Distributed building control system
First Claim
1. A building control and automation system for a premises, comprising:
- intelligent system elements, including;
intelligent lighting devices each including a light source,intelligent utility building control and automation elements each including a controllable mechanism and associated drive electronics, andeither a user interface component configured as a controller, or a sensor including a detector;
wherein each respective intelligent system element further includes;
(a) a communication interface configured to enable communication via a link of a data communication network at the premises;
(b) a processor coupled to the light source, the drive electronics, the user interface component or the detector and coupled to communicate via the communication interface and the network link;
(c) a memory accessible to the processor; and
(d) programming in the memory which configures the processor to control operations of the respective intelligent system element as a lighting device, a utility building control and automation element, a controller or a sensor;
an instance of server programming stored in the memory of one of the intelligent lighting devices for execution by the processor of the intelligent lighting device, which configures the intelligent lighting device to implement a building control and automation system (BCAS) server function with respect to an overall building control and automation function of the system and related server communications with others of the intelligent system elements, via the data communication network, including for lighting and for other utility building control and automation functions; and
further comprising another instance of server programming stored in the memory of another one of the intelligent lighting devices for execution by the processor of the other intelligent lighting device, the server instances configuring the one and the other of the intelligent lighting devices to operate in a distributed fashion to implement the BCAS server function with respect to the overall building control and automation function of the system and related server communications on a distributed basis via the data communication network, including for lighting and other utility building control and automation functions.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An example of a building automation system utilizes intelligent system elements, some of which are lighting devices having light sources, and some of which are utility building control and automation elements. Some utility building control and automation elements include a controllable mechanism for use in control of some aspect of the building other than lighting. Another intelligent system element may include either a user interface component and be configured as a building controller, or include a detector and be configured as a sensor. Each intelligent system element includes a network communication interface, processor, memory and programming to configure the intelligent system element as a lighting device, utility building control and automation element, controller or sensor. At least one of the intelligent lighting devices is configured as a building control and automation system server. Several examples, however, implement the overall control using distributed processing.
42 Citations
16 Claims
-
1. A building control and automation system for a premises, comprising:
-
intelligent system elements, including; intelligent lighting devices each including a light source, intelligent utility building control and automation elements each including a controllable mechanism and associated drive electronics, and either a user interface component configured as a controller, or a sensor including a detector; wherein each respective intelligent system element further includes; (a) a communication interface configured to enable communication via a link of a data communication network at the premises; (b) a processor coupled to the light source, the drive electronics, the user interface component or the detector and coupled to communicate via the communication interface and the network link; (c) a memory accessible to the processor; and (d) programming in the memory which configures the processor to control operations of the respective intelligent system element as a lighting device, a utility building control and automation element, a controller or a sensor; an instance of server programming stored in the memory of one of the intelligent lighting devices for execution by the processor of the intelligent lighting device, which configures the intelligent lighting device to implement a building control and automation system (BCAS) server function with respect to an overall building control and automation function of the system and related server communications with others of the intelligent system elements, via the data communication network, including for lighting and for other utility building control and automation functions; and further comprising another instance of server programming stored in the memory of another one of the intelligent lighting devices for execution by the processor of the other intelligent lighting device, the server instances configuring the one and the other of the intelligent lighting devices to operate in a distributed fashion to implement the BCAS server function with respect to the overall building control and automation function of the system and related server communications on a distributed basis via the data communication network, including for lighting and other utility building control and automation functions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. A building control and automation system, comprising:
-
intelligent system elements, including;
intelligent lighting devices each including a light source, and intelligent utility building control and automation elements each including a controllable mechanism and associated drive electronics;wherein each respective intelligent system element further includes; (a) a communication interface configured to enable communication via a link of a data communication network available to the intelligent lighting devices; (b) a processor coupled to the light source or the drive electronics and coupled to communicate via the communication interface and the network link; (c) a memory accessible to the processor; and (d) programming in the memory which configures the processor to control operations of the respective intelligent system element as a lighting device a utility building control and automation element; and programming in the memory of a respective one of the intelligent lighting devices which configures the processor to control operations of other intelligent lighting devices and controllable intelligent building control elements; wherein, when the respective intelligent lighting device has a building control and automation job to perform using resources of others of the intelligent system elements, the programming further configures the processor of the respective intelligent lighting device to implement distributed processing functions, including functions to; query other intelligent system elements and receive responses from the other intelligent system elements as to whether or not the other intelligent system elements have processing or memory resources available for the processing job; based on the responses, allocate portions of the processing job to a plurality of the other intelligent system elements; send data and instructions to each intelligent system element of the plurality of the other intelligent system elements, for performing an allocated portion of the processing job; receive from at least some of the plurality of the other intelligent system elements results of the performance of the allocated portions of the processing job; process the received results to determine an overall result of the processing job; and perform a building control and automation action based on the overall result of the processing job. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A building control and automation system, comprising:
-
intelligent system elements, including; intelligent lighting devices each including a light source, intelligent utility building control and automation elements each including a controllable mechanism and associated drive electronics, and either a user interface component configured as a controller, or a sensor including a detector; wherein each respective intelligent system element further includes; (a) a communication interface configured to enable communication via a link of a data communication network; (b) a processor coupled to the light source, the drive electronics, the user interface component or the detector and coupled to communicate via the communication interface and the network link; (c) a memory accessible to the processor; and (d) programming in the memory which configures the processor to control operations of the respective intelligent system element as a lighting device, a building automation element, a controller or a sensor; and distributed processing programming stored in memories of respective ones of a plurality of the intelligent system elements including a plurality of the intelligent lighting devices, wherein execution of the distributed processing programming configures the processor of the respective intelligent system element to implement distributed processing functions, including functions to; when another of the intelligent system elements acting as a central controller of one or more overall functions of the building control and automation system has a building control and automation processing job to perform on a distributed basis; respond to an inquiry received from the other intelligent system element via the network by sending a response with information identifying processing resources of the processor and/or resources of the memory available for distributed processing via the network to the other intelligent system element; receive data and instructions for performing a portion of the building control and automation processing job from the other intelligent system element via the network; process the received data in accordance with the instructions using resources of the processor and/or memory of the respective lighting device; and send a result of the processing via the network to the other intelligent system element. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
-
Specification