Smart gateway devices, systems and methods for providing communication between HVAC system networks

• US 10,419,243 B2
• Filed: 09/09/2016
• Issued: 09/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tyco Fire & Security GmbH (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Original Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Inventors: Schubert, Shawn D., Gottschalk, Donald A., Curtis, Daniel M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Coby, Frantz
• Application Number:
  US15/261,843
• Publication Number:
  US 20180076978A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,103 Days
• Field of Search: 709222, 709224, 340 125, 340 1232, 700 90
• 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 12/2832 Interconnection of the control functionalities between home networks single bridge functionality H04L12/4625
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2847 characterised by the type of home appliance used
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/08 specially adapted for terminal emulation, e.g. Telnet
• 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 67/53 using third party service providers

Abstract

A smart gateway device for providing communications between multiple networks associated with a building management system (BMS). The device includes a first network interface circuit in communication with a first network associated with a building management system (BMS). The device further includes a second network interface circuit in communication with a second network associated with a subsystem of the BMS, wherein the second network is not compatible with the first network. The second network interface circuit is configured to detect a physical device associated with the second network, and to receive a data packet associated with the physical device. The data packet is transmitted to the first network interface circuit. The first network interface circuit is configured to receive the data packet and to generate a virtual device based on the received data packet. The virtual device is configured to represent the physical device on the first network.

Claims

1. A smart gateway device for providing communications between multiple networks associated with an HVAC system, the device comprising:

a first network interface circuit in communication with a first network associated with a building management system (BMS); and

a second network interface circuit in communication with a second network associated with a subsystem of the BMS;

wherein the second network interface circuit is configured to discover a physical device on the second network, receive a data packet comprising a device identifier from the physical device, and transmit the data packet to the first network interface circuit; and

wherein the first network interface circuit is configured to;

receive the data packet,

generate a new virtual device responsive to a determination that the device identifier does not match any device identifiers in a virtual device table, the virtual device table provided mapping between the new virtual device and the physical device, one or more data points of the new virtual device corresponding to one or more data points of the physical device,

instruct the second network interface circuit to poll the physical device to obtain data values for the one or more data points of the physical device, and

update the one or more data points of the new virtual device with the data values obtained from the physical device, the new virtual device configured to represent the physical device on the first network.

2. The smart gateway device of claim 1, wherein the first network interface circuit comprises a virtual network simulation module configured to expose the new virtual device to the first network.

3. The smart gateway device of claim 2, wherein the virtual network simulation module comprises a virtual network manager, the virtual network manager configured to generate the new virtual device.

4. The smart gateway device of claim 3, wherein the virtual network manager is configured to:

create a data structure associated with the new virtual device; and

schedule data to be transmitted to the first network interface circuit.

5. The smart gateway device of claim 4, wherein the first network interface circuit is configured to:

detect the new virtual device generated by the virtual network simulation module;

and expose the new virtual device to the first network such that the new virtual device appears to be a field device associated with the first network.

6. The smart gateway device of claim 1, wherein the device identifier is a MAC address, and the data packet further comprises a device type of the physical device.

7. The smart gateway device of claim 1, further comprising a webserver configured to allow a user to interface with the smart gateway device and configure mapping between the physical device and the new virtual device through the virtual device table.

8. The smart gateway device of claim 1, wherein the first network is a BACnet network.

9. A method for integrating devices on a standalone network into a building management system (BMS) network using a gateway device, the method comprising:

discovering a physical device on the standalone network using a first network interface circuit of the gateway device, the first network interface circuit in communication with the standalone network;

receiving a data packet from the physical device at the first network interface circuit, the data packet comprising a device identifier;

generating a virtual device using a second network interface circuit after determining that the device identifier does not match any device identifiers in a virtual device table, the virtual device table providing mapping between the virtual device and the physical device, one or more data points of the virtual device corresponding to one or more data points of the physical device;

polling the physical device using the first network interface circuit to obtain data values for the one or more data points of the physical device;

updating the one or more data points of the virtual device with the data values obtained from the physical device; and

exposing the virtual device to the BMS network using the second network interface circuit such that the virtual device represents the physical device on the BMS network.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the second network interface circuit comprises a virtual network simulation module configured to expose the virtual device to the BMS network.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the virtual network simulation module comprises a virtual network manager configured to generate the virtual device.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the physical device comprises an outdoor refrigeration unit or an indoor refrigeration unit.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the device identifier is a MAC address, and the data packet further comprises a device type associated with the physical device.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the gateway device comprises a webserver configured to allow a user to interface with the gateway device.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the BMS network is a BACnet network.

16. A building management system (BMS), the system comprising:

a first network comprising one or more devices associated with the first network;

a second network comprising one or more devices associated with the second network;

and a gateway device, the gateway device configured to;

discover a physical device on the second network, receive a data packet comprising a device identifier from the physical device,

generate a new virtual device responsive to a determination that the device identifier does not match any device identifiers in a virtual device table, the virtual device table providing mapping between the new virtual device and the physical device, one or more data points of the new virtual device corresponding to one or more data points of the physical device,

poll the physical device to obtain data values for the one or more data points of the physical device,

update the one or more data points of the new virtual device with the data values obtained from the physical device, and

expose the new virtual device to the first network to provide an interface between the first network and the second network.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the gateway device comprises:

a first network interface circuit in communication with the first network; and

a second network interface circuit in communication with the second network.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the first network is a BACnet network.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the first network interface circuit comprises a virtual network simulation module configured to generate the new virtual device.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the first network interface circuit is configured to instruct the second network interface circuit to poll the physical device to obtain the data values for the one or more data points of the physical device at periodic intervals.