Patent Application
20240035696
The present disclosure relates generally to a building management system of a building. The present disclosure relates more particularly to systems for managing, processing, and visualizing data for the building.
A building management system may aggregate and store building data received from building equipment and/or other data sources. The building data can be stored in a database. The building management system can include a building system that operates analytic and/or control algorithms against the data of the database to control the building equipment. However, the development and/or deployment of the analytic and/or control algorithms may be time consuming and require a significant amount of software development. Furthermore, the analytic and/or control algorithms may lack flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances in the building. In some cases, the output data of the analytic and/or control algorithms may be hard for a user to conceptualize and relate to the physical components of the building for which the information is generated.
One implementation of the present disclosure is a building system comprising one or more storage devices storing instructions thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to ingest information associated with a physical asset of a building, the physical asset being one of a heating system, a ventilation system, or an air conditioning system. The instructions further cause the one or more processors to cross-correlate a first identifier associated with the information with a second identifier associated with a virtual asset of a graphical model of the building to determine a location of the virtual asset within the graphical model, the virtual asset corresponding to the physical asset. The instructions further cause the one or more processors to cause the graphical model of the building to include a representation of the information using the location of the virtual asset. The instructions further cause the one or more processors to cause a display device of a user device to display the graphical model within a user interface.
Another implementation of the present disclosure is a building system comprising one or more storage devices storing instructions thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to ingest information associated with a physical asset of a building, the physical asset being one of a heating system, a ventilation system, or an air conditioning system. The instructions further cause the one or more processors to determine a location of a virtual asset of a graphical model of the building, the virtual asset corresponding to the physical asset. The instructions further cause the one or more processors to cause the graphical model of the building to include a representation of the information using the location of the virtual asset. The instructions further cause the one or more processors to cause a display device of a user device to display the graphical model within a user interface.
One implementation of the present disclosure is a method comprising ingesting, by one or more processors of a building system, information associated with a physical asset of a building, the physical asset being one of a heating system, a ventilation system, or an air conditioning system. The method further comprises determining, by the one or more processors, a location of a virtual asset of a graphical model of the building, the virtual asset corresponding to the physical asset. The method further comprises causing, by the one or more processors, the graphical model of the building to include a representation of the information using the location of the virtual asset. The method further comprises causing, by the one or more processors, a display device of a user device to display the graphical model within a user interface.
Various objects, aspects, features, and advantages of the disclosure will become more apparent and better understood by referring to the detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters identify corresponding elements throughout. In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements.
Referring generally to the FIGURES, systems and methods for generating three dimensional graphical models (e.g., building models) with intelligent visualization are shown, according to various exemplary embodiments. For example, the systems and methods described herein may pull in or ingest various information, such as a plurality of digital twins (e.g., graph projections associated with virtually represented assets), a variety of externally accessed information relating to one or more virtually represented assets, and/or various other information relating to, associated with, or otherwise pertaining to a graphical model to be generated and displayed to a user.
In some instances, a digital twin can be a virtual representation of a building and/or an entity of the building (e.g., space, piece of equipment, occupant, etc.). Furthermore, the digital twin can represent a service performed in a building, e.g., facility management, clean air optimization, energy prediction, equipment maintenance, etc. In some instances, the systems and methods described herein allow for the cross-correlation of information received or ingested from one or more external sources or systems (e.g., via one or more external access application programming interface (APIs) or software development kit (SDK) components) by using one or more device or asset identification numbers to determine a location of a corresponding virtual asset (e.g., associated with an ingested digital twin) within the graphical model. The cross-correlated information may then be visually represented within the graphical model by displaying the cross-correlated information near the corresponding virtual asset or by utilizing the cross-correlated information to alter a visual representation of the virtual asset itself (e.g., creating a heat map at a cross-correlated location or space within the graphical model, highlighting the corresponding virtual asset within the graphical model, etc.).
In some embodiments, each digital twin can include an information data store and a connector. The information data store can store the information describing the entity that the digital twin operates for (e.g., attributes of the entity, measurements associated with the entity, control points or commands of the entity, etc.). In some embodiments, the data store can be a graph including various nodes and edges. The connector can be a software component that provides telemetry from the entity (e.g., physical device) to the information store. In some embodiments, the systems and methods described herein are configured to allow for various cross-correlated information received from or ingested from the one or more external sources or systems to be pushed to the corresponding digital twin associated with the virtual asset and used to update one or more pieces of stored information of the digital twin.
In some embodiments, the systems and methods described herein can cause the graphical model to render in a user interface of a user device and allow a user to view the model, view information associated with the components of the model, and/or navigate throughout the model. In some embodiments, a user can provide commands and/or inputs via the user device within the rendered graphical model to request information from and/or push data to one or more of the digital twins and/or one or more external sources or systems associated with one or more virtual assets. In some instances, the commands and/or inputs may further trigger one or more actions by one or more physical assets (e.g., increasing the set point temperature of an air conditioning unit) corresponding to one or more virtual assets interacted with by the user within the graphical model.
Referring now to
The building data platform 100 includes applications 110. The applications 110 can be various applications that operate to manage the building subsystems 122. The applications 110 can be remote or on-premises applications (or a hybrid of both) that run on various computing systems. The applications 110 can include an alarm application 168 configured to manage alarms for the building subsystems 122. The applications 110 include an assurance application 170 that implements assurance services for the building subsystems 122. In some embodiments, the applications 110 include an energy application 172 configured to manage the energy usage of the building subsystems 122. The applications 110 include a security application 174 configured to manage security systems of the building.
In some embodiments, the applications 110 and/or the cloud platform 106 interacts with a user device 176. In some embodiments, a component or an entire application of the applications 110 runs on the user device 176. The user device 176 may be a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a smartphone, a tablet, and/or any other device with an input interface (e.g., touch screen, mouse, keyboard, etc.) and an output interface (e.g., a speaker, a display, etc.).
The applications 110, the twin manager 108, the cloud platform 106, and the edge platform 102 can be implemented on one or more computing systems, e.g., on processors and/or memory devices. For example, the edge platform 102 includes processor(s) 118 and memories 120, the cloud platform 106 includes processor(s) 124 and memories 126, the applications 110 include processor(s) 164 and memories 166, and the twin manager 108 includes processor(s) 148 and memories 150.
The processors can be general purpose or specific purpose processors, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), a group of processing components, or other suitable processing components. The processors may be configured to execute computer code and/or instructions stored in the memories or received from other computer readable media (e.g., CDROM, network storage, a remote server, etc.).
The memories can include one or more devices (e.g., memory units, memory devices, storage devices, etc.) for storing data and/or computer code for completing and/or facilitating the various processes described in the present disclosure. The memories can include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), hard drive storage, temporary storage, non-volatile memory, flash memory, optical memory, or any other suitable memory for storing software objects and/or computer instructions. The memories can include database components, object code components, script components, or any other type of information structure for supporting the various activities and information structures described in the present disclosure. The memories can be communicably connected to the processors and can include computer code for executing (e.g., by the processors) one or more processes described herein.
The edge platform 102 can be configured to provide connection to the building subsystems 122. The edge platform 102 can receive messages from the building subsystems 122 and/or deliver messages to the building subsystems 122. The edge platform 102 includes one or multiple gateways, e.g., the gateways 112-116. The gateways 112-116 can act as a gateway between the cloud platform 106 and the building subsystems 122. The gateways 112-116 can be or function similar to the gateways described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/127,303, filed Dec. 18th, 2020, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein. In some embodiments, the applications 110 can be deployed on the edge platform 102. In this regard, lower latency in management of the building subsystems 122 can be realized.
The edge platform 102 can be connected to the cloud platform 106 via a network 104. The network 104 can communicatively couple the devices and systems of building data platform 100. In some embodiments, the network 104 is at least one of and/or a combination of a Wi-Fi network, a wired Ethernet network, a ZigBee network, a Bluetooth network, and/or any other wireless network. The network 104 may be a local area network or a wide area network (e.g., the Internet, a building WAN, etc.) and may use a variety of communications protocols (e.g., BACnet, IP, LON, etc.). The network 104 may include routers, modems, servers, cell towers, satellites, and/or network switches. The network 104 may be a combination of wired and wireless networks.
The cloud platform 106 can be configured to facilitate communication and routing of messages between the applications 110, the twin manager 108, the edge platform 102, and/or any other system. The cloud platform 106 can include a platform manager 128, a messaging manager 140, a command processor 136, and an enrichment manager 138. In some embodiments, the cloud platform 106 can facilitate messaging between the building data platform 100 via the network 104.
The messaging manager 140 can be configured to operate as a transport service that controls communication with the building subsystems 122 and/or any other system, e.g., managing commands to devices (C2D), commands to connectors (C2C) for external systems, commands from the device to the cloud (D2C), and/or notifications. The messaging manager 140 can receive different types of data from the applications 110, the twin manager 108, and/or the edge platform 102. The messaging manager 140 can receive change on value data 142, e.g., data that indicates that a value of a point has changed. The messaging manager 140 can receive time series data 144, e.g., a time correlated series of data entries each associated with a particular time stamp. Furthermore, the messaging manager 140 can receive command data 146. All of the messages handled by the cloud platform 106 can be handled as an event, e.g., the data 142-146 can each be packaged as an event with a data value occurring at a particular time (e.g., a temperature measurement made at a particular time).
The cloud platform 106 includes a command processor 136. The command processor 136 can be configured to receive commands to perform an action from the applications 110, the building subsystems 122, the user device 176, etc. The command processor 136 can manage the commands, determine whether the commanding system is authorized to perform the particular commands, and communicate the commands to the commanded system, e.g., the building subsystems 122 and/or the applications 110. The commands could be a command to change an operational setting that control environmental conditions of a building, a command to run analytics, etc.
The cloud platform 106 includes an enrichment manager 138. The enrichment manager 138 can be configured to enrich the events received by the messaging manager 140. The enrichment manager 138 can be configured to add contextual information to the events. The enrichment manager 138 can communicate with the twin manager 108 to retrieve the contextual information. In some embodiments, the contextual information is an indication of information related to the event. For example, if the event is a time series temperature measurement of a thermostat, contextual information such as the location of the thermostat (e.g., what room), the equipment controlled by the thermostat (e.g., what VAV), etc. can be added to the event. In this regard, when a consuming application, e.g., one of the applications 110 receives the event, the consuming application can operate based on the data of the event, the temperature measurement, and also the contextual information of the event.
