SUPERVISOR USER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• US 20140114440A1
• Filed: 10/22/2012
• Published: 04/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Marti, Jerry, Basha, Sadiq, Nair, Ajay N.
• Granted Patent: US 9,529,349 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/9
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0425 Safety, monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2222 Use of priority levels for gaining access to resources
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/24167 Encryption, password, user access privileges
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25011 Domotique, I-O bus, home automation, building automation

Abstract

An approach for control of users relative to access to controllers of a site in a hierarchy of controllers and building equipment. When a user of a customer has established a read write connection to a site controller, the customer does not necessarily want any subsequent user to establish a read write connection to the site controller or another controller within the same site and also make changes, for example, to settings of building equipment. Thus, a subsequent user may be allowed a read only connection and just be able to view building equipment information. When the first user has disconnected either intentionally or by inactivity, the site controller may be cleared allowing a subsequent user to obtain a read write connection. If the first user is inactive but fails to disconnect from the controller, an auto log-off provision may disconnect the user after a specified period of inactivity.

Claims

1. A control and resolution system for building equipment, comprising:

a supervisor;

one or more of site controllers managed and/or communicated with by the supervisor;

one or more field controllers managed and/or communicated with by a site controller; and

building equipment controlled by a field controller; and

wherein;

if a user is to review information of building equipment, the user navigates the supervisor to establish a connection with a site controller cognizant of the building equipment;

if the user is to make changes relative to the information of the building equipment, the user obtains write permission for the connection with the site controller;

a user is a primary user if the user has write permission for the connection to the site controller; and

virtually any user having a connection to the site controller without write permission is a secondary user.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

information of the building equipment comprises at least one or more alarms, statuses, setpoints, alert events and/or the like of the building equipment; and

building equipment comprises HVAC units, lighting panels, refrigeration circuits, and related mechanisms.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein if a user attempts to connect to a controller which already has a user with write permission connected to the controller, the user is informed that the user only can connect to the controller with a read only permission.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein when the primary user disconnects, the controller will clear the primary user thereby permitting another user to receive read and write permission.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein a maximum of one primary user is permitted to be connected relative to virtually all site controllers within a site.

6. The system of claim 1, if a secondary user has read only permission, then the secondary user can receive write permission in the event that the primary user disconnects from the controller and the secondary user reconnects as a new primary user.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein:

if the primary user does not disconnect from the controller but is inactive, an auto log-off provision disconnects the primary user after a predetermined time period; and

upon disconnection of the primary user, another user can connect to a controller within the site and have write permission.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein:

virtually all of the controllers within the site can communicate with one another; and

a connect service for a user operates for virtually all of the controllers within the site.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein:

the connect service permits the primary user to have write permission to virtually all the controllers in the site; and

the connect service prevents a secondary user from having write permission to virtually any controller within the site.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein when a user attempts to obtain write permission when logging in to connect to a controller in the site, the connect service informs the secondary user that there is a primary user connected and that the secondary user can login as a read-only user.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein:

an auto log-off can be enabled relative to a primary user;

a notification time period can be set as a predetermined amount of inactivity time that expires from a last time the primary user accessed the controller;

when the notification time period expires before the primary user again accesses the controller or another controller within the same site, a force disconnect time period can be set as a predetermined amount of inactivity time that occurs until the primary user is forcibly disconnected from the controller;

the primary user is informed when the notification time period expires that the connection by the primary user to the controller is about to be disconnected; and

the primary user can reset the force disconnect time period to allow continued access by the primary user to the controller.

12. A supervisor user management system comprising:

a supervisor;

one or more site controllers of a site subject to management by and/or communication with the supervisor;

one or more field controllers subject to management by and/or communication with a site controller of the one or more site controllers; and

building equipment subject to observation and/or control by a field controller of the one or more field controllers; and

wherein;

a user navigates the supervisor to connect to a site controller of the one or more site controllers to observe and/or control of building equipment; and

a first user of one or more users connected to a site controller of the one or more site controllers has write permission relative to the site controller;

if a second user is connected to the site controller of the one or more site controllers, the second user has read only permission relative to the site controller; and

at least one controller comprises a processor.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein:

a user with write permission is a primary user; and

a user with read only permission is a secondary user.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein:

the primary user has write permission for virtually any site controller of the one or more site controllers of the site; and

the secondary user has read only permission for virtually any site controller of the one or more site controllers of the site.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

an auto log-off module connected to the supervisor; and

wherein;

the auto log-off module monitors activity of a primary user while connected to a site controller;

if no activity of the primary user relative to the site controller is detected for a first predetermined period of time, the primary user is notified about the inactivity;

if no activity of the primary user relative to the site controller is detected for a second predetermined period of time after the first predetermined period of time, then the primary user is disconnected from the site controller.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the primary user can reset the second predetermined period of time in order to remain connected to the site controller.

17. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

a user logic synchronization module; and

wherein the user synchronization module tracks login attempts, shares active user information among other controllers of the site, notes a secondary user connection, establishes a block on the connection, and/or rejects a login attempt by the secondary user as a write user in view of a primary user presently being logged in.

18. A method for managing user access to controllers for building control, comprising:

making a connection for a user to a site controller of one or more controllers of a site;

classifying the user as a primary or secondary user according to a read only or write connection to the site controller, respectively; and

limiting to one a number of primary users connected to the one or more controllers of the site; and

wherein the primary user can view site controller information about building control and make changes to the information.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the site controller information about building control pertains to alarms, statuses, setpoints and/or event alerts and/or monitoring and actuation mechanisms of building control equipment.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

making a connection for one or more secondary users to the controller of the one or more controllers of the site; and

wherein a secondary user can view site controller information but not make changes to the information.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

measuring a time of a connection without activity of the primary user to the site controller of the one or more site controllers;

providing a notification to the primary user when the time of the connection without activity of the primary user to the site controller of the one or more site controllers reaches a first predetermined amount;

measuring a time after the notification without activity of the primary user to the site controller of the one or more site controllers; and

forcibly disconnecting the primary user when the time after the notification without activity of the primary user to the controller of the one or more site controllers reaches a second predetermined amount; and

wherein the primary user can reset the time for measuring a time of a connection without activity of the primary user to the site controller of the one or more site controllers after the notification to avoid the forcibly disconnecting the primary user from the site controller.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein:

access details of a primary user are synced across site controllers of a site;

upon the access details of the primary user being synced, a heart beat timer is started to send access details at every certain number of units of time to handle fail over scenarios; and

the heart beat timer is cancelled when the primary user is logged out.