SYSTEM HAVING A BUILDING CONTROL DEVICE WITH ON-DEMAND OUTSIDE SERVER FUNCTIONALITY

• US 20160054716A1
• Filed: 10/30/2015
• Published: 02/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Huynh, Cuong, Behar, Mark, Donaldson, Stuart
• Granted Patent: US 10,613,491 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/70 Software maintenance or management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2816 Controlling appliance services of a home automation network by calling their functionalities arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station; in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2818 from a device located outside both the home and the home network access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; arrangements for transmitting signals characterised by the use of a wireless eletrical link G08C17/00; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with remote control systems H04M11/007
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 Wireless
• 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

Abstract

A system having a building control device with on-demand outside server functionality. It may have a building control device connected to a thin user interface client and/or a rich client user interface. The building control device may be connected to an external server from a computing cloud environment to extend the functionality, storage and processing, among other things, of the building control device.

Claims

1. A system for accommodating a building control device, comprising:

a user interface;

a building control device connected to the user interface; and

an external server connected to the building control device; and

wherein;

the external server is for extending capability of the building control device; and

the user interface is configured to provide access to a plug-in application from the external server and allow for selection of the plug-in application for obtaining the plug-in application from the external server to the building control device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein plug-in applications are seamlessly integrated into the building control device through the external server.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein obtaining a plug-in application comprises:

providing optional authorization, if selected, to obtain a plug-in application;

configuring the plug-in application for integration into the user interface for the building control device; and

entering parameters to access plug-in application modules via the external server.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein obtaining a plug-in application comprises:

downloading code and/or data; and

wherein the downloading occurs from the external server to the building control device.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface includes a thin client user interface.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the thin client user interface is configured to facilitate integrating and presenting available plug-in applications, wherein the thin client user interface is configured to facilitate:

requesting a view of an application of the building control device; and

receiving the view of the application, menu and/or navigation links to plug-in applications displayed at the thin client user interface; and

wherein the view is generated by the building control device or the external server.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface includes a rich client user interface configured to facilitate integration and presentation of plug-in applications, wherein the rich client user interface is configured to facilitate:

requesting plug-in application modules through a rich client user interface; and

wherein the requesting is processed by the building control device and proxied to the external server if the building control device does not have the plug-in application modules in storage.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the access to a plug-in application comprises:

retrieving a plug-in application view including data via the user interface; and

wherein;

the data are fetched from the building control device or the external server; and

the user interface is of a thin client or rich client type.

9. A system for accommodating a building control device with extended application functionality, comprising:

a user interface;

a building control device connected to the user interface; and

an external server connected the user interface; and

wherein;

the external server seamlessly integrates one or more plug-in applications into the building control device; and

a user access of plug-in applications comprises;

selecting a plug-in application of a plug-in view via the user interface; and

downloading the selected plug-in application to the building control device.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more plug-in applications provide enhanced and additional views of data for the building control device.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the external server further comprises a plug-in application for extending functionality for the building control device.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the building control device provides a mechanism to archive and/or retrieve information from a server to extend effective memory capacity of the building control device.

13. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

a building control device web server comprising;

a web user interface network connected to the user interface;

a plug-in application extension framework connected to the web user interface network, the user interface, and the external server; and

an application subsystem connected to the web user interface network and the user interface.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the external server comprises:

a plug-in application connected to the user interface; and

a plug-in configuration connected to the plug-in application and the building control device web server.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the external server provides virtual computing for the building control device.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein:

the external server provides access to long-term history data for diagnostics, system performance analysis and/or fault detection analysis; and

the access to long-term history data for diagnostics, system performance analysis and fault detection analysis keeps a physical footprint of the building control device as an embedded device from increasing due to needed storage and computational functionality for long-term history data for diagnostics, system performance analysis and fault detection analysis.

17. The system of claim 9, wherein the building control device is an embedded building control device with a web enabled interface.

18. A method for extending functionality of a building control device, comprising:

accessing an external server via a user interface connected to a building control device;

selecting an added functionality via the user interface and external server;

optionally obtaining an authorization for the added functionality; and

downloading a plug-in application and/or configuration data from the external server to the building control device which will provide the added functionality; and

wherein the plug-in application is seamlessly integrated into a user interface experience and/or operation of a building control device.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein an authorization for the added functionality comprises a method for providing compensation.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein an authorization relative to a system comprises one or more items selected from a group consisting of verifying hardware and/or software configuration of the system, entering an authorization code for the system provided through an e-mail, entering an authorization code as an authorization key printed on a card mailed to a user of the system, verifying a user of the system, verifying user credentials, and verifying that a previously distributed authorization key is validated by a valid maintenance contract or support account associated with the system.