Systems and methods for display of controls and related data within a structure

• US 9,134,714 B2
• Filed: 05/16/2011
• Issued: 09/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Digital Lumens, Inc. (Ams-Osram AG)
• Original Assignee: OSRAM Sylvania Inc. (Ams-Osram AG)
• Inventors: Hoffknecht, Marc, Warner, Stefan, VanLuven, Deane
• Primary Examiner(s): Martello, Edward
• Application Number:
  US13/108,757
• Publication Number:
  US 20120293527A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,583 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/503 Blending, e.g. for anti-aliasing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/00 Manipulating 3D models or images for computer graphics
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/20 Editing of 3D images, e.g. changing shapes or colours, aligning objects or positioning parts
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications

Abstract

The system helps facility managers and other users to efficiently navigate through a building or complex of buildings, and quickly gather information for (and control) individual building systems or groups of systems. A method includes displaying an image representing at least a portion of a building; and displaying a gradient indicator representing a parameter associated with a zone of the building, wherein the gradient indicator is displayed with the image in accordance with the zone for the parameter.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

displaying, via a user interface of a computer system, an image representing at least a portion of a structure, wherein at least a portion of the image is a three-dimensional representation;

receiving a selection of a parameter for a zone of the structure, wherein the parameter describes a measurable condition of the zone;

generating a polygon based on the selected parameter, wherein the polygon includes an indicator;

expanding the polygon, wherein expanding creates a gradient in the indicator; and

displaying, via the user interface, wherein the expanded polygon is a gradient indicator representing the measurable condition associated with the zone of the structure, wherein the gradient indicator is displayed with the image in accordance with the zone for the parameter.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying, via the user interface, the expanded polygon comprises:

overlaying the expanded polygon on the image in accordance with the zone for the selected parameter, wherein the expanded polygon is a gradient indicator representing the measurable condition associated with the zone of the structure.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving comprises:

receiving a selection of a parameter for a zone of the structure, wherein the parameter describes a lighting condition of the zone; and

wherein displaying, via the user interface, the expanded polygon comprises;

displaying, via the user interface, the expanded polygon, wherein the expanded polygon is a gradient indicator representing the lighting condition associated with the zone of the structure, wherein the gradient indicator is displayed with the image in accordance with the zone for the parameter.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying, via the user interface, representation of a device associated with the selected parameter, wherein the representation of the device is selectable within the user interface; and

adjusting a configuration of the device based on information provided by the displayed gradient indicator.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a polygon comprises:

generating polygon based on the selected parameter, wherein the generated polygon is based on a boundary associated with the structure.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a polygon comprises:

generating a polygon based on the selected parameter, wherein the polygon includes an indicator; and

modifying at least one of a size of the polygon and a shape of the polygon to exclude a portion of the zone associated with the selected parameter.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

repeating the steps of receiving, generating, and expanding to create a plurality of gradient indicators, wherein each gradient indicator in the plurality of gradient indicators is an expanded polygon representing a respective measurable condition associated with at least one respective zone of the structure; and

displaying, via the user interface, the plurality of gradient indicators, wherein each gradient indicator in the plurality of gradient indicators is displayed with the image in accordance with the at least one respective zone for the parameter.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein displaying, via the user interface, a plurality of gradient indicators comprises:

blending at least two of the gradient indicators together.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein repeating comprises:

repeating the steps of receiving, generating, and expanding to create a plurality of gradient indicators, wherein at least two gradient indicators in the plurality of gradient indicators are each an expanded polygon representing a respective measurable condition associated with a single respective zone of the structure; and

wherein displaying, via the user interface, the plurality of gradient indicators comprises;

displaying, via the user interface, the plurality of gradient indicators, wherein the at least two gradient indicators in the plurality of gradient indicators are displayed with the image in accordance with the single respective zone for the parameter.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein repeating comprises:

repeating the steps of receiving, generating, and expanding to create a plurality of gradient indicators, wherein the plurality of gradient indicators is a plurality of expanded polygons representing a single measurable condition associated with at least one zone of the structure.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein displaying, via the user interface, the plurality of gradient indicators comprises:

