CONTROL SYSTEM AND PAIRING METHOD FOR A CONTROL SYSTEM

• US 20130329604A1
• Filed: 02/23/2012
• Published: 12/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Zerogroup Holding OUE
• Original Assignee: Zerogroup Holding OUE
• Inventors: Vimberg, Priit
• Application Number:
  US14/000,875
• Publication Number:
  US 20130329604A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5038 for local use, e.g. in LAN or USB networks, or in a controller area network [CAN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/59 using proxies for addressing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• 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

The present invention relates to a control system (200) and a pairing method for installation, configuration and update of a control system. In the inventive solution the control system comprises nodes (220q-220h) with control elements (210a-210h), one or several hubs (230x-230y), and a server (240). Identification data of assigned nodes (220a, 220b, 220d) is transferred from the server (240) to a hub (230x). The hub provides a pairing process with nodes that have any of the IDs stored as assigned nodes. This way an automatic pairing process is achieved, which does not require manual activation procedures of a user.

Claims

1. Control system comprising at least one node (220a-220h) with an interface to a control element (210a-210h), a microcontroller (221), storage (222) for storing an ID of the node, and a transceiver (225) for communicating with a hub, at least one hub (230x-230z) with an interface (236) to a server, a processor (231), a storage (232) for storing ID data of a node, and a transceiver (235) for communicating with a node, wherein a hub and a node which are assigned and paired to each other, are arranged to transfer control data with each other, characterized in that the control system comprises a server (240), whereby the server is arranged to transfer to a hub (230x) identification data of those nodes (220a, 220b, 220d) which are assigned to the hub, and a hub is arranged to exchange identification data with an assigned node in order to join the hub and the node in the control system.

2. Control system according to claim 1, characterized in that the server is arranged to transmit to a hub security certificates of nodes which are assigned to the hub, and the hub is arranged to transmit the security certificate of an assigned node to the assigned node for verification in the pairing process.

3. Control system according to claim 1, characterized in that the transceivers of the node and the hub have means for wireless data transfer between the node and the hub.

4. Control system according to claim 1, characterized in that the transceivers of the node and the hub have means for wireless data transfer between the node and the hub.

5. Control system according to claim 4, characterized in that the transceivers of the node and the hub have interfaces for a wired network, such as an RS485 network.

6. Control system according to claim 1, characterized in that the hub and the server have means (236, 246) for mutual communication via the Internet.

7. Control system according to claim 1, characterized in that the control element (210a-210h) is a sensor, such as a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, an optical sensor, a CO₂ sensor, a motion sensor, another type of presence sensor, or a camera.

8. Control system according to claim 1, characterized in that the control element (210a-210h) is an actuator, such as a lighting fixture, a heater, an air conditioner, a fan, or multimedia equipment.

9. Control system according to claim 1, characterized in that the control element (210a-210h) is a control panel or an access control terminal.

10. Node (220a-220h) for a control system, comprising an interface to a control element (210a-210h), a microcontroller (221), storage (222) for storing an ID of the node, and a transceiver (225) for communicating with a hub (230x-230z), wherein the node (220a) is arranged to transfer control data with a hub (230x) assigned for the node, characterized in that the node is arranged to transmit its ID to at least one hub, and to join with a hub which informs it is assigned for the node.

11. Node according to claim 10, characterized in that the node is arranged to verify a security certificate of the assigned hub in order to accept pairing with the assigned hub.

12. Hub (230x-230z) for a control system, comprising an interface (236) to a server (240), a processor (231), a storage (232) for storing identification data of a node, and a transceiver (235) for communicating with a node, wherein the hub is arranged to transfer control data with a node assigned for the hub, characterized in that the hub (230x) is arranged to receive from a server (240) identification data of those nodes (220a, 220b, 220d) that are assigned to the hub, to receive ID from nodes and to join with a node whose received ID is on the list of assigned nodes for the hub.

13. Hub according to claim 12, characterized in that the hub is arranged to receive from a server security certificates of the assigned nodes, and the hub is arranged to transmit the security certificate to an assigned node in the pairing process.

14. Pairing method (300) for a control system comprising at least one node with at least one control element and at least one hub, wherein in the method a hub and a node are assigned and paired to each other (350) and transfer control data with each other, characterized in that the hub communicates with a server of the system, whereby identification data is transferred to a hub of those nodes which are assigned to the hub (301), and identification data is exchanged between a hub and an assigned node (310-345) in order to join the hub and the node (350) in the control system.

15. Pairing method according to claim 14, characterized in that a security certificate of a node is transferred from the server to a hub assigned to the node, and in the pairing process between the node and the hub the security certificate is further transferred from the hub to the node, and the security certificate is verified by the node.