The enrichment manager 138 can solve a problem that when a device produces a significant amount of information, the information may contain simple data without context. An example might include the data generated when a user scans a badge at a badge scanner of the building subsystems 122. This physical event can generate an output event including such information as “DeviceBadgeScannerID,” “BadgeID,” and/or “Date/Time.” However, if a system sends this data to a consuming application, e.g., Consumer A and a Consumer B, each customer may need to call the building data platform knowledge service to query information with queries such as, “What space, build, floor is that badge scanner in?” or “What user is associated with that badge?”
By performing enrichment on the data feed, a system can be able to perform inferences on the data. A result of the enrichment may be transformation of the message “DeviceBadgeScannerId, BadgeId, Date/Time,” to “Region, Building, Floor, Asset, DeviceId, BadgeId, UserName, EmployeeId, Date/Time Scanned.” This can be a significant optimization, as a system can reduce the number of calls by 1/n, where n is the number of consumers of this data feed.
By using this enrichment, a system can also have the ability to filter out undesired events. If there are 100 building in a campus that receive 100,000 events per building each hour, but only 1 building is actually commissioned, only 1/10 of the events are enriched. By looking at what events are enriched and what events are not enriched, a system can do traffic shaping of forwarding of these events to reduce the cost of forwarding events that no consuming application wants or reads.
An example of an event received by the enrichment manager 138 may be:
An example of an enriched event generated by the enrichment manager 138 may be:
By receiving enriched events, an application of the applications 110 can be able to populate and/or filter what events are associated with what areas. Furthermore, user interface generating applications can generate user interfaces that include the contextual information based on the enriched events.
The cloud platform 106 includes a platform manager 128. The platform manager 128 can be configured to manage the users and/or subscriptions of the cloud platform 106. For example, what subscribing building, user, and/or tenant utilizes the cloud platform 106. The platform manager 128 includes a provisioning service 130 configured to provision the cloud platform 106, the edge platform 102, and the twin manager 108. The platform manager 128 includes a subscription service 132 configured to manage a subscription of the building, user, and/or tenant while the entitlement service 134 can track entitlements of the buildings, users, and/or tenants.
The twin manager 108 can be configured to manage and maintain a digital twin. The digital twin can be a digital representation of the physical environment, e.g., a building. The twin manager 108 can include a change feed generator 152, a schema and ontology 154, a graph projection manager 156, a policy manager 158, an entity, relationship, and event database 160, and a graph projection database 162.
The graph projection manager 156 can be configured to construct graph projections and store the graph projections in the graph projection database 162. Example of graph projections are shown in
In some embodiment, the graph projection manager 156 generates a graph projection for a particular user, application, subscription, and/or system. In this regard, the graph projection can be generated based on policies for the particular user, application, and/or system in addition to an ontology specific for that user, application, and/or system. In this regard, an entity could request a graph projection and the graph projection manager 156 can be configured to generate the graph projection for the entity based on policies and an ontology specific to the entity. The policies can indicate what entities, relationships, and/or events the entity has access to. The ontology can indicate what types of relationships between entities the requesting entity expects to see, e.g., floors within a building, devices within a floor, etc. Another requesting entity may have an ontology to see devices within a building and applications for the devices within the graph.
The graph projections generated by the graph projection manager 156 and stored in the graph projection database 162 can be a knowledge graph and is an integration point. For example, the graph projections can represent floor plans and systems associated with each floor. Furthermore, the graph projections can include events, e.g., telemetry data of the building subsystems 122. The graph projections can show application services as nodes and API calls between the services as edges in the graph. The graph projections can illustrate the capabilities of spaces, users, and/or devices. The graph projections can include indications of the building subsystems 122, e.g., thermostats, cameras, air handling units, variable air volume (VAV) systems, cooling towers, pumps, chillers, valves, dampers, lighting, light sensors, fire and safety devices, access control devices, parking sensors, Wi-Fi devices, audio/visual systems, etc. The graph projection database 162 can store graph projections that keep up a current state of a building.
The graph projections of the graph projection database 162 can be digital twins of a building. Digital twins can be digital replicas of physical entities (e.g., locations, spaces, equipment, assets, etc.) that enable an in-depth analysis of data of the physical entities and provide the potential to monitor systems to mitigate risks, manage issues, and utilize simulations to test future solutions. Digital twins can play an important role in helping technicians find the root cause of issues and solve problems faster, in supporting safety and security protocols, and in supporting building managers in more efficient use of energy and other facilities resources. Digital twins can be used to enable and unify security systems, employee experience, facilities management, sustainability, etc.
In some embodiments the enrichment manager 138 can use a graph projection of the graph projection database 162 to enrich events. In some embodiments, the enrichment manager 138 can identify nodes and relationships that are associated with, and are pertinent to, the device that generated the event. For example, the enrichment manager 138 could identify a thermostat generating a temperature measurement event within the graph. The enrichment manager 138 can identify relationships between the thermostat and spaces, e.g., a zone that the thermostat is located in. The enrichment manager 138 can add an indication of the zone to the event.
Furthermore, the command processor 136 can be configured to utilize the graph projections to command the building subsystems 122. The command processor 136 can identify a policy for a commanding entity within the graph projection to determine whether the commanding entity has the ability to make the command. For example, the command processor 136, before allowing a user to make a command, may determine, based on the graph projection database 162, that the user has a policy to be able to make the command.
In some embodiments, the policies can be conditional based policies. For example, the building data platform 100 can apply one or more conditional rules to determine whether a particular system has the ability to perform an action. In some embodiments, the rules analyze a behavioral based biometric. For example, a behavioral based biometric can indicate normal behavior and/or normal behavior rules for a system. In some embodiments, when the building data platform 100 determines, based on the one or more conditional rules, that an action requested by a system does not match a normal behavior, the building data platform 100 can deny the system the ability to perform the action and/or request approval from a higher-level system.
For example, a behavior rule could indicate that a user has access to log into a system with a particular IP address between 8 A.M. through 5 P.M. However, if the user logs in to the system at 7 P.M., the building data platform 100 may contact an administrator to determine whether to give the user permission to log in.
The change feed generator 152 can be configured to generate a feed of events that indicate changes to the digital twin, e.g., to the graph. The change feed generator 152 can track changes to the entities, relationships, and/or events of the graph. For example, the change feed generator 152 can detect an addition, deletion, and/or modification of a node or edge of the graph, e.g., changing the entities, relationships, and/or events within the database 160. In response to detecting a change to the graph, the change feed generator 152 can generate an event summarizing the change. The event can indicate what nodes and/or edges have changed and how the nodes and edges have changed. The events can be posted to a topic by the change feed generator 152.
The change feed generator 152 can implement a change feed of a knowledge graph. The building data platform 100 can implement a subscription to changes in the knowledge graph. When the change feed generator 152 posts events in the change feed, subscribing systems or applications can receive the change feed event. By generating a record of all changes that have happened, a system can stage data in different ways, and then replay the data back in whatever order the system wishes. This can include running the changes sequentially one by one and/or by jumping from one major change to the next. For example, to generate a graph at a particular time, all change feed events up to the particular time can be used to construct the graph.
The change feed can track the changes in each node in the graph and the relationships related to them, in some embodiments. If a user wants to subscribe to these changes and the user has proper access, the user can simply submit a web API call to have sequential notifications of each change that happens in the graph. A user and/or system can replay the changes one by one to reinstitute the graph at any given time slice. Even though the messages are “thin” and only include notification of change and the reference “id/seq id,” the change feed can keep a copy of every state of each node and/or relationship so that a user and/or system can retrieve those past states at any time for each node. Furthermore, a consumer of the change feed could also create dynamic “views” allowing different “snapshots” in time of what the graph looks like from a particular context. While the twin manager 108 may contain the history and the current state of the graph based upon schema evaluation, a consumer can retain a copy of that data, and thereby create dynamic views using the change feed.
The schema and ontology 154 can define the message schema and graph ontology of the twin manager 108. The message schema can define what format messages received by the messaging manager 140 should have, e.g., what parameters, what formats, etc. The ontology can define graph projections, e.g., the ontology that a user wishes to view. For example, various systems, applications, and/or users can be associated with a graph ontology. Accordingly, when the graph projection manager 156 generates a graph projection for a user, system, or subscription, the graph projection manager 156 can generate a graph projection according to the ontology specific to the user. For example, the ontology can define what types of entities are related in what order in a graph, for example, for the ontology for a subscription of “Customer A,” the graph projection manager 156 can create relationships for a graph projection based on the rule:
For the ontology of a subscription of “Customer B,” the graph projection manager 156 can create relationships based on the rule:
The policy manager 158 can be configured to respond to requests from other applications and/or systems for policies. The policy manager 158 can consult a graph projection to determine what permissions different applications, users, and/or devices have. The graph projection can indicate various permissions that different types of entities have and the policy manager 158 can search the graph projection to identify the permissions of a particular entity. The policy manager 158 can facilitate fine grain access control with user permissions. The policy manager 158 can apply permissions across a graph, e.g., if “user can view all data associated with floor 1” then they see all subsystem data for that floor, e.g., surveillance cameras, heating, ventilation, and/or air conditioning (“HVAC”) devices, fire detection and response devices, etc.
The twin manager 108 includes a query manager 165 and a twin function manager 167. The query manger 164 can be configured to handle queries received from a requesting system, e.g., the user device 176, the applications 110, and/or any other system. The query manager 165 can receive queries that include query parameters and context. The query manager 165 can query the graph projection database 162 with the query parameters to retrieve a result. The query manager 165 can then cause an event processor, e.g., a twin function, to operate based on the result and the context. In some embodiments, the query manager 165 can select the twin function based on the context and/or perform operates based on the context. In some embodiments, the query manager 165 is configured to perform a variety of differing operations. For example, in some instances, the query manager 165 is configured to perform any of the operations performed by the query manager described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/537,046, filed Nov. 29th, 2021, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.
The twin function manager 167 can be configured to manage the execution of twin functions. The twin function manager 167 can receive an indication of a context query that identifies a particular data element and/or pattern in the graph projection database 162. Responsive to the particular data element and/or pattern occurring in the graph projection database 162 (e.g., based on a new data event added to the graph projection database 162 and/or change to nodes or edges of the graph projection database 162), the twin function manager 167 can cause a particular twin function to execute. The twin function can be executed based on an event, context, and/or rules. The event can be data that the twin function executes against. The context can be information that provides a contextual description of the data, e.g., what device the event is associated with, what control point should be updated based on the event, etc. The twin function manager 167 can be configured to perform a variety of differing operations. For example, in some instances, the twin function manager 167 is configured to perform any of the operations of the twin function manager described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/537,046, referenced above.
