Building system control utilizing building occupancy

• US 10,382,893 B1
• Filed: 08/25/2017
• Issued: 08/13/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ivani, LLC
• Original Assignee: Ivani, LLC
• Inventors: Wootton, John, Wootton, Matthew, McKinney, Justin, Riley, Caitlin, Rush, Matthew, Dieseldorff, Boris, Kumar, Achintya, Nissman, Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): Heiber, Shantell L
• Application Number:
  US15/686,952
• Time in Patent Office: 718 Days
• 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 2120/10 Occupancy
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 3/12 operating with electromagnetic waves operating with millimetre waves G01V8/005
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/10 Services
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/33 by means of a password
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/02 using a radio link
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/60 Security, fault tolerance
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/91 Remote control based on location and proximity
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0018 based on latency requirement
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/006 Quality of the received signal, e.g. BER, SNR, water filling
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/086 using security domains
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/40 Security arrangements using identity modules
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/63 Location-dependent; Proximity-dependent
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• 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 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

Systems and methods that can utilize the detection of human occupancy without fiducial elements to control an environmental, security, or other system within a structure. The systems and method can initiate communication to a human user directly, and can alter their operation based on human presence.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a system based on occupancy of a structure, the method comprising:

locating a first human in a first space within a structure by detecting said first human'"'"'s presence in said first space using network presence sensing (NPS), said first human'"'"'s detected location not corresponding to the location of a fiducial element carried by said first human acting as a proxy for said first human;

locating a second human in said first space within a structure by detecting said second human'"'"'s presence in said first space using NPS, said second human'"'"'s detected location not corresponding to the location of a fiducial element carried by said second human acting as a proxy for said second human;

instructing a system to take a first action based on said first human'"'"'s and said second human'"'"'s location in said first space;

tracking movement of said first human from said first space to a second space within said structure, said tracking using NPS and not corresponding to tracking the location of a fiducial element carried by said first human acting as a proxy for said first human;

determining that said second human'"'"'s location is still in said first space, said determining using NPS and not corresponding to locating a fiducial element carried by said second human acting as a proxy for said second human; and

altering said instruction based on said first human being in said second space and said second human being in said first space.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said controlled system is an environmental control system of said structure.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said instruction comprises instructing said environmental control system to alter an environment within said first space without instructing said environmental control system to alter an environment in said second space.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein said altering of said instruction comprises instructing said environmental control system to alter an environment within said second space without instructing said environmental control system to further alter said environment in said first space.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein upon said first human entering said second space, a voice response system issues a query audible in said second space but not in said first space.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein said altering of instruction only occurs if said first human and not said second human responds to said query.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

tracking movement of said first human from said second space to said first space within said structure said tracking using NPS and not corresponding to tracking the location of a fiducial element carried by said first human acting as a proxy for said first human;

determining that said second human'"'"'s location is still in said first space, said determining using NPS and not corresponding to locating a fiducial element carried by said second human acting as a proxy for said second human; and

altering said instruction based on said first human returning to said first space and said second human remaining in said first space.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said instruction is altered by said first human returning to said first space to said instruction before said instruction was altered by said first human being in said second space.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said instruction is altered only after said first human has remained in said second space for a predetermined period of time.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein said controlled system comprises a security system wherein said security system indicates an intrusion into said first space or said second space by a third human different from said first human or said second human.

11. A method for controlling a system based on occupancy of a structure, the method comprising:

locating, using NPS, a first human in a first space within a structure by detecting said first human'"'"'s presence in said first space, said first human'"'"'s detected location not corresponding to the location of a fiducial element carried by said first human acting as a proxy for said first human;

locating, using NPS, a second human in a second space within a structure by detecting said second human'"'"'s presence in said second space, said second human'"'"'s detected location not corresponding to the location of a fiducial element carried by said second human acting as a proxy for said second human;

instructing a system to take a first action based on said first human'"'"'s location in said first space and said second human'"'"'s location in said second space;

tracking movement of said first human from said first space to said second space said tracking using NPS and not corresponding to tracking the location of a fiducial element carried by said first human acting as a proxy for said first human;

determining that said second human'"'"'s location is still in said second space, said determining using NPS and not corresponding to locating a fiducial element carried by said second human acting as a proxy for said second human; and

altering said instruction based on said first human being in said second space and said second human being in said second space.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein said controlled system is an environmental control system of said structure.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein said instruction comprises instructing said environmental control system to alter an environment within said first space and instructing said environmental control system to alter an environment in said second space.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein said altering of said instruction comprises instructing said environmental control system to alter an environment within said second space and sending additionally instructing said environmental control system to alter said environment in said first space.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein upon said first human entering said second space, a voice response system issues a query audible in said second space but not in said first space.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein said altering of instruction only occurs if said second human and not said first human responds to said query.

17. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

tracking movement of said first human from said second space to said first space within said structure said tracking using NPS and not corresponding to tracking the location of a fiducial element carried by said first human acting as a proxy for said first human;

determining that said second human'"'"'s location is still in said second space, said determining using NPS and not corresponding to locating a fiducial element carried by said second human acting as a proxy for said second human; and

altering said instruction based on said first human returning to said first space and said second human remaining in said second space.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein said instruction is altered by said first human returning to said first space to said instruction before said instruction was altered by said first human moving into said second space.

19. The method of claim 11 wherein said instruction is altered only after said first human has remained in said second space for a predetermined period of time.

20. The method of claim 11 wherein said controlled system comprises a security system wherein said security system indicates an intrusion into said first space or said second space by a third human different from said first human or said second human.