SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MAPPING BUILDING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM INPUTS

• US 20110055748A1
• Filed: 09/02/2010
• Published: 03/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Original Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company (Johnson Controls International plc)
• Inventors: Vacariuc, Gheorghe L.
• Application Number:
  US12/874,961
• Publication Number:
  US 20110055748A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/771
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric

Abstract

A building management system controller includes a memory device storing a template building object associated with a first set of building management system inputs. The system further includes a processing circuit configured to search building management system inputs that are not yet associated with a building management object for a second set of building management system inputs. The processing circuit is further configured to create a new building object in the memory device and to map the second set of building management system inputs to the new building object based on string searching.

Claims

1. A computer system for mapping a building object to building management system inputs, comprising:

an interface configured to receive the building management system inputs; and

a processing circuit configured to create a template building object and to map a first set of building management system inputs to the template building object based on user input received at the computing system;

wherein the processing circuit is further configured to search unmapped building management system inputs available at the interface for a second set of building management system inputs that are similar to the first set of building management system inputs;

wherein the processing circuit is further configured to create a new building object in memory associated with the computing system;

wherein the new building object is based on the template building object; and

wherein the processing circuit is further configured to map the new building object to the second set of building management system inputs determined to be similar to the first set of building management system inputs based on the searching.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to determine whether the first set of building management system inputs are similar to the second set of building management system inputs by determining whether an application of a transformation function to a character string for the second set of building management system inputs matches a character string for the first set of building management system inputs.

3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to determine string transformation functions between building management system inputs of the template building object;

wherein the processing circuit is configured to compare permutations of unmapped building management system inputs using the string transformation functions; and

wherein the permutation comparisons based on the string transformation functions are used to determine the similarity between the first set of building management system inputs and the second set of building management system inputs.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to cause a plurality of building management system inputs that are similar to the first set of building management system inputs to be displayed on an electronic display communicably coupled to the computer system;

wherein the processing circuit is further configured to sort the plurality of building management inputs for the display based on degree of similarity;

wherein the processing circuit is configured to receive a user input at the computer system representing a user selection from the plurality of building management system inputs that are similar to the first set of building management system inputs; and

wherein the processing circuit is configured to complete the mapping in response to the received user input.

5. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to provide a representation of a set of automatically determined search criteria to an electronic display, the set based entirely on the template building object, and wherein the processing circuit is configured to modify the search criteria using user input received from a user input device connected to the processing circuit.

6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to calculate, using the computer system, a degree of confidence that a potential set of building management system inputs matches at least one of the first set of building management system inputs and search criteria generated for the template building object.

7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to create additional building objects in the memory based on the template building object and to automatically map building management system inputs to the additional building objects when the calculated degree of confidence that the building management system inputs match the search criteria for the additional building objects exceeds a threshold degree of confidence.

8. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to display potential template building object and building management system inputs for user selection when the degree of confidence of the match does not exceed the threshold degree of confidence.

9. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the searching conducted by the processing circuit comprises:

finding relationships between the building management system (BMS) inputs of the template building object;

finding relationships between the BMS inputs of the template building object and an identifier for the template building object;

applying the relationships between the BMS inputs of the template building object and the identifier to each unmapped BMS input and to use the application to group each unmapped BMS input into groups of potentially related BMS inputs; and

evaluating each permutation of BMS inputs in each group to determine whether the permutation is a match relative to the relationships between the BMS inputs of the template building object.

10. A method of operation by a computer system and for mapping a building object in memory of the computing system to building management system inputs, the method comprising:

creating a template building object in the memory of the computer system based on user input received by the computer system;

mapping a first set of building management system inputs to the template building object based on user input received at the computer system and storing the mapping in the memory of the computer system;

searching unmapped building management system inputs for a second set of building management system inputs that are similar to the first set of building management system inputs;

creating a new building object in the memory of the computer system based on the template building object; and

mapping the new building object to the second set of building management system inputs determined to be similar to the first set of building management system inputs in the searching step.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the searching step comprises:

determining whether an application of a transformation function to a character string for the second set of building management system inputs matches a character string for the first set of building management system inputs.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the searching step comprises determining string transformation functions between building management system inputs of the template building object;

wherein the searching step further comprises comparing permutations of unmapped building management system inputs using the string transformation functions; and

wherein the permutation comparisons based on the string transformation functions are used to determine the similarity between the first set of building management system inputs and the second set of building management system inputs.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

causing a plurality of building management system inputs that are similar to the first set of building management system inputs to be displayed on an electronic display communicably coupled to the computer system;

sorting the plurality of building management inputs for the display based on degree of similarity; and

receiving a user input at the computer system representing a user selection from the plurality of building management system inputs that are similar to the first set of building management system inputs.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

using the computer system to refine the search criteria for the template building object based on at least one of the creation of the new building object and the user selection.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

calculating a degree of confidence that a potential set of building management system inputs matches at least one of the first set of building management system inputs and search criteria generated for the template building object.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

creating additional building objects in the memory based on the template building object and automatically mapping building management system inputs to the additional building objects when the calculated degree of confidence that the building management system inputs match the search criteria for the additional building objects exceeds a threshold degree of confidence.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

displaying potential template building object and building management system inputs for user selection when the degree of confidence of the match does not exceed the threshold degree of confidence.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the searching step completes without user input.

19. A building management system controller, comprising:

a memory device storing a template building object associated with a first set of building management system inputs; and

a processing circuit configured to search building management system inputs that are not yet associated with a building management object for a second set of building management system inputs, wherein the search comprising string matching;

wherein the processing circuit is further configured to create a new building object in the memory device and to map the second set of building management system inputs to the new building object based on the string searching.

20. The building management system controller of claim 19, wherein the string matching search utilized by the processing circuit comprises comparing string transformation permutations.