Referring now to
The graph projection 200 includes a device hub 202 which may represent a software service that facilitates the communication of data and commands between the cloud platform 106 and a device of the building subsystems 122, e.g., door actuator 214. The device hub 202 is related to a connector 204, an external system 206, and a digital asset “Door Actuator” 208 by edge 250, edge 252, and edge 254.
The cloud platform 106 can be configured to identify the device hub 202, the connector 204, the external system 206 related to the door actuator 214 by searching the graph projection 200 and identifying the edges 250-254 and edge 258. The graph projection 200 includes a digital representation of the “Door Actuator,” node 208. The digital asset “Door Actuator” 208 includes a “DeviceNameSpace” represented by node 207 and related to the digital asset “Door Actuator” 208 by the “Property of Object” edge 256.
The “Door Actuator” 214 has points and time series. The “Door Actuator” 214 is related to “Point A” 216 by a “has_a” edge 260. The “Door Actuator” 214 is related to “Point B” 218 by a “has_A” edge 259. Furthermore, time series associated with the points A and B are represented by nodes “TS” 220 and “TS” 222. The time series are related to the points A and B by “has_a” edge 264 and “has_a” edge 262. The time series “TS” 220 has particular samples, sample 210 and 212 each related to “TS” 220 with edges 268 and 266 respectively. Each sample includes a time and a value. Each sample may be an event received from the door actuator that the cloud platform 106 ingests into the entity, relationship, and event database 160, e.g., ingests into the graph projection 200.
The graph projection 200 includes a building 234 representing a physical building. The building includes a floor represented by floor 232 related to the building 234 by the “has_a” edge from the building 234 to the floor 232. The floor has a space indicated by the edge “has_a” 270 between the floor 232 and the space 230. The space has particular capabilities, e.g., is a room that can be booked for a meeting, conference, private study time, etc. Furthermore, the booking can be canceled. The capabilities for the floor 232 are represented by capabilities 228 related to space 230 by edge 280. The capabilities 228 are related to two different commands, command “book room” 224 and command “cancel booking” 226 related to capabilities 228 by edge 284 and edge 282 respectively.
If the cloud platform 106 receives a command to book the space represented by the node, space 230, the cloud platform 106 can search the graph projection 200 for the capabilities for the 228 related to the space 230 to determine whether the cloud platform 106 can book the room.
In some embodiments, the cloud platform 106 could receive a request to book a room in a particular building, e.g., the building 234. The cloud platform 106 could search the graph projection 200 to identify spaces that have the capabilities to be booked, e.g., identify the space 230 based on the capabilities 228 related to the space 230. The cloud platform 106 can reply to the request with an indication of the space and allow the requesting entity to book the space 230.
The graph projection 200 includes a policy 236 for the floor 232. The policy 236 is related set for the floor 232 based on a “To Floor” edge 274 between the policy 236 and the floor 232. The policy 236 is related to different roles for the floor 232, read events 238 via edge 276 and send command 240 via edge 278. The policy 236 is set for the entity 203 based on has edge 251 between the entity 203 and the policy 236.
The twin manager 108 can identify policies for particular entities, e.g., users, software applications, systems, devices, etc. based on the policy 236. For example, if the cloud platform 106 receives a command to book the space 230. The cloud platform 106 can communicate with the twin manager 108 to verify that the entity requesting to book the space 230 has a policy to book the space. The twin manager 108 can identify the entity requesting to book the space as the entity 203 by searching the graph projection 200. Furthermore, the twin manager 108 can further identify the edge has 251 between the entity 203 and the policy 236 and the edge 1178 between the policy 236 and the command 240.
Furthermore, the twin manager 108 can identify that the entity 203 has the ability to command the space 230 based on the edge 274 between the policy 236 and the floor 232 and the edge 270 between the floor 232 and the space 230. In response to identifying the entity 203 has the ability to book the space 230, the twin manager 108 can provide an indication to the cloud platform 106.
Furthermore, if the entity 203 makes a request to read events for the space 230, e.g., the sample 210 and the sample 212, the twin manager 108 can identify the edge has 251 between the entity 203 and the policy 236, the edge 276 between the policy 236 and the read events 238, the edge 274 between the policy 236 and the floor 232, the “has_a” edge 270 between the floor 232 and the space 230, the edge 271 between the space 230 and the door actuator 214, the edge 260 between the door actuator 214 and the point A 216, the “has_a” edge 264 between the point A 216 and the TS 220, and the edges 268 and 266 between the TS 220 and the samples 210 and 212 respectively.
Additional examples of potential graph projections can be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/537,046, referenced above. However, it will be appreciated that a variety of differing graph projections may be implemented, as desired for a given application or scenario. As such, the example graph projections provided herein are provided as examples, and are in no way meant to be limiting.
Referring now to
A digital twin (or a shadow) may be a computing entity that describes a physical thing (e.g., a building, spaces of a building, devices of a building, people of the building, equipment of the building, etc.) through modeling the physical thing through a set of attributes that define the physical thing. A digital twin can refer to a digital replica of physical assets (a physical device twin) and can be extended to store processes, people, places, systems that can be used for various purposes. The digital twin can include both the ingestion of information and actions learned and executed through artificial intelligence agents.
In
The twin manager 108 stores the graph 329 which may be a graph data structure including various nodes and edges interrelating the nodes. The graph 329 may be the same as, or similar to, the graph projections described herein with reference to
The floor node 322 is related to the zone node 318 by the “has” edge 340 indicating that the floor represented by the floor node 322 has another zone represented by the zone node 318. The floor node 322 is related to another zone node 324 via a “has” edge 342 representing that the floor represented by the floor node 322 has a third zone represented by the zone node 324.
The graph 329 includes an AHU node 314 representing an AHU of the building represented by the building node 326. The AHU node 314 is related by a “supplies” edge 330 to the VAV node 312 to represent that the AHU represented by the AHU node 314 supplies air to the VAV represented by the VAV node 312. The AHU node 314 is related by a “supplies” edge 336 to the VAV node 320 to represent that the AHU represented by the AHU node 314 supplies air to the VAV represented by the VAV node 320. The AHU node 314 is related by a “supplies” edge 332 to the VAV node 316 to represent that the AHU represented by the AHU node 314 supplies air to the VAV represented by the VAV node 316.
The VAV node 316 is related to the zone node 318 via the “serves” edge 334 to represent that the VAV represented by the VAV node 316 serves (e.g., heats or cools) the zone represented by the zone node 318. The VAV node 320 is related to the zone node 324 via the “serves” edge 338 to represent that the VAV represented by the VAV node 320 serves (e.g., heats or cools) the zone represented by the zone node 324. The VAV node 312 is related to the zone node 310 via the “serves” edge 328 to represent that the VAV represented by the VAV node 312 serves (e.g., heats or cools) the zone represented by the zone node 310.
Furthermore, the graph 329 includes an edge 333 related to a time series node 364. The time series node 364 can be information stored within the graph 329 and/or can be information stored outside the graph 329 in a different database (e.g., a time series database). In some embodiments, the time series node 364 stores time series data (or any other type of data) for a data point of the VAV represented by the VAV node 316. The data of the time series node 364 can be aggregated and/or collected telemetry data of the time series node 364.
Furthermore, the graph 329 includes an edge 337 related to a time series node 366. The time series node 366 can be information stored within the graph 329 and/or can be information stored outside the graph 329 in a different database (e.g., a time series database). In some embodiments, the time series node 366 stores time series data (or any other type of data) for a data point of the VAV represented by the VAV node 316. The data of the time series node 364 can be inferred information, e.g., data inferred by one of the artificial intelligence agents 370 and written into the time series node 364 by the artificial intelligence agent 370. In some embodiments, the time series 364 and/or 366 are stored in the graph 329 but are stored as references to time series data stored in a time series database.
The twin manager 108 includes various software components. For example, the twin manager 108 includes a device management component 348 for managing devices of a building. The twin manager 108 includes a tenant management component 350 for managing various tenant subscriptions. The twin manager 108 includes an event routing component 352 for routing various events. The twin manager 108 includes an authentication and access component 354 for performing user and/or system authentication and grating the user and/or system access to various spaces, pieces of software, devices, etc. The twin manager 108 includes a commanding component 356 allowing a software application and/or user to send commands to physical devices. The twin manager 108 includes an entitlement component 358 that analyzes the entitlements of a user and/or system and grants the user and/or system abilities based on the entitlements. The twin manager 108 includes a telemetry component 360 that can receive telemetry data from physical systems and/or devices and ingest the telemetry data into the graph 329. For example, the telemetry data can come from thermostats, cameras, air handling units, variable air volume (VAV) systems, cooling towers, pumps, chillers, valves, dampers, lighting, light sensors, fire and safety devices, access control devices, parking sensors, Wi-Fi devices, audio/visual systems, or any other devices within the building. Furthermore, the twin manager 108 includes an integrations component 362 allowing the twin manager 108 to integrate with other applications.
The twin manager 108 includes a gateway 306 and a twin connector 308. The gateway 306 can be configured to integrate with other systems and the twin connector 308 can be configured to allow the gateway 306 to integrate with the twin manager 108. The gateway 306 and/or the twin connector 308 can receive an entitlement request 302 and/or an inference request 304. The entitlement request 302 can be a request received from a system and/or a user requesting that an AI agent action be taken by the AI agent 370. The entitlement request 302 can be checked against entitlements for the system and/or user to verify that the action requested by the system and/or user is allowed for the user and/or system. The inference request 304 can be a request that the AI agent 370 generates an inference, e.g., a projection of information, a prediction of a future data measurement, an extrapolated data value, etc.
The cloud platform 106 is shown to receive a manual entitlement request 386. The request 386 can be received from a system, application, and/or user device (e.g., from the applications 110, the building subsystems 122, and/or the user device 176). The manual entitlement request 386 may be a request for the AI agent 370 to perform an action, e.g., an action that the requesting system and/or user has an entitlement for. The cloud platform 106 can receive the manual entitlement request 386 and check the manual entitlement request 386 against an entitlement database 384 storing a set of entitlements to verify that the requesting system has access to the user and/or system. The cloud platform 106, responsive to the manual entitlement request 386 being approved, can create a job for the AI agent 370 to perform. The created job can be added to a job request topic 380 of a set of topics 378.
