Alarm and diagnostics system and method for a distributed architecture heating, ventilation and conditioning network
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An HVAC data processing and communication network, comprising:
- a subnet controller configured to publish control messages over a data bus;
a plurality of system devices, each device being configured to communicate over said data bus and including an HVAC component and a local controller configured to receive said control messages and in response thereto, to directly control said HVAC component to heat, cool, humidify, dehumidify or move air; and
a gateway configured to provide access by a remote user to said network, said access including placing a subset of said system devices, by one of said system devices, in a dedicated diagnostic mode for a predetermined time, operating said network to generate system device diagnostic data and retrieving said diagnostic data via said gateway, wherein said operating includes facilitating an exchange of messages between said subset of said system devices and said gateway over said data bus, said messages being privileged diagnostic messages having higher priority than periodic device status messages sent by said system devices during normal operations thereof.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The disclosure provides an HVAC data processing and communication network and a method of manufacturing the same. In one embodiment the network includes a subnet controller, a system device and a gateway. The controller is configured to publish control messages over a data bus. The system device is configured to receive the messages and to provide an HVAC service in response to the messages. A gateway is configured to provide access by a remote user to the network. The access includes operating the network to generate diagnostic data and retrieving the diagnostic data via the gateway.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. An HVAC data processing and communication network, comprising:
-
a subnet controller configured to publish control messages over a data bus; a plurality of system devices, each device being configured to communicate over said data bus and including an HVAC component and a local controller configured to receive said control messages and in response thereto, to directly control said HVAC component to heat, cool, humidify, dehumidify or move air; and a gateway configured to provide access by a remote user to said network, said access including placing a subset of said system devices, by one of said system devices, in a dedicated diagnostic mode for a predetermined time, operating said network to generate system device diagnostic data and retrieving said diagnostic data via said gateway, wherein said operating includes facilitating an exchange of messages between said subset of said system devices and said gateway over said data bus, said messages being privileged diagnostic messages having higher priority than periodic device status messages sent by said system devices during normal operations thereof. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 16, 17, 20)
-
-
6. A method of manufacturing an HVAC data processing and communication network, comprising:
-
configuring a subnet controller to publish control messages over a data bus; configuring a plurality of system devices to communicate over said data bus, each system device including an HVAC component and a local controller to receive said messages and in response thereto to directly control said HVAC component to heat, cool, humidify, dehumidify or move air; and configuring a gateway to provide access by a remote user to said network, said access including placing a subset of said system devices, by one of said system devices, in a dedicated diagnostic mode for a predetermined time, operating said network to generate system device diagnostic data and retrieving said diagnostic data via said gateway, wherein said operating includes facilitating an exchange of messages between said subset of said system devices and said gateway over said data bus, said messages being privileged diagnostic messages having higher priority than periodic device status messages sent by said system devices during normal operations thereof. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 18, 19)
-
-
11. An HVAC data processing and communication network gateway, comprising:
-
a physical layer interface configured to interface to a data bus of an HVAC data processing and communication network; a gateway controller configured to provide access by a remote user to said network via said data bus, said access including placing a subset of a plurality of system devices, by one of said system devices, in a dedicated diagnostic mode for a predetermined time, commanding said subset of system devices via said data bus to generate diagnostic data, and retrieving said diagnostic data via said data bus, wherein each of said system devices including a HVAC component and a local controller configured to receive control messages from a subnet controller and in response thereto, to directly control said HVAC component to heat, cool, humidify, dehumidify or move air, and said commanding includes facilitating an exchange of messages between said subset of said system devices and said gateway controller over said data bus, said messages being privileged diagnostic messages having higher priority than periodic device status messages sent by said system devices during normal operations thereof. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
-
Specification