Semantic Building Data Access Across Heterogeneous Control Systems
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current building management systems face challenges in accessing and managing data from diverse, heterogeneous building systems due to the multitude of proprietary protocols and isolated systems, making data reading and writing cumbersome.
Innovation Solution
A building management system that employs a knowledge base with semantic descriptions of building system data arranged in an ontology, a data service module, and a semantic service module to facilitate unified access and control across disparate systems through a user interface, enabling semantic searches and operations across multiple domains.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If proprietary protocols and isolated building management systems are used for each system (HVAC, security, safety, building transportation), then each system can maintain its own data access methods and protocols, but data access becomes burdensome and complex due to the multitude of heterogeneous protocols and isolated systems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a building management system as an intermediary layer between users and multiple heterogeneous building systems. This intermediary provides a unified interface that abstracts away the complexity of proprietary protocols, allowing access to diverse systems (HVAC, security, safety, building transportation) through a single standardized interface rather than requiring separate protocol knowledge for each system.
Solution Approach 2:
The building management system is designed with universal functionality to handle multiple types of building systems through a single platform. It provides multi-functional capabilities including data collection, processing, storage, and retrieval across different system types, eliminating the need for separate access methods for each system category.
2Ease of operation
If a unified building management system is implemented to simplify data access across diverse building systems, then data access becomes easier and more efficient, but the system complexity increases due to the need to integrate multiple heterogeneous protocols and systems
Solution Approach 1:
The building management system is segmented into distinct functional modules including data collection modules for different building systems, a central processing unit, and data storage components. This modular segmentation allows each module to handle specific protocols and system types independently, reducing the complexity burden on the overall system while maintaining unified access capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs intermediary components that translate between proprietary protocols of various building systems and a standardized internal data format. This intermediary layer handles protocol conversion and data normalization, simplifying access for users while managing the complexity of integrating multiple heterogeneous systems behind the scenes.
Data Source
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AI summary
A building management system includes a building system interface configured to access a building system; a data service module configured to access building system data in the building system through the building system interface; a knowledge base providing a model of the building system, the model including semantic descriptions of the building system data, the semantic descriptions of the building system data being arranged in an ontology; a semantic service module in communication with the knowledge base; and a user interface in communication with the semantic service module and the data service module, the user interface generating a user access request to access building system data.