Building management system and building management method

Abstract

To enable estimation of an areal situation.SOLUTION: A building management system inputs areal people flow data showing a time series of the number of people in each of multiple areas in a building, specifically a time series of the number of people staying in each area. The building management system estimates an areal situation in each of the multiple areas on the basis of the areal people flow data.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates generally to the management of multi-tenant buildings. [Background technology]

[0002] Known building management technologies include those disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2. According to Patent Document 1, an information processing device generates people flow data that predicts people flow in each area for each time period, and generates air conditioning heat load information that predicts air conditioning heat load in each area for each time period. According to Patent Document 2, a system creates patterns of people flow, number of people in a room, and occupancy rate for each day of the week and time period from elevator operation information, and plans and executes a control schedule that matches the patterns. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] WO2017 / 216833 [Patent Document 2] JP 2005-104635 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] An example of a building that can accommodate multiple tenants is an office building. In recent years (especially since the COVID-19 pandemic), a variety of work styles have become prevalent on each floor of the building. For example, a flextime system has been introduced, resulting in different arrival and departure times for different employees, or remote work has been introduced, resulting in different attendance rates over periods such as weeks or months.

[0005] It is difficult for building managers (e.g., building owners) to grasp such situations. One reason is that while building managers can usually know the names and industries of tenants, they cannot know details such as the working styles of tenants.

[0006] Such challenges may also arise for buildings other than office buildings that can accommodate multiple tenants (e.g., a one-story building with multiple areas that can accommodate multiple tenants). [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The building management system inputs area people flow data, which is data representing a time series of the number of people in each of a plurality of areas in a building and represents a time series of the number of people staying in the area. The building management system estimates the area state for each of the plurality of areas based on the area people flow data. Effect of the Invention

[0008] According to the present invention, the area state of a building can be estimated. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] 2 illustrates an example of a functional configuration of a building management system according to an embodiment. [Diagram 2] 1 illustrates an example of the configuration of an entire system including a building management system according to an embodiment. [Diagram 3] 1 shows an example of the overall flow of processing performed in an embodiment. [Figure 4] An example of the flow of the process (S303 in FIG. 3) performed by the floor feature estimation unit will be described below. [Diagram 5] 1 shows an example of floor feature classification. [Figure 6] 4 illustrates an example of calculation performed by the people flow calculation unit in S3032 of FIG. 3; [Figure 7] An example of the flow of the processes (S304 and S305 in FIG. 3) performed by the event identification unit will be described below. [Figure 8] An example of an active group is shown below. [Figure 9] An example of an active group is shown below. [Figure 10] An example of data used to identify an event is shown below. [Figure 11] An example of an event DB configuration is shown below. [Figure 12] 1 shows an example of the configuration of a floor tenant DB. [Figure 13] An example of the configuration of a date DB is shown below. [Figure 14] 13A and 13B are schematic diagrams illustrating an example of the configuration of a certain floor of an event model. [Figure 15] 4 shows an example of data input by an operation input unit. [Figure 16] 13 shows an example of the flow of processing performed by an operation input unit. [Figure 17] An example of the data entered in S1602 is shown below. [Figure 18] 13A and 13B are schematic diagrams illustrating an example of a configuration for a certain floor of an operation model. [Figure 19] 13A and 13B are schematic diagrams illustrating an example of a configuration for another floor of the operation model. [Figure 20] An example of the flow of the process (S308 in FIG. 3) performed by the schedule creation unit will be described below. [Figure 21] An example of an operation schedule for a certain floor is shown. [Figure 22] An example of an operation schedule for another floor is shown. [Figure 23] FIG. 21 shows an example of an operation schedule for an air conditioning facility among the example operation schedules. [Figure 24] FIG. 22 shows an example of an operation schedule for an air conditioning facility among the example operation schedules. [Diagram 25] FIG. 21 shows an example of an operation schedule for lighting equipment among the example operation schedules. [Figure 26] An example of an elevator operation schedule is shown below. [Figure 27] 1 shows an example of a robot operation schedule. [Figure 28] It is shown diagrammatically that floor feature classifications and activity event sets exist for each weather type and each date attribute. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] In the following description, an "interface unit" may refer to one or more interface devices. The one or more interface devices may be at least one of the following: An I / O interface apparatus which is one or more I / O (Input / Output) interface devices. The I / O (Input / Output) interface devices are interface devices to at least one of an I / O device and a remote display computer. The I / O interface device to the display computer may be a communications interface device. The at least one I / O device may be a user interface device, for example, either an input device such as a keyboard and a pointing device, or an output device such as a display device. A communication interface apparatus which is one or more communication interface devices. The one or more communication interface devices may be one or more homogeneous communication interface devices (e.g., one or more NICs (Network Interface Cards)) or two or more heterogeneous communication interface devices (e.g., a NIC and an HBA (Host Bus Adapter)).

[0011] In the following description, a "memory" refers to one or more memory devices, which are an example of one or more storage devices, and may typically be a primary storage device. At least one memory device in the memory may be a volatile memory device or a non-volatile memory device.

[0012] In the following description, a "persistent storage device" may be one or more persistent storage devices, which are an example of one or more persistent storage devices. A persistent storage device may typically be a non-volatile storage device (e.g., an auxiliary storage device), and more specifically, may be, for example, a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), a non-volatile memory express (NVME) drive, or a storage class memory (SCM).

[0013] Also, in the following description, "storage device" may be at least one of memory and persistent storage device.

[0014] Furthermore, in the following description, a "processor" may be one or more processor devices. The at least one processor device may typically be a microprocessor device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), but may also be other types of processor devices such as a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). The at least one processor device may be a single-core or multi-core. The at least one processor device may be a processor core. The at least one processor device may also be a broader processor device such as a circuit that is a collection of gate arrays written in a hardware description language that performs part or all of the processing (e.g., an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), a CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device), or an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit)).

[0015] In the following description, functions may be described using the expression "yyy unit", but the functions may be realized by one or more computer programs being executed by a processor, or by one or more hardware circuits (e.g., FPGA or ASIC), or by a combination thereof. When a function is realized by a program being executed by a processor, the function may be at least a part of the processor, since the specified processing is performed using a storage device and / or an interface device, etc., as appropriate. Processing described with a function as the subject may be processing performed by a processor or a device having the processor. A program may be installed from a program source. The program source may be, for example, a program distribution computer or a storage medium (e.g., a non-transitory storage medium) that can be read by a computer. The description of each function is an example, and multiple functions may be combined into one function, or one function may be divided into multiple functions.

[0016] In the following description, data that produces an output in response to an input may be described using an expression such as "xxxDB", but the data may be data of any structure (for example, structured data or unstructured data), or may be a neural network that generates an output in response to an input, or a learning model such as a genetic algorithm or random forest. Therefore, "xxxDB" may be referred to as "xxx data". In the following description, the configuration of each DB is an example, and one DB may be divided into two or more DBs, or all or part of two or more DBs may be one DB.

[0017] In addition, in the following description, when describing elements of the same type without distinguishing between them, common reference symbols will be used, and when describing elements of the same type without distinguishing between them, reference symbols will be used.

[0018] 1 shows an example of the functional configuration of a building management system according to an embodiment. Note that "DB" is an abbreviation for database.

[0019] The building management system 100 has an input unit 110 for inputting data, a processing unit 130 for processing the input data and creating an operation schedule for the building facilities, and an output unit 150 for providing output based on the created operation schedule.

