Building management system with space profiles

• US 10,156,833 B2
• Filed: 04/12/2018
• Issued: 12/18/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Original Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Inventors: Ray, Beth A., Meyer, Sheri L., Dorneanu, Radu M., Cebasek, Gregory B., Gottschalk, Donald A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hartman, Jr., Ronald D
• Application Number:
  US15/952,173
• Publication Number:
  US 20180299843A1
• Time in Patent Office: 250 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 13/0265 the criterion being a learning criterion
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 13/04 involving the use of models or simulators
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2614 HVAC, heating, ventillation, climate control
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0886 Fully automatic configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/50 Systems or methods supporting the power network operation or management, involving a certain degree of interaction with the load-side end user applications

Abstract

A building management system includes a plurality of devices of building equipment that operate across multiple building equipment domains. Each of the plurality of devices serves one or more spaces. The building management system also includes a control engine configured to, for each space, associate the space with a first group of the plurality of devices. The first group includes multiple devices that serve the space and that operate across the multiple building equipment domains. The control engine is further configured to select a space profile from a plurality of space profiles. At least two of the space profiles are associated with a different type of space serving a different function, and at least two of the space profiles include settings for the multiple devices of the first group. The control engine is also configured to distribute the settings defined by the selected space profile to the multiple devices of the first group.

Claims

1. A building management system for managing one or more places that include one or more spaces, comprising:

a plurality of devices of building equipment that operate across multiple building equipment domains, each of the plurality of devices serving one or more of the spaces;

a control engine configured to, for each space;

associate the space with a first group of the plurality of devices of building equipment, the first group comprising multiple devices that serve the space and that operate across the multiple building equipment domains;

select a space profile from a plurality of space profiles, at least two of the space profiles associated with a different type of space serving a different function, and at least two of the space profiles comprising settings for the multiple devices of the first group; and

in response to selecting the space profile, distribute the settings defined by the selected space profile to the multiple devices of the first group, wherein distributing the settings causes the multiple devices of the first group to operate in accordance with the settings defined by the selected space profile.

2. The building management system of claim 1, wherein the control engine is configured to:

receive an indication that two or more of the spaces have been combined to form a place that contains the two or more spaces;

associate the place with the first group or a second group of the plurality of devices of building equipment, the second group comprising multiple devices that serve the place;

select a place profile comprising settings for the multiple devices that serve the place, the place profile selected from among a plurality of place profiles each associated with a different type of place serving a different function;

automatically switch from using space profiles for each of the two or more spaces to using the place profile for the place that contains the two or more spaces; and

in response to switching to the place profile, distribute the settings defined by the place profile to the multiple devices that serve the place.

3. The building management system of claim 2, wherein the control engine is configured to generate the place profile by combining two or more groups of settings defined by the space profiles for each of the two or more spaces that have been combined to form the place.

4. The building management system of claim 1, wherein the control engine is configured to select the space profile by:

identifying a type of place within which the space is contained;

identifying a purpose or use of the space; and

selecting the space profile based on both the type of place within which the space is contained and the purpose or use of the space.

5. The building management system of claim 1, wherein the control engine is configured to:

receive an identifier for each of one or more people present in the space;

identify preferred settings associated with each identifier; and

adjust the settings defined by the space profile for the multiple devices that serve the space based on the preferred settings.

6. The building management system of claim 5, wherein the control engine is configured to:

identify a relative importance and identifier-specific settings associated with each identifier; and

generate the preferred settings by calculating a weighted average of the identifier-specific settings associated with each identifier in which each of the identifier-specific settings is weighted by the relative importance of the associated identifier.

7. The building management system of claim 1, wherein each space profile comprises an effective criticality attribute and criteria for altering the effective criticality attribute;

and

the control engine is configured to, for each space;

receive data relating to the space from one or more data sources;

determine, based on the data relating to the space, that one or more of the criteria are satisfied; and

in response to a determination that one or more of the criteria are satisfied, alter the effective criticality attribute of the space by increasing or decreasing the effective criticality attribute for the space.

