Automated Building Concierge Using Role-Based Environmental Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Building management systems face challenges in efficiently controlling environmental conditions while ensuring security and optimizing resource usage, particularly in managing access and preferences for various entities within a location.
Innovation Solution
A method that uses sensors to identify entities and assign roles, allowing for the modification of environmental conditions such as lighting, temperature, and furniture adjustments based on their permissions, utilizing a hierarchical graph system to manage and analyze data from devices and sensors within a physical space.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual control of building systems is used, then security monitoring and environmental adjustments can be performed, but labor costs and human error increase
Solution Approach 1:
The building management system performs self-monitoring and self-adjustment functions. Sensors automatically detect environmental conditions and entity presence, while the control system autonomously adjusts lighting, temperature, and security protocols without human intervention, eliminating manual staffing requirements while maintaining or improving security reliability
Solution Approach 2:
Manual mechanical control systems are replaced with automated electronic and sensor-based systems. The patent implements sensor networks, microcontrollers, and software algorithms that substitute human operators, enabling automated environmental control and security monitoring through electronic detection and actuation mechanisms
2Productivity
If automated sensor-based control is implemented, then labor costs decrease and efficiency improves, but system complexity and initial investment increase
Solution Approach 1:
The control system is designed as a multi-functional platform that handles diverse building management tasks including environmental monitoring, security surveillance, access control, and energy management through a unified architecture. This universal system consolidates multiple specialized subsystems, reducing overall complexity while improving productivity through integrated automated control
Solution Approach 2:
The building management system is divided into modular functional components: sensor modules, control modules, communication modules, and actuator modules. Each module performs a specific function and can be independently configured or replaced, making the complex system more manageable and easier to implement while maintaining high productivity through coordinated operation of segmented components
3Ease of operation
If environmental conditions are continuously adjusted, then user comfort and experience improve, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
Environmental adjustments are performed periodically based on detected changes in occupancy or environmental parameters rather than continuously. The system monitors conditions and activates control actions only when threshold changes are detected, providing adequate user comfort through responsive adjustments while minimizing unnecessary energy consumption during stable conditions
Solution Approach 2:
Environmental control is applied locally to specific zones or rooms where entities are present rather than uniformly across the entire building. The system adjusts lighting, temperature, and ventilation only in occupied areas, maintaining user comfort in active spaces while significantly reducing energy consumption in unoccupied areas
Data Source
AI summary
Controlling environmental conditions. A method includes using one or more sensors in a location, identifying an entity in the location. The method further includes identifying one or more roles for the entity. The method further includes based on the one or more roles for the entity, modifying environmental conditions in the location, by modifying one or more devices associated with the location.