Semantic Event Reporting Across Heterogeneous Building Systems
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current building management systems face challenges in accessing and managing event data from diverse, heterogeneous systems due to proprietary protocols and isolated management systems, making it burdensome to detect and report events across different domains like HVAC, security, and transportation.
Innovation Solution
A building management system with a building system interface, event service module, knowledge base with semantic descriptions, and user interface that enables the creation of event filters and reporting of event data through a unified semantic service module, allowing for the retrieval and conversion of event data across disparate systems.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If heterogeneous proprietary protocols are used for each building system, then system-specific functionality is maintained, but accessing event data across multiple systems becomes burdensome and complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal event data access interface that can retrieve event data from multiple heterogeneous building systems (HVAC, security, lighting, etc.) through a single unified API. This universal interface abstracts away the proprietary protocols of individual systems, allowing users to access event data across all systems without needing to know system-specific protocols, thus resolving the contradiction between maintaining system-specific functionality and enabling easy cross-system data access.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary event service layer that sits between the user and the heterogeneous building systems. This intermediary service translates universal event data requests into system-specific protocol commands and vice versa, mediating between the need for simple universal access and the reality of complex proprietary protocols. The intermediary handles protocol translation, authentication, and data normalization, making event data access easy while preserving system-specific characteristics.
2Reliability
If isolated building management systems are used for each system, then system independence and reliability are maintained, but event data from different systems cannot be integrated or accessed together
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the building management architecture into independent system components that each maintain their own event data and operational independence, while introducing a unified event service layer that aggregates events from all segments. Each building system remains isolated and reliable independently, but the segmentation allows the unified service to collect, standardize, and provide integrated access to event data from all segments without compromising system independence.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a nested architecture where individual building system event services are nested within a larger unified event service framework. Each system's event service maintains its independence at its level, while being nested within the broader integration layer that provides cross-system event access. This nesting allows systems to remain independent and reliable while simultaneously enabling integrated event data access through the outer framework.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple proprietary protocols are supported for different systems, then comprehensive system coverage is achieved, but the complexity of managing and accessing event data increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a standardized copy or representation of event data from various proprietary protocols through a universal event data model. Instead of directly managing the complexity of multiple protocols, the system creates normalized copies of event data that follow a common structure, allowing comprehensive system coverage while simplifying protocol management. The universal event service handles protocol-specific complexities in the background while presenting a simplified interface.
4Measurement precision
If event data from diverse systems is accessed through isolated management systems, then system-specific event processing is optimized, but overall event detection and reporting efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the event detection and reporting functions across multiple isolated building systems into a unified event service. This combining allows the system to maintain optimized system-specific event processing while simultaneously improving overall efficiency through centralized event aggregation, filtering, and reporting. The unified service can apply global event filters and generate consolidated reports that span multiple systems, increasing productivity without sacrificing system-specific processing quality.
Data Source
AI summary
A building management system includes a building system interface (24) configured to access a building system (20); an event service module (26) configured to access event data in the building system through the building system interface (24); a knowledge base (12) providing a model of the building system, the model including semantic descriptions of the event data, the semantic descriptions of the event data being arranged in an ontology; a semantic service module (30) in communication with the knowledge base (12); and a user interface (14) in communication with the semantic service module (30) and the event service module (26), the user interface (14) generating a user request to create an event filter having a filter criterion and report event data matching the filter criterion.