The job request topic 380 can be fed to AI agents 370. For example, the topics 380 can be fanned out to various AI agents 370 based on the AI agent that each of the topics 380 pertains to (e.g., based on an identifier that identifies an agent and is included in each job of the topic 380). The AI agents 370 include a service client 372, a connector 374, and a model 376. The model 376 can be loaded into the AI agent 370 from a set of AI models stored in the AI model storage 368. The AI model storage 368 can store models for making energy load predictions for a building, weather forecasting models for predicting a weather forecast, action/decision models to take certain actions responsive to certain conditions being met, an occupancy model for predicting occupancy of a space and/or a building, etc. The models of the AI model storage 368 can be neural networks (e.g., convolutional neural networks, recurrent neural networks, deep learning networks, etc.), decision trees, support vector machines, and/or any other type of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and/or deep learning category. In some embodiments, the models are rule based triggers and actions that include various parameters for setting a condition and defining an action.
The AI agent 370 can include triggers 395 and actions 397. The triggers 395 can be conditional rules that, when met, cause one or more of the actions 397. The triggers 395 can be executed based on information stored in the graph 329 and/or data received from the building subsystems 122. The actions 397 can be executed to determine commands, actions, and/or outputs. The output of the actions 397 can be stored in the graph 329 and/or communicated to the building subsystems 122.
The AI agent 370 can include a service client 372 that causes an instance of an AI agent to run. The instance can be hosted by the artificial intelligence service client 388. The client 388 can cause a client instance 392 to run and communicate with the AI agent 370 via a gateway 390. The client instance 392 can include a service application 394 that interfaces with a core algorithm 398 via a functional interface 396. The core algorithm 398 can run the model 376, e.g., train the model 376 and/or use the model 376 to make inferences and/or predictions.
In some embodiments, the core algorithm 398 can be configured to perform learning based on the graph 329. In some embodiments, the core algorithm 398 can read and/or analyze the nodes and relationships of the graph 329 to make decisions. In some embodiments, the core algorithm 398 can be configured to use telemetry data (e.g., the time series data 364) from the graph 329 to make inferences on and/or perform model learning. In some embodiments, the result of the inferences can be the time series 366. In some embodiments, the time series 364 is an input into the model 376 that predicts the time series 366.
In some embodiments, the core algorithm 398 can generate the time series 366 as an inference for a data point, e.g., a prediction of values for the data point at future times. The time series 364 may be actual data for the data point. In this regard, the core algorithm 398 can learn and train by comparing the inferred data values against the true data values. In this regard, the model 376 can be trained by the core algorithm 398 to improve the inferences made by the model 376.
In some embodiments, the system 300 is configured to execute one or more artificial intelligence agents to infer and/or predict information based on information obtained or otherwise retrieved from the graph 329. For example, in some instances, the system 300 may include a variety of different AI agents associated with and configured to analyze information pertaining to any of the various nodes within the graph 329. In some instances, the AI agents may analyze not only the nodes they pertain to, but also a variety of connectors and various triggers associated with those AI agents. For example, in some instances AI agents may be utilized to infer and/or predict information pertaining to the corresponding nodes, and to subsequently trigger various actions within the system 300. In some embodiment, the AI agents may trigger various actions according to associated trigger rules and action rules. The trigger rules and action rules can be logical statements and/or conditions that include parameter values and/or create associated output actions. In some instances, these trigger rules and actions rule may be defined by a user of the system 300. In some other instances, the AI agents may learn, create, or otherwise generate the trigger rules and actions rules based on various desired outcomes (e.g., reduce or minimize energy usage, improve or maximize air circulation, etc.). Example AI agents, triggers, actions, and trigger/rule learning processes are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/537,046, referenced above.
Referring now to
The system 400 includes a schema infusing tool 404. The schema infusing tool can infuse a particular schema, the schema 402, into various systems, services, and/or equipment in order to integrate the data of the various systems, services, and/or equipment into the building data platform 100. The schema 402 may be the BRICK schema, in some embodiments. In some embodiment, the schema 402 may be a schema that uses portions and/or all of the BRICK schema but also includes unique class, relationship types, and/or unique schema rules. The schema infusing tool 404 can infuse the schema 402 into systems such as systems that manage and/or produce building information model (BIM) data 418, building automation system (BAS) systems that produce BAS data 420, and/or access control and video surveillance (ACVS) systems that produce ACVS data 422. In some embodiments, the BIM data 418 can be generated by BIM automation utilities 2501.
The BIM data 418 can include data such as Revit data 424 (e.g., Navisworks data), industrial foundation class (IFC) data 426, gbxml data 428, and/or CoBie data 430. The BAS data 420 can include Modelica data 432 (e.g., Control Description Language (CDL) data), Project Haystack data 434, BACnet data 436, Metasys data 438, and/or EasyIO data 440. All of this data can utilize the schema 402 and/or be capable of being mapped into the schema 402.
The BAS data 420 and/or the ACVS data 422 may include time series data 408. The time series data 408 can include trends of data points over time, e.g., a time correlated set of data values each corresponding to time stamps. The time series data can be a time series of data measurements, e.g., temperature measurements, pressure measurements, etc. Furthermore, the time series data can be a time series of inferred and/or predicted information, e.g., an inferred temperature value, an inferred energy load, a predicted weather forecast, identities of individuals granted access to a facility over time, etc. The time series data 408 can further indicate command and/or control data, e.g., the damper position of a VAV over time, the set point of a thermostat over time, etc.
The system 400 includes a schema mapping toolchain 412. The schema mapping toolchain 412 can map the data of the metadata sources 406 into data of the schema 402, e.g., the data in schema 414. The data in schema 414 may be in a schema that can be integrated by an integration toolchain 416 with the building data platform 100 (e.g. ingested into the databases, graphs, and/or knowledge bases of the building data platform 100) and/or provided to the AI services and applications 410 for execution).
The AI services and applications 410 include building control 442, analytics 444, micro-grid management 446, and various other applications 448. The building control 442 can include various control applications that may utilize AI, ML, and/or any other software technique for managing control of a building. The building control 442 can include auto sequence of operation, optimal supervisory controls, etc. The analytics 444 include clean air optimization (CAO) applications, energy prediction model (EPM) applications, and/or any other type of analytics.
Referring now to
The system 500 includes various tools for converting the metadata sources 406 into the data in schema 414. Various mapping tools 502-512 can map data from an existing schema into the schema 402. For example, the mapping tools 502-512 can utilize a dictionary that provides mapping rules and syntax substitutions. In some embodiments, that data sources can have the schema 402 activated, e.g., schema enable 518-522. If the schema 402 is enabled for a Metasys data source, an easy IO data source, or an ACVS data sources, the output data by said systems can be in the schema 402. Examples of schema mapping techniques can be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/663,623 filed Oct. 25, 2019, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/885,968 filed May 28, 2020, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/885,959 filed May 28, 2020, the entireties of which are incorporated by reference herein.
For the EasyIO data 440, the EasyIO controller objects could be tagged with classes of the schema 402. For the Revit data 424, the metadata of a REVIT model could be converted into the schema 402, e.g., into a resource description format (RDF). For the Metasys data 438, Metasys SCT data could be converted into RDF. An OpenRefine aided mapping tool 514 and/or a natural language aided mapping tool 516 could perform the schema translation for the BACnet data 436.
The schema data output by the tools 502-522 can be provided to a reconciliation tool 530. The reconciliation tool 530 can be configured to merge complementary or duplicate information and/or resolve any conflicts in the data received from the tools 502-522. The result of the reconciliation performed by the reconciliation tool 530 can be the data in schema 414 which can be ingested into the building data platform 100 by the ingestion tool 532. The ingestion tool 532 can generate and/or update one or more graphs managed and/or stored by the twin manager 108. For example, the graph could be any of the graphs described with reference to
The system 500 includes agents that perform operations on behalf of the AI services and applications 410. For example, as shown in the system 500, the analytics 444 are related to various agents, a CAO AI agent 524, an EPM AI agent 526, and various other AI agents 528. The agents 524-528 can receive data from the building data platform 100, e.g., the data that the ingestion tool 532 ingests into the building data platform 100, and generate analytics data for the analytics 444.
Referring now to
The system 600 includes a client 602. The client 602 can integrate with the knowledge graph 614 and also with a graphical building model 604 that can be rendered on a screen of the user device 176. For example, the knowledge graph 614 could be any of the graphs described with reference to
The client 602 can retrieve information from the knowledge graph 614, e.g., an inference generated by the CAO AI agent 524, a prediction made by the EPM AI agent 526, operational data stored in the knowledge graph 614, and/or any other relevant information. The client 602 can ingest the values of the retrieved information into the graphical building model 604 which can be displayed on the user device 176. In some embodiments, when a particular visual component is being displayed on the user device 176 for the virtual model 604, e.g., a building, the corresponding information for the building can be displayed in the interface, e.g., inferences, predictions, and/or operational data.
For example, the client 602 could identify a node of the building in the knowledge graph 614, e.g., a building node, such as building node 234. The client 602 could identify information linked to the building node via edges, e.g., an energy prediction node related to the building node via an edge. The client 602 can cause the energy prediction associated with the building node to be displayed in the graphical building model 604.
In some embodiments, a user can provide input through the graphical building model 604. The input may be a manual action that a user provides via the user device 176. The manual action can be ingested into the knowledge graph 614 and stored as a node within the knowledge graph 614. In some embodiments, the manual action can trigger one of the agents 524-526 causing the agent to generate an inference and/or prediction which is ingested into the knowledge graph 614 and presented for user review in the model 604.
In some embodiments, the knowledge graph 614 includes data for the inferences and/or predictions that the agents 524 and 526 generate. For example, the knowledge graph 614 can store information such as the size of a building, the number of floors of the building, the equipment of each floor of the building, the square footage of each floor, square footage of each zone, ceiling heights, etc. The data can be stored as nodes in the knowledge graph 614 representing the physical characteristics of the building. In some embodiments, the CAO AI agent generates inferences and/or the EPM AI agent 526 makes the predictions based on the characteristic data of the building and/or physical areas of the building.
For example, the CAO AI agent 524 can operate on behalf of a CAO AI service 616. Similarly, the EPM AI agent 526 can operate on behalf of an EPM AI service 618. Furthermore a service bus 620 can interface with the agent 524 and/or the agent 526. A user can interface with the agents 524-526 via the user device 176. The user can provide an entitlement request, e.g., a request that the user is entitled to make and can be verified by an AI agent manager 622. The AI agent manager 622 can send an AI job request based on a schedule to the service bus 620 based on the entitlement request. The service bus 620 can communicate the AI job request to the appropriate agent and/or communicate results for the AI job back to the user device 176.
In some embodiments, the CAO AI agent 524 can provide a request for generating an inference to the CAO AI service 616. The request can include data read from the knowledge graph 614, in some embodiments.
