Dynamically extensible and automatically configurable building automation system and architecture

• US 20070043476A1
• Filed: 08/22/2005
• Published: 02/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Trane International Inc. (Trane Technologies plc)
• Original Assignee: Trane International Inc. (Trane Technologies plc)
• Inventors: McCoy, Sean, Richards, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,050,801 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/276
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/30 for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/54 using one central controller connected to several sub-controllers
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/62 characterised by the type of control or by internal processing, e.g. using fuzzy logic, adaptive control or estimation of values
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/74 for controlling air flow rate or air velocity
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• 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

Abstract

A building automation system (BAS) architecture is disclosed. The BAS comprises, in one embodiment, an architecture comprising a communication network and having a dynamic extensibility capability and an automatic configuration capability; an engine communicatively coupled to the communication network; and at least one control device communicatively coupled to the communication network, the control device being known or unknown to the engine. The engine can be adapted to selectively implement the dynamic extensibility capability to establish communications with and to control both known and unknown control devices. The engine can be further adapted to selectively implement the automatic configuration capability to determine at least one characteristic of both known and unknown control devices. A method of adding a control device to a building automation system (BAS) by dynamically extending and automatically configuring an architecture of the BAS is also disclosed.

Claims

1. A building automation system (BAS) comprising:

an architecture comprising a communication network and having a dynamic extensibility capability and an automatic configuration capability;

an engine communicatively coupled to the communication network; and

at least one control device communicatively coupled to the communication network, the control device being known or unknown to the engine,

wherein the engine is adapted to selectively implement the dynamic extensibility capability to establish communications with and to control both known and unknown control devices, and wherein the engine is adapted to selectively implement the automatic configuration capability to determine at least one characteristic of both known and unknown control devices.

2. The BAS of claim 1, wherein the at least one characteristic is selected from the group consisting of a communication protocol, a communication protocol version, a vendor, a product, a type, and a version.

3. The BAS of claim 1, wherein the characteristic is referenced as a definition and the definition is stored by the engine in a program.

4. The BAS of claim 3, wherein the engine need not recompile the program after storing a definition.

5. The BAS of claim 3, wherein the dynamic extensibility capability comprises a discovery routine to integrate an unknown control device into the architecture as a known control device by adding or altering a definition in the program.

6. The BAS of claim 5, wherein the engine need not recompile the program after adding or altering a definition.

7. The BAS of claim 3, further comprising a database communicatively coupled to the communication network and controlled by the engine, wherein the program is stored in the database.

8. The BAS of claim 3, wherein the engine is capable of applying the definition to identify an unknown control device by the dynamic extensibility capability and the automatic configuration capability.

9. The BAS of claim 1, wherein the engine comprises a generic communication protocol compatible with known and unknown control devices.

10. The BAS of claim 1, wherein a first control device comprises a first communication protocol compatibility and a second control device comprises a second communication protocol compatibility different from the first communication protocol compatibility, and wherein the communication system and the engine comprises both the first and second communication protocol compatibilities.

11. The BAS of claim 10, wherein the first and second communication protocol compatibilities differ according to a communication standard, a version, or any combination thereof.

12. The BAS of claim 11, wherein the engine is capable of concurrently implementing both the first and second protocol compatibilities.

13. The BAS of claim 1, wherein the communication network comprises an Intranet network, an Internet network, or any combination thereof

14. The BAS of claim 13, wherein the engine comprises a single address and the control device comprises a network address.

15. The BAS of claim 14, wherein the engine discovers the network address according to the dynamic extensibility capability.

16. The BAS of claim 15, wherein the engine receives the network address from an external source.

30. The BAS of claim 15, wherein the network address is manually programmed.

17. (canceled)

18. A building automation system (BAS) comprising:

a system architecture comprising a communication network compatible with a plurality of communication protocols and having a dynamic extensibility capability and an automatic configuration capability,

a server engine communicatively coupled to the communication network and compatible with at least a portion of the plurality of communication protocols; and

at least one control device communicatively coupled to the communication network, wherein the control device is known or unknown to the server engine, and wherein a known control device comprises a portion of the system architecture;

wherein the server engine includes

software instructions adapted to implement the dynamic extensibility capability to establish communications with and to control both known and unknown control devices,

software instructions adapted to implement the automatic configuration capability to determine at least one characteristic of both known and unknown control devices, and

software instructions adapted to expand the architecture to include a known control device that was previously unknown after implementation of the dynamic extensibility capability and the automatic configuration capability.

19. The BAS of claim 18, wherein the at least one characteristic is selected from the group consisting of a communication protocol, a communication protocol version, a vendor, a product, a type, and a version.

20. The BAS of claim 18, wherein the server engine further comprises software instructions adapted to store the characteristic as a definition in a program utilized by the server engine.

21. The BAS of claim 20, wherein the server engine need not recompile the program after storing a definition.

22. The BAS of claim 20, further comprising a database communicatively coupled to the communication network and operably controlled by the server engine, wherein the program is stored in the database.

23. The BAS of claim 18, wherein the server engine comprises a generally compatible communication protocol to establish communications with known and unknown control devices.

24. The BAS of claim 18, wherein a first control device is compatible with a first communication protocol, wherein a second control device is compatible with a second communication protocol different from the first communication protocol compatibility, and wherein the plurality of communication protocols comprise the first and second communication protocols.

25. The BAS of claim 24, wherein the first and second communication protocols differ by a communication standard, a version, or any combination thereof

26. The BAS of claim 25, wherein the server engine further comprises software instructions adapted to concurrently implement both the first and second protocols.

27. The BAS of claim 18, wherein the communication network comprises an Intranet network, an Internet network, or any combination thereof.

28. The BAS of claim 27, wherein the server engine comprises a single address and the control device comprises a network address.

29. The BAS of claim 28, wherein the server engine discovers the network address according to the dynamic extensibility capability.