System and method of detecting and locating intermittent and other faults
First Claim
1. A communication network in a building, the network comprising:
- a power bus;
a data bus;
a first transmitter for sending a first modulated signal along the data bus;
a second transmitter for sending a second modulated signal along the power bus;
at least one sensing device coupled to the power bus and the data bus, the at least one sensing device configured to sense data associated with at least one building condition or status;
a data processing module that is connected to the power bus and the data bus, the data processing module being configured to receive and process the data received from the at least one sensing device;
an error determination apparatus spatially separated from the first transmitter and the second transmitter and that is coupled to the data bus and the power bus, the bus error determination apparatus being configured to receive the first modulated signal and the second modulated signal, analyze the first modulated signal and second modulated signal, and determine whether an intermittent fault has occurred on the data bus or the power bus based upon the analysis and not based upon any reflection of the first modulated signal on the data bus or reflection of the second modulated signal on the power bus, wherein the analysis compares the received first modulated signal to a first expected data pattern and the received second modulated signal to a second data expected pattern.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Data associated with at least one building condition or status is sensed by one or more sensors. The data from these sensors may be sent over a data bus and received by the central computer. In addition, a modulated signal may be transmitted by one or both of the transmitters across the data bus. The modulated signal is received at the receiver, which analyzes the received modulated signal, and determines whether an intermittent fault has occurred on the data bus based upon the analyzing. For example, the receiver may compare the received signal to an expected pattern and when a discrepancy exists, an intermittent fault is determined to exist. The receiver may also determine the location of the fault based upon the analysis.
75 Citations
7 Claims
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1. A communication network in a building, the network comprising:
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a power bus; a data bus; a first transmitter for sending a first modulated signal along the data bus; a second transmitter for sending a second modulated signal along the power bus; at least one sensing device coupled to the power bus and the data bus, the at least one sensing device configured to sense data associated with at least one building condition or status; a data processing module that is connected to the power bus and the data bus, the data processing module being configured to receive and process the data received from the at least one sensing device; an error determination apparatus spatially separated from the first transmitter and the second transmitter and that is coupled to the data bus and the power bus, the bus error determination apparatus being configured to receive the first modulated signal and the second modulated signal, analyze the first modulated signal and second modulated signal, and determine whether an intermittent fault has occurred on the data bus or the power bus based upon the analysis and not based upon any reflection of the first modulated signal on the data bus or reflection of the second modulated signal on the power bus, wherein the analysis compares the received first modulated signal to a first expected data pattern and the received second modulated signal to a second data expected pattern. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 7)
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4. A method of determining faults in a network in a building, the method comprising:
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sensing data associated with at least one building condition or status by at least one sensing device; receiving and processing the data from the at least one sensing device over a data bus; transmitting a first modulated signal across the data bus from a first transmitter, receiving the first modulated signal at a single receiver, analyzing the received first modulated signal, and determining whether an intermittent fault has occurred on the data bus based upon the analyzing and not based upon any reflection of the first modulated signal on the data bus; transmitting a second modulated signal across a power bus from a second transmitter that is coupled to the at least one sensing device, receiving the second modulated signal at the single receiver, analyzing the received second signal, and determining whether an intermittent fault has occurred on the power bus based upon the analyzing and not based upon any reflection of the second modulated signal on the power bus, wherein the analyzing compares the received first modulated signal to a first expected data pattern and the received second modulated signal to a second expected data pattern. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6)
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Specification