[0020] The input unit 110 includes an operation input unit 111, a number of people input unit 112, a weather input unit 113, an event input unit 114, an operation input unit 115, and a people flow calculation unit 136. The operation input unit 111 inputs elevator operation data (data related to elevator operation). The number of people input unit 112 inputs number of people sensor data for each floor (data for each floor obtained by a number of people sensor for each floor). The weather input unit 113 inputs weather data (forecast data such as weather and temperature). The event input unit 114 inputs event data (data related to activity events). The operation input unit 115 inputs operation rule data (data representing operation rules of building facilities for activity events on a floor). For example, "start of work", "start of lunch break", "end of lunch break", "end of work", "30% of people staying (before work starts)", "earliest people enter", "30% of people staying (after work ends)", "last person leaves", etc. can be adopted as activity events (labels) on a floor. The people flow calculation unit 136 calculates floor people flow data representing the people flow (time-series change in the number of people) on each floor for each floor based on the input elevator operation data and the number of people sensor data for each floor.

[0021] The processing unit 130 performs input and output with respect to a floor tenant DB 131, a date DB 132, an event DB 133, an event model 134, and an operation model 135. The floor tenant DB 131 includes data related to floor and tenant attributes. The date DB 132 includes data related to dates and their attributes. The event DB 133 includes data related to floor activity events. The event model 134 is a data model of floor activity events and event occurrence times. The operation model 135 is a data model of building facility operation rules for floor activity events. Event data is input to the event DB 133 by the event input unit 114. Operation rule data input by the operation input unit 11 is input to the operation model 135.

[0022] The processing unit 130 includes a floor attribute identification unit 137, a floor characteristic estimation unit 138, an event identification unit 139, and a schedule creation unit 140. The floor attribute identification unit 137 identifies floor attributes for each floor based on at least one of the floor tenant DB 131 and the calculated floor people flow data. The floor characteristic estimation unit 138 identifies floor characteristics for each floor based on the floor attributes for each floor, the date DB 132, and the calculated floor people flow data. The event identification unit 139 classifies activity events of the floor (for example, assigns a label representing an activity event) based on the result of grouping the activity state, the floor characteristics identified for the floor, the floor tenant DB 131, the date 132, and the event DB 133 for each floor. The event identification unit 139 creates an event model 134 based on the classification result data for each floor (data based on the classification result of the activity event). For each floor, the event model 134 represents the relationship between the activity event of the floor and the event occurrence time on the floor. The operation model 135 represents the relationship between activity events, event occurrence times, building equipment, and equipment operation rules. The schedule creation unit 140 creates operation schedule data (data representing activity events on a floor, times, and operation schedules of building equipment based on the equipment operation rules) based on the activity events, event occurrence times, and equipment operation rules for each floor.

[0023] The output unit 150 includes a command output unit 151 and an information output unit 152. The command output unit 151 outputs a command for each floor based on the created operation schedule data for each floor. The command may be a control command to the building equipment (e.g., a command to turn on or off the power supply, set a value, etc.), or may be a command to the building manager (e.g., a building owner or a person in charge of a building management company) (e.g., a command to manually turn on or off the power supply, set a value, etc.). The command to the building manager may be transmitted to an information processing terminal (e.g., a personal computer or a smartphone) of the building manager and output as a voice or displayed on a screen. The information output unit 152 outputs operation information (operation information of the building equipment on the floor) for each floor based on the operation schedule data for each floor.

[0024] This embodiment will be described in detail below. In this embodiment, for the sake of simplicity, a floor has one area, there is one tenant on the floor, and activity events are identified and an operation schedule is created for one floor (one area, one tenant), but there may be floors with multiple areas, and for such floors, activity events may be identified and an operation schedule may be created for each area. In a floor with multiple areas, there may be an area for each tenant, two or more tenants may share one area, or one tenant may exist in two or more areas.

[0025] FIG. 2 shows an example of the overall configuration of a system including the building management system 100.

[0026] A building management system 100, an elevator group management system 202, a robot group management system 204, a central monitoring system 205, a central management system 206, a lighting management system 207, an entrance / exit management system 208, a sensor management system 209, a building management input device 220, a building management input / output device 210, and a building management output device 221 are communicatively connected to a network 250 within the building. The systems and devices communicate via the network 250.

[0027] The building management system 100 is a physical computer system, but is not limited thereto and may be a logical computer system based on a physical computer system (for example, a system in a cloud environment). The building management system 100 has an interface device 171 connected to a network 250, a storage device 172, and a processor 173 connected to the devices 171 and 172. Communication is performed via the interface device 171. The storage device 172 stores the DBs 131 to 133 and the models 134 and 135 shown in FIG. 1. The processor 173 loads and executes a computer program from the storage device 172, thereby realizing functions such as the input unit 110, the processing unit 130, and the output unit 150. The building management system 100 (output unit 150) outputs a command (arrow 251). The building management system 100 (input unit 110) inputs elevator operation data, people sensor data for each floor, weather data, event data, and operation rule data (arrow 252).

[0028] An example of building facilities is elevator facilities 201 (e.g., air conditioning, lighting, and sensors installed in an elevator). An elevator facility 201 exists for each of one or more elevators (one or more elevators) that make up an elevator group. An elevator group control system 202 controls the operation of each elevator (e.g., the raising and lowering of the cars). The elevator group control system 202 transmits elevator operation data of each elevator to the building management system 100 (arrow 253). The elevator group control system 202 also receives elevator control commands from the building management system 100 as commands (arrow 254), and controls the elevator facilities 201 in response to the commands.

[0029] An example of a building facility is a robot fleet. The robot fleet is one or more robots installed on at least one floor. The robots may, for example, patrol within a floor or between floors. The robot fleet management system 204 receives a robot fleet control command from the building management system 100 (arrow 255) and controls the robot fleet 203 in response to the command.

[0030] The central monitoring system 205 receives, as commands, control commands for various facilities in the case of manual operation from the building management system 100 (arrow 256), and outputs the control commands as voice or displays them on a screen.

[0031] A building typically has multiple floors, and each floor has a group of facilities 211 (one or more building facilities). There may be floors that do not have any building facilities. The group of facilities 211 includes, for example, a central air conditioning system 216, lighting facilities 217, an entrance / exit device 218, a people sensor 219, a building management input device 220, and a building management output device 221.

[0032] The central air conditioning equipment 216 may be equipment that adjusts the air conditioning of the floors. The central control system 206 may receive a control command for the air conditioning equipment 216 of the floors from the building control system 100 (arrow 257), and may control the central air conditioning equipment 216 in response to the command.

[0033] The light fixtures 217 may be one or more lighting devices on a floor. The light management system 207 may receive a control command for the light fixtures 217 on the floor from the building management system 100 (arrow 258) and control the light fixtures 217 in response to the command.

[0034] The entrance / exit device 218 may be a device that manages entrance / exit to a floor (typically, a certain area on a floor). The entrance / exit management system 208 may transmit headcount data indicating the number of people entering and leaving the floor, measured by the entrance / exit device 218, to the building management system 100 (arrow 259).

[0035] The people sensor 219 may be a device that counts the number of people entering and exiting a floor. The sensor management system 209 may transmit people data representing the number of people counted by the people sensor 219 to the building management system 100 (arrow 260).

[0036] The building management input device 220 and the building management output device 221 may be devices for tenants. The building management input device 220 may input event data and operation rule data related to a tenant (floor) and transmit the data to the building management system 100 (arrow 261). Furthermore, the building management output device 221 may receive building facility operation information related to a tenant (floor) from the building management system 100 (arrow 265) and output the information (for example, audio output or screen display). The devices 220 and 221 may be integrated as an input / output device (for example, an information processing terminal).

[0037] The building management I / O device 210 may be an information processing terminal (for example, a personal computer or a smartphone) for a building manager. The building management I / O device 210 may input event data and operation rule data for each floor and transmit the data to the building management system 100 (arrow 263). The building management I / O device 210 may also receive operation information for building facilities for each floor (for example, information indicating when and what control is to be performed on which building facilities) from the building management system 100 (arrow 264) and output the information.

