Building Automation Object Naming via Hierarchical Inheritance

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Solution Overview

Problem

The existing building automation systems face inefficiencies and errors in adding components due to the manual and time-consuming process of naming individual field devices, which often results in duplication and naming errors.

Innovation Solution

A method and system for automatically naming building automation objects by creating a hierarchical structure with parent and child view node objects, where each child object inherits the name of its parent and a unique identifier, allowing a control program to iterate through the hierarchy and communicate with field devices.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If manual naming of field devices is used, then system setup is straightforward, but time consumption and error rate increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvespeed of adding components to the systemVSAvoidnaming accuracy and duplication prevention
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by automatically generating hierarchical names for field devices before manual input is required. The control program iterates through the hierarchical structure and pre-assigns names based on parent-child relationships, eliminating the need for manual naming and preventing errors before they occur.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system serves itself by automatically naming field devices without human intervention. The control program autonomously traverses the hierarchical structure of view node objects and generates unique names by combining parent object names with device-specific identifiers, making the system self-configuring and error-proof.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

2Productivity

If hierarchical structure with automatic naming is implemented, then efficiency and error prevention improve, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveefficiency in adding objects to the systemVSAvoidcomplexity of naming structure and control program
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system segments the naming task into hierarchical components where each view node object represents a segment of the overall structure. Names are segmented into parent object names and device-specific identifiers, allowing systematic generation and management of unique names across the entire field device hierarchy.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system implements nesting by creating a hierarchical structure where child view node objects are nested within parent view node objects. Each level of the hierarchy contains nested elements, and names are constructed by nesting parent names within child names, forming a nested naming pattern that reflects the nested structural organization.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #7Nested doll (Nesting)

Data Source

PatentEP2764414B1System and method for automatically naming objects in a building automation system
Publication Date: 2021.03.31 SIEMENS SCHWEIZ AG
  • EP2764414B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP2764414B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP2764414B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

A system, process, and method for modeling a building automation system is provided that permits a control program to easily and efficiently add building automation devices and automatically name them to improve efficiency and reduce errors.