Building management system

• US 5,565,855 A
• Filed: 10/11/1994
• Issued: 10/15/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: US Philips Corporation (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: US Philips Corporation (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Knibbe, Engel J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Horabik, Michael
• Assistant Examiner(s): MERZ, EDWARD W
• Application Number:
  US08/321,076
• Time in Patent Office: 735 Days
• Field of Search: 340/825.69, 340/825.6, 340/825.06, 340/310 A, 340/825.22, 340/825.37, 340/310.02, 340/309.4, 364/464.01, 235/383, 359/142
• US Class Current: 340/3.51
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25187 Transmission of signals, medium, ultrasonic, radio
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25192 Infrared
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/40 Remote control systems using repeaters, converters, gateways
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/41 Remote control of gateways
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2201/42 Transmitting or receiving remote control signals via a network
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 23/04 using light waves, e.g. infrared
• 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

Abstract

A building management system improves the regulation and controls the functioning of appliances (41, 42, 51), such as luminaires, window blinds and heating equipment in a building. The appliances are connected via a communication bus (20) to a control system (10), which performs the automatic regulation and control. To avoid rewiring the bus (20) every time that changes are made to the arrangement of the appliances and/or the lay-out of the building, transponders (40, 50) are mounted at regular fixed places in the building, which transponders transmit bus signals wirelessly to the appliances (41, 42, 51). Additionally the transponders may be provided with a receiver (50a) for two-way communication between appliances and system and for communication between the user and the system using a remote control unit (59).

Claims

1. Building management system, comprising:

various appliances for building service functions,

a control system for control and regulation of said appliances,

a communication bus for communication of signals between the control system and the appliances, and wherein at least one of the appliances, is wirelessly controlled and includes a receiver for receiving wirelessly transmitted signals, and

a transponder coupled to the communication bus for establishing a wireless link between the communication bus and the wireless appliance to be controlled, in that the transponder comprises a transponder address, which uniquely identifies the transponder on the communication bus, and wherein each wirelessly controlled appliance comprises an appliance address, in that the signals from the control system to the wireless appliance to be controlled comprise the transponder address and the address of the wireless appliance to be controlled, in that the transponder wirelessly transmits signals to the wireless appliance to be controlled in response to signals present on the communication bus comprising its transponder address.

2. The building management system according to claim 1, characterized in that the signals on the communication bus include signals meant to be wirelessly transmitted to the appliances and signals not meant to be wirelessly transmitted to the appliances and the building management system further includes appliances connected to the communications bus for responding to the signals not meant to be wirelessly transmitted and wherein the transponder comprises a transmitter for generating signals for wireless transmission and a processor for conversion of signals received via the communication bus into a format suitable for wireless transmission, wherein the processor includes means for distinguishing between the signals meant to be wirelessly transmitted to the appliances and the signals not meant to be wirelessly transmitted and for transmitting only signals meant to be wirelessly transmitted.

3. The building management system according to claim 2, characterized in that one of the appliances is provided with a transmitter for wireless transmission of signals, and the transponder comprises a receiver for receiving wirelessly transmitted signals.

4. The building management system according to claim 3, characterized in that the appliance which includes a transmitter also comprises acknowledgement means for transmitting an acknowledgement signal after receipt of a signal from the transponder and in that the transponder comprises means for repeating a previously transmitted signal when no acknowledgement signal is received.

5. The building management system according to claim 4, characterized in that the system further comprises a portable remote control unit for wireless transmission of signals to the appliances.

6. The building management system according to claim 5, characterized in that the transponder comprises a receiver for receiving signals wirelessly transmitted by the remote control unit and in that the transponder comprises means for retransmitting a signal received from the remote control unit, over one of the communication bus and the transmitter of the transponder.

7. The Building management system according to claim 6, characterized in that the transponder comprises means for filtering and modifying of a signal received from the remote control unit prior to retransmission thereof.

8. The Building management system according to claim 5, characterized in that the remote control unit comprises a receiver for receiving signals wirelessly transmitted by the transponder and display means for displaying messages transmitted by said transponder.

9. The building management system according to claim 8, characterized in that the transmitter of the transponder is an infra-red transmitter for transmitting infrared signals having a power level, the receiver of the appliance is an infra-red receiver for receiving infrared signals of at least a minimum power level, and wherein the ratio between the power level of the infra-red signals transmitted by said transmitter and the minimum power level is of the order of magnitude of 10⁸.

11. The building management system according to claim 3, characterized in that the transmitter of the transponder is an infra-red transmitter for transmitting infrared signals having a power level, the receiver of the appliance is an infra-red receiver for receiving infrared signals of at least a minimum power level, and wherein the ratio between the power level of the infra-red signals transmitted by said transmitter and the minimum power level is of the order of magnitude of 10⁸.

