Method and apparatus for generalized control of devices
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Building control systems face significant complexity due to the exponential growth of IoT and diverse applications, leading to management challenges and a lack of self-knowledge for optimizing interconnected systems, with existing model-free approaches struggling to translate computer actions into human-understandable actions.
Innovation Solution
A method that translates device inputs into an intermediate internal language using a controller, creating a digital twin representation of devices by determining device input characteristics and retrieving information from a database, allowing for the assignment of actor and quanta types, and enabling semantic protocol translation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If model-free control approaches are used, then implementation is simple, but management and optimization become difficult as system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a digital twin (a virtual copy) of the building system that mirrors the physical system's structure, components, and relationships. This digital representation enables complex simulations, optimizations, and analyses without affecting the physical system, thus maintaining implementation simplicity while overcoming management difficulties through virtual modeling and testing.
2Loss of information
If digital model based approaches are used, then system self-knowledge and optimization capability improve, but translation between computer actions and human-understandable actions becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary layer that translates between the digital twin's computational language and human-understandable representations. This intermediary enables bidirectional communication, allowing the system to maintain sophisticated digital models for self-knowledge while providing intuitive visualizations and explanations for human operators through graphical interfaces and natural language descriptions.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the system integrates multiple device languages and protocols, then device compatibility and adaptability improve, but controller complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal translation layer within the controller that can handle multiple device languages, protocols, and communication standards. This universal interface translates diverse device communications into a standardized internal format, enabling the controller to work with various devices without increasing operational complexity for users, as all translations occur transparently in the background.
Data Source
AI summary
Tools and techniques are described to attach a device to a controller, whereby the controller analyzes the device inputs, looks up information about the device in a database, and then determines which inputs on the device match the defined device inputs. It then may translate information received from the device into an intermediate language. It may also use the information received from the device, the location of the device, and information about the device to create a digital twin of the device.