[0038] The output section 150 of the building management system 100 may output information representing the relationship between floor characteristics and floors, and information representing the relationship between activity events, event occurrence times, and floors, to the building management input / output device 210 or the building management output device 221.

[0039] FIG. 3 shows an example of the overall flow of processing carried out in the embodiment.

[0040] This process includes creating an operation schedule (S301 to S308) and controlling the building equipment according to the created operation schedule (S309). The operation schedule is created before the building equipment is controlled according to the operation schedule. In this embodiment, since the operation schedule is a schedule for one day, the operation schedule is created by the day before the operation schedule becomes the operation schedule for the target operation day. The operation schedule may be created by offline processing. The meaning of "offline processing" may mean processing that does not require communication via the network 250 and is performed based on data accumulated up to the start of the processing, or may mean processing that is asynchronous with the building equipment control based on the operation schedule. In the following description, the day that the operation schedule targets may be called the "target operation day".

[0041] In S301, the input unit 110 inputs a time series of elevator operation data and / or a time series of people sensor data for each floor. At least some of the data representing floor attributes for each floor (data stored in the floor tenant DB 131), date data (for example, data representing the operation target date and the attributes of the operation target date (for example, the day of the week) and stored in the date DB 132), and weather data (for example, forecast data representing the weather, temperature, etc. on the operation target date) may be input in S301, or may be input in advance and stored in the DB. In addition, at least some of the data input in S301 may be performed in parallel with the building equipment control based on the created operation schedule. The elevator operation data may be, for example, data representing the number of people getting on and getting off for each floor, or the number of passengers between floors. The people sensor data for each floor may be data representing the number of people entering and leaving the floor, or the number of people staying there. At each point in time, the number of people entering a floor may be a number based on the total number of people getting off the elevator on that floor and the number of people passing through the entrance to that floor, and the number of people exiting a floor may be a number based on the total number of people getting on the elevator on that floor and the number of people passing through the exit to that floor.

[0042] An example of the configuration of the event DB 133 is as shown in Fig. 11. That is, for example, the event DB 133 has a record for each activity event (label), and the record has information such as an activity event 1101 and an event condition 1102. The activity event 1101 represents an activity event (label). The event condition 1102 represents an event condition (a condition for each of one or more elements of the time, the number of people entering, the number of people leaving, and the number of people staying) that corresponds to the activity event. When an activity state group satisfies any one of the multiple event conditions represented by the event DB 133, an activity event corresponding to the event condition that has been satisfied is assigned to the activity state group.

[0043] A configuration example of the floor tenant DB 131 is as shown in Fig. 12. That is, for example, the floor tenant DB 131 has a record for each floor, and the record has information such as a floor 1201 and a floor attribute 1202. The floor 1201 indicates a floor number. The floor attribute 1202 indicates a floor attribute (for example, a type of floor or permitted use).

[0044] 13 shows an example of the configuration of date DB 132. That is, for example, date DB 132 has a record for each date, and the record has information such as date 1301, day of week 1302, and details 1303. Date 1301 represents the date. Day of week 1302 represents the day of the week of the date. Details 1303 represents attributes of the date other than the day of the week (for example, whether it is a weekday, holiday, or public holiday, which tenant's holiday it is, the season to which the date belongs, etc.).

[0045] In S302, the processing unit 130 (people flow calculation unit 136) creates floor people flow data representing people flow for each floor based on the time series of elevator operation data and / or the time series of number of people sensor data for each floor. The floor people flow data may be the time series data of the number of people listed below (a) to (c) for each floor. (a) Admissions, which is the number of people entering the floor. (b) Exit count, which is the number of people leaving the floor. (c) Number of occupants, which is the number of people occupying the floor.

[0046] In S303, the processing unit 130 (floor attribute identification unit 137) identifies floor attributes for each floor from the floor tenant DB 31, and the processing unit 130 (floor characteristic estimation unit 138) identifies date attributes of the date corresponding to the floor people flow data from the date DB 132, and identifies floor characteristics for each floor using the floor attributes for each floor, the date attributes, and the created floor people flow data.

[0047] In S304, the processing unit 130 (event identification unit 139) groups the activity status of the floors based on the results of S303, the floor people flow data, the floor attributes for each floor, the date attributes, and the weather attributes of the day corresponding to the floor people flow data (attributes identified from the input weather data, such as weather type and temperature).

[0048] In S305, the processing unit 130 (event identification unit 139) labels (classifies) activity events for each group of activity states of the floor (area).

[0049] In S306, the processing unit 130 (schedule creation unit 140) judges whether the current base of the operation schedule is identical or similar to the base of any of the created operation schedules. For each floor, the "base" of the operation schedule may include at least one of a plurality of pairs of an activity event and an event occurrence time (e.g., the start time and end time of the activity event), information on the number of people on the floor identified from the floor people flow data, date attributes of the date corresponding to the floor people flow data, floor attributes of the floor, and floor features of the floor. For example, if the features of the current base do not match the features of the past base and the difference between them is greater than a certain degree, the judgment result of S306 may be false. For example, if the activity event in the current base does not match or resemble the activity event in the base of any of the created operation schedules for a certain floor because the lunch time, the arrival time, the organizational structure of the tenant, or the tenant itself has been changed, the judgment result of S306 may be false.

[0050] If the determination result of S306 is false for at least one building facility (S306: No), the processing unit 130 (schedule creation unit 140) creates a new operation schedule based on the current operation schedule. On the other hand, if the determination result of S306 is true (S306: Yes), building facility control based on the past operation schedule is sufficient, so S307 is skipped.

[0051] In S307, for example, the following operation schedule is created. A floor generally has an exclusive area (e.g., one or more areas occupied by one or more tenants) and a shared area (an area available to all tenants), and an operation schedule may be created for at least one of the exclusive area and the shared area (typically, at least the exclusive area). · Target room temperature schedule for the central air conditioning unit 216 on each floor. · Target illuminance schedule for 217 lighting fixtures on each floor. For elevator facility 201, schedule of waiting floors and number of waiting elevators. - Schedule of the robot group 203 including its location and operation.

[0052] In S308, the output unit 150 executes building facility control based on the operation schedule.

[0053] FIG. 4 shows an example of the flow of the process (S303 in FIG. 3) performed by the floor feature estimation unit 138.

[0054] In S401, the floor characteristic estimation unit 138 acquires floor people flow data (time series data of the number of people entering, leaving, and staying on each floor), date attributes of the date corresponding to the floor people flow data, and floor attributes of each floor. Instead of or in addition to the date attributes, weather attributes (e.g., weather type) of the date corresponding to the floor people flow data may be acquired. S402 and subsequent steps are performed for each floor. In the following explanation of S402 and subsequent steps, one floor is taken as an example.

[0055] In S402, the floor characteristic estimation unit 138 calculates a number of people index value, which is an index value of the number of people on the floor, based on the floor people flow data. Specifically, as the number of people index value, an entering / exiting number of people index value, which is an index value related to the number of people entering and exiting, and a visiting number of people index value, which is an index value related to the number of people staying, are calculated. The entering / exiting number of people index value may be a value calculated based on the time series of the number of people entering and the time series of the number of people leaving represented by the floor people flow data (for example, a statistical value of the number of people and the number of people staying). The visiting number of people index value may be a value calculated based on the time series of the number of people staying represented by the floor people flow data (for example, a statistical value of the number of people staying).

