Building automation system facilitating user customization

• US 8,099,178 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2005
• Issued: 01/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Trane International Inc. (Trane Technologies plc)
• Original Assignee: Trane International Inc. (Trane Technologies plc)
• Inventors: Mairs, Susan M., McCoy, Sean M., Richards, David M., Eiynk, Benedict, Seewald, Jeffrey S., Brink, James, McConnell, Deborah A., Demulling, Delight, Kistler-Robinson, Judy K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chaki, Kakali
• Assistant Examiner(s): ORTIZ RODRIGUEZ, CARLOS R
• Application Number:
  US11/316,687
• Publication Number:
  US 20070055757A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,217 Days
• Field of Search: 700/17, 700/19, 700/275, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219, 715/763
• US Class Current: 700/19
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/281 indicating a format for calling an appliance service function in a home automation network for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2814 Exchanging control software or macros for controlling appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving configuration of the network and network elements H04L41/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• 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 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display

Abstract

Systems and methods for interacting with and customizing a dynamically extensible and automatically configurable BAS. In one embodiment, the BAS includes a plurality of end devices, at least one communication network, a protocol-independent server engine, and a user interface. User customization options are presented by and accomplished through a graphical user interface. In addition to providing a portal through which users may access, manage, and customize the BAS, the user interface itself is customizable in accordance with and complimentary to the dynamic extensibility of the system.

Claims

1. A building automation system (BAS) comprising:

a plurality of end devices each associated with at least one of a space, a system, or a subsystem for at least a portion of a building or a campus, wherein the plurality of end devices include end devices having different communication protocols including native and non-native communication protocols;

at least one communication network communicatively coupling at least a portion of the plurality of end devices and supporting the different communication protocols;

a protocol-independent server engine communicatively coupled to the at least one communication network, the server engine programmed to include;

programming means for repeatedly executing a dynamic extensibility capability for the BAS that automatically establishes communications with and control of the plurality of end devices over the different communication protocols,

programming means for selectively and repeatedly executing an automatic configuration capability for the BAS that supports addition of end devices to the plurality of end devices by automatically and without user intervention determining at least one characteristic of each end device, wherein the at least one characteristic of the end devices includes an interrelation of at least one end device with at least one other end device,

programming means for automatically assembling a relational directory of at least a portion of the plurality of end devices based at least in part on the at least one characteristic, and

database means for storing the at least one characteristic of each end device and the relational directory, wherein an added end device is organized in the database based in part upon end device characteristics, if the added end device shares characteristics with an existing end device, the BAS handles the added end device in a similar manner as the existing end device, if the added end device has characteristics that have not been incorporated into the BAS, user-supplied information is provided for management of the added end device; and

user interface means communicatively coupled to the at least one communication network for displaying the relational directory as a navigable directory of pages,

wherein the programming means for automatically assembling the relational directory is configured to automatically update the relational directory according to the dynamic extensibility capability and the automatic configuration capability, when the addition of end devices to the plurality of end devices is performed; and

wherein the user interface means is configured to display the updated relational directory as an updated navigable directory of pages.

2. The BAS of claim 1, wherein the relational directory comprises at least one group of a plurality of related end devices.

3. The BAS of claim 2, wherein the at least one characteristic of at least a portion of the plurality of end devices comprises a group membership of the plurality of related end devices.

4. The BAS of claim 2, wherein the at least one characteristic of at least a portion of the plurality of end devices comprises an interrelation of at least one end device with at least one other end device, and wherein the server engine further programmed to include a means for automatically determining a group membership of the at least one end device from the interrelation.

5. The BAS of claim 2, wherein the user interface means further comprises input means for accepting a user-defined group.

6. The BAS of claim 5, wherein the input means comprise means for accepting a user-defined membership of an end device.

7. The BAS of claim 1, wherein the user interface means further comprises a navigable customized graphic representing at least a portion of an end device, a space, a system, a subsystem, a building, or a campus.

8. The BAS of claim 7, wherein the navigable customized graphic is integrated with the relational directory.

9. The BAS of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the communication network comprises the Internet.

10. The BAS of claim 1, wherein the at least one characteristic comprises static end device information.

11. The BAS of claim 10, wherein the static end device information comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of an end device location, an end device type, an end device version, an end device communication protocol, an end device communication protocol version, and an end device manufacturer.

12. The BAS of claim 1, wherein the at least one characteristic comprises dynamic end device data.

13. The BAS of claim 12, wherein the dynamic end device data comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of an end device setpoint, an end device operating state, an end device alarm, an end device setpoint variance, and an end device occupancy status.

14. The BAS of claim 13, wherein the at least one characteristic further comprises static end device information, and wherein the static end device information comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of an end device location, an end device type, an end device version, an end device communication protocol, an end device communication protocol version, and an end device manufacturer.

15. The BAS of claim 1, wherein the pages comprise a plurality of individual pages, each individual page related to at least one end device.

