Creation and configuration of a distributed heating, ventilation, and air conditioning network

• US 9,964,323 B2
• Filed: 05/14/2015
• Issued: 05/08/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lennox Industries Incorporated (Lennox International Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Lennox Industries Incorporated (Lennox International Incorporated)
• Inventors: Castillo, Daniel A., Charavda, Jayprakash, Ho, Nguyen T., Khiani, Sunil K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Crenshaw, Henry
• Application Number:
  US14/712,107
• Publication Number:
  US 20160209067A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,090 Days
• Field of Search: 62 81, 700276, 700282, 236 51
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/30 for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/38 Failure diagnosis
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/52 Indication arrangements, e.g. displays
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/523 for displaying temperature data
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/56 Remote control
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/58 using Internet communication
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/62 characterised by the type of control or by internal processing, e.g. using fuzzy logic, adaptive control or estimation of values
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/63 Electronic processing
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/64 using pre-stored data
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/10 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2140/00 Control inputs relating to system states
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/21157 Broken, open line, cable, circuit, faulty connection
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25168 Domotique, access through internet protocols
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0004 applied to control information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2823 Reporting information sensed by appliance or service execution status of appliance services in a home automation network device-related reporting H04L43/065; arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2825 Reporting to a device located outside the home and the home network access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with telemetering systems H04M11/002
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/283 Processing of data at an internetworking point of a home automation network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2836 : Protocol conversion between an external network and a home network controlling appliance services of a home automation network from a device located outside the home and the home network H04L12/2818; protocol conversion H04L69/08; adaptation of digital video signals for transport over a specific home network H04N7/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2841 : Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 : Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 : in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• 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: H04W 4/70 : Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 : Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 : WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

In some embodiments, a system for operating an HVAC control network includes a first control unit communicatively coupled to a first plurality of HVAC units and a first interactive display, the first control unit further comprising a software access point (softAP). A second control unit, the second control unit communicatively coupled to a second plurality of HVAC units and a second interactive display. The second control unit may include a push button. The second control unit may connect to the first control unit to create an HVAC control network using a Wi-Fi direct protocol by invoking a Wi-Fi direct, push button configuration protocol in response to detecting that the push button has been depressed. The first control unit may control the second plurality of HVAC units over the HVAC control network in response to the second control unit connecting to the first control unit.

Claims

1. A system for operating a heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) control network, comprising:

a first control unit communicatively coupled to a first plurality of HVAC units and a first interactive display, the first control unit further comprising a software access point (softAP);

a second control unit communicatively coupled to a second plurality of HVAC units and a second interactive display;

the second control unit comprising a push button, wherein the second control unit is operable to connect to the first control unit to create an HVAC control network using a Wi-Fi direct protocol by invoking a Wi-Fi direct, push-button configuration in response to detecting that the push button has been depressed;

the first control unit and the second control unit are further operable to connect to a Wi-Fi network, the Wi-Fi network comprising a wireless access point, wherein the first control unit is operable to connect to a user device over the Wi-Fi network while concurrently being connected to the second control unit over the HVAC control network; and

the first control unit is operable to control the second plurality of HVAC units over the HVAC control network in response to the second control unit connecting to the first control unit.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first control unit is operable to receive a command from the user device over the Wi-Fi network and transmit the command to the second control unit using the HVAC control network.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first control unit is operable to receive a command from the user device over the Wi-Fi network and transmit the command to the second control unit using the Wi-Fi network.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless access point provides a connection to the Internet, and the first control unit is operable to connect to a control server over the Internet using the Wi-Fi network.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a third control unit, the third control unit communicatively coupled to a third plurality of HVAC units and a third interactive display;

wherein the third control unit is operable to connect to the first control unit over the HVAC control network without using the Wi-Fi direct, push-button configuration by accessing previously stored parameters associated with the HVAC control network.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the parameters associated with the HVAC control network comprise a PIN and a SSID of the HVAC control network.

7. A system for operating a heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) control network, comprising:

a first control unit communicatively coupled to a first plurality of HVAC units and a first interactive display;

a second control unit communicatively coupled to a second plurality of HVAC units and a second interactive display;

wherein the second interactive display comprises a virtual push button icon, the second control unit is operable to connect to the first control unit to create an HVAC control network using a Wi-Fi direct protocol by invoking a Wi-Fi direct, push-button configuration in response to detecting that the virtual push button icon was selected; and

the first control unit and the second control unit are further operable to connect to a Wi-Fi network, the Wi-Fi network comprising a wireless access point, wherein the first control unit is operable to connect to a user device over the Wi-Fi network while concurrently being connected to the second control unit over the HVAC control network;

the first control unit is operable to control the second plurality of HVAC units over the HVAC control network in response to the second control unit connecting to the first control unit.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the first control unit is further operable to receive a command from the user device over the Wi-Fi network and transmit the command to the second control unit using the Wi-Fi network.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the wireless access point is connected to the Internet and the first control unit is operable to connect to a control server over the Internet using the Wi-Fi network, the first control unit is further operable to receive a command from the control server and communicate the command to the second control unit over the HVAC control network.

10. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

a third control unit, the third control unit communicatively coupled to a third plurality of HVAC units and a third interactive display;

wherein the third control unit is operable to connect to the first control unit over the HVAC network without using the Wi-Fi direct, push-button configuration by accessing previously stored parameters associated with the HVAC control network, wherein the parameters associated with the HVAC control network comprise a PIN and an SSID of the HVAC control network.

11. A first control unit for operating a heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) control network, comprising:

a first interface operable to facilitate communications between the first control unit and a first plurality of HVAC units;

a second interface operable to facilitate communications between the first control unit and a first interactive display;

a push button operable to initiate a Wi-Fi direct, push-button configuration, wherein the Wi-Fi direct, push-button configuration enables the first control unit to communicate using Wi-Fi communication;

a Wi-Fi module operable to;

connect the first control unit to a second control unit to create an HVAC control network using a Wi-Fi direct protocol in response to detecting that the push button has been depressed, the second control unit communicatively coupled to a second plurality of HVAC units and a second interactive display; and

connect the first control unit to a user device over a Wi-Fi network, the Wi-Fi network comprising a wireless access point, wherein the first control unit is operable to concurrently connect to the user device over the Wi-Fi network and the second control unit over the HVAC control network; and

a processor communicatively coupled to the first interface, the second interface, and the Wi-Fi module, the processor operable to transmit commands to the second control unit over the HVAC control network, the commands operable to control the second plurality of HVAC units.

12. The first control unit of claim 11, wherein the processor is further operable to:

receive a temperature change command from the user device over the Wi-Fi network using the Wi-Fi module; and

transmit the temperature change command to the second control unit over the HVAC control network using the Wi-Fi module.

13. The first control unit of claim 11, wherein the processor is further operable to:

receive a temperature change command from the user device over the Wi-Fi network using the Wi-Fi module; and

transmit the temperature change command to the second control unit over the Wi-Fi network using the Wi-Fi module.

14. The first control unit of claim 11, wherein the processor is operable to communicate, using the Wi-Fi module, over the HVAC control unit using a first media access control (MAC) address associated with an independent basic service set (IBSS) and communicate, using the Wi-Fi module, over the Wi-Fi network using a second MAC address associated with a basic service set (BSS).

15. The first control unit of claim 11, wherein the processor is further operable to:

detect, using the Wi-Fi module, a third control unit, the third control unit communicatively coupled to a third plurality of HVAC units and a third interface device; and

receive, using the Wi-Fi module, a request to join the HVAC network from the third control unit, the request comprising credentials of the HVAC control network, wherein the credentials comprise a PIN and a SSID of the HVAC control network.