[0056] In S403, the floor feature estimation unit 138 judges whether or not the visitor number index value is greater than a first value. The first value may be prepared for each date attribute (and / or weather attribute), and the first value used (referenced) may be a value corresponding to the date attribute (and / or weather attribute) acquired in S401. If the judgment result in S403 is true (S403: Yes), the process proceeds to S404. If the judgment result in S404 is false (S403: No), the process proceeds to S407.

[0057] In S404, the floor characteristic estimation unit 138 judges whether the entry and exit number index value is greater than the second value. The second value may be prepared for each date attribute (and / or weather attribute), and the second value used (referenced) may be a value corresponding to the date attribute (and / or weather attribute) acquired in S401. If the judgment result in S404 is true (S404: Yes), in S405, the floor characteristic estimation unit 138 classifies the floor characteristic of the floor into the floor characteristic of "office type with many people coming and going and a high attendance rate". If the judgment result in S404 is false (S404: No), in S406, the floor characteristic estimation unit 138 classifies the floor characteristic of the floor into the floor characteristic of "office type with a high attendance rate mainly for desk work". The "attendance rate" may be the ratio of the maximum number of people staying to the number of workers. The "workers" may be people who are able to work on the floor. The number of workers may be read as the number of seats. The term "stay rate" is sometimes used, which means the ratio of the number of people staying to the number of workers or seats. Therefore, the attendance rate and occupancy rate can also be said to be the maximum stay rate.

[0058] In S407, the floor characteristic estimation unit 138 determines whether the entry / exit number of people index value is greater than a second value. This second value may also be a value corresponding to the date attribute (and / or weather attribute) acquired in S401.

[0059] If the determination result of S407 is true (S407: Yes), in S408, the floor characteristic estimation unit 138 determines whether the floor attribute acquired in S401 is "office". If the determination result of S408 is true (S408: Yes), in S409, the floor characteristic estimation unit 138 classifies the floor characteristic of the floor into a floor characteristic of "reception-oriented office type" (the meaning of "reception-oriented" may be, for example, for visitors or a lounge). If the determination result of S408 is false (S408: No), in S410, the floor characteristic estimation unit 138 classifies the floor characteristic of the floor into a floor characteristic of "special floor".

[0060] If the determination result in S407 is false (S407: No), in S411, the floor characteristic estimation unit 138 classifies the floor characteristic of the floor into the floor characteristic of "office type with mostly desk work and low attendance rate."

[0061] FIG. 5 shows an example of floor feature classification.

[0062] The floor feature classification may be prepared for each date attribute (and / or each weather attribute) (see, for example, FIG. 28). Specifically, for example, the first value and the second value may be prepared for each date attribute (and / or each weather attribute). For each floor, the floor feature is determined based on whether the visitor number index value is greater than the first value and whether the entering / exiting number index value is greater than the second value. The second value may be the same as or different from the first value.

[0063] FIG. 6 illustrates an example of the calculation performed by the people flow calculation unit 136 in S302 of FIG.

[0064] Graphs 600 to 603 show data for a certain floor X.

[0065] Graph 600 represents time series data of the number of people entering floor X. Reference numeral 601 represents the time when the first worker entered. Reference numeral 602 represents the time when the number of people arriving at work peaked. Reference numeral 603 represents the end of the lunch break. This time series data is created based on the time series of input elevator operation data and the time series of number of people sensor data of the number of people entering floor X. For example, the number of people entering from (x-1) o'clock to x o'clock can be the sum of the total number of people who got off the elevator to floor X from (x-1) o'clock to x o'clock and the total number of people who entered floor X through the entrance to floor X from (x-1) o'clock to x o'clock.

[0066] Graph 610 represents time series data of the number of people exiting floor X. Reference numeral 611 represents the start of the lunch break. Reference numeral 612 represents the time when the number of people leaving reached its peak. Reference numeral 613 represents the time when the last worker left. This time series data is created based on the time series of input elevator operation data and the time series of number of people sensor data of the number of people getting on the elevator from floor X. For example, the number of people exiting from (x-1) o'clock to x o'clock can be the sum of the total number of people getting on the elevator from floor X from (x-1) o'clock to x o'clock and the total number of people leaving floor X through the exit of floor X from (x-1) o'clock to x o'clock.

[0067] Graph 620 represents time series data of the number of people visiting floor X. This time series data is created from the time series data represented by graph 600 and the time series data represented by graph 610. For example, the number of people visiting from (x-1) o'clock to x o'clock may be the total number of people who entered floor X by x o'clock minus the total number of people who left floor X by x o'clock. Reference numeral 621 represents the time when the visit rate exceeded 30%. Reference numeral 622 represents the start time of work. Reference numeral 623 represents the time of the lunch break. Reference numeral 624 represents the end time of work. Reference numeral 625 represents the time when the visit rate became 30% or less.

[0068] FIG. 7 shows an example of the flow of the processes (S304 and S305 in FIG. 3) performed by the event identification unit 139.

[0069] In S701, the event identification unit 139 defines an activity state for each floor based on the created floor people flow data. For example, the activity state is composed of multiple elements (specifically, for example, the number of people entering (t), the number of people leaving (t), and the number of people staying (t)) identified from the floor people flow data, and is defined in a predetermined coordinate system (in this paragraph, "(t)" represents time).

[0070] In S702, the event identification unit 139 groups the multiple activity states determined in S701 into one or more activity state groups for each floor. At least one activity state group may be based on at least one of the weather attributes (weather attributes identified from the weather data) of the date corresponding to the created floor people flow data and the date attributes (date attributes identified from the date DB 132) of the date.

[0071] In S703, the event identification unit 139 compares, for each activity state group on each floor, the characteristics of the activity state group (e.g., at least one of the characteristics of the number of people entering, the characteristics of the number of people leaving, the characteristics of the number of people staying, the time characteristics, the date attributes, the weather attributes, the floor characteristics, and the floor attributes) with the event DB 133 (see FIG. 11).

[0072] In S704, the event identification unit 139 judges, based on the result of S703, whether or not there is an active state group that satisfies any of the multiple event conditions represented by the event DB 133. If there is an active state group for which the judgment result of S704 is true (S704: Yes), S705 is performed for that active state group. If there is an active state group for which the judgment result of S704 is false (S704: No), S706 is performed for that active state group.

[0073] In S705, for each activity state group for which the determination result in S704 is true, the event identification unit 139 assigns to that activity state group an activity event (a label represented by the event DB 133) corresponding to the event condition satisfied by that activity state group.

[0074] In S706, the event identification unit 139 determines, for each activity state group for which the determination result in S704 is false, whether or not the condition that the activity state group can satisfy is similar to any of the corresponding conditions. The determination of whether or not the conditions are similar may be performed based on a known method of similarity determination. If there is an activity state group for which the determination result in S706 is true (S706: Yes), S707 is performed for that activity state group. If there is an activity state group for which the determination result in S706 is false (S706: No), S708 is performed for that activity state group.

[0075] In S707, for each active state group for which the judgment result of S706 is true, the event identification unit 139 assigns to the active state group an activity event (a label represented by the event DB 133) corresponding to an event condition similar to the event condition that the active state group can satisfy, and the label "semi-equivalent."

[0076] In S708, for each activity state group for which the determination result in S706 is false, the event identification unit 139 associates the activity state group with no activity event corresponding to the activity state group (adds a label of no activity event).

[0077] For an active status group that has been assigned the "semi-equivalent" status, the event identification unit 139 may provide information indicating the characteristics of the active status group and the activity event that has been determined to be "semi-equivalent" to the building management input / output device 210, and may accept a designation of an activity event for the active status group (e.g., "no activity event") from the building manager. Also, instead of S706 and S707, S708 may be performed for an active status group for which the determination result in S704 is false.

[0078] FIG. 8 shows an example of an activity group.

