Remote building monitoring system with contractor locator

• US 9,970,675 B2
• Filed: 11/03/2014
• Issued: 05/15/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ademco Inc. (Resideo Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Quam, David, Ragland, Amy, Peterson, Steve R., Swanson, Joel
• Primary Examiner(s): Rampuria, Satish
• Application Number:
  US14/531,290
• Publication Number:
  US 20150127165A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,289 Days
• Field of Search: 700275-306
• 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 11/56 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 11/70 Control systems characterised by their outputs; Constructional details thereof
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/89 Arrangement or mounting of control or safety devices
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/00 Control inputs relating to air properties
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/24033 Failure, fault detection and isolation
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2614 HVAC, heating, ventillation, climate control
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/34477 Fault prediction, analyzing signal trends
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• 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 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: H04L 67/125 : involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/82 : Energy audits or management systems therefor
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/18 : Network protocols supporting networked applications, e.g. including control of end-device applications over a network

Abstract

A system allows a contractor to remotely monitor and/or interact with its customers'"'"' building control systems, such as heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, and analyze information obtained from the building control systems over time. Such a system may help the contractor monitor and diagnosis customer building control systems, setup service calls, achieve better customer relations, create more effective marketing opportunities, as well as other functions. In some cases, the disclosed system may include a controller that outputs a listing of one or more building automation system contractors having a service area that overlaps a geographical location of a customer or a potential customer or of a related HVAC system. In some cases, the disclosed system may output a listing of one or more building automation system contractors having a service area that overlaps a geographical location of a building automation system for which an alert has been indicated.

Claims

1. A remote system programmed to communicate with a plurality of client building automation controllers over a network, wherein each of the client building automation controllers is part of a corresponding client building automation system that services a corresponding client building, the remote system comprising:

a communications port;

a controller operatively coupled to the communications port, wherein the controller is programmed to output via the communications port a listing of one or more building automation system contractor companies having a service area that overlaps a geographical location of a building automation system for which an alert has been indicated for consideration by a user of the building automation system for which the alert has been indicated to service the alert; and

wherein in response to receiving the listing of one or more building automation system contractor companies, the controller is programmed to receive a selection of one of the building automation system contractor companies by the user of the building automation system for which the alert has been indicated and output a notification to the selected building automation system contractor company.

2. The remote system of claim 1, wherein the alert is communicated from the building automation controller for which an alert has been indicated to the remote system via the communications port, and in response, the controller of the remote system is programmed to output via the communications port the listing of one or more building automation system contractor companies that have a service area that overlaps the geographical location of the building automation system for which the alert has been indicated.

3. The remote system of claim 1, wherein the controller is programmed to receive via the communications port data related to the operation of each of the plurality of client building automation systems, and the controller is programmed to generate the alert for a particular client building automation system if abnormal building automation operation is detected for the particular client building automation system.

4. The remote system of claim 1, wherein the listing of one or more building automation system contractor companies is communicated to and displayed on a display controlled by the building automation controller that corresponds to the building automation system for which an alert has been indicated.

5. The remote system of claim 1, wherein the listing of one or more building automation system contractor companies is communicated to and displayed on a display of a device that is associated with the building automation system for which an alert has been indicated.

6. The remote system of claim 5, wherein the device is one or more of a smart phone, a tablet, a laptop, and a personal computer.

7. The remote system of claim 5, wherein the listing of one or more building automation system contractor companies is displayed in a pop-up window.

8. The remote system of claim 1, wherein the controller is programmed to order the listing of one or more building automation system contractor companies based, at least in part, on their ability to address the particular alert.

9. The remote system of claim 1, wherein the controller is programmed to order the listing of one or more building automation system contractor companies based, at least in part, on customer based ratings of the building automation system contractor companies.

10. A remote system programmed to communicate with a plurality of client building automation controllers over a network, wherein each of the client building automation controllers is part of a corresponding client building automation system that services a corresponding client building, the remote system comprising:

a communications port;

a memory storing a link between one or more of the client building automation controllers and a corresponding building automation system contractor company;

a controller operatively coupled to the communications port and the memory, wherein in response to an indicated alert for a particular building automation system, the controller is programmed to;

output via the communications port a listing of one or more building automation system contractor companies having a service area that overlaps a geographical location of the particular building automation system for which the alert has been indicated if the particular building automation system for which the alert has been indicated is not already linked to a corresponding building automation system contractor company, wherein the listing of one or more building automation system contractor companies is output for consideration by a user of the building automation system for which the alert has been indicated to service the alert;

wherein in response to receiving the listing of one or more building automation system contractor companies, the controller is programmed to receive a selection of one of the building automation system contractor companies by the user of the building automation system for which the alert has been indicated, store a corresponding link in the memory, and output a notification to the selected building automation system contractor company; and

output via the communications port an indication that the corresponding building automation system contractor company has been notified of the alert if the particular building automation system for which the alert has been indicated is already linked to a corresponding building automation system contractor company.

11. The remote system of claim 10, wherein the listing of one or more building automation system contractor companies is communicated to and displayed on a display controlled by a building automation controller that corresponds to the particular building automation system for which the alert has been indicated.

12. The remote system of claim 10, wherein the listing of one or more building automation system contractor companies is communicated to and displayed on a display of a device that is associated with the particular building automation system for which the alert has been indicated.

13. The remote system of claim 12, wherein the device is one or more of a smart phone, a tablet, a laptop, and a personal computer.

14. The remote system of claim 12, wherein the listing of one or more building automation system contractor companies is displayed in a pop-up window.

15. The remote system of claim 10, wherein the controller is programmed to order the listing of one or more building automation system contractor companies based, at least in part, on their ability to address the particular alert.

16. The remote system of claim 10, wherein the controller is programmed to order the listing of one or more building automation system contractor companies based, at least in part, on customer based ratings of the building automation system contractor companies.

17. A method for responding to an alert indicated for a building automation system, the method comprising:

determining if the building automation system is associated with a particular building automation system contractor company;

if the building automation system for which the alert has been indicated is associated with a particular building automation system contractor company, displaying to a user an indication that the associated building automation system contractor company has been notified of the alert; and

if the building automation system for which the alert has been indicated is not associated with a particular building automation system contractor company, displaying to the user a listing of one or more building automation system contractor companies that have a service area that overlaps a geographical location of the building automation system for consideration by the user of the building automation system for which the alert has been indicated to service the alert, and in response to receiving the listing of one or more building automation system contractor companies;

receiving a selection of one of the building automation system contractor companies from the user;

associating the building automation system with the selected building automation system contractor company; and

outputting a notification to the selected building automation system contractor company.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the listing of one or more building automation system contractor companies is displayed in a pop-up window.