16. The BAS of claim 15, wherein each of the plurality of end devices comprises an end device selected from the group consisting of a panel, a sensor, a controller, a microprocessor-controlled device, a converter, a thermostat, a furnace, a heating system, a chiller, a cooling system, an air conditioner, an air filter, an air purifier, a fire and life safety system, a security system, an alarm system, an occupancy sensor, an electrical system monitor and controller, a lighting system monitor and controller, a ventilation system monitor and controller, a smoke sensor, a light sensor, a motion sensor, a humidity sensor, a pump, an air handler, fluid and air moving and handling equipment, a terminal device, life science and pharmacological control equipment and monitoring systems, a positive pressure clean room, a negative pressure clean room, industrial automation and control equipment and systems, and a programmable logic controller.

17. A building automation system (BAS) comprising:

a plurality of end devices each associated with at least one of a space, a system, or a subsystem for at least a portion of a building or a campus, wherein the plurality of end devices include end devices having different communication protocols including native and non-native communication protocols;

at least one communication network communicatively coupling at least a portion of the plurality of end devices and supporting the different communication protocols;

a protocol-independent server engine communicatively coupled to the at least one communication network, the server engine programmed to include;

programming means for repeatedly executing a dynamic extensibility capability for the BAS that automatically establishes communications with and control of the plurality of end devices over the different plurality of communication protocols,

programming means for selectively and repeatedly executing an automatic configuration capability for the BAS that supports addition of end devices to the plurality of end devices by automatically and without user intervention determining at least one characteristic of each end device, wherein the at least one characteristic of the end devices includes an interrelation of at least one end device with at least one other end device,

programming means for automatically assembling static information and dynamic data about at least one of the plurality of end devices and about the spaces, systems, subsystems, buildings, campuses associated with the at least one end device, and

database means for storing the static information and dynamic data and the at least one characteristic of each end device, wherein an added end device is organized in the database based in part upon end device characteristics, if the added end device shares characteristics with an existing end device, the BAS handles the added end device in a similar manner as the existing end device, if the added end device has characteristics that have not been incorporated into the BAS, user-supplied information is provided for management of the added end device; and

user interface means communicatively coupled to the at least one communication network for displaying, for at least one of the spaces, systems, subsystems, buildings, and campuses, at least one page comprising static information and dynamic data about the space, system, subsystem, building, or campus,

wherein the at least one page includes static information and dynamic data about any of the plurality of end devices associated with the space, system, subsystem, building, or campus, and wherein the static information and dynamic data about any of the plurality of end devices comprises at least one navigable link to at least one page for that end device.

18. The BAS of claim 17, wherein at least one page comprising static information and dynamic data about the space, system, subsystem, building, or campus comprises an alarm list and a space list.

19. The BAS of claim 18, wherein the alarm list comprises static information and dynamic data about at least one recent alarm.

20. The BAS of claim 19, wherein the static information and dynamic data about the at least one recent alarm comprises an alarm severity, an alarm occurrence date and time, an alarm type, an alarm detail, and an alarm source.

21. The BAS of claim 20, wherein the alarm source is displayed as a navigable link to an end device page.

22. The BAS of claim 18, wherein the space list comprises static information and dynamic data about at least one space, the static information and dynamic data comprising a space name, an equipment type, a space temperature, an active setpoint, a setpoint variance, and an operating mode.

23. The BAS of claim 22, wherein the space list comprises a plurality of spaces, and wherein the plurality of spaces are arranged within a table by setpoint variance.

24. The BAS of claim 22, wherein the space name is displayed as a navigable link to a space page.

25. The BAS of claim 17, wherein the user interface means further comprise user input means for inputting updated static information, and wherein the programming means for automatically assembling static information and dynamic data is further adapted for accepting and assembling the updated static information.

26. A building automation system (BAS) comprising:

a plurality of end devices each associated with at least one of a space, a system, or a subsystem for at least a portion of a building or a campus, wherein the plurality of end devices include end devices having different communication protocols including native and non-native communication protocols;

at least one communication network communicatively coupling at least a portion of the plurality of end devices and supporting the different communication protocols;

a protocol-independent server engine communicatively coupled to the at least one communication network, the server engine programmed to include;

software instructions adapted to automatically execute a dynamic extensibility capability for the BAS that automatically establishes communications with and control of the plurality of end devices over the different communication protocols,

software instructions adapted to selectively and repeatedly execute an automatic configuration capability for the BAS that supports addition of end devices to the plurality of end devices by automatically and without user intervention determining at least one characteristic of each end device, wherein the at least one characteristic of the end devices includes an interrelation of at least one end device with at least one other end device,

software instructions adapted to automatically assemble a relational directory of at least a portion of the plurality of end devices based at least in part on the at least one characteristic, and

a database adapted to store the at least one characteristic of each end device and the relational directory, wherein an added end device is organized in the database based in part upon end device characteristics, if the added end device shares characteristics with an existing end device, the BAS handles the added end device in a similar manner as the existing end device, if the added end device has characteristics that have not been incorporated into the BAS, user-supplied information is provided for management of the added end device; and

a user interface communicatively coupled to the at least one communication network and adapted to display the relational directory as a navigable directory of pages,

wherein the software instructions adapted to assemble the relational directory are further adapted to update the relational directory according to the dynamic extensibility capability and the automatic configuration capability, when the addition of end devices to the plurality of end devices is performed; and

wherein the user interface is adapted to display the updated relational directory as an updated navigable directory of pages.