[0079] The activity state is composed of two elements, the number of people entering and the number of people leaving, and is determined in a two-dimensional orthogonal coordinate system of the number of people entering and the number of people leaving. Reference numerals 801 to 807 respectively represent examples of activity state groups. Reference numeral 801 represents an activity state group to which the activity event "start of lunch break" is assigned. Reference numeral 802 represents an activity state group to which the activity event "after work ends (peak time of the number of people leaving work)" is assigned. Reference numeral 803 represents an activity state group to which the activity event "end of work". Reference numeral 804 represents an activity state group to which the activity event "stay rate 30%" is assigned. Reference numeral 805 represents an activity state group to which the activity event "end of lunch break (before work starts in the afternoon)" is assigned. Reference numeral 806 represents an activity state group to which the activity event "before work starts (peak time of the number of people arriving at work)" is assigned. Reference numeral 807 represents an activity state group to which the activity event "midpoint of lunch break" is assigned. Note that not all activity state groups are necessarily assigned a significant activity event (e.g., a label other than "no activity event"). In other words, not all activity state groups necessarily satisfy any event condition.

[0080] FIG. 9 shows an example of an activity group.

[0081] An activity state is composed of three elements, the number of people entering, the number of people leaving, and the time, and is defined in a three-dimensional orthogonal coordinate system of the number of people entering, the number of people leaving, and the time. Reference numerals 901 to 904 respectively represent examples of activity state groups. Reference numeral 901 represents an activity state group to which an activity event "before work starts (peak time for the number of people arriving at work)" is assigned. Reference numeral 902 represents an activity state group to which an activity event "start of lunch break" is assigned. Reference numeral 903 represents an activity state group to which an activity event "end of lunch break" is assigned. Reference numeral 904 represents an activity state group to which an activity event "after work ends (peak time for the number of people leaving work)" is assigned.

[0082] FIG. 10 shows an example of data used for event classification.

[0083] As illustrated in Fig. 10, for each activity event, a data item (e.g., which feature is used as the feature of the activity state group) is defined to be used in determining whether or not the event condition corresponding to the activity event is satisfied. Data representing this definition may be set in the event identification unit 139, or may be included in the event DB 133. According to Fig. 10, the data items used differ depending on the activity event.

[0084] For each floor, the characteristics of the activity status group (e.g., floor attribute, date attribute, time, number of people entering, number of people leaving, number of people staying) are compared with the event DB 133 (see FIG. 11) for each activity status group, and the activity event to be assigned to the activity status group is determined. Note that in FIG. 10 and FIG. 11, "30%" and "60%" are examples of threshold values ​​for the staying rate.

[0085] As a result of the processing performed by the event identification unit 139 (S703 to S708 in FIG. 7), the event model 134 is created.

[0086] FIG. 14 shows a schematic example of the configuration of the event model 134 for a certain floor.

[0087] For each floor, the event model 134 represents the relationship between the activity event and the event occurrence time. According to the example shown in FIG. 14, for each activity event on a certain floor, a common event occurrence time is obtained for Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday in one week. The "time" of the event occurrence time may be the time when the activity event occurs. In addition, an activity event has major items and minor items, and the time when the activity event occurs is determined for each minor item, and for each major item, a time period determined by the earliest time and the latest time for all minor items belonging to the major item is determined.

[0088] FIG. 15 shows an example of data input by the operation input unit 115.

[0089] The data input by the operation input unit 115 includes the data illustrated in FIG. 15, i.e., data representing, for each building facility, the type of building facility, an overview of the building facility, and the content of control performed in response to a control command.

[0090] FIG. 16 shows an example of the flow of processing performed by the operation input unit 115.

[0091] In S1601, the operation input unit 115 starts setting operation rules for each piece of building equipment. For example, operation rules are determined for the central air conditioning equipment 216 and the lighting equipment 217 for each floor. For the elevator equipment 201, operation rules common to the multiple floors that the elevator spans are determined. With regard to the robot group 203, operation rules are determined for each floor for the robots on each floor, and if there is a robot that moves between floors (for example, moves between floors using an elevator), operation rules are determined for each floor that may be the destination of the robot.

[0092] In S1602, the operation input unit 115 inputs a set temperature (a manually input value or a default value) for each of a plurality of menus (a plurality of modes) such as energy saving priority, comfort priority, and intermediate between energy saving and comfort, for the central air conditioning equipment 216. An example of the data input in S1602 is as shown in Fig. 17. That is, for each of the plurality of menus, a set temperature is determined, for example, for each of summer and winter.

[0093] In S1603, the operation input unit 115 inputs the maximum illuminance (a manually input value or a default value) for each of multiple menus (multiple modes) for the lighting equipment 217, such as emphasis on energy saving, emphasis on comfort, and an intermediate between energy saving and comfort.

[0094] In S1604, the operation input unit 115 inputs an activity event for each floor. If there is no input (if there is a label for no event), a default value may be input.

[0095] In S1605, the operation input unit 115 sets operation rules for each building facility for each activity event (for example, which of a plurality of menus such as emphasis on energy conservation, emphasis on comfort, or a menu between energy conservation and comfort should be used). In other words, the operation input unit 115 creates the operation model 135.

[0096] Fig. 18 shows a schematic configuration example of a certain floor of the operation model 135. Fig. 19 shows a schematic configuration example of another floor of the operation model 135.

[0097] The configuration illustrated in Fig. 18 is for a floor that prioritizes comfort in the morning and energy conservation in the evening (overtime). The configuration illustrated in Fig. 19 is for a floor that prioritizes energy conservation in the morning and comfort in the evening (overtime).

[0098] For each floor, the operation model 135 represents, for each activity event, the activity event, the time period of the activity event, the building equipment to be controlled in the activity event, and the equipment operation rule corresponding to the activity event. For each activity event, the equipment operation rule includes which of a plurality of menus, such as emphasis on energy conservation, emphasis on comfort, or an intermediate menu between energy conservation and comfort, is adopted, and the details of the equipment operation according to the menu (for example, the control content for each building equipment to be controlled).

[0099] Based on the event model 134 and the operation model 135, a schedule creation unit 140 creates an operation schedule for each floor.

[0100] Fig. 20 shows an example of the flow of the process (S308 in Fig. 3) performed by the schedule creation unit 140. S2001 to S2006 are performed for each floor. Fig. 20 will be explained below by taking one floor as an example ("target floor" in the explanation of Fig. 20).

[0101] In S2001, the schedule creation unit 140 selects the activity event with the youngest order in the chronological order (ascending order) of the event occurrence time from among the activity events (activity events represented by the event model 134) that have not been selected in S2001 for the target floor. The selection order does not have to be limited to the chronological order (ascending order) of the event occurrence time.

[0102] In S2002, the schedule creation unit 140 searches the operation model 135 for an activity event that matches the activity event selected in S2001.

[0103] In S2003, the schedule creation unit 140 judges whether or not there is a corresponding activity event (a search hit activity event). If the judgment result of S2003 is true (S2003: Yes), the process proceeds to S2004. If the judgment result of S2003 is false (S2003: No), the process proceeds to S2005.

[0104] In S2004, the schedule creation unit 140 uses the label of the corresponding activity event as a common key to acquire information indicating the event occurrence time from the event model 134, and acquires information indicating the facility operation rule from the operation model 135. The schedule creation unit 140 records the activity event used as the key, the acquired information indicating the event occurrence time, and the acquired information indicating the facility operation rule in, for example, a record in a temporary table.

[0105] In S2005, the schedule creation unit 140 judges whether or not all activity events have been selected from the event model 134. If the judgment result in S2005 is true (S2005: Yes), the process proceeds to S2006. If the judgment result in S2005 is false (S2005: No), the process returns to S2001.