The CAO AI agent 524 includes a client 624, a schema translator 626, and a CAO client 628. The client 624 can be configured to interface with the knowledge graph 614, e.g., read data out of the knowledge graph 614. The client 624 can further ingest inferences back into the knowledge graph 614. For example, the client 624 could identify time series nodes related to one or more nodes of the knowledge graph 614, e.g., time series nodes related to an AHU node via one or more edges. The client 624 can then ingest the inference made by the CAO AI agent 524 into the knowledge graph 614, e.g., add a CAO inference or update the CAO inference within the knowledge graph 614.
The client 624 can provide data it reads from the knowledge graph 614 to a schema translator 626 that may translate the data into a specific format in a specific schema that is appropriate for consumption by the CAO client 628 and/or the CAO AI service 616. The CAO client 628 can run one or more algorithms, software components, machine learning models, etc. to generate the inference and provide the inference to the client 624. In some embodiments, the client 624 can interface with the EPM AI service 618 and provide the translated data to the EPM AI service 618 for generating an inference. The inference can be returned by the EPM AI service 618 to the CAO client 628.
The EPM AI agent 526 can operate in a similar manner to the CAO AI agent 524, in some embodiments. The client 630 can retrieve data from the knowledge graph 614 and provide the data to the schema translator 632. The schema translator 632 can translate the data into a readable format by the CAO AI service 616 and can provide the data to the EPM client 634. The EPM client 634 can provide the data along with a prediction request to the CAO AI service 616. The CAO AI service 616 can generate the prediction and provide the prediction to the EPM client 634. The EPM client 634 can provide the prediction to the client 630 and the client 630 can ingest the prediction into the knowledge graph 614.
In some embodiments, the agents 524-526 combined with the knowledge graph 614 can create a digital twin. In some embodiments, the agents 524-526 are implemented for a specific node of the knowledge graph 614, e.g., on behalf of some and/or all of the entities of the knowledge graph 614. In some embodiments, the digital twin includes trigger and/or actions as also described in U.S. patent applicant Ser. No. 17/537,046, referenced above. In this regard, the agents can trigger based on information of the knowledge graph 614 (e.g., building ingested data and/or manual commands provide via the model 604) and generate inferences and/or predictions with data of the knowledge graph 614 responsive to being triggered. The resulting inferences and/or predictions can be ingested into the knowledge graph 614. The inferences and/or predictions can be displayed within the model 604.
In some embodiments, the animations of the model 604 can be based on the inferences and/or predictions of the agents 524-526. In some embodiments, charts or graphs can be included within the model 604, e.g., charting or graphing time series values of the inferences and/or predictions. For example, if an inference is an inference of a flow rate of a fluid (e.g., water, air, refrigerant, etc.) through a conduit, the speed at which arrows moving through the virtual conduit can be controlled based on the inferred flow rate inferred by an agent. Similarly, if the model 604 provides a heat map indicating occupancy, e.g., red indicating high occupancy, blue indicating medium occupancy, and green indicating low occupancy, an agent could infer an occupancy level for each space of the building and the color coding for the heat map of the model 604 could be based on the inference made by the agent.
In some embodiments, the graphical building model 604 can be a three dimensional or two-dimensional graphical building. The graphical building model 604 can be a building information model (BIM), in some embodiments. The BIM can be generated and viewed based on the knowledge graph 614. An example of rendering graph data and/or BIM data in a user interface is described in greater detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/136,752 filed Dec. 29, 2020, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/136,768 filed Dec. 29, 2020, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/136,785 filed Dec. 29, 2020, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.
In some embodiments, the graphical building model 604 includes one or multiple three-dimensional building elements 606. The three-dimensional building elements 606 can form a building when combined, e.g., can form a building model of a building or a campus model of a campus. The building elements 606 can include floors of a building, spaces of a building, equipment of a building, etc. Furthermore, each three-dimensional building element 606 can be linked to certain data inferences 608, predictions 610, and/or operational data 612. The data 608-612 can be retrieved from the knowledge graph 614 for display in an interface via the user device 176.
Referring now to
In some embodiments, the systems and methods described herein (e.g., the system 700 and the associated methods performed by the system 700) may be configured to ingest data from and/or output data to digital twins of a building and associated entities. In some embodiments, the systems and methods may additionally or alternatively be configured to ingest data from and/or output data to data sources/systems other than digital twins.
As shown, the system 700 includes a viewer rendering component 702 configured to communicate with a twin manager 704, one or more external access components 706 (which may also be referred to as “plug-in packs”), and various platform manager components 708 to obtain building information (or any other type of environment information) and generate the rendering of the virtual building for display on a viewer interface 710 for viewing by an end user. For example, in some embodiments, the user views the viewer interface 710 via the user device 176. It should be appreciated that the various components of the system 700 may be accessible from or otherwise stored, managed, operated, or supported by any combination of the various components of the building data platform 100 (e.g., the edge platform 102, the cloud platform 106, the twin manager 108, the applications 110, and/or any other system accessible via the network 104).
For example, in some instances, the user selects to view a rendering of a virtual building via the viewer interface 710. In some instances, the viewer interface 710 is configured to provide one or more potential virtual buildings from which the user may select to view a rendering within the viewer interface 710. For example, as shown in
With reference again to
The beckon applications 712 may additionally pull in external information from one or more external sources or computing systems via the external access components 706 to be implemented, overlaid, or otherwise incorporated within the display of the rendering of the graphical model (e.g., the virtual building). For example, in some instances, the external access components 706 may be one or more external access application programming interface (API) and/or software development kit (SDK) components. In some instances, the external access components 706 may pull external information from one or more external third-party applications associated with vendors, maintenance companies, third-party service providers (e.g., HVAC service providers, internal air quality service providers, occupancy data service providers, security service providers, fire suppression and prevention service providers, etc.), and/or other entities associated with the building being virtually rendered. In some instances, the external access components 706 may pull external information from one or more external third-party applications associated with various other entities (e.g., weather service applications, traffic monitoring applications, etc.) that may be pertinent to the virtual building being rendered. In some instances, the beckon applications 712 may further push information to the various third-party applications via the external access components 706 based on one or more inputs from the user via the viewer interface (e.g., movement of a virtual entity, a command to a given device, etc.). In some instances, the information pushed to the various third-party applications may be defined via a subscription service application, an entitlement service, and/or any other application associated with controlling the flow of information into and out of the viewer interface 710 provided to the user.
In some embodiments, the external access components 706 are configured to provide a mapping or list of commands to receive and/or request data from and/or push data to the one or more external applications or systems. In some embodiments, the external access components 706 are additionally configured to receive, request, or push information about the format and content of the data. In some embodiments, this information about the format and content of the data may include information allowing the system 700 to correlate disparate formats of multiple external systems to a format of the viewer rendering component 702 (e.g., to be displayed within the viewer interface 710).
In some instances, the beckon applications 712 further communicate with one or more of the platform manager components 708. For example, the platform manager components 708 may include a digital key service application to fetch corresponding entitlements associated with entities attempting to access or view the virtual rendering of the building. For example, in some instances, a particular entitlement may be accessed using a digital key service (e.g., a digital credential and a corresponding validation application) to ensure that the user attempting to access or view the rendering of the virtual building is entitled to so. Further, the entitlements for a given user may give the user access to varying levels of information to be displayed within or overlaid on the rendering of the virtual building, in the same or a similar manner to that described above, with reference to the entitlement service 134 of
In some instances, the platform manager components 708 may include a tenant service application configured to define the various entitlements associated with the entities (e.g., similar to the subscription service 132). In some instances, the platform manager components 708 may include applications similar to or the same as any of the provisioning service 130, the subscription service 132, and/or the entitlement service 134 described herein.
The rendering application 714 may be configured to ingest the various information fetched by the beckon applications 712 (e.g., a REVIT or NEVUS work file, associated graph projection information, various externally obtained information from third parties, etc.) and use the various information to render the graphical model (e.g., the virtual building) within the viewer interface 710. In some instances, the rendering application 714 may incorporate both the virtual representation of the various entities associated with the building (e.g., the building layout, devices within the buildings) and information pertaining to the various entities associated with the building (e.g., event information, alarm information, inferences about the entities, predictions about the entities, etc.), as discussed below, with reference to
In some instances, the rendering application 714 may receive or ingest the external information from the one or more external sources or systems via the external access components 706. In these instances, the rendering application 714 may then cross-correlate one or more device or asset identification numbers associated with the received or ingested external information with one or more device or asset identification numbers received from the twin manager 704 (e.g., associated with one or more rendered virtual assets within a virtual building) to determine a location of the corresponding virtual asset within the graphical model (e.g., within the virtual building). For example, in some instances, the location of the virtual asset is specified within the virtual building using one or more ontology-based metadata schema languages (e.g., BRICK). In some other instances, the location of the virtual asset is specified within the virtual building using a geolocation of the physical asset. By using the geolocation of the physical asset to specify the location of the virtual asset, the location of the virtual asset can be deciphered or otherwise correlated to a variety of different ontology languages without needing to translate between the different ontology languages. The rendering application 714 may then cause the graphical model (e.g., the virtual building) to include a representation of the external information associated with the virtual asset. For example, in some instances, the rendering application 714 may overlay the external information received from the one or more external sources or systems pertaining to the virtual asset within the viewer interface 710. In some instances, the rendering application 714 may modify the virtual asset within the viewer interface 710 based on the external information (e.g., a heat map having various colors based on the external information at various locations within the virtual building, highlighting one or more assets based on the external information, etc.).
Referring generally to
Referring now to
In some instances, one of the selectable user interface buttons may be clicked by the user to display an asset list window 904. Within the asset list window 904, the user is able to select from a list of virtual assets (e.g., entities) within the virtual building 902 (e.g., an asset list including all of the virtual equipment assets within the virtual building 902). In some instances, each entity displayed within the asset list window 904 includes a name of the entity (e.g., a device ID) and an accompanying entity icon. In some instances, the entities may include mechanical entities, electrical entities, plumbing entities, air distribution entities, or any other entities used within a given building. Upon selection of an entity, the user may be provided with various asset details pertaining to the entity and/or navigated to the entity within the rendering of the virtual building 902, as will be discussed below with reference to
Referring now to
Referring now to
In some instances, as discussed above, upon selecting a given entity within the asset list window 904, the user may be navigated to the entity within the rendering of the virtual building 902. In some instances, the user may select to be navigated to the entity within the rendering of the virtual building using a navigation icon presented within the asset details window 910. For example,
With reference again to
In some instances, the entity icons for the modelled assets and the unmodelled assets may be shown in different colors (e.g., the entity icons for the modelled assets may be gray and the entity icons for the unmodelled assets may be red). In some other instances, the entity icons for the modelled assets may be representative of the asset that the entity icon is associated with, while the entity icons for the unmodelled assets may be null icons (e.g., a circle with an X through it). For example, the selected entity 912 shown in
In some instances, the user is allowed to move the location of the virtual unmodelled asset 914 to a desired location within the virtual building 902. In these instances, the beckon applications 712 discussed above may communicate this location change of the unmodelled asset to the twin manager 704 to be incorporated into the corresponding graph projection associated with the unmodelled asset. That is, the user may be allowed to manipulate the position of an unmodelled asset within the viewer interface 710 and have that change communicated to and effectuated within the twin manager 704. In some instances, the user may be similarly allowed to manipulate one or more types of modelled assets within the viewer interface 710 and have those changes communicated to and effectuated within the twin manager 704 in a similar manner.
