System recovery in a heating, ventilation and air conditioning network

• US 8,437,877 B2
• Filed: 10/21/2009
• Issued: 05/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lennox Industries Incorporated (Lennox International Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Lennox Industries Incorporated (Lennox International Incorporated)
• Inventors: Grohman, Wojciech, Hadzidedic, Darko
• Primary Examiner(s): Padmanabhan, Kavita
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rapp, Chad
• Application Number:
  US12/603,493
• Publication Number:
  US 20100107007A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,294 Days
• Field of Search: 700/82, 700/276
• US Class Current: 700/276
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1441 Resetting or repowering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2028 eliminating a faulty processor or activating a spare
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2038 with a single idle spare processing component
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/281 indicating a format for calling an appliance service function in a home automation network for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2827 Reporting to a device within the home network; wherein the reception of the information reported automatically triggers the execution of a home appliance functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators

Abstract

The disclosure provides a system and method of retrieving data for an active subnet controller of a subnet in an HVAC network. In an embodiment, a device on said subnet reports a loss of internal memory settings to said active subnet controller. The device is recognized by the active subnet controller. At least one list of parameters is requested from the device by the active subnet controller. An order of said at least one list of parameters is employed to convey corresponding stored values of these parameters from the active subnet controller to the coupled device.

Claims

1. A method of retrieving data for an active subnet controller of a subnet in an HVAC network, comprising:

reporting by a device on said subnet of a loss of internal memory settings to said active subnet controller;

recognizing said device by said active subnet controller;

requesting at least one list of parameters from said device by said active subnet controller; and

employing an order of said at least one list of parameters to convey corresponding stored values of these parameters from said active subnet controller to said coupled device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one list comprises:

a feature manifest parameter list from said coupled device;

a non-communicating scan parameters list from said device; and

a parameter scan parameter list from said device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said recognizing occurs when:

a device designator of said devices exactly matches a stored device designator value in said subnet controller; and

an equipment type of said device is a same type as an equipment type stored in said subnet controller.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said device designator comprises a media access control (MAC) layer address for said device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said order is an exact order.

6. A subnet controller that can retrieve data in an HVAC network, comprising:

a receiver than receives from a coupled device an indication of a loss of internal memory settings to said subnet controller in said HVAC;

a recognizer configured to recognize said coupled device;

a requester configured to requests at least one list of parameters from said device by said subnet controller; and

a parameter retriever configured to employ an order of said at least one list of parameters to retrieve corresponding values of these parameters and convey these parameters to said coupled device according to said order.

7. The subnet controller of claim 6, wherein said at least one list comprises:

a feature manifest parameter list from said coupled device;

a non-communicating scan parameters list from said device; and

a parameter scan parameter list from said device.

8. The subset controller of claim 6, wherein said recognition occurs when:

a device designator of said device exactly matches a stored device designator value in said subnet controller; and

an equipment type of said device is a same type as an equipment type stored in said subnet controller.

9. The subnet controller of claim 7, wherein said device designator comprises a media access (MAC) layer address for said device.

10. The subnet controller of claim 7, wherein said order is an exact order.

11. The subnet controller of claim 7, wherein said subnet controller is further configured to determine whether an entire memory of said subnet controller, said memory correlating to stored parameters for a given set of devices in a subnet of said HVAC network, is corrupted, wherein

if said entire memory is corrupted, said subnet controller is further configured to require all devices of said given set of devices to convey to said subnet controller:

a) a full feature manifest, and

b) a full parameter scan.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein said subnet controller is further configured to determine whether a portion of said memory, correlating to stored parameters for a particular device, is corrupted, wherein

if said portion of memory is corrupted, said network controller is further configured to command said particular devices to convey to said subnet controller:

a) a full feature manifest, and

b) a full parameter scan.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein said subnet controller is further configured to determine whether a portion of said memory correlating to a device in said HVAC network is corrupted, wherein

if said memory of said device is corrupted, requiring said device to convey to said subnet controller:

a) a full feature manifest, and

b) a full parameter scan.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein said memory is a non-volatile memory.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein said determining occurs when said active subnet controller determines whether a memory corruption has occurred in at least one of:

a) a configuration mode, and

b) a verification mode.

15. A method of memory recovery in an HVAC network, comprising:

determining whether an entire memory, correlating to stored parameters for a given set of devices, of an active subnet controller in said HVAC network is corrupted; and

if said entire memory is corrupted, requiring each device of said given set of devices to convey to said active subnet controller;

a) a full feature manifest, and

b) a full parameter scan.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

determining whether a portion of a memory of said active subnet controller in said HVAC network is corrupted; and

if said portion of memory is corrupted, requiring particular devices correlated to said portion to convey to said active subnet controller;

a) a full feature manifest, and

b) a full parameter scan.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

determining whether a portion of a memory of a device in said HVAC network is corrupted; and

if said memory of said device is corrupted, requiring said device to convey to said active subnet controller;

a) a full feature manifest, and

b) a full parameter scan.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein said memory is a non-volatile memory.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein said determining occurs with at least one of

a) a full feature scan, and

b) a full parameter scan.