[0106] In S2006, the schedule creation unit 140 creates an operation schedule for the equipment from the temporary table (completed temporary table) that indicates the relationship between the activity event, the event occurrence time, and the equipment operation rule.

[0107] Fig. 21 shows an example of an operation schedule for a certain floor, and Fig. 22 shows an example of an operation schedule for another floor.

[0108] The operation schedule illustrated in Fig. 21 is for a floor that prioritizes comfort in the morning and energy conservation in the evening (overtime). The operation schedule illustrated in Fig. 22 is for a floor that prioritizes energy conservation in the morning and comfort in the evening (overtime).

[0109] The differences between these operation schedules are No. 1 and No. 5 to No. 7. That is, the menus are different between the operation schedules for morning and night (overtime hours), and therefore the control contents (for example, set temperature and maximum illuminance) are different even if the building equipment to be controlled is the same.

[0110] An example of an operation schedule focusing on various building facilities is as follows:

[0111] Figure 23 shows an example of an operation schedule for an air conditioning facility among the operation schedules shown in Figure 21. Figure 24 shows an example of an operation schedule for an air conditioning facility among the operation schedules shown in Figure 22. These operation schedules are operation schedules for Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, respectively.

[0112] From 08:30 to 09:00 (No. 1 in Figs. 21 and 22), in the example shown in Fig. 23, operation control is performed between energy saving and comfort (reference number 2310), and in the example shown in Fig. 24, operation control is performed with emphasis on energy saving (reference number 2310). Specifically, in the example shown in Fig. 23, the set temperature is 21°C, and in the example shown in Fig. 24, the set temperature is 20°C (lower than 21°C shown in Fig. 23). Reference numbers 2311 and 2411 each represent a stay rate of over 30%.

[0113] Also, from 17:20 to 21:40 (No. 5 to No. 7 in Fig. 21 and Fig. 22), in the example shown in Fig. 23, operation control with emphasis on energy conservation is performed (reference number 2320), and in the example shown in Fig. 24, operation control with emphasis on comfort, operation control somewhere between energy conservation and comfort, and finally operation control with emphasis on energy conservation are performed. Reference numbers 2321 and 2421 respectively indicate a occupancy rate of 30% or less. Reference numbers 2322 and 2422 respectively indicate that the worker has finally left the room.

[0114] Fig. 25 shows an example of a graph representing an operation schedule for lighting equipment among the operation schedules shown in Fig. 21. Between 08:30 and 09:00 (No. 1 in Fig. 21), operation control is performed (reference number 2510) that is halfway between energy saving and comfort, and specifically, the maximum illuminance is 80%. Between 17:20 and 21:40 (No. 5 to No. 7 in Fig. 21), the maximum illuminance is 70%, and after 18:40, the lights are partially turned off, and after 21:40, the lights are turned off in the range where there are no problems.

[0115] Figure 26 shows an example of an elevator operation schedule. This example is for a case where there are six elevators in a building. Reference numeral 2610 indicates control of the number of elevators in operation according to the number of people coming to work on each floor and the start time of work. Reference numeral 2630 indicates control of the number of elevators in operation and waiting floors according to the end time of work and the occupancy rate (number of people on each floor) on each floor.

[0116] Fig. 27 shows an example of a robot operation schedule. According to this example, the robot is paused during times when the number of people moving around the floor is relatively high, such as the time when people come to work, the lunch break, and the time when people leave work, and the robot operates during other times. The time periods "time when people come to work", "lunch break", and "time when people leave work" are time periods identified from activity events and the times at which those events occur.

[0117] Although one embodiment has been described above, this is merely an example for explaining the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. The present invention can be implemented in various other forms.

[0118] The above description can be summarized as follows. The following summary may include supplementary explanations and explanations of modifications of the above description.

[0119] A building management system (e.g., the building management system 100) has an input unit and a processing unit. The input unit inputs area people flow data, which is data representing a time series of the number of people for each of a plurality of areas in a building, and which represents a time series of the number of people staying in the area. The processing unit estimates an area state for each of the plurality of areas based on the area people flow data. In this way, the area state of the building can be estimated. Specifically, for example, the input unit may input area people flow data (e.g., floor people flow data), which is data representing a time series of the number of people for each of a plurality of areas (e.g., a plurality of floors) in a building in which a plurality of tenants can reside, and which represents a time series of the number of people entering the area, a time series of the number of people leaving the area, and a time series of the number of people staying in the area. The area state may include area features. The processing unit may identify a number of people index value, which is an index value of the number of people in the area, based on the area people flow data for each of a plurality of areas, and estimate the area feature based on the identified number of people index value. In this way, the characteristics of the building area can be estimated, and operations (e.g., equipment or other control) can be performed based on the estimated work style. For example, the building management system may include an output unit that provides information representing the identified area characteristics and the area in which the area characteristics were identified to an information processing terminal (e.g., the building management input / output device 210) of the building manager. This allows the building manager to estimate the work styles of tenants residing in the area. Note that at least one area characteristic may be a characteristic of the work style of a tenant residing in the area.

[0120] The area state may include an activity state. The processing unit may identify a plurality of activity states (each activity state is composed of a plurality of elements identified from the area people flow data) for each of a plurality of areas from the area people flow data, classify (cluster) the plurality of activity states into a plurality of activity state groups, and, for each of the plurality of activity state groups, if the characteristics of the activity state group satisfy any one of a plurality of event conditions based on the area characteristics of the area, may associate the activity event corresponding to the satisfied event condition with the activity state group. For example, in one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 28, an event condition set (a plurality of event conditions) may be prepared for each floor feature (an example of an area feature), and the processing unit may identify an event condition set corresponding to the identified floor feature and determine whether or not the characteristics of the activity state group satisfy any one of the event conditions in the event condition set. In this way, the activity event in each area can be estimated from the area people flow data. For example, the building management system may include an output unit, and the output unit may provide information representing the identified activity event and the area in which the activity event was identified to an information processing terminal of the building manager. This allows the building manager to estimate the work style of the tenants residing in the area, and thus allows operations (e.g., equipment or other control) to be performed based on the estimated work style. Note that for each of the multiple areas, the multiple elements that make up the activity state may include two or more elements of the number of people entering the area, the number of people leaving the area, the number of people staying in the area, and the time. In addition to the activity event, the activity state group may be associated with the event occurrence time of the activity event (e.g., the time period during which the activity event occurs).

[0121] In estimating activity events in each area from the area people flow data, the area characteristics of each area may be identified from pre-input data (e.g., data in which area characteristics are recorded for each area) instead of being identified based on the area people flow data. That is, the building management system may include an input unit that inputs the area people flow data, and a processing unit, and the processing unit may identify a plurality of activity states from the area people flow data, classify the plurality of activity states into a plurality of activity state groups, and, for each of the plurality of activity state groups, if the characteristics of the activity state group satisfy any one of a plurality of event conditions based on the area characteristics of the area, associate the activity event corresponding to the satisfied event condition with the activity state group.

[0122] A plurality of event conditions may be prepared for each of a plurality of weather attributes (see FIG. 28, for example). For each of a plurality of areas, if the characteristics of the activity state group satisfy any one of a plurality of event conditions corresponding to the specified area characteristics and the weather attributes (for example, weather type, temperature, and humidity) of the date corresponding to the area people flow data, the processing unit may associate the activity event corresponding to the satisfied event condition with the activity state group. For example, in an area corresponding to the area characteristic of hybrid work type, when it rains, there may be a case where the number of people working from home increases and the number of people coming to the office decreases. Even if such a case occurs, it is expected that the activity event according to such a case can be estimated from the area people flow data. In other words, it is expected that the accuracy of the activity event estimated from the area people flow data can be improved.

