Edge Event Enrichment for Holistic Building Data Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current building management systems lack dynamic, scalable, and adjustable solutions for holistic management of building systems, as discrete predefined controlling systems operate independently without knowledge of the building's overall state.
Innovation Solution
A cloud-based building system that receives events from building equipment, enriches them with contextual data, and provides enriched events to consuming applications, using schema matching, graph projections, and change feeds to facilitate holistic management and communication across building subsystems.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If discrete predefined controlling systems are used for each building subsystem, then each subsystem can operate independently with simple control logic, but the system lacks holistic management capability and cannot provide dynamic scalable solutions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges discrete building subsystems into a unified building management platform using an event-driven architecture. Event sources from different subsystems (HVAC, security, lighting) publish events to a common event stream, which are then enriched with contextual data from graph projections representing the building's holistic structure. This allows independent subsystem operation while achieving integrated management through shared event processing and graph-based contextual relationships.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a centralized building management system is implemented to achieve holistic management, then dynamic and scalable solutions can be provided, but the system complexity increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the building management system into independent modular components: event sources that generate events, an enrichment service that adds contextual data, graph projection databases that store building models, and consuming applications that process enriched events. Each component operates independently with well-defined interfaces through event streams, reducing overall system complexity while enabling holistic management through their coordinated interaction.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an event enrichment service as an intermediary between event sources and consuming applications. This mediator receives raw events, enriches them with contextual information from graph projections, validates schemas, and forwards enriched events to consumers. This intermediary layer simplifies the architecture by centralizing complex enrichment logic and isolating event sources from consumers, reducing point-to-point complexity.
3Loss of information
If contextual data enrichment is performed for all events, then consuming applications receive comprehensive information for better decision making, but the data processing time and computational resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent pre-computes and stores graph projections of building data models before events arrive. These graph projections contain pre-processed contextual relationships (equipment hierarchies, spatial relationships, operational dependencies) that can be quickly queried during event enrichment. By performing this complex graph computation in advance rather than in real-time during event processing, the system minimizes event processing time while maintaining information completeness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enriches events with contextual data selectively based on the specific event type and the requirements of consuming applications. Rather than adding all possible contextual information uniformly to every event, the enrichment service queries graph projections for only the relevant contextual data needed for that particular event (e.g., spatial context for occupancy events, equipment hierarchy for maintenance events), reducing processing overhead while maintaining necessary information quality.
4Reliability
If schema validation is strictly enforced for all incoming events, then data quality and consistency are maintained, but events with new or unrecognized schemas are rejected causing loss of potentially valuable data
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a schema validation system with feedback mechanisms that monitor rejected events and enable schema evolution. When events with unrecognized schemas are encountered, the system can log these events, analyze their structure, and facilitate schema updates through administrative interfaces. This feedback loop allows the system to maintain strict validation for known schemas (ensuring data consistency) while adapting to accommodate new equipment and event formats over time, balancing reliability with adaptability.
Data Source
AI summary
An edge platform of a building communicatively coupled to a cloud system, the edge platform including one or more memory devices having instructions stored thereon and one or more processors executing the instructions causing the one or more processors to receive an event from a piece of building equipment of the building, the event indicating a data value associated with the piece of building equipment occurring at a particular time, identify contextual data of a data structure that provides a contextual description of the event, generate an enriched event by enriching the event with the contextual data, the enriched event including the data value, the particular time, and the contextual data, and communicate the enriched event to the cloud system configured to operate based on the enriched event.