In some instances, the user is allowed to add a modelled asset or an unmodelled asset (e.g., the unmodelled asset 914) to the virtual building from a list of potential modeled assets and potential unmodelled assets. For example, in some instances, the viewer interface 710 may allow for the user to click on a particular wall (or any other selectable area) and choose to have a modelled or unmodelled version of a device (e.g., depending on whether the device has an associated modelled asset) installed on that wall. In some instances, the system 700 (e.g., via one or more agents) may be configured to automatically position the added modelled or unmodelled asset on the wall (or within any other selectable area) based on a standard positioning scheme (e.g., a safety, regulatory, or normative rule for similar devices). For example, if the user is adding a light switch (e.g., a modelled or unmodelled asset representing a light switch) within a virtual room, the light switch may be automatically placed on a selected wall at a standard height and distance from a nearby door frame. Similarly, a user may add a camera (e.g., a modelled or unmodelled asset representing a camera) within a virtual room, and the camera may automatically be placed at a standard position on the ceiling (e.g., a standard distance from a corner of the room).
Referring now to
In some instances, to create this link, new assets may be manually ingested into the graph projections of the twin manager 704 via the viewer interface 710. For example, the viewer interface 710 may allow for the user to manually create associations (e.g., via one or more asset ingestion APIs, AI agents, and/or applications) between new virtual assets added to the virtual building 902 and new physical assets installed within the physical building.
In some instances, some new assets may belong to one or more BACnet protocols, and may thus be ingested into the graph projections of the twin manager 704 as connector components. To create connections with these connector components or to control the connector components, the BIM assets are ingested into the graph projections of the twin manager 704 and a relationship is created between the BIM assets and associated bit connector components. Again, this ingestion may be performed manually or, in some instances, automatically using the viewer interface 710 via one or more asset ingestion APIs, AI agents, and/or applications.
In any case, the link (e.g., the edge) connecting the modelled asset to the corresponding physical asset may allow for the user (e.g., assuming the user has the proper entitlements) to control the functioning of the asset within the physical building via interaction with the virtual building 902 within the viewer interface 710 (e.g., on the user device 176). For example, commands from the user input into the viewer interface 710 may be communicated back to the twin manager 704 to update the graph projection (e.g., a device status, a device set point), which may then be ultimately communicated to the control circuit of the physical asset (e.g., via the edge platform 102, the network 104, the cloud platform 106) to control the functionality of the physical asset.
As shown in
In some instances, the command and control component 916 may receive a command from the user regarding a virtual asset associated with a physical asset in a physical building, and the command may be communicated from the viewer interface 710 to the twin manager 704. From twin manager 704, the command may be communicated to a cloud platform (e.g., the cloud platform 106). From the cloud platform (e.g., the cloud platform 106, the command may be communicated to an edge platform (e.g., the edge platform 102), which may ultimately provide the command to the physical asset. It should be appreciated that, in other instances, the flow process for communicating the command received by the command and control component 916 to the physical asset may be different. Further, in some instances, changes to various device settings may be reflected within the viewer interface 710, the twin manager 704, and also within one or more metadata sources 406 (e.g., Metasys data 438), which may be linked together via one or more graph projections or other associations.
Referring now to
Referring now to
In some instances, the various alarm indicators 1612 may be selectable by the user to display corresponding alarm overlays 1614 that are overlaid onto the virtual building 902 proximate the selected alarm indicators 1612. As shown, the alarm overlays 1614 may include a device name (e.g., associated with a device having a fault), a fault description (e.g., a description of the fault), a fault duration (e.g., how long the fault has been occurring), and/or an error code (e.g., an identifiable code associated with the type of fault occurring with the device). In some instances, the alarm overlays 1614 may further include a link or button 1616 configured to allow for the user to have various assets associated with the alarm highlighted within the virtual building 902. In some instances, the various information and functionality provided via the alarm indicators 1612 and/or the alarm overlays 1614 may be customizable by the user. For example, in some instances, certain alarm indicators 1612 may be customizable by the user to be displayed in a variety of colors (e.g., red for high-priority alarms and green for low-priority alarms). In some instances, the alarm overlays 1614 may be customizable by the user to include varying levels or types of information, as desired for a given alarm, alarm type, alarm priority, etc.
Referring now to
Referring now to
In some instances, the heat map overlays 1806 provide a visual representation (e.g., different colors over an area) of a temperature distribution, an airflow or ventilation distribution, an indoor air quality distribution (e.g., CO2 levels, humidity, PM2.5 levels), a camera coverage distribution, an occupancy distribution, a lighting distribution, an energy usage distribution, an energy efficiency distribution, or any other pertinent type of distribution within the floor view of the virtual building, as desired for a given application and by fetching data from corresponding physical sensors within the physical building. For example, in some instances, high temperature areas may be overlaid with a red color and low temperature areas may be overlaid with a green or blue color. Between the high temperature areas and the low temperature areas may be a gradient color scheme indicating temperature drop off from the high-temperature area to the low-temperature area within the floor view, thereby creating the corresponding heat map overlay. In some instances, certain colors within the heat map may be indicative that a given sensor level is above or below an acceptable threshold (e.g., a temperature threshold, an air quality threshold, an energy consumption threshold). In some instances, this threshold may be set by a user via one or more options provided within the viewer interface 710. In some instances, the viewer interface 710 may allow the user to select the color scheme for a given heat map.
It will be appreciated that a variety of different types of heat map overlays may be utilized in a variety of configurations or color schemes to depict a variety of distribution types, as desired for a given application. In some instances, the heat maps shown may be selectively shown at various times throughout a given day, week, month, quarter, or year. For example, in some instances, the user may use a time slider on the heat map page 1802 to selectively view different heat maps (e.g., temperature, indoor air quality, occupancy, energy, etc.) overlaid onto a selected area representing various distributions at different times.
As an illustrative example, in some instances, a user may utilize a temperature or energy consumption heat map to identify various hot or cold areas within a given area. The user may then use the information gleaned from the heat map to make various layout, design, or device set point changes within the given area or throughout the building. Further, in some instances, the user may view a variety of heat maps pertaining to different distributions (e.g., utilizing various sensor and/or device data) to identify or correlate how various distributions interrelate (e.g., how a high temperature area may be correlated with a low energy efficiency area, how a lighting distribution may be correlated with an occupancy distribution, etc.).
In some instances, similar to the heat map overlay 1806, the viewer interface 710 may provide a lighting or camera coverage overlay configured to show a light or camera coverage distribution within a room, floor, or other area. For example, the viewer interface 710 may indicate a path of light clearance or camera visibility coming from a particular light or camera within a selected space. In these instances, the light or camera distribution may be viewed within a given area and the user may determine whether additional lights and/or cameras may be necessary.
Referring now to
In some instances, the various alarm indications 1906 may be filtered based on the floor that the alarms are associated with, a type of each of the alarms (e.g., power failure, an open door fault), a criticality of the alarms (e.g., high, medium, low), or any other relevant filtering criteria. Further, in some instances, upon clicking on a particular one of the alarm indications 1906, the user is allowed to obtain additional information regarding the alarm, such as the device(s) associated with the alarm, the type of alarm, time series data associated with the alarm (e.g., when the alarm began), the criticality of the alarm, or any other relevant data. In some instances, upon clicking on a particular one of the alarm indications 1906, the user is allowed to interact with the alarm (e.g., acknowledge a fault, mute a fault, trigger a standard operating procedure, etc.).
Referring now to
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For example, in some instances, the viewer interface 710, when utilized within the enterprise manager user interface 2002, is configured to fetch twin data from the twin manager 704 via the beckon application 712. In some instances, the twin manager is in communication with a bridge component 2010 configured to allow for the user of the viewer interface 710 to perform control and command functions via interaction with the viewer interface 710, as discussed above with respect to
Once the appropriate information has been fetched by the viewer interface 710, the viewer interface 710 may then communicate the appropriate information with the rendering application 714 to create any of the various views and/or pages discussed above, with reference to
Referring now to
In some instances, the widgets 2102 include a building viewer widget including the viewer interface 710 described above. The building viewer widget including the viewer interface 710 is configured to allow the user of the enterprise manager page 2100 to select and view the virtual building 902 (or any other selected virtual building), and to perform any of the various functionality with respect to the virtual building 902 as discussed above, with reference to
Referring now to
As illustrated in
Heating, Ventilation, and/or Air Conditioning Integration
As discussed above, the systems and methods described herein can be utilized to generate and present three-dimensional and/or two-dimensional renderings of virtual buildings or other virtual environments. In some embodiments, the three-dimensional and/or two-dimensional renderings may be enhanced or otherwise overlaid with various information pertaining to various assets within the virtual building or other virtual environment corresponding to physical assets within a corresponding physical building or other physical environment. Accordingly, it will be understood that the systems and methods described herein may be utilized in a variety of contexts to enhance or improve a user's understanding of and/or interaction with a virtual rendering of a corresponding physical environment. For example, in some instances, the systems and methods described herein may be utilized to generate a three-dimensional rendering of a building having or that will have one or more heating, ventilation, and/or air conditioning systems installed therein.
In some embodiments, the three-dimensional rendering (e.g., any of the three-dimensional renderings shown in
In some embodiments, the user interface (e.g., the viewer interface 710) provided to the user may include a time slider that allows for the user to see a heat map for temperature, humidity, internal air quality, and/or occupancy in a given area over a variety of timespans (e.g., over the last few hours, the last given day, the last month, the last year (e.g., to view seasonal changes)) or average timespans (e.g., over an average day, an average month, an average year, or any other pertinent period of time). In some instances, the user interface provided to the user may allow for the user to schedule various set points over a given timespan. For example, if the user determines (e.g., using the time slider) that the occupancy for a given area is lower or that the given area is completely unused during a particular portion of the day (e.g., on average), the user interface allows the user to set different set points for one or more temperature, ventilation, or air conditioning devices throughout the day to reduce unnecessary power consumption. In some instances, the user interface allows the user to set lower set points (e.g., requiring less heating, cooling, ventilation, or air conditioning) during times when a given area has a typically low occupancy. For example, in some instances, a given area within a building may be automatically shifted or switched into a dormant mode during times of low occupancy based on a user entering one or more set points into the user interface.