overlaying the expanded polygons that are the plurality of gradient indicators on the image in accordance with their respective zones.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

detecting that at least one expanded polygon is located in the portion of the image that is a three-dimensional representation; and

in response, transforming the at least one expanded polygon for display on the three-dimensional representation.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying, via a user interface of a computer system, an image comprises:

displaying, via a user interface of a computer system, an image representing at least a portion of a structure, wherein at least a portion of the image is a three-dimensional representation, wherein the portion of the structure includes a plurality of floors of a building, and wherein representations of the plurality of floors are separated by a spacing larger than a spacing between actual floors of the building.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving a selection of a floor from the plurality of floors represented in the image;

animating the image in response to the selection of the floor;

displaying, via the user interface, the image at a reduced level of detail when the image is animated; and

displaying, via the user interface, the image at an increased level of detail when the image is stationary.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying, via a user interface of a computer system, an image further comprises:

identifying a visible feature of the structure to display in the three-dimensional representation;

analyzing the visible feature along a z-axis of the visible feature;

identifying an invisible feature of the structure to omit from the three-dimensional representation; and

analyzing the invisible feature along a z-axis of the invisible feature.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying, via a user interface of a computer system, an image further comprises:

identifying a visible feature of the structure to display in the three-dimensional representation;

identifying an invisible feature of the structure to omit from the three-dimensional representation; and

generating a three-dimensional representation of the visible features in layers, each layer corresponding to a class of features for the structure.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying, via a user interface of a computer system, an image comprises:

displaying, via a user interface of a computer system, an image representing at least a portion of a structure, wherein at least a portion of the image is a three-dimensional representation, such that a boundary line in a foreground of the image is of substantially equal thickness with a boundary line in a background of the image.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying, via the user interface the expanded polygon comprises:

displaying, via the user interface, the expanded polygon, wherein the expanded polygon is a gradient indicator representing the measurable condition associated with the zone of the structure, wherein the gradient indicator is displayed with the image in accordance with the zone for the parameter, such that a boundary line in a foreground of the image is of substantially equal thickness with a boundary line in a background of the image.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying, via a user interface of a computer system, an image representing at least a portion of a structure comprises:

displaying, via a user interface of a computer system, an image representing at least a portion of a structure, wherein at least a portion of the image is a three-dimensional representation, and wherein the portion of the image that is the three-dimensional representation includes a vanishing point in an x-axis of the image and a vanishing point in a y-axis of the image, and does not include a vanishing point in a z-axis of the image.

20. A computer system, comprising:

a memory;

a processor;

a user interface;

a control device; and

a communication mechanism coupling the memory, the processor, the user interface, and the control device, allowing communication there between;

wherein the memory is encoded with a series of instructions that, when executed in the processor, cause the computer system to perform operations of;

displaying, via the user interface, an image representing at least a portion of a structure, wherein at least a portion of the image is a three-dimensional representation;

receiving, via the control device, a selection of a parameter for a zone of the structure, wherein the parameter describes a measurable condition of the zone;

generating a polygon based on the selected parameter, wherein the polygon includes an indicator;

expanding the polygon, wherein expanding creates a gradient in the indicator; and

displaying, via the user interface, the expanded polygon, wherein the expanded polygon is a gradient indicator representing the measurable condition associated with the zone of the structure, wherein the gradient indicator is displayed with the image in accordance with the zone for the parameter.

21. An article of manufacture including a non-transitory, tangible computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a processor of a computer system, cause the computer system to perform operations comprising:

displaying, via a user interface of the computer system, an image representing at least a portion of a structure, wherein at least a portion of the image is a three-dimensional representation;

receiving, via the control device, a selection of a parameter for a zone of the structure, wherein the parameter describes a measurable condition of the zone;

generating a polygon based on the selected parameter, wherein the polygon includes an indicator;

expanding the polygon, wherein expanding creates a gradient in the indicator; and

displaying, via the user interface, the expanded polygon, wherein the expanded polygon is a gradient indicator representing the measurable condition associated with the zone of the structure, wherein the gradient indicator is displayed with the image in accordance with the zone for the parameter.