[0123] A plurality of event conditions may be prepared for each of a plurality of date attributes (see, for example, FIG. 28). For each of a plurality of areas, if the characteristics of the activity state group satisfy any one of a plurality of event conditions corresponding to the specified area characteristics and the date attributes (e.g., day of the week, weekday or holiday, season, etc.) of the date corresponding to the area people flow data, the processing unit may associate the activity event corresponding to the satisfied event condition with the activity state group. For example, in an area corresponding to the area characteristic of hybrid work type, there may be a case where the number of people working from home increases and the number of people coming to the office decreases on Friday. Even if such a case occurs, it is expected that the activity event according to such a case can be estimated from the area people flow data. In other words, it is expected that the accuracy of the activity event estimated from the area people flow data can be improved.

[0124] The processing unit may estimate the characteristics of each of the areas based on the area attributes of the area when the identified number-of-people index value for each of the areas satisfies a predetermined condition, which is expected to improve the accuracy of estimating the area characteristics.

[0125] The processing unit may estimate area characteristics of each of the areas based on the date attributes and / or weather attributes of the date corresponding to the area people flow data in addition to the identified number of people index value for each of the areas. This is expected to improve the accuracy of estimating area characteristics.

[0126] For example, an area feature classification (plurality of area features) determined based on a number of people index value may be predefined, and the processing unit may identify an area feature corresponding to the identified number of people index value from the area feature classification. Specifically, for example, the plurality of area features may be classified based on an entry / exit number of people index value as a number of people index value and a visitor number index value as a number of people index value. For each of the plurality of areas, the processing unit may identify an entry / exit number of people index value and a visitor number index value of the area from the area people flow data, and identify an area feature to which the identified entry / exit number of people index value and visitor number index value correspond from the plurality of area features. Since the area feature is estimated based on such a plurality of types of number of people index values, it is expected that the estimation accuracy of the area feature is improved. The area feature classification (plurality of area features) may be prepared for each date attribute and / or each weather attribute (see FIG. 28). The plurality of area features may include the following (A) to (D). (A) The area is characterized as being an office-type area with a high rate of people coming and going and a high attendance rate, which corresponds to a case where the index value for the number of people staying is greater than the first value and the index value for the number of people entering and leaving is greater than the second value. (B) The area is characterized as an office-type area with a high rate of people attending work and mainly doing desk work, which corresponds to a case where the index value for the number of people staying is greater than the first value but the index value for the number of people entering and leaving is equal to or less than the second value. (C) An area characteristic that is an office-type primarily for reception purposes, which corresponds to a case where the visitor number index value is equal to or less than the first value but the entering and exiting number index value is greater than the second value. (D) An area characteristic of being an office-type facility primarily for reception, which corresponds to a case where the visitor number index value is equal to or less than the first value and the entering and exiting number index value is equal to or less than the second value.

[0127] Also, for example, a machine learning model may be used in which the number of people index value is input and the area feature is output. Specifically, for example, the processing unit may estimate the area feature by inputting the specified number of people index value to the machine learning model. The input to the machine learning model may include, in addition to the number of people index value, data representing date attributes and / or weather attributes of the date corresponding to the area people flow data.

[0128] The estimated area characteristics and estimated activity events for each area may be used for building operations (eg, event planning, equipment or other control).

[0129] For example, the processing unit may create an operation schedule for each of a plurality of areas, based on the event occurrence time for each activity event identified for the area, the equipment operation rule corresponding to the activity event, and the area characteristics of the area, for each of one or more building facilities in the area, that defines the operation state of the building facilities in the time period in which the event occurrence time for each activity event falls. The output unit may output, for each of the plurality of areas, for each building facility in the area, based on the operation schedule corresponding to the target operation date. This enables appropriate control of the building facilities in the area (specifically, control that achieves both energy conservation and user comfort).

[0130] The processing unit may create a new driving schedule for each of the multiple areas based on the current base when the current base of the driving schedule does not match or resemble any of the bases of the previously created driving schedules. In other words, the processing unit may not create a new driving schedule for each of the multiple areas based on the current base when the current base of the driving schedule matches or resembles any of the bases of the previously created driving schedules. This can reduce the load on the calculation resources (typically the processor) required for creating the driving schedule. Note that, for each of the multiple areas, the base of the driving schedule may include at least one of a plurality of pairs of the identified activity events and the event occurrence times, information on the number of people in the area identified from the area people flow data, date attributes and / or weather attributes of the date corresponding to the area people flow data, area attributes of the area, and area features of the area.

[0131] For at least one of the multiple areas, the output based on the operation schedule corresponding to the target operation date for the building facilities in the area may be provided by providing information representing the operation schedule to an output device provided in the area and / or an information processing terminal of the building manager of the building. This allows users in the area and / or the building manager of the building to know what kind of facility control will be performed.

[0132] For at least one of the multiple areas, the output based on the operation schedule corresponding to the target operation date for the building equipment in the area may be a command for control according to the operation schedule sent to the building equipment or a control device for the building equipment, which is expected to appropriately control the building equipment.

[0133] For each of a plurality of areas, with respect to each building facility in the area, the operation schedule corresponding to the target operation date may be an operation schedule corresponding to the same or similar date attribute and / or weather attribute of the target operation date among the operation schedules already created for the building facility in the area. This is expected to appropriately control the building facility. For example, for each created operation schedule, the building facility corresponding to the operation schedule and the date attribute and / or weather attribute of the date corresponding to the area people flow data on which the operation schedule is based may be associated and stored in a storage device. An operation schedule corresponding to the same or similar date attribute and / or weather attribute of the target operation date may be identified from the storage device, and an output based on the identified operation schedule may be performed.

[0134] In addition, as building facilities, facilities that span multiple areas (for example, facilities that span multiple floors such as elevators, or facilities such as robots that patrol multiple areas) may exist. In this case, if the area characteristics or activity events of two or more areas that such facilities span are different, conflicts may occur in the operation schedule of the facilities for at least a part of the time depending on the area characteristics or activity events of each of these two or more areas, but in that case, the schedule for that time may follow a predetermined policy (for example, the processing unit 130 may adopt any of the operation schedules, may adopt a default operation schedule, or may create an operation schedule based on a combination of multiple area conditions).

[0135] As described above, one or more of the building facilities for which an operation schedule is created may be one or more elevators. Operation control according to the operation schedule created by the processing unit 130 for the one or more elevators may include the number of elevators in operation, dispatch control, waiting floor control, or direct operation control, and may particularly include control of the number of elevators in operation or dispatch control of elevators. The elevator operation schedule is created based on the event occurrence time (the event occurrence time for each activity event specified for the area) for at least one area of ​​the multiple areas included in the multiple floors that the elevator spans, the equipment operation rule (the equipment operation rule corresponding to the activity event), and the area characteristics of the area, and is a schedule that defines the operation state of the building facility in the time period to which the event occurrence time for each activity event in the area belongs. Therefore, the elevator is controlled based on the activity state of the area (floor). Specifically, for example, the following may be adopted.

