Remote contractor system with data analytics for identifying site specific operational abnormalities

• US 9,995,501 B2
• Filed: 11/03/2014
• Issued: 06/12/2018
• 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., Foslien, Wendy, Teves, Jennifer, Davolos, Pedro, Kolavennu, Soumitri, Nahurski, Henry
• Primary Examiner(s): Rampuria, Satish
• Application Number:
  US14/531,495
• Publication Number:
  US 20150127172A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,317 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 that 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 help a contractor pro-actively identify possible issues with its customer'"'"'s building control systems, and only then schedule maintenance as required. In some cases, based on the analysis of information obtained from the building control systems over time, the system may output indications of abnormalities in the operation of the building control systems from which information may be received.

Claims

1. A remote contractor system communicates with a plurality of client heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) controllers over a network, wherein each of the client HVAC controllers is part of a corresponding client HVAC system that services a corresponding client building, the remote contractor system including a plurality of client accounts wherein each of the client HVAC systems corresponds to a particular client account, the remote contractor system comprising:

a communications port operatively communicates with a plurality of client HVAC controllers, and receives data related to the operation of a plurality of client HVAC systems;

a memory for storing the received data related to the operation of the plurality of client HVAC systems;

a controller operatively coupled to the memory, wherein the controller includes a processor for processing at least some of the received data related to the operation of the plurality of client HVAC systems and to;

identify one or more trends over time using the received data from two or more of the client HVAC systems, wherein the one or more trends includes a trend over a period of time in one or more of humidity level, temperature level, fan activation, and particle count;

based on the identified one or more trends, identify one or more abnormalities in the operation of a particular one of the client HVAC systems using the received data;

generate an alert for one or more of the abnormalities in the operation of the particular one of the client HVAC systems;

associate the alert with the client account that corresponds to the particular one of the client HVAC systems; and

provide easy access to the alert via the client account that corresponds to the particular one of the client HVAC systems.

2. The remote contractor system of claim 1, wherein the controller repeatedly identifies one or more trends over time based on the received data related to operation of the plurality of client HVAC systems.

3. The remote contractor system of claim 1, wherein the controller also outputs an expected cause of the identified one or more abnormalities in the operation of the particular one of the client HVAC systems.

4. The remote contractor system of claim 3, wherein the expected cause of the identified abnormalities is a degradation or failure of one or more HVAC components of the particular one of the client HVAC systems.

5. The remote contractor system of claim 4, wherein the expected cause of the identified one or more abnormalities is a degradation or failure of one or more HVAC components other than an air filter of the particular one of the client HVAC systems.

6. The remote contractor system of claim 3, wherein the expected cause of the identified one or more abnormalities is related to a structure that is serviced by the particular one of the client HVAC systems and not one or more HVAC components of the particular one of the client HVAC systems.

7. The remote contractor system of claim 1, wherein the controller further outputs a suggested solution for fixing the identified one or more abnormalities.

8. The remote contractor system of claim 7, wherein the suggested solution comprises a suggestion to replace one or more identified HVAC components of the particular one of the client HVAC systems.

9. The remote contractor system of claim 7, wherein the plurality of client heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) controllers are programmable HVAC controllers, and the suggested solution comprises a suggestion to reprogram the client HVAC controller that corresponds to the particular one of the client HVAC systems in a way identified by the suggested solution.

10. The remote contractor system of claim 7, wherein the suggested solution comprises a suggestion to modify a building configuration of the client building that is serviced by the particular one of the client HVAC systems.

11. The remote contractor system of claim 1, wherein the controller outputs a plurality of reports of alerts over time, wherein each of the plurality of reports presents results in a consistent format.

12. The remote contractor system of claim 11, wherein the controller formats the plurality of reports differently for each of a first audience and a second audience.

13. The remote contractor system of claim 1, wherein the controller processes the at least some of the received data related to the operation of a first client HVAC system to identify one or more trends in the operation of the first client HVAC system over time, and based on the identified one or more trends in the operation of the first client HVAC system over time, identify one or more abnormalities in the operation of the first client HVAC system.

14. The remote contractor system of claim 1, wherein the two or more client HVAC systems from which the one or more trends are identified are associated with client buildings that have similar building characteristics.

15. The remote contractor system of claim 1, wherein the two or more client HVAC systems from which the one or more trends are identified are each associated with client buildings that have occupants with lifestyle characteristics that are similar.

16. A remote contractor system communicates with a plurality of client heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) controllers, wherein each of the HVAC controllers is for controlling one or more HVAC components of a corresponding client HVAC system, the remote contractor system including a plurality of client accounts wherein each of the client HVAC systems corresponds to a particular client account, the remote contractor system comprising:

a communications port for sending and/or receiving data related to the operation of two or more HVAC systems;

a memory for storing information comprising the received data related to the operation of the two or more HVAC systems;

a controller operatively coupled to the communications port and the memory; and

wherein the controller;

processes at least some of the received data related to the operation of the two or more HVAC systems to identify one or more trends, wherein the one or more trends includes a trend over a period of time in one or more of humidity level, temperature level, fan activation, and particle count;

identifies one or more abnormalities in the operation of a particular HVAC system based on the processing of the received data related to the operation of the two or more HVAC systems;

generates an alert for one or more of the identified abnormalities in the operation of the particular HVAC system, along with one or more suggested causes of the identified one or more abnormalities in the operation of the particular HVAC system;

associates the alert with the client account that corresponds to the particular one of the client HVAC systems; and

provides easy access to the alert via the client account that corresponds to the particular one of the client HVAC systems.

17. The remote contractor system of claim 16, wherein the controller identifies in the alert one or more previously successful solutions for curing the identified one or more abnormalities in the operation of the particular HVAC system.

18. A remote contractor system comprising:

a communications port for sending and/or receiving data related to operation of two or more heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) controllers of two or more HVAC systems;

a memory for storing the received data related to the operation of the two or more HVAC systems;

a controller operatively coupled to the communications port and the memory; and

wherein the controller processes the received data related to the operation of the two or more HVAC systems to identify one or more trends over time, wherein the one or more trends includes a trend over a period of time in one or more of humidity level, temperature level, fan activation, and particle count, and based on the identified one or more trends, identify for a particular HVAC system;

(1) an abnormality in the operation of the particular HVAC system using the received data; and

(2) a suggested action to correct the identified abnormality;

wherein the controller generates an alert for the identified abnormality of the particular HVAC system, the alert including the suggested action to correct the identified abnormality; and

the controller associates the alert with a client account of the remote contractor system that corresponds to the particular HVAC system, and provides easy access to the alert via the client account that corresponds to the particular HVAC system.

19. The remote contractor system of claim 18, wherein the memory stores one or more characteristics of each of the two or more HVAC systems and/or buildings serviced by the two or more HVAC systems, and wherein the controller identifies the abnormality in the operation of the particular HVAC system based at least in part on the received data from the two or more HVAC systems and/or buildings serviced by the two or more HVAC systems that have similar characteristics to the particular HVAC system and/or building serviced by the particular HVAC system.