Building management system with global rule library and crowdsourcing framework
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current building management systems (BMS) lack a centralized mechanism for sharing and validating user-created rules across different customer sites, leading to inconsistent and uncoordinated management of building equipment, and do not provide a comprehensive interface for users to select and apply standard and custom rules effectively.
Innovation Solution
A BMS with a remote and local rules server architecture that allows users to create, validate, and share rules, featuring a user preferences module for sharing preferences, a fault detection and diagnostics module that applies rules to equipment datasets, and an interface generator for selecting and mapping rules, enabling centralized rule management and diagnostics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a centralized rule sharing mechanism is implemented across multiple customer sites, then rule consistency and coordination improve, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides rule management into two segments: local rules servers at each customer site that handle rule creation and validation, and a remote rules server that handles rule distribution and coordination. This segmentation allows rule consistency to be maintained centrally while keeping individual site operations independent and simple.
Solution Approach 2:
The remote rules server acts as an intermediary between local rules servers at different customer sites. It receives validated rules from one site, stores them in the cloud-based database, and distributes them to other sites that have opted in for rule sharing, thereby coordinating rule management without direct peer-to-peer complexity.
2Productivity
If user-created rules are shared across multiple sites, then rule development efficiency improves, but security and validation control become more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The system requires that user-created rules be validated and approved at the local rules server before being made available for sharing. This preliminary validation action ensures that only verified, secure rules are distributed to other sites, maintaining validation control while enabling efficient rule reuse.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements a feedback mechanism where the remote rules server tracks which rules have been shared, to which sites, and with what results. This feedback loop allows the system to monitor and control rule validation across sites while maintaining the ability to revoke or update rules if issues arise.
3Ease of operation
If a comprehensive rule selection interface is provided, then user control and customization improve, but interface complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The interface provides different levels of rule selection based on user needs and site configurations. Users can access standard pre-configured rules for simple applications, or navigate to advanced options for custom rule creation and selection. This local quality approach ensures that each user experiences only the complexity they require.
Solution Approach 2:
The rule selection interface is organized in nested layers: the outer layer presents simple standard rules, while inner layers contain progressively more complex options including custom rule templates and full rule editor access. Users can drill down only as far as needed, keeping the visible interface simple while maintaining comprehensive control capabilities.
Data Source
AI summary
A building management system includes a remote rules server and a local rules server. The local rules server is located at a customer site, and includes a standard rules database and a custom rules database. The standard rules database stores standard rules and the custom rules database stores user-created rules. The local rules server is configured to allow a customer to create a new user-created rule and send the new user-created rule to the remote rules server. The remote rules server is configured to receive the new user-created rule and provide the new user-created rule to one or more other local rules servers located at one or more other customer sites.