises:

identifying a smallest existing building space that contains the building equipment; and

setting the identified building space as the parent space for the building equipment.

8. The building management system of claim 1, wherein the parent space detector is configured to identify a parent space for the building space, wherein identifying the parent space for the building space comprises:

determining an area of the building space;

determining a location of a centroid of the building space;

identifying a smallest existing building space that contains the centroid and has an area larger than the area of the building space; and

setting the identified building space as the parent space for the building space.

9. The building management system of claim 1, further comprising an alarm manager that generates and provides a graphical user interface for viewing and managing alarms in the building management system;

wherein the alarm manager is configured to receive a user input via the graphical user interface, the user input comprising a desired control action for the building space without identifying the building equipment;

wherein the space controller is configured to use the spatial relationship between the building space and the building equipment to identify the building equipment and generate the control signal for the building equipment to effect the desired control action.

10. A method for establishing relationships between building spaces and building equipment in a building management system comprising at least one of a controller or a client device having one or more processors, the method comprising:

generating and providing, by the one or more processors, a control signal from the controller to building equipment located within a building space;

overlaying, by the one or more processors, a building floorplan onto a map providing geolocation data;

receiving, by the one or more processors, a first input defining a location of the building space relative to the floorplan and a second input defining a location of the building equipment relative to the floorplan;

determining, by the one or more processors, a geolocation of the building space and a geolocation of the building equipment using the geolocation data; and

identifying, by the one or more processors, a spatial relationship between the building space and the building equipment using geometric heuristics and the geolocations of the building space and the building equipment;

using, by the one or more processors, the spatial relationship between the building space and the building equipment to generate the control signal provided to the building equipment.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining a geolocation of the floorplan using the geolocation data provided by the map;

using the geolocation of the floorplan and the location of the building space relative to the floorplan to determine the geolocation of the building space; and

using the geolocation of the floorplan and the location of the building equipment relative to the floorplan to determine the geolocation of the building equipment.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising generating and providing a graphical user interface that displays the floorplan overlaid onto the map;

wherein at least one of the first input defining the location of the building space relative to the floorplan and the second input defining the location of the building equipment relative to the floorplan comprises a user input received via the graphical user interface.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the first input defining the location of the building space relative to the floorplan comprises a user drawing a border of the building space onto the floorplan via a graphical user interface.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the second input defining the location of the building equipment relative to the floorplan comprises a user placing an icon representing the building equipment onto the floorplan via a graphical user interface.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein identifying the spatial relationship between the building space and the building equipment comprises:

identifying a parent space for the building equipment; and

determining whether the building space is the parent space for the building equipment.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein identifying the parent space for the building equipment comprises:

identifying a smallest existing building space that contains the building equipment; and

setting the identified building space as the parent space for the building equipment.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising identifying a parent space for the building space, wherein identifying the parent space for the building space comprises:

determining an area of the building space;

determining a location of a centroid of the building space;

identifying a smallest existing building space that contains the centroid and has an area larger than the area of the building space; and

setting the identified building space as the parent space for the building space.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

providing a graphical user interface for viewing and managing alarms in the building management system;

receiving a user input via the graphical user interface, the user input comprising a desired control action for the building space without identifying the building equipment;

using the spatial relationship between the building space and the building equipment to identify the building equipment; and

generating the control signal for the building equipment to effect the desired control action.

19. A building management system comprising:

building equipment located within a building space;

at least one of a building management system (BMS) controller or a client device comprising one or more processing circuits having one or more processors and memory, the one or more processing circuits comprising;

a space controller configured to receive input from the building equipment and provide a control signal to the building equipment;

a space geolocator configured to receive a first input defining a location of the building space relative to a map and determine a geolocation of the building space using geolocation data provided by the map;

an equipment geolocator configured to receive a second input defining a location of the building equipment relative to the map and determine a geolocation of the building equipment using the geolocation data provided by the map; and

a parent space detector configured to use geometric heuristics to identify the building space as a parent space that contains the building equipment;

wherein the space controller is configured to establish a control relationship between the building space and the building equipment in response to identifying the building space as the parent space and use the control relationship to generate the control signal provided to the building equipment.

20. The building management system of claim 19, further comprising an alarm manager configured to generate a graphical user interface for viewing and managing alarms in the building management system;

wherein the alarm manager is configured to receive a user input via the graphical user interface, the user input comprising a desired control action for the building space without identifying the building equipment;

wherein the space controller is configured to receive the desired control action from the alarm manager and use the control relationship between the building space and the building equipment to identify the building equipment and generate one or more control signals for the building equipment.