In some embodiments, the user interface (e.g., the viewer interface 710) may allow the user to schedule various equipment functionalities (e.g., set point changes, powering devices on or off, opening or closing various valves or vents). In some embodiments, the user may be allowed to schedule the various equipment functionalities via various other user interfaces apart from the viewer interface 710 (e.g., via a list of devices).
In some embodiments, the user interface (e.g., the viewer interface 710) may provide various feedback indications to the user. For example, as described herein, in some instances, the viewer interface 710 may allow the user to navigate to a particular piece of equipment within the BIM (e.g., the virtual rendering) and allow the user to change various functionalities of the device. However, the viewer interface 710 may further provide various indications of how downstream and/or upstream devices associated with the particular piece of equipment are affected (or are expected to be affected) by the changes made. For example, if a flow rate set point is changed on an air handling unit, the viewer interface 710 may provide an indication of various temperature sensors in areas serviced by that air handling unit to allow the user to determine the effect of that changed flowrate set point throughout the building.
In some embodiments, the viewer interface 710 is configured to provide an indication to a user that multiple sensors within a given area are above or below associated set points. For example, in some instances, a group of temperature sensors on a floor of a building may have corresponding expected temperatures and corresponding thermostats may have corresponding temperature settings. In some instances, one or more agents (e.g., the AI agent 370) may determine that various thermostats have been adjusted away from their original set points to new adjusted set points (e.g., lower than their corresponding original set points), and that the corresponding temperature sensors are still detecting the same expected temperatures. In these instances, the one or more agents may determine that there is a problem (e.g., with one or more air handling units associated with the area) that is requiring the lower adjusted set points to reach the same desired temperatures. While various embodiments disclosed herein discuss the use of agents, or AI agents, it should be understood that various implementations may include intelligence/analytics, such as the application of machine learning or artificial intelligence that may be applied in a manner other than using software agents, and all such modifications are contemplated within the scope of the present disclosure.
In some embodiments, the viewer interface 710 may provide the user with one or more time-dependent notifications, indications, or selectable device functionalities. For example, in some instances, only certain control parameters may be relevant depending on weather or a current time of year (e.g., season). In some instances, during the summer months, the viewer interface 710 may provide interface functionalities that are relevant to summer months or hot weather. For example, during the summer months or during a hot day (e.g., determined based on a date of use of the system 700 or based on weather information pulled from one or more external access components 706), the user may be automatically provided with options to adjust an air conditioning output (e.g., as opposed to a heating output in the winter months or during a cold day). In some instances, the viewer interface 710 may provide the user with season-based, weather-based, or mode-based set points. That is, in some instances, different devices (e.g., thermostats, cooling towers, pumps, chillers, valves, dampers, variable air volume devices, air handlings units, other HVAC devices) may have different set points or operational settings based on the season, weather, and/or mode that the building is in (e.g., energy savings mode, occupant comfort mode).
In some embodiments, the user interface (e.g., the viewer interface 710) and/or the occupancy information may be utilized to selectively alter occupancy throughout a given time period. For example, if a first area within a building has a low occupancy (e.g., 20% of an expected or maximum occupancy), while a second area within the building has a higher occupancy (e.g., 80% of an expected or maximum occupancy), the user interface may allow for the user to selectively alter scheduled usage of the first area over to the second area to allow for the first area to be switched into a low-consumption or dormant mode. In some instances, instead of or in addition to the user selectively altering the scheduled usage of various areas within a building, the system is configured to suggest various space utilization changes to the user (e.g., via an inference or prediction made by a corresponding agent). In some instances, these suggestions may be made utilizing one or more AI agents (e.g., the AI agent 370). For example, in some instances, one or more AI agents may provide suggestions for various space utilization changes that would allow for a reduction in energy consumption by reducing the number of air handler units (or other HVAC systems) that are running at a given time (e.g., only one AHU is running within a building at a time). Accordingly, users and/or the system 700 may assign different employees or other persons to different areas of the building (e.g., via the viewer interface 710) based on occupancy to improve energy efficiency of a building.
As an illustrative example, some buildings have multiple air handlers that each serve a different area of a building. For example, each air handler may serve a separate quadrant of a building (e.g., North, South, East, West). In these instances, the system may provide one or more recommendations recommending that certain events (e.g., meetings, desk usage) be moved from one quadrant of the building to another portion of the building. In some instances, the recommendations may additionally be based on externally received information, such as weather information (e.g., temperature information, wind information, precipitation information, time of sunrise, time of sunset, position of the sun). Accordingly, the occupancy recommendations could be based on occupancy, time of day, time of year, and/or other externally received information.
In some embodiments, the user interface (e.g., the viewer interface 710) provided to the user may allow for the user to selectively view specific spaces or areas within a building that are serviced by a particular air handling device. In these instances, the user interface may similarly allow for the user to view various usage or occupancy information over a given time period using a time slider. Accordingly, the user interface may allow for the user to selectively alter the functioning of an air handling device in a particular area in response to viewing various temperature and/or occupancy readouts from an affected portion of the building.
In some embodiments, the virtual rendering of the building may be used to aid a service technician in locating one or more devices within a building. For example, in some instances, a service technician may receive a complaint that a given room or space within a building is too hot (or that some other issue is occurring). The service technician may then identify one or more devices (e.g., sensors) within that room. However, the service technician in a traditional scenario may not be able to find or identify associated upstream and/or downstream devices (e.g., variable air volume devices, electrical boxes, circuit breakers, etc.). By utilizing a device (e.g., a mobile phone, smart glasses, etc.) showing the viewer interface 710, the service technician may be provided with virtual directions to and location indications of upstream and/or downstream devices within the virtual rendering of the building. For example, the upstream and/or downstream devices may be connected to a given device within one or more knowledge graphs to allow for the system to identify the upstream and/or downstream devices associated with the given device, and vice versa, as well as areas affected by each of the devices (e.g., variable air volume device VAV1 is associated with air handling unit AHU7, which is associated with the west plant).
In some cases, various upstream and/or downstream devices may be hidden from view. Accordingly, in these instances, the viewer interface 710 may show the various upstream and/or downstream devices within the virtual rendering highlighted through a given wall, ceiling tile, floor, door, or other obstruction to allow for the service technician to easily locate the upstream and/or downstream device for servicing. In some instances, the viewer interface 710 may further depict various piping, wiring, ductwork, or other connections between a given device and its corresponding upstream and/or downstream devices. In some instances, the viewer interface 710 may be configured to hide all devices and/or connections that are not related to a given selected device or a device having a selected fault code. Accordingly, the user may more easily view the selected and/or faulted device and its related upstream and downstream devices and connections to more easily troubleshoot a given fault. For example, if a given variable air volume device has no or low flow, the viewer interface 710 may depict only the ductwork, piping, valves, etc. that is associated with that variable air volume device to allow for the service technician to more easily identify the cause of the lack of or low flow.
In some instances, the viewer interface 710 may additionally show various other hidden devices or building features. For example, in some instances, the viewer interface 710 may show the user routing of various communication cables within walls, water pipes within walls, ventilation shafts within walls, fire smoke dampers, data center boxes (e.g., in-wall routers, network switches, or other communication devices), leak detectors (e.g., within a data center), etc.
In some instances, the viewer interface 710 may be provided to the service technician via a virtual reality device (e.g., smart glasses) or an augmented reality device (e.g., smart glasses, a smartphone, etc.). In the case of augmented reality, the virtual building rendering may be overlaid on top of the real building structure. In some instances, the viewer interface 710 may provide (e.g., via a pop-up window or other overlay) instructions for troubleshooting a given device having a given fault code. In some cases, this may allow for another person (e.g., someone associated with the building other than a service technician) to troubleshoot various devices without needing to make a specific service call.
In some embodiments, the systems described herein are configured to provide various additional troubleshooting suggestions via the viewer interface 710 based on one or more faults, inappropriate sensor readings (e.g., the temperature is above a set point in a given space), or other user inputs. For example, if a given fault code is triggered for a given device or a given sensor reading is above or below a corresponding set point, one or more agents (e.g., AI agent 370) may determine one or more troubleshooting suggestions based on the fault code or sensor reading.
For example, for a given fault code or sensor reading, the user may be provided (e.g., via the viewer interface 710) with one or more information overlays indicating one or more upstream or downstream devices identified by the one or more agents to check for troubleshooting purposes (e.g., “check this actuator”). In some instances, this indication could be provided via the viewer interface 710 using an augmented reality device. The overlays provided by the viewer interface 710 may also include instructions for how to find and troubleshoot the identified devices, as well as the identified devices' relationship to the fault code or sensor reading (e.g., “variable air volume A is connected to air handling unit B”). In some instances, the overlay may provide a visual checklist of different troubleshooting steps (e.g., “check component X, then check component Y, then check component Z”). As an illustrative example, if the user or service technician services a specific junction box (or other checked device) as a first response to a given fault code or sensor reading, the user may then be presented with a visual representation within the viewer interface 710 of related equipment (e.g., shutoff valves, smoke dampers, filters, pumps, etc.) between the specific junction box (or other checked device) and the affected area with the fault or sensor reading.
In some embodiments, a particular fault code may be triggered based on a maintenance, replacement, testing, and/or inspection schedule. For example, in some instances, maintenance, replacement, testing, and/or inspection schedules for various devices within a building may be linked with those devices within the virtual rendering. For example, in some instances, various devices (e.g., emergency detection devices, HVAC devices, IAQ devices, or any other devices described herein) may have various maintenance, replacement, testing, and/or inspection schedules stored within an external application that may be accessed via one or more of the external access components 706. Accordingly, when a particular device is due for maintenance, replacement, testing, and/or inspection, a service technician may be provided with an alert or notification via the viewer interface 710. The service technician may then be provided with an indication of the device (or a list of devices) to be serviced (e.g., checked or replaced), an indication of any replacement parts needed to service the device, directions to the device, and/or any other pertinent information for servicing the device.
