COMMISSIONING WIRELESS NETWORK DEVICES ACCORDING TO AN INSTALLATION PLAN

• US 20090066473A1
• Filed: 03/08/2006
• Published: 03/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Simons, Paul R.
• Application Number:
  US11/817,878
• Publication Number:
  US 20090066473A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/3.100
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2807 Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/19 via wireless transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/199 Commissioning of light sources

Abstract

A method for commissioning installed building service devices comprises establishing wireless communication between plural building service devices L1, L2, E1, E2, 2, 3 to determine spatial positions of each device relative to at least three reference nodes G1, G2, G3 by triangulation of the signal. The coordinates of the determined spatial positions of each device are transmitted to a building services commissioning system, which generates a spatial position map of said devices. This map is then compared with a building services plan to obtain configuration data for each said device. Based on the configuration data, configuration commands are issued to each device to commission the system.

Claims

1. A method for commissioning installed building service devices, comprising the steps of:

establishing wireless communication between building service devices (L1, L2, E1, E2, 2, 3) to determine spatial positions of each device relative to at least three reference nodes (G1, G2, G3);

transmitting the coordinates of the spatial positions of each device to a building services commissioning system (40);

generating a spatial position map (45) of said devices;

comparing the map with a building services plan (46) to obtain configuration data for each said device; and

issuing configuration commands to each device.

2. The method of claim 1 in which the configuration data comprises data indicating a functional interaction between a first group of one or more building service devices (L1, L2, E1, E2) and a second group of one or more other building service devices (2, 3).

3. The method of claim 2 in which the first group of building service devices comprise luminaires (L1, L2, E1, E2) and the second group of building service devices comprises switching control units (2, 3).

4. The method of claim 3 in which the switching control units (2, 3) comprise any one or more of on-off switches, dimmer controllers, motion sensors and presence sensors.

5. The method of claim 2 in which the first group of building service devices comprise any one or more of heating, ventilation and air conditioning units and the second group of building service devices comprises switching control units.

6. The method of claim 1 in which the wireless communication uses radio-frequency wireless communication.

7. The method of claim 6 the wireless communication conforms to the ZigBee standard.

8. The method of claim 1 in which the spatial positions of each building service device are determined using a time of flight measurement of wireless signals between devices.

9. The method of claim 1 in which the step of comparing comprises, for every device located in the spatial position map (45), a corresponding device in the building services plan (46), and reading configuration data associated with that device from the building services plan.

10. The method of claim 1 in which the building services commissioning system forms part of a building management system (40).

11. The method of claim 10 in which the at least three reference nodes (G1, G2, G3) are gateway devices serving as nodes for direct communication with the building management system (40).

12. The method of claim 1 in which the step of comparing the spatial position map (45) with the building services plan further includes the step of correcting the coordinates of the spatial position for a device in accordance with the building services plan to facilitate more accurate spatial position determination of successive devices.

13. A building service device commissioning apparatus (40) comprising:

a receiver for receiving coordinates of spatial positions for each of a plurality of building service devices (L1, L2, E1, E2, 2, 3);

a map generator module (44a) for generating a spatial position map (45) of all said devices from said coordinates;

a memory (47) storing a building services plan (46) comprising a location of each of said devices and configuration data relating thereto;

a comparator module (44b) for comparing the generated map with the building services plan to obtain configuration data for each said device; and

a configuration module (44c) for issuing configuration commands to each device.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 in which the configuration data comprises data indicating a functional interaction between a first group of one or more building service devices (L1, L2, E1, E2) and a second group of one or more other building service devices (2, 3).

15. The apparatus of claim 14 in which the first group of building service devices comprise luminaires and the second group of building service devices comprises switching control units.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 in which the switching control units comprise any one or more of on-off switches, dimmer controllers, motion sensors and presence sensors.

17. The apparatus of claim 14 in which the first group of building service devices comprise any one or more of heating, ventilation and air conditioning units and the second group of building service devices comprises switching control units.

18. The apparatus of claim 13 in which the comparator module (44b) comprises a processor adapted to, for every device located in the spatial position map, identify a corresponding device in the building services plan, and read configuration data associated with that device from the building services plan (46).

19. The apparatus of claim 13 in which the comparator module (44b) includes a correction module for correcting the coordinates of the spatial position for a device in accordance with the building services plan (46) to facilitate more accurate spatial position determination of successive devices.

20. The apparatus of claim 13 in which the building services commissioning apparatus forms part of a building management system (40).