12. The building management system according to claim 1, characterized in that one of the appliances is provided with a transmitter for wireless transmission of signals, and the transponder comprises a receiver for receiving wirelessly transmitted signals.

13. The building management system according to claim 12, characterized in that the transmitter of the transponder is an infra-red transmitter for transmitting infrared signals having a power level, the receiver of the appliance is an infra-red receiver for receiving infrared signals of at least a minimum power level, and wherein the ratio between the power level of the infra-red signals transmitted by said transmitter and the minimum power level is of the order of magnitude of 10⁸.

14. The building management system according to claim 1, characterized in that the transmitter of the transponder is an infra-red transmitter for transmitting infrared signals having a power level, the receiver of the appliance is an infra-red receiver for receiving infrared signals of at least a minimum power level, and wherein the ratio between the power level of the infra-red signals transmitted by said transmitter and the minimum power level is of the order of magnitude of 10⁸.

15. The Building management system according to claim 1, characterized in that the system further comprises a portable remote control unit for wireless transmission of signals to the appliances.

21. Building management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the system comprises at least two types of wireless appliances, the appliance address being unique to the type of appliance and the same for all appliances of a given type.

10. A transponder, suitable for use in a building management system including i) various wirelessly controlled appliances for building service functions wherein the appliances each include an appliance address and a receiver for receiving wirelessly transmitted signals, ii) a control system for control and regulation of the appliances, and iii) a communication bus for communication of signals between the control system and the appliances, said transponder comprising:

i) a transponder address which uniquely identifies the transponder on the communication bus;

ii) a transmitter for generating the wirelessly transmitted signals to the appliances addressed by the control system thereby establishing the wireless link between the communication bus and the appliances addressed by the control system in response to signals on the communication bus which include the transponder address and the address of the appliances addressed by the control system;

iii) data terminals for connection to the communication bus; and

iv) a processor connected to said data terminals and said transmitter for converting a selected set of the signals received via the data terminals into a format suitable for wireless transmission by said transmitter to said appliances addressed by the control system.

16. A building management system, comprising:

a plurality of wirelessly controlled appliances for building service functions, each of the appliances comprising an appliance address and a receiver for receiving wirelessly transmitted signals wherein each appliance address differs only from addresses of other appliances of a different type but is the same address as addresses of appliances of the same type;

control means for controlling and regulating said plurality of appliances;

a communication bus for communication of signals between the control system and the appliances; and

a transponder, having a transponder address which uniquely identifies the transponder, coupled to the communication bus for wirelessly transmitting signals to said appliances in response to signals present on the communication bus which signals include the transponder address and the address of the appliance to be controlled, thereby establishing a wireless link between the communication bus and the appliance to be controlled.

17. The building management system according to claim 16, wherein the transponder includes an infra-red transmitter for transmitting infrared signals having a power level, the receiver of the appliance is an infra-red receiver for receiving infrared signals of at least a minimum power level, and the ratio of the power level of the infra-red signals transmitted by said transmitter and the minimum power level is of the order of magnitude of 10⁸.

18. The building management system according to claim 16, wherein said appliance includes a transmitter for wireless transmission of signals, and the transponder comprises a receiver for receiving wirelessly transmitted signals.

19. A transponder, suitable for use in a building management system, the building management system comprising:

various wirelessly controlled appliances for building service functions wherein the wirelessly controlled appliances include a receiver for receiving wirelessly transmitted signals and wherein the wirelessly controlled appliances each include an appliance address;

a control system for control and regulation of said appliances; and

a communication bus for communication of signals between the control system and the appliances, wherein said transponder is coupled to the communication bus for establishing a wireless link between the communication bus and the appliances, and wherein the transponder comprises;

i) a transponder address which uniquely identifies the transponder on the communication bus;

ii) a transmitter for generating the wirelessly transmitted signals to said wirelessly controlled appliances in response to signals on the communication bus which signals include the transponder address and the address of the appliance to be controlled;

iii) data terminals for connection to the communication bus; and

iv) a processor connected to the data terminals and the transmitter for converting a selected set of the signals received via the data terminals into a format suitable for wireless transmission by said transmitter to said appliances to be controlled.

20. The transponder according to claim 19, characterized in that the transmitter is an infra-red transmitter for transmitting infrared signals having a power level, the receiver of the appliance is an infra-red receiver for receiving infrared signals of at least a minimum power level, and the ratio of the power level of the infra-red signals transmitted by said transmitter and the minimum power level is of the order of magnitude of 10⁸.