Passive and Active Wireless Building Management System and Method

• US 20100121613A1
• Filed: 09/03/2009
• Published: 05/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Corp. (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Building Technologies Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Rosca, Justinian, Sastry, Chellury R., Ahmed, Osman
• Granted Patent: US 8,315,839 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 703/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2823 Reporting information sensed by appliance or service execution status of appliance services in a home automation network device-related reporting H04L43/065; 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 2012/2841 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• 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: H04W 16/20 for indoor coverage or short range network deployment

Abstract

A building system includes a communication network, a plurality of wireless nodes, a plurality of passive wireless devices, and a processing circuit. The plurality of wireless nodes are disposed within a building operably and are coupled to the communication network. Each of the passive wireless devices is affixed to or within an object within the building. At least some of the objects constitute fixtures within the building. Each passive wireless device contains first information regarding at least one property of the object, and is configured to communicate wirelessly to at least one of the wireless nodes using power derived from communication signals detected in the passive wireless device. The processing circuit operably is coupled to receive the first information from the wireless devices, the processing circuit configured to update a model of at least a portion of a building based at least in part on the at least one property of the objects.

Claims

1. A building system, comprising:

a) a communication network;

b) a plurality of wireless nodes within a building operably coupled to the communication network;

c) a plurality of passive wireless devices, each passive wireless device affixed to or within an object within the building, each passive wireless device containing first information regarding at least one thermal property of the object, each of the passive wireless devices configured to communicate wirelessly to at least one of the wireless nodes using power derived from communication signals detected in the passive wireless device;

d) a processing circuit operably coupled to receive the first information from the wireless devices, the processing circuit configured to generate a model of at least a portion of a building based at least in part on the thermal property of the object.

2. The building system of claim 1, wherein each of a first set of the plurality of passive wireless devices is affixed to one of a plurality of building fixtures.

3. The building system of claim 2, wherein each of a second set of the plurality of passive wireless devices is affixed to furniture.

4. The building system of claim 3, further comprising a set of wireless devices, each passive wireless device affixed to or within an object within the building, each of the set of wireless devices containing second information regarding at least one thermal property of an electrically powered object, each of the set of wireless devices configured to communicate wirelessly to at least one of the wireless nodes, and wherein the processing circuit is operably coupled to receive the second information from the wireless devices, the processing circuit configured to generate the thermal model of at least a portion of the building based at least in part on the thermal property of the electrically powered object.

5. The building system of claim 3, wherein each of a second set of the plurality of passive wireless devices is affixed to an electrically powered object.

6. The building system of claim 1, wherein at least some of the passive wireless devices contain second information regarding physical dimensions of the object to which they are affixed.

7. The building system of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to generate a simulated thermal performance of the building based at least in part on the model, to obtain sensor-derived data regarding an actual thermal performance of the building, and to provide an indication of differences between the simulated thermal performance and the actual thermal performance.

8. A building system, comprising:

a) a communication network;

b) a plurality of wireless nodes within a building operably coupled to the communication network;

c) a plurality of passive wireless devices, each passive wireless device affixed to or within an object within the building, each passive wireless device containing first information regarding at least one property of the object, each of the passive wireless devices configured to communicate wirelessly to at least one of the wireless nodes using power derived from communication signals detected in the passive wireless device;

wherein at least a first wireless node includes a processing unit configured to determine second information representative of a distance between a first passive wireless device and the first wireless node; and

further comprising

a processing circuit configured to receive the second information from the first wireless node, and further configured to determine a first set of location coordinates of an object on which the first passive wireless device is disposed based at least in part on the second information, and wherein the processing circuit is further configured to update a building model based on the first set of location coordinates.

9. The building system of claim 8, wherein the at least one property of the object includes information identifying physical dimensions of the object, and wherein the processing circuit is configured to receive the information identifying physical dimensions of the object on which the first passive wireless device is disposed, and is further configured to update a building model base on the information identifying physical dimensions of the object on which the first passive wireless device is disposed.

10. The building system of claim 8, wherein

the plurality of wireless nodes within a building operably coupled to the communication network are further configured to communicate with a set of wireless devices operably supported by persons,

the plurality of wireless nodes and the processing circuit are configured to cooperate to determine presence of each of the set of wireless devices within spaces within the building

the processing circuit is configured to generate one or more occupancy models regarding the spaces within the building based on the determined presence and the building model.

11. The building system of claim 10, wherein at least a first of the one or more occupancy models includes instantaneous occupancy information for the spaces within the building.

12. The building system of claim 10, wherein at least a first of the one or more occupancy models includes accumulated occupancy patterns for the spaces within the building over time.

13. The building system of claim 12, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to alter a control signal for a controller of a building comfort system based at least in part on the first occupancy model.

14. The building system of claim 8, further comprising a plurality of sensors, the plurality of sensors configured to generate third information regarding a plurality of environmental conditions within corresponding spaces in the building, and wherein the processing circuit is configured to link the third information to the building model.

15. The building system of claim 14, wherein the processing circuit is configured to display in a contemporaneous manner, information for at least a first space of the building representative of the plurality of environmental conditions in the first space and representative of objects located within the first space.

16. The building system of claim 14, wherein processing circuit is further configured to perform a correlation between the first information and the third information, the processing circuit further configured to cause the display of information regarding the correlation.

17. A building system, comprising:

a) a communication network;

b) a plurality of wireless nodes within a building operably coupled to the communication network;

c) a plurality of passive wireless devices, each passive wireless device affixed to or within an object within the building, at least some of the objects constituting fixtures within the building, each passive wireless device containing first information regarding at least one property of the object, each of the passive wireless devices configured to communicate wirelessly to at least one of the wireless nodes using power derived from communication signals detected in the passive wireless device;

d) a processing circuit operably coupled to receive the first information from the wireless devices, the processing circuit configured to generate a model of at least a portion of a building based at least in part on the at least one property of the objects.

19. The building system of claim 17, wherein each of a third set of the plurality of passive wireless devices is affixed to an electrically powered object.

20. The building system of claim 17, further comprising a set of passive wireless devices, each passive wireless device affixed to or within an object within the building, each of the set of wireless devices containing second information regarding at least one thermal property of an electrically powered object, each of the set of wireless devices configured to communicate wirelessly to at least one of the wireless nodes, and wherein the processing circuit is operably coupled to receive the second information from the wireless devices, the processing circuit configured to generate the model of at least a portion of the building based at least in part on the thermal property of the electrically powered object.

21. The building system of claim 17, wherein at least some of the passive wireless devices contain second information regarding physical dimensions of the object to which they are affixed.

18. The building system of claim 36, wherein each of a first set of the plurality of passive wireless devices is affixed to one of a plurality of building fixtures, and each of a second set of the plurality of passive wireless devices is affixed to furniture.