SIMULTANEOUS CONNECTIVITY AND MANAGEMENT ACROSS MULTIPLE BUILDING AUTOMATION SYSTEM NETWORKS

• US 20110213867A1
• Filed: 02/26/2010
• Published: 09/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Trane International Inc. (Trane Technologies plc)
• Original Assignee: Trane International Inc. (Trane Technologies plc)
• Inventors: Richards, David, Gydesen, Shane, Sun, Weiwei, McCoy, Sean
• Granted Patent: US 8,219,660 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols

Abstract

A building automation system (BAS) network manager supporting a plurality of device protocols coupled to at least one communication network, and a plurality of logical connections to individual BAS networks to multiple end devices of a BAS. The BAS network manager can communicate with each of the end devices regardless of the protocol or protocol version of the BAS network by implementing a protocol stack above the link layer for each protocol or protocol version, providing an integrated multi-BAS network interface, and maintaining a device identifier for each BAS network the network manager is coupled to in the protocol stack.

Claims

1. A building automation system (BAS) network management system comprising:

a plurality of building automation systems including a plurality of devices located in an area defined by a building automation system network, the network communicatively couples each of the plurality of devices to every other of the plurality of devices;

a central server engine configured to support multiple BAS network protocols, the central server engine communicatively coupled to each building automation system network; and

means for communicating with each of the plurality of devices coupled to each of the building automation system networks with a protocol compatible with each one of the building automation system networks.

2. The building automation system (BAS) network management system of claim 1, wherein the building automation system network is a BACnet compatible network.

3. The building automation system (BAS) network management system of claim 1, wherein the central server engine is communicatively coupled to each building automation system by an internet protocol compatible network.

4. The building automation system (BAS) network management system of claim 1, wherein the means for communicating with each of the plurality of devices includes a BAS protocol stack dedicated to the protocol compatible with each one of the building automation system networks.

5. The building automation system (BAS) network management system of claim 4, wherein the BAS protocol stack dedicated to the protocol compatible with each one of the building automation system networks is coupled to a common building application management application.

6. The building automation system (BAS) network management system of claim 4, wherein the BAS protocol stack dedicated to the protocol compatible with each one of the building automation system networks is coupled to a link manager that is configured to manage a physical network connection to each of the building automation system networks.

7. A method of integrating a plurality of building automation system (BAS) networks comprising:

communicatively coupling each of the plurality BAS networks to a central server engine;

configuring the server engine to communicate with each of the plurality of BAS networks by providing a protocol stack for a BAS network protocol compatible with at least one of the plurality of BAS networks;

storing a BAS network device identifier associated with the server engine for the at least one of the plurality of BAS networks in the protocol stack; and

storing a device address binding table including the BAS network address of each of a plurality of devices connected to each of the plurality BAS networks in the protocol stack for each of the plurality of BAS networks.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one of the plurality of BAS networks is a BACnet compatible network.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the central server engine is communicatively coupled to the at least one of the plurality BAS networks by an internet protocol compatible network.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the internet protocol compatible network is the Internet.

11. A method for managing a plurality of building automation systems (BAS) having at least two incompatible building automation system networks comprising:

communicatively coupling the at least at least two incompatible building automation system networks to an router configured to encapsulate data traffic from each of the at least at least two incompatible building automation system networks onto a third network;

communicatively coupling a building automation system network manager engine to the third network;

parsing the data traffic from each of the at least two incompatible building automation system networks into at least two separate network level protocol stacks;

storing a network device identifier associated with the building automation system network manager engine in each of at least two separate network level protocol stacks; and

storing a device address binding table including a network address of each of a plurality of devices connected to each of the least two incompatible building automation system networks in each of at least two separate network level protocol stacks.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein at least one of the at least two incompatible building automation system networks is a BACnet compatible network.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the third network is an internet protocol compatible network.

14. A method of communicating with a plurality of building automation systems (BAS) each with a BAS network comprising:

communicatively coupling each of the plurality BAS networks to a central server engine with a packet based network;

implementing a network layer protocol stack for each BAS network protocol of the plurality BAS networks;

using the network layer protocol stack for one of the plurality of BAS networks to form a message according to the BAS network protocol corresponding to the one of the plurality of the BAS networks, wherein the message includes at least one destination BAS network address and at least one command instruction as part of a BAS network compatible payload; and

causing the message to be transmitted via the packet based network to the at least one destination network address.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the BAS network protocol is a BACnet compatible protocol.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one command instruction is a WhoIs query.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the at least one destination BAS network address represents a unique device communicatively coupling to one of the plurality BAS networks.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the message includes a source BAS network address that is stored in the network layer protocol stack for the one of the plurality of BAS networks.