Facility management system and facility management method

• US 20030144872A1
• Filed: 12/30/2002
• Published: 07/31/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Inventors: Ikeda, Takashi, Hattori, Shinji, Masui, Hirotaka, Hayakawa, Hidesuke, Takata, Shigeo, Ando, Masafumi
• Granted Patent: US 6,917,859 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

An owner (10) concludes with a facility maintenance company (20) a contract for maintenance of electric facilities (11) and an operation control monitor device (12) installed in a building of the owner (10). The electric facility manufacture (30) gives the company (20) a permission to access the device (12) from a terminal (21) through the Internet (40) as a communication network. The company (20) receives continuous monitor data items of the electric facilities (11) collected by the device (20). The manufacture (30) accesses the device (12) form a terminal (31) through the network (40) and also receives the continuous monitor data items of the electric facilities (11).

Claims

1. A facility management system in which a facility maintenance company maintains electric facilities installed in a building of an owner using an operation control monitor device installed in the building of the owner, the system for controlling and monitoring operation of the electric facilities based on a contract concluded between the facility maintenance company and the owner of the building, wherein

the facility maintenance company receives monitor data of the electric facilities in the building collected by the operation control monitor device through a terminal of the facility maintenance company connected to a communication network after receiving permission data to access the operation control monitor device.

2. The facility management system according to claim 1, wherein the facility maintenance company transmits abnormal information to the operation control monitor device from the terminal of the facility maintenance company through the communication network when the monitor data received informs an occurrence of abnormality.

3. The facility management system according to claim 1, wherein the facility maintenance company controls the operation of the electric facilities using the terminal of the facility maintenance company through the communication network and the operation control monitor device.

4. The facility management system according to claim 1, wherein the operation control monitor device has a function to convert a communication protocol for use in the electric facilities to a general-purpose communication protocol which is commonly used in the communication network, and the facility maintenance company uses a general-purpose personal computer as the terminal installed therein.

5. The facility management system according to claim 1, wherein the facility maintenance company receives setting data to operate the electric facilities and operation data obtained during the operation of the electric facilities as the monitor data through the terminal of the facility maintenance company.

6. The facility management system according to claim 1, wherein the facility maintenance company accesses the operation control monitor device through the communication network in order to obtain the monitor data of the electric facilities and displays the monitor data on the terminal of the facility maintenance company, and gets the permission to access the operation control monitor device after the facility maintenance company purchases from an electric facility manufacture a recording medium storing a monitor program for judging whether the monitor data received are normal or abnormal.

7. The facility management system according to claim 6, wherein the facility maintenance company receives the permission to access the individual operation control monitor device after obtaining a password stored in the recording medium purchased where the password corresponds to information stored in the individual operation control monitor device.

8. The facility management system according to claim 7, wherein before transmitting data including the password in order to verify the password with the information stored in the corresponding operation control monitor device, the facility maintenance company encodes the data including the password to be transmitted in order to prohibit the access to the operation control monitor device by others without the permission.

9. The facility management system according to claim 6, wherein a remote control program is stored in the recording medium purchased by the facility maintenance company, wherein the remote control program performs a remote control for the electric facilities through the communication network and the operation control monitor device.

10. The facility management system according to claim 6, wherein the recording medium purchased by the facility maintenance company stores an operation manual, a maintenance manual and a repairing manual for the electric facilities.

11. A facility management system in which a facility maintenance company maintains electric facilities installed in a building of an owner using an operation control monitor device installed in the building of the owner for controlling and monitoring operation of the electric facilities based on a contract concluded between the facility maintenance company and the owner of the building, wherein

an electric facility manufacture gives permission data to access the operation control monitor device by a first terminal installed in the facility maintenance company through a communication network so that the facility maintenance company receives monitor data of the electric facilities collected by the operation control monitor device through the communication network,

the electric facility manufacture accesses the operation control monitor device by a second terminal installed in the electric facility manufacture and receives the monitor data of the electric facilities collected by the operation control monitor device through the communication network.

12. The facility management system according to claim 11, wherein the electric facility manufacture controls the operation of the electric facilities by the second terminal through the communication network and the operation control monitor device.

13. The facility management system according to claim 11, wherein the operation control monitor device has a function to convert a communication protocol for use in the electric facilities to a general-purpose communication protocol to be used in the communication network, and the electric facility manufacture uses a general-purpose personal computer as the second terminal installed therein.

14. The facility management system according to claim 11, wherein the electric facility manufacture receives setting data for use in the operation of the electric facilities and operation data during the operation as the monitor data by the second terminal installed therein.

15. The facility management system according to claim 11, wherein in order to give the permission to access the operation control monitor device, the electric facility manufacture sales to the facility maintenance company a recording medium storing a monitor program for accessing the operation control monitor device through the communication network and receiving and displaying the monitor data of the electric facilities and judging whether the monitor data received are normal or abnormal.

16. The facility management system according to claim 15, wherein the electric facility manufacture adds into the recording medium to be sold to the facility maintenance company a password corresponding to an individual operation control monitor device, so that the facility maintenance company which purchases the recording medium obtains the permission to access the corresponding operation control monitor device.

17. The facility management system according to claim 15, wherein the electric facility manufacture sales to the facility maintenance company the recording medium corresponding to the kinds of the monitor data received by the facility maintenance company.

18. The facility management system according to claim 15, wherein the electric facility manufacture sales the recording medium storing a remote control program for controlling a remote control for the electric facilities through the operation control monitor device and the communication network.

19. The facility management system according to claim 15, wherein the electric facility manufacture sales the recording medium which stores an operation manual, a maintenance manual and a repairing manual for the electric facilities.

20. A facility management system in which a facility maintenance company maintains electric facilities installed in a building of an owner using an operation control monitor device installed in the building of the owner for controlling and monitoring operation of the electric facilities based on a contract concluded between the facility maintenance company and the owner of the building, wherein

the electric facility manufacture gives a permission to access the operation control monitor device by a first terminal installed in the facility maintenance company through a communication network,

the facility maintenance company receives monitor data of the electric facilities collected by the operation control monitor device, from the first terminal through the communication network, and

the electric facility manufacture accesses the operation control monitor device by a second terminal installed therein through the communication network and receives the monitor data of the electric facilities collected by the operation control monitor device.