As an example, the viewer interface 710 may indicate that a particular component (e.g., a fire alarm, a valve, a belt, a pulley, a filter) needs to be serviced, tested, inspected, or replaced, an indication of any specific replacement components needed, and directions to the component to be serviced or replaced within the building. These indications may be provided within the viewer interface 710, overlaid over the virtual rendering of the building. In some instances, the user may selectively view a maintenance schedule and various maintenance information relating to a selected device within the viewer interface 710. For example, if a user selects a particular device within the viewer interface 710, the user may be provided with indications of the various components within the device that are regularly maintained, the schedule with which the components are maintained or replaced (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually), the specific replacement components needed, a status of when each component was last checked or replaced (e.g., a service history of the component or device), an indication of when the component was installed, an indication of who last serviced the component or device, any special notes regarding the component (e.g., repeated and/or abnormal service issues).
In some embodiments, if several devices within a building have maintenance due, the system (e.g., the system 700) may determine (e.g., using Metasys data 438 or other data) and the viewer interface 710 may provide to the service technician a most efficient path (e.g., minimizing an overall distance required for the service technician to travel) for the service technician to travel to service each device within the building.
In some embodiments, the systems described herein (e.g., the system 700) may be configured to provide evacuation visualization via the viewer interface 710 in the event of an emergency (e.g., a fire or an active shooter situation). For example, one or more agents (e.g., the AI agent 370) may be configured to utilize various context information from building devices (e.g., temperature sensors, smoke detectors, video camera feeds, other fire equipment, other security equipment, HVAC equipment) and/or externally received information to provide a way finder for a safe exit route visualization within the viewer interface 710, overlaid onto the virtual rendering of the building. In this embodiment, the one or more agents may be a wayfinding engine configured to determine the most efficient and/or safest exit route.
For example, in some instances, one or more agents (e.g., the AI agent 370) may retrieve or receive information from a variety of sensors in the case of an emergency and automatically calculate the safest path out of the building. The BIM would then render the path within the three-dimensional representation of the building. In some instances, the agent may detect an obstacle or something blocking a path within a given space along the evacuation route or may detect a sudden spike in temperature readings (e.g., in the case of a fire) and/or detected smoke level and may alter the path in real-time as the user evacuates the building.
In some instances, the viewer interface 710 may depict various relevant information to the user during an evacuation. For example, the viewer interface 710 may highlight a detected obstacle in a given pathway. In other instances, the viewer interface 710 may provide the user with a notification regarding detected temperature, smoke, or other pertinent sensor readings in one or more areas within the building (e.g., along a usual exit path). In some instances, the viewer interface 710 may highlight one or more emergency devices (e.g., a fire extinguisher, a fire alarm, a sprinkler system valve, etc.).
In some embodiments, the virtual rendering provided via the viewer interface 710 may be provided as part of a larger virtual environment or a metaverse environment. As such, in some instances, the virtual building within the metaverse environment may be labeled with or otherwise associated with an authorized or authenticated rating, ranking, or certification (e.g., a LEED rating, an energy star rating, a BREEAM certification, a WELL Building certification, etc.). For example, in some instances, a Metaverse Building Certification (MBC) Non-Fungible Token (NFT) corresponding to or associated with a rating, ranking, or certification may be created and applied to or otherwise displayed on a virtual building (e.g., via a virtual plaque) within a metaverse environment provided via the viewer interface 710. Accordingly, the viewer interface 710 may allow for users to view and see the MBC NFT within or on a virtual building within a metaverse environment. These ratings, rankings, or certifications would be unique due to the nature of the NFT created. In some instances, the MBC NFT may be associated with a physical building corresponding to the virtual building within the metaverse. In some other instances, the MBC NFT may be associated with the virtual building itself based on predicted characteristics of the virtual building.
In some embodiments, various assets within the virtual rendering (e.g., the BIM) may include or otherwise encompass a Metaverse Building Equipment (MBE) NFT. In some instances, the MBE NFT may act as a virtual certification that the building includes a particular company's device or component. For example, a company or other entity may develop or create an MBE NFT corresponding to a specific physical device that is sold. The MBE NFT may then be transferred to the customer or user of the physical device to allow the MBE NFT representing the company's device to be added to a virtual representation (e.g., within a metaverse environment provided via the viewer interface 710) of their building.
Further, in some embodiments, the virtual building provided via the viewer interface 710 may allow for users to take a virtual tour of the building or facility. For example, in some instances, the user may view the virtual building on the viewer interface 710 using a virtual reality capable device. In these instances, the user may then “walk through” or otherwise navigate throughout the virtual building or facility to see how the building or facility functions. This virtual “walk through” capability may be usable within or outside of a metaverse context. Further, this virtual “walk through” capability may allow for service technicians or construction workers to review a virtual rendition of a building, facility, piece of equipment, or construction project ahead of time to prepare for the actual service, installation, or construction process. In some instances, in the case of a construction project, the viewer interface 710 may include one or more indications of a construction status and/or next steps in a construction phase. In the construction context, the viewer interface 710 may further depict one or more obstacles that are preventing a particular construction project step and/or what temporary statuses need to be put in place to complete a given construction project.
In some instances, the viewer interface 710 may be utilized both in a virtual reality context and an augmented reality context. For example, in some instances, before servicing or installing equipment, a service technician may do a virtual “walk through” of the building or facility to prepare for the service or installation. During the virtual “walk through,” the service technician may make one or more notes or annotations on various devices, walls, or other elements within the virtual building. Then, during the actual service or installation, the service technician may utilize an augmented reality capable device (e.g., smart glasses) to view the viewer interface 710 overlaid onto the physical building. Accordingly, the viewer interface 710 may allow the service technician to view the notes and/or annotations made during the virtual “walk through” while the service technician is performing the service or installation. In some instances, this may allow for the service technician to note or annotate various differences between an expected service plan and any changes or unexpected factors that are encountered during the actual servicing of a device. It should be appreciated that the virtual “walk through” and or the on-the-job viewing of the viewer interface 710 could be performed using a virtual reality device, an augmented reality device, or any other suitable device having a display capable of showing the viewer interface 710.
In some instances, the viewer interface 710, via the virtual reality enablement, allows for pre-installation equipment dimension assurance. That is, a service technician or other user can virtually install a virtual piece of equipment (e.g., an air distribution device, an air duct, etc.) within the virtual building to ensure that the piece of equipment will fit in the desired installation location. Further, the service technician can additionally ensure that the piece of equipment will be able to fit within or otherwise be transported within the building to the location of installation by moving the virtual asset within the virtual building from a virtual point of entry to a virtual location of installation. For example, in some embodiments, the viewer interface 710 may allow for the user to virtually measure various spatial dimensions (e.g., using a virtual dimension tool) within the virtual building (e.g., door frame widths, wall lengths, ceiling heights, etc.). Accordingly, the service technician can identify any bottlenecks or potential dimensional problems for a planned installation ahead of time. Additionally, if a particular piece of equipment will need to be serviced during its lifetime, the service technician or other user can similarly determine not only whether the piece of equipment will fit in the intended installation location, but also whether the piece of equipment, once installed, will have sufficient clearance surrounding it to allow for necessary servicing of the piece of equipment throughout its lifetime. For example, in some instances, the user may be provided with an indication of a clearance space (e.g., a measured distance) within the context of the viewer interface 710.
In some embodiments, a user may utilize the virtual rendering of the building to configure a corresponding building automation system (BAS). For example, in some instances, the user may manipulate the virtual rendering of the building and add various virtual devices within the virtual rendering (e.g., within the viewer interface 710) as part of a pre-construction modeling process, and the changes and additional assets will be used to automatically update the BAS to include corresponding changes and/or assets within the BAS. Accordingly, the virtual rendering may then be utilized to configure a corresponding building automation system based on the various virtual devices placed within the virtual building.
The construction and arrangement of the systems and methods as shown in the various exemplary embodiments are illustrative only. Although only a few embodiments have been described in detail in this disclosure, many modifications are possible (e.g., variations in sizes, dimensions, structures, shapes and proportions of the various elements, values of parameters, mounting arrangements, use of materials, colors, orientations, etc.). For example, the position of elements may be reversed or otherwise varied and the nature or number of discrete elements or positions may be altered or varied. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure. The order or sequence of any process or method steps may be varied or re-sequenced according to alternative embodiments. Other substitutions, modifications, changes, and omissions may be made in the design, operating conditions and arrangement of the exemplary embodiments without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.
The present disclosure contemplates methods, systems and program products on any machine-readable media for accomplishing various operations. The embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented using existing computer processors, or by a special purpose computer processor for an appropriate system, incorporated for this or another purpose, or by a hardwired system. Embodiments within the scope of the present disclosure include program products comprising machine-readable media for carrying or having machine-executable instructions or data structures stored thereon. Such machine-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer or other machine with a processor. By way of example, such machine-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of machine-executable instructions or data structures and which can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer or other machine with a processor. When information is transferred or provided over a network or another communications connection (either hardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired or wireless) to a machine, the machine properly views the connection as a machine-readable medium. Thus, any such connection is properly termed a machine-readable medium. Combinations of the above are also included within the scope of machine-readable media. Machine-executable instructions include, for example, instructions and data which cause a general-purpose computer, special purpose computer, or special purpose processing machines to perform a certain function or group of functions.
Although the figures show a specific order of method steps, the order of the steps may differ from what is depicted. Also two or more steps may be performed concurrently or with partial concurrence. Such variation will depend on the software and hardware systems chosen and on designer choice. All such variations are within the scope of the disclosure. Likewise, software implementations could be accomplished with standard programming techniques with rule-based logic and other logic to accomplish the various connection steps, processing steps, comparison steps and decision steps.
In various implementations, the steps and operations described herein may be performed on one processor or in a combination of two or more processors. For example, in some implementations, the various operations could be performed in a central server or set of central servers configured to receive data from one or more devices (e.g., edge computing devices/controllers) and perform the operations. In some implementations, the operations may be performed by one or more local controllers or computing devices (e.g., edge devices), such as controllers dedicated to and/or located within a particular building or portion of a building. In some implementations, the operations may be performed by a combination of one or more central or offsite computing devices/servers and one or more local controllers/computing devices. All such implementations are contemplated within the scope of the present disclosure. Further, unless otherwise indicated, when the present disclosure refers to one or more computer-readable storage media and/or one or more controllers, such computer-readable storage media and/or one or more controllers may be implemented as one or more central servers, one or more local controllers or computing devices (e.g., edge devices), any combination thereof, or any other combination of storage media and/or controllers regardless of the location of such devices.
This application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/393,735, filed Jul. 29, 2022, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63393735 | Jul 2022 | US |
