REMOTE CONTRACTOR SYSTEM WITH DATA ANALYTICS FOR IDENTIFYING SITE SPECIFIC OPERATIONAL ABNORMALITIES

• US 20150127172A1
• Filed: 11/03/2014
• Published: 05/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ademco Inc. (Resideo Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Ragland, Amy, Foslien, Wendy, Kolavennu, Soumitri, Quam, David, Peterson, Steve R., Teves, Jennifer, Davolos, Pedro, Nahurski, Henry
• Granted Patent: US 9,995,501 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/276
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/30 for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/38 Failure diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/56 Remote control
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/58 using Internet communication
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/62 characterised by the type of control or by internal processing, e.g. using fuzzy logic, adaptive control or estimation of values
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/63 Electronic processing
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/64 using pre-stored data
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/70 Control systems characterised by their outputs; Constructional details thereof
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/89 Arrangement or mounting of control or safety devices
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/00 Control inputs relating to air properties
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/24033 Failure, fault detection and isolation
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2614 HVAC, heating, ventillation, climate control
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/34477 Fault prediction, analyzing signal trends
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2825 Reporting to a device located outside the home and the home network access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with telemetering systems H04M11/002
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• 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: H04L 67/125 : involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/82 : Energy audits or management systems therefor
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/18 : Network protocols supporting networked applications, e.g. including control of end-device applications over a network

Abstract

A system that allows a contractor to remotely monitor and/or interact with its customers'"'"' building control systems, such as heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, and analyze information obtained from the building control systems over time. Such a system may help the contractor monitor and diagnosis customer building control systems, setup service calls, achieve better customer relations, create more effective marketing opportunities, as well as other functions. In some cases, the disclosed system may help a contractor pro-actively identify possible issues with its customer'"'"'s building control systems, and only then schedule maintenance as required. In some cases, based on the analysis of information obtained from the building control systems over time, the system may output indications of abnormalities in the operation of the building control systems from which information may be received.

Claims

1. A remote contractor system configured to communicate with a plurality of client HVAC controllers over a network, wherein each of the client HVAC controllers is part of a corresponding client HVAC system that services a corresponding client building, the remote contractor system comprising:

a communications port configured to operatively communicate with a plurality of client HVAC controllers, and to receive data related to the operation of a plurality of client HVAC systems;

a memory for storing received data related to the operation of the plurality of client HVAC systems; and

a controller operatively coupled to the communications port and the memory, wherein the controller is configured to perform a trend analysis of at least some of the received data related to the operation of the plurality of client HVAC systems over time, and based on the trend analysis, output via the communications port one or more indications of abnormalities in the operation of one or more of the client HVAC systems for viewing by a user on a user interface.

2. The remote contractor system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to repeatedly perform the trend analysis of the received data related to operation of one or more HVAC systems over time.

3. The remote contractor system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to also output an expected cause of one or more of the indicated abnormalities.

4. The remote contractor system of claim 3, wherein the expected cause of one or more of the indicated abnormalities is a degradation or failure of one or more HVAC components.

5. The remote contractor system of claim 4, wherein the expected cause of one or more of the indicated abnormalities is a degradation or failure of one or more HVAC components other than an air filter.

6. The remote contractor system of claim 3, wherein the expected cause of one or more of the indicated abnormalities is related to the structure serviced by the HVAC system and not one or more HVAC components.

7. The remote contractor system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to output a suggested solution for fixing an indicated abnormality.

8. The remote contractor system of claim 7, wherein the suggested solution comprises a suggestion to replace one or more identified HVAC components of a particular client HVAC system.

9. The remote contractor system of claim 7, wherein the client HVAC controllers are programmable HVAC controllers, and the suggested solution comprises a suggestion to reprogram a client HVAC controller in a way identified by the suggested solution.

10. The remote contractor system of claim 7, wherein the suggested solution comprises a suggestion to modify a building configuration of the client building.

11. The remote contractor system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to output a plurality of reports over time, wherein each of the plurality of reports is configured to present analysis results in a consistent format.

12. The remote contractor system of claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to format the plurality of reports differently for each of a first audience and a second audience.

13. The remote contractor system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to perform a trend analysis of the received data related to the operation of a first client HVAC system over time, and based on the trend analysis, output one or more indications of abnormalities in the operation of the first client HVAC system.

14. The remote contractor system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to perform a trend analysis of the received data related to the operation of two or more client HVAC systems over time, and based on the trend analysis, output one or more indications of abnormalities in the operation of a first client HVAC system.

15. The remote contractor system of claim 14, wherein the two or more client HVAC systems are associated with client buildings that have similar building characteristics to the client building serviced by the first client HVAC system.

16. The remote contractor system of claim 14, wherein the two or more client HVAC systems are associated with client buildings that have occupants with lifestyle characteristics that are similar to the lifestyle characteristics of occupants of the client building serviced by the first client HVAC system.

17. A remote contractor system configured to communicate with an HVAC controller, wherein the HVAC controller is for controlling one or more HVAC components of an HVAC system, the remote system comprising:

a communications port for sending and/or receiving data related to operation of two or more HVAC controllers;

a memory for storing information comprising data related to the operation of two or more HVAC systems;

a controller coupled to the communications port and the memory; and

wherein the controller is configured to;

perform a trend analysis on received data related to the operation of one or more HVAC systems;

output via the communications port one or more indications of abnormalities in the operation of a particular HVAC system based on the trend analysis; and

output via the communications port one or more suggested causes of the one or more indicated abnormalities of the particular HVAC system for viewing by a user on a user interface.

18. The remote contractor system of claim 17, wherein the controller is configured to identify and output one or more previously successful solutions for curing the one or more indicated abnormalities of the particular HVAC system.

19. A remote contractor system comprising:

a communications port for sending and/or receiving data related to operation of two or more HVAC controllers of two or more HVAC systems;

a memory for storing received data related to the operation of the two or more HVAC systems;

a controller coupled to the communications port and the memory; and

wherein the controller is configured to perform a trend analysis of the received data over time, and based on the trend analysis, identify for a particular HVAC system;

(1) an abnormality in the operation of the particular HVAC system; and

(2) a suggested action to correct the identified abnormality; and

wherein the controller is further configured to output via the communications port the identified abnormality of the particular HVAC system and the suggested action to correct the identified abnormality for viewing by a user on a user interface.

20. The remote contractor system of claim 19, wherein the memory stores one or more characteristics of each of the two or more HVAC systems and/or buildings serviced by the two or more HVAC systems, and wherein the controller identifies an abnormality in the operation of the particular HVAC system based on received data from two or more HVAC systems and/or buildings serviced by the two or more HVAC systems that have similar characteristics to the particular HVAC system and/or building serviced by the particular HVAC system.