Building Management Alarm Routing via Inter-Panel Backup Paths
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Solution Overview
Problem
Building management systems face issues with unreliable communication of alarms from local control panels to remote or cloud devices, leading to delayed reporting of critical alerts.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a secondary communication pathway through inter-panel communication within the building management system to reroute alarms to remote or cloud devices when the primary communication path fails.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a single remote communication path is used for each control panel, then the system structure is simple, but the alarm reporting reliability deteriorates when the communication path fails
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces other control panels as intermediary nodes to relay alarm communications when the direct remote communication path fails. When control panel A cannot communicate with the remote server, it sends the alarm through control panel B or C, which then forward the alarm to the server, ensuring reliable alarm reporting despite the failure of the primary communication path.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically switches communication pathways based on the operational status of the remote communication path. The control panel automatically determines whether to use the direct remote path or the inter-panel relay path, making the communication structure adaptive rather than static, thereby maintaining reliability without permanent complexity.
2Reliability
If inter-panel communication is implemented as a backup pathway, then alarm reporting reliability improves, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The inter-panel communication pathway is implemented as a dynamic backup rather than a permanent active structure. The system monitors the operational status of the remote communication path and only activates the inter-panel relay mechanism when needed, maintaining simplicity during normal operation while providing reliability when failures occur.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the backup communication functionality as a conditional feature rather than a permanent system component. The inter-panel relay capability exists in the system architecture but remains dormant until the remote communication path fails, at which point it is activated to provide the necessary backup pathway without adding continuous operational complexity.
3Loss of time
If direct remote communication is used, then the communication pathway is simple, but the response time for alarms deteriorates when communication failures occur
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary checks of the remote communication path operational status before attempting to send alarms. This preliminary action allows the control panel to proactively select the appropriate communication pathway (direct or relay) before the alarm needs to be sent, avoiding delays that would occur if the pathway selection had to be made after communication failure is detected.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
Figure 4A
AI summary
An alarm may be raised by a first control panel at a local site. A current operational status of a remote communication path assigned to the first control panel is determined. When the current operational status of the remote communication path assigned to the first control panel is determined to be on-line, the alarm is sent to a remote cloud server via the remote communication path assigned the first control panel. When the current operational status of the remote communication path assigned to the first control panel is determined to be off-line, the alarm is sent to a second control panel at the local site via one or more local communication paths. The second control panel then sends the first alarm to the remote cloud server via a remote communication path that is assigned the second control panel.