System and method for developing and processing building system control solutions

• US 20040143810A1
• Filed: 09/23/2003
• Published: 07/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Industry Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Industry Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Ahmed, Osman, Songkakul, Pornsak
• Granted Patent: US 8,521,708 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A system supports the development and processing of a building system application. The system may include an application definition verifier, a system design converter, a computer tool interface, and an external program module interface. The system permits a building engineer to define a building system application solution in a familiar system design language, such as XML, and then generate a computer program for controlling a building system. The system does not require the building engineer to have specialized computer programming knowledge, either of the target building system language or of the computer tools used to provide data for incorporation within the computer statements implementing the building system application solution.

Claims

15. A method for supporting a building system application comprising:

storing data in a database; and

converting between common database access method instructions and database application programming interface (API) instructions for the database so that an application having common database access method instructions may access the database.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the data are stored in a plurality of databases within the database.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the data are stored in one of a real-time database and a data mart.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

configuring the data mart in one of a snowflake and star data organization.

19. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

coupling common components to an application for communication support.

20. The method of claim 19, the communication component coupling comprising:

coupling an application to another application through a Web-based component for communication over the Internet.

21. The method of claim 19, the communication component coupling comprising:

coupling an application to another application through an operating system communication component for supporting application communication through the operating system.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the operating system communication component coupling includes coupling Windows-based communication component to the application.

23. The method of claim 20 wherein the application communication over the Internet communicates through a customer web portal.

24. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

developing a file structure having components representative of a building system; and

associating configuration data with the components identified in the file structure.

25. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

coupling external data sources to the database.

26. The method of claim 25 further comprising:

converting data from a native format for an external data source to one that is compatible with the database.

27. The method of claim 26 further comprising:

generating instructions for the database API to store the converted data in the database.

28. The method of claim 27 further comprising:

interrogating, on a scheduled basis, the external data sources for data to be stored in the database.

29. A method for processing an application comprising:

obtaining a list of point types used as inputs for an application from an application definition;

mapping each point type to an actual control system point name defined in a configuration file; and

retrieving data for the actual control system point names from a database for processing by the application.

30. The method of claim 29, the data retrieval further comprising:

converting common database access instructions in the application to database access instructions for the database API; and

converting responses from the database API to common database access responses for application processing.

31. The method of claim 30 further comprising:

generating outputs from the converted responses; and

delivering the outputs to a user.

32. The method of claim 31, the output delivery further comprising:

posting the outputs for retrieval at a customer web portal.

33. The method of claim 31, the output delivery further comprising:

Storing the outputs in the database.

34. A system for automatically generating building system application solutions comprising:

a system design verifier for verifying an application definition; and

a system design converter coupled to the system design verifier, the system design converter for converting verified application definitions into computer statements for implementing a building system application solution that corresponds to the application definition.

35. The system of claim 34 wherein the system design verifier receives XML files that identify HVAC components and a duct layout for a building system;

and

the system design converter converts a verified XML file into engineering application language statements to implement the building system application solution that corresponds to the XML file.

36. The system of claim 35 wherein the system design converter generates engineering application language statements in the MATLAB language.

37. The system of claim 35 wherein the system design converter generates engineering application language statements in the MATHMATICA language.

38. The system of claim 34 further comprising:

a computer tool interface coupled to the system design converter, the computer tool interface for providing data from computer tools to the system design converter for incorporation within the computer statements that implement the building system application solution that corresponds to the application definition.

39. The system of claim 38 wherein the computer tool interface couples at least one of a data organization tool, a data filtering tool, a statistical analysis tool, and an analytical tool to the system design converter.

40. The system of claim 39 wherein the data organization tool is a data base management system.

41. The system of claim 39 wherein the analytical method tool is a linear programming module.

42. The system of claim 39 further comprising:

a data provider interface coupled to the system design converter through the computer tool interface, the data provider for converting between a common database access method and a database application programming interface; and

the data organization tool uses a common database access method to access a database coupled to the data provider.

43. The system of claim 34 further comprising:

an external program module interface coupled to the system design converter, the external program module interface for providing modular computer program components to the system design converter for incorporation within the computer statements that implement the building system application solution.

44. The system of claim 43 wherein the external program module interface provides a proportional-integral-derivative loop control module to the system design converter.

45. A method for automatically generating building system application solutions comprising:

verifying an application definition; and

converting the verified application definition into computer statements for implementing a building system application solution that corresponds to the application definition.

46. The method of claim 45 further comprising:

receiving a XML file that identifies HVAC components and a duct layout for a building system; and

converting the verified XML file into engineering application language statements to implement the building system application solution that corresponds to the XML file.

47. The method of claim 46, the conversion further comprising:

generating engineering application language statements in the MATLAB language.

48. The method of claim 46, the conversion further comprising:

generating engineering application language statements in the MATHMATICA language.

49. The method of claim 45 further comprising:

providing data from computer tools for incorporation within the computer statements that implement the building system application solution that corresponds to the application definition.

54. The method of claim 45 further comprising:

providing modular computer program components to the system design converter for incorporation within the computer statements that implement the building system application solution.

55. The method of claim 54 wherein the modular computer program component provision includes providing a proportional-integral-derivative loop control module for incorporation within the computer statements implementing the building system application solution.

50-1. The method of claim 50 wherein the data organization tool coupling couples a data base management system for incorporation of data from a database within the computer statements implementing the building system application solution.