8. A method for managing one or more places that include one or more spaces, the method comprising:

operating a plurality of devices of building equipment across multiple building equipment domains, each of the plurality of devices serving one or more of the spaces;

for each space of the one or more spaces;

associating the space with a first group of the plurality of devices of building equipment, the first group comprising multiple devices that serve the space and that operate across the multiple building equipment domains;

selecting a space profile from a plurality of space profiles, at least two of the space profiles associated with a different type of space serving a different function, and at least two of the space profiles comprising settings for the multiple devices of the first group; and

in response to selecting the space profile, distributing the settings defined by the selected space profile to the multiple devices of the first group, wherein distributing the settings causes the multiple devices of the first group to operate in accordance with the settings defined by the selected space profile.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving an indication that two or more of the spaces have been combined to form a place that contains the two or more spaces;

associating the place with the first group or a second group of the plurality of devices of building equipment, the second group comprising multiple devices that serve the place;

selecting a place profile comprising settings for the multiple devices that serve the place;

automatically switching from using space profiles for each of the two or more spaces to using the place profile for the place that contains the two or more spaces; and

in response to switching to the place profile, distributing the settings defined by the place profile to the multiple devices that serve the place.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising generating the place profile by combining two or more groups of settings defined by the space profiles for each of the two or more spaces that have been combined to form the place.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein selecting the space profile comprises:

identifying a type of place within which the space is contained;

identifying a purpose or use of the space; and

selecting the space profile based on both the type of place within which the space is contained and the purpose or use of the space.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving an identifier for each of one or more people present in the space;

identifying preferred settings associated with each identifier; and

adjusting the settings defined by the space profile for the multiple devices that serve the space based on the preferred settings.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

identifying a relative importance and identifier-specific settings associated with each identifier; and

generating the preferred settings by calculating a weighted average of the identifier-specific settings associated with each identifier in which each of the identifier-specific settings is weighted by the relative importance of the associated identifier.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein each space profile comprises an effective criticality attribute and criteria for altering the effective criticality attribute;

the method further comprising;

receiving, for each space, data relating to the space from one or more data sources;

determining, for each space and based on the data relating to the space, that one or more of the criteria are satisfied; and

in response to a determination that one or more of the criteria are satisfied for a space, altering the effective criticality attribute of the space by increasing or decreasing the effective criticality attribute for the space.

15. One or more non-transitory computer readable media containing program instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

operating a plurality of devices of building equipment across multiple building equipment domains, each of the plurality of devices serving one or more of the spaces;

for each space of the one or more spaces;

associating the space with a first group of the plurality of devices of building equipment, the first group comprising multiple devices that serve the space and that operate across the multiple building equipment domains;

selecting a space profile from a plurality of space profiles, at least two of the space profiles associated with a different type of space serving a different function, and at least two of the space profiles comprising settings for the multiple devices of the first group; and

in response to selecting the space profile, distributing the settings defined by the selected space profile to the multiple devices of the first group, wherein distributing the settings causes the multiple devices of the first group to operate in accordance with the settings defined by the selected space profile.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, the operations further comprising:

receiving an indication that two or more of the spaces have been combined to form a place that contains the two or more spaces;

associating the place with the first group or a second group of the plurality of devices of building equipment, the second group comprising multiple devices that serve the place;

selecting a place profile comprising settings for the multiple devices that serve the place;

automatically switching from using space profiles for each of the two or more spaces to using the place profile for the place that contains the two or more spaces; and

in response to switching to the place profile, distributing the settings defined by the place profile to the multiple devices that serve the place.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16, the operations further comprising generating the place profile by combining two or more groups of settings defined by the space profiles for each of the two or more spaces that have been combined to form the place.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, the operations further comprising:

receiving an identifier for each of one or more people present in the space;

identifying preferred settings associated with each identifier; and

adjusting the settings defined by the space profile for the multiple devices that serve the space based on the preferred settings.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 18, the operations further comprising:

identifying a relative importance and identifier-specific settings associated with each identifier; and

generating the preferred settings by calculating a weighted average of the identifier-specific settings associated with each identifier in which each of the identifier-specific settings is weighted by the relative importance of the associated identifier.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15, wherein each space profile comprises an effective criticality attribute and criteria for altering the effective criticality attribute;

the operations further comprising;

receiving, for each space, data relating to the space from one or more data sources;

determining, for each space and based on the data relating to the space, that one or more of the criteria are satisfied; and

in response to a determination that one or more of the criteria are satisfied for a space, altering the effective criticality attribute of the space by increasing or decreasing the effective criticality attribute for the space.