Building management system with BACnet broadcast management (BBMD) device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10904030-B2
Application number	US-201916366020-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 27, 2019
Priority date	Mar 27, 2019
Publication date	Jan 26, 2021
Grant date	Jan 26, 2021

Abstract

A building automation system includes a plurality of subnets, an active broadcast management device configured on at least one of the subnets, a pool of virtual devices communicably connected to the active broadcast management device, each of the virtual devices in the pool of virtual devices configured to store a broadcast distribution table (BDT), one or more processors, and memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing instructions. When executed by the one or more processors, the instructions cause the one or more processors to transmit a health status message to each available virtual device in the pool of virtual devices, receive a health status response from each of the available virtual devices, and select, according to the health status responses, at least one of the virtual devices from among the available virtual devices as a backup virtual broadcast management device to the active broadcast management device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A building automation system comprising:
a plurality of subnets;
an active broadcast management device configured on at least one of the plurality of subnets;
a pool of virtual devices communicably connected to the active broadcast management device, wherein virtual devices in the pool of virtual devices are configured to store a broadcast distribution table (BDT);
one or more processors; and
memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
transmit a health status message to available virtual devices in the pool of virtual devices;
receive health status responses from the available virtual devices; and
select, according to the health status responses, at least one virtual device from among the available virtual devices as a backup virtual broadcast management device to the active broadcast management device.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the backup virtual broadcast management device is configured to sync BDT data with the active broadcast management device.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the backup virtual broadcast management device is configured to detect failure of the active broadcast management device, and to switch over to an address of the active broadcast management device to assume an active role for the active broadcast management device in response to detecting the failure.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the health status message is transmitted to each of the available virtual devices in response to failure of the active broadcast management device.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the health status responses include health data from each of the available virtual devices, the health data including memory state, processor status, number of processes running, and network status.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the health data is weighted according to site configuration requirements of the building automation system.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the health data for each of the available virtual devices is compared to each other to select the backup virtual broadcast management device.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the backup virtual broadcast management device is configured to periodically inject network data into at least one of the plurality of subnets to detect a network status of the plurality of subnets.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the backup virtual broadcast management device is configured to periodically read memory state and processor status of the active broadcast management device, and to store historical values of the memory state and the processor status of the active broadcast management device.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the backup virtual broadcast management device is configured to compare recent values of the memory state and the processor status of the active broadcast management device with the historical values to identify a potential fault state of the active broadcast management device.

11. A method for improving communication reliability between devices in a building automation system comprising a plurality of subnets, an active broadcast management device configured on at least one of the plurality of subnets, and a pool of virtual devices communicably connected to the active broadcast management device, wherein virtual devices in the pool of virtual devices configured to store a broadcast distribution table (BDT), the method comprising:
transmitting, by one or more processors, a health status message to available virtual devices in the pool of virtual devices;
receiving, by the one or more processors, health status responses from the available virtual devices; and
selecting, by the one or more processors, at least one virtual device from among the available virtual devices according to the health status responses, the at least one virtual device selected to serve as a backup virtual broadcast management device to the active broadcast management device.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the backup virtual broadcast management device is configured to sync BDT data with the active broadcast management device.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the backup virtual broadcast management device is configured to detect failure of the active broadcast management device, and to switch over to an address of the active broadcast management device to assume an active role for the active broadcast management device in response to detecting the failure.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the health status message is transmitted to each of the available virtual devices in response to failure of the active broadcast management device.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the health status responses includes health data from each of the available virtual devices, the health data including memory state, processor status, number of processes running, and network status.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising weighing, by the one or more processors, the health data according to site configuration requirements of the building automation system.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising comparing, by the one or more processors, the health data for each of the available virtual devices to each other to select the backup virtual broadcast management device.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein the backup virtual broadcast management device is configured to periodically inject network data into at least one of the plurality of subnets to detect a network status of the plurality of subnets.

19. The method of claim 11 , wherein the backup virtual broadcast management device is configured to periodically read memory state and processor status of the active broadcast management device, and to store historical values of the memory state and the processor status of the active broadcast management device.

20. A building device of a building comprising memory coupled to one or more processors, the memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
transmit a health status message to available virtual devices in a pool of virtual devices;
receive a health status responses from the available virtual devices; and
select, according to the health status responses, at least one virtual device from among the available virtual devices as a backup virtual broadcast management device to an active broadcast management device.

Assignees

• Johnson Controls Tech Co

Inventors

• Singh Japneet
• Bhatia Ishmeet
• Garg Manu
• Sharma Vikas

Classifications

• H04L43/20

  the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV · CPC title

• H04L41/147

  for predicting network behaviour · CPC title

• H04L41/149

  for prediction of maintenance · CPC title

• H04L41/0895

  Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements · CPC title

• H04L41/40

  using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities · CPC title