[0136] For example, as an operation control according to an elevator operation schedule, a waiting floor control of a car in the elevator may be adopted. At least one of the following waiting floor controls may be adopted. According to a schedule corresponding to waiting floor control, the floor where a predetermined activity event (e.g., "start of lunch break") occurs may be set as the waiting floor for the car for a certain time (e.g., 5 minutes) from the occurrence of the predetermined activity event. More specifically, for example, if there are no predetermined number of elevator cars on the floor at the time of occurrence of the predetermined activity event (or a certain time before the occurrence), the processing unit 130 may dispatch at least one elevator car to the floor through the output unit 150 based on the operation schedule of each elevator, and make the predetermined number of elevator cars wait on the floor for a certain time from the occurrence of the predetermined activity event. Note that, if a destination floor is specified by a user who has boarded the car on the floor during the certain time, the car may move to the destination floor without the passage of a certain time (e.g., immediately), or may wait for a certain time even after the destination floor is specified. According to a schedule corresponding to waiting floor control, the nearest floor (for example, if the specified floor is the first floor, the nearest floor is the second floor or the first basement floor) of a specified floor (for example, a floor with a cafeteria or a floor with an exit) where a large number of people are expected to enter within a certain time (for example, 5 minutes) from the occurrence of a specified activity event (for example, "start of lunch break") may be excluded from the waiting floors. This is because the need for an elevator to move to the specified floor is lower for users on the nearest floor than for users on floors farther away from the specified floor than the nearest floor.

[0137] In addition, for example, as operation control according to an elevator operation schedule, control of the number of elevators in operation may be adopted. For example, when a certain percentage or more of floors experience a predetermined activity event (e.g., "end of work"), the number of elevators in operation may be reduced to a predetermined percentage of the maximum number of elevators in operation.

[0138] An elevator operation schedule may be created based on a combination of area conditions of multiple areas that the elevator spans. For example, if there are many elevator users on the first floor and the second floor at the same time, but the activity event on the first floor at that time is the "end of work" (an example of an activity event that is considered to reduce users in the building) and the activity event on the second floor at that time is the "start of work" (an example of an activity event that is considered to increase movement in the building), an operation schedule may be created in which elevators are preferentially dispatched to the second floor rather than the first floor at that time. This is because it is expected that there will be more users on the second floor using the elevator than users on the first floor at that time. [Explanation of symbols]

[0139] 100: Building Management System

Claims

1. an input unit for inputting area people flow data representing a time series of the number of people in each of a plurality of areas in the building, the area people flow data representing a time series of the number of people staying in the area; A processing unit that estimates an area state for each of the plurality of areas based on the area people flow data; A building management system equipped with:

2. the area state includes an active state; When the activity state satisfies one or more event conditions, the processing unit associates, with the activity state, an activity event corresponding to the satisfied event condition. The building management system of claim 1.

3. The area state includes area characteristics; The processing unit performs the following for each of the plurality of areas: Identifying a number of people index value, which is an index value of the number of people in the area, based on the area people flow data; Estimating area characteristics based on the identified number of people index value The building management system of claim 1.

4. The processing unit includes: classifying said activity states into activity state groups, each group consisting of one or more activity states; if any of the one or more event conditions is satisfied for the activity group, associate an activity event corresponding to the satisfied event condition with the activity group; The building management system according to claim 2.

5. The activity state is a plurality of activity states each composed of a plurality of elements identified from the area people flow data, The plurality of elements constituting the activity state include two or more elements of the number of people entering the area, the number of people leaving the area, the number of people staying in the area, and the time of day; The building management system according to claim 2.

6. the plurality of event conditions are prepared for each of a plurality of weather attributes, For each of the plurality of areas, when a feature of an activity state satisfies any one of a plurality of event conditions corresponding to the specified area feature and a weather attribute on a date corresponding to the area people flow data, the processing unit associates an activity event corresponding to the satisfied event condition with the activity state. The building management system according to claim 2.

7. the plurality of event conditions are prepared for each of a plurality of date attributes, For each of the plurality of areas, when a feature of an activity state satisfies any one of a plurality of event conditions corresponding to the specified area feature and a date attribute of a date corresponding to the area people flow data, the processing unit associates an activity event corresponding to the satisfied event condition with the activity state. The building management system according to claim 2.

8. When the identified number of people index value for each of the plurality of areas satisfies a predetermined condition, the processing unit estimates a characteristic of the area based on an area attribute of the area. The building management system according to claim 3.

9. The processing unit estimates area characteristics of each of the plurality of areas based on the identified number of people index value as well as date attributes and / or weather attributes of the date corresponding to the area people flow data, The building management system according to claim 3.

10. At least one area characteristic is a characteristic of the work style of the tenants in the area, The building management system according to claim 3.

11. The plurality of area features are classified based on an entry / exit number of people index value as a number of people index value and a stay number of people index value as a number of people index value, For each of the plurality of areas, the processing unit identifies an entry / exit number of people index value and a visitor number index value of the area from the area people flow data, and identifies an area feature to which the identified entry / exit number of people index value and visitor number index value correspond from the plurality of area features. The building management system according to claim 3.

12. The plurality of area features include: An area characteristic is an office type area with a high number of people coming and going and a high attendance rate, which corresponds to a case where the visitor number index value is greater than a first value and the entry / exit number index value is greater than a second value; An area characteristic is an office type where the visitor number index value is greater than the first value but the entering / exiting number index value is equal to or less than the second value, and the ...; An area feature of an office type mainly used for reception, which corresponds to a case where the visitor number index value is equal to or less than the first value but the entering / exiting number index value is greater than the second value; The area characteristic is an office type mainly for reception, which corresponds to a case where the visitor number index value is equal to or less than the first value and the entering / exiting number index value is equal to or less than the second value. Including, The building management system of claim 11.

13. An output unit is further provided, the processing unit creates, for each of the plurality of areas, an operation schedule that defines, for each of one or more building facilities in the area, an operation state of the building facilities in a time period in which the event occurrence time of each activity event falls, based on an event occurrence time for each activity event identified for the area, an equipment operation rule corresponding to the activity event, and an area characteristic of the area; The output unit performs output for each of the plurality of areas based on an operation schedule corresponding to a target operation date for each building facility in the area. The building management system according to claim 3.

14. When the current base of the operation schedule for each of the plurality of areas does not match or resemble any base of any of the previously created operation schedules, the processing unit creates a new operation schedule for the area based on the current base. The building management system of claim 13.

15. For each of the plurality of areas, the basis of the operation schedule includes at least one of a plurality of pairs of identified activity events and event occurrence times, information regarding the number of people in the area identified from the area people flow data, date attributes and / or weather attributes of a date corresponding to the area people flow data, area attributes of the area, and area features of the area; 15. A building management system according to claim 14.

16. With respect to at least one of the plurality of areas, the output based on the operation schedule corresponding to the target operation date with respect to the building equipment in the area is to provide information representing the operation schedule to an output device provided in the area and / or an information processing terminal of a building manager of the building. The building management system of claim 13.

17. For at least one of the multiple areas, the output based on the operation schedule corresponding to the target operation date for the building equipment in the area is to transmit a command for control according to the operation schedule to the building equipment or a control device for the building equipment. The building management system of claim 13.

18. For each of the plurality of areas, with respect to each building facility in the area, the operation schedule corresponding to the target operation date is an operation schedule corresponding to date attributes and / or weather attributes that are the same as or similar to the date attributes and / or weather attributes of the target operation date, among operation schedules already created for the building facility in the area; The building management system of claim 13.

19. an output unit that provides information representing the identified area feature and the area in which the area feature is identified to an information processing terminal of a building manager of the building; The building management system of claim 3 further comprising:

20. an output unit that provides information representing the identified activity event and the area in which the activity event is identified to an information processing terminal of a building manager of the building; The building management system of claim 1 further comprising:

21. the one or more building services include one or more elevators; The building management system of claim 13.

22. The operation control according to the operation schedule created by the processing unit for the one or more elevators includes control of the number of elevators in operation or control of elevator dispatch, 22. A building management system according to claim 21.

23. inputting area people flow data representing a time series of the number of people in each of a plurality of areas in the building, the area people flow data representing a time series of the number of people staying in the area; For each of the plurality of areas, an area state is estimated based on the area people flow data; A building management method that uses a computer.

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