Automated peripheral power management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10976798-B2
Application number	US-201715824732-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 28, 2017
Priority date	Nov 30, 2016
Publication date	Apr 13, 2021
Grant date	Apr 13, 2021

Abstract

A building automation system (BAS) controller includes a power supply, a primary controller, and plurality of USB ports for connection to a set of supported peripherals. The primary controller identifies the inserted USB device type and, based on device type, estimates a current draw of the USB device. The total estimated current draw of all inserted USB devices is added to the current draw of the primary controller and compared to the available capacity of the power supply. If the combined current draw is above a threshold, any remaining USB ports in which no USB devices are inserted are deactivated, thereby preventing the use of further USB devices. In embodiments, the BAS controller includes an auxiliary peripheral device power interface, and the total current of connected auxiliary peripheral devices is included in the combined current determination. A user interface coupled to the BAS controller displays power allocation status.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A BAS controller comprising:
a USB hub having a plurality of USB ports, wherein each of the plurality of USB ports is independently-powerable via respective operating currents that, when combined, represent a combined current draw of the USB hub; and
a primary controller configured to:
sense an insertion of a USB device into one of the plurality of USB ports;
supply operating current to the inserted USB device;
determine that the inserted USB device caused an overcurrent condition in which the combined current draw exceeds a defined energy budget; and
in response to the inserted USB device causing the overcurrent condition, continuing to supply operating current to the inserted USB device and causing a switch of an unused port of the plurality of USB ports to open, thereby proactively preventing operating current from being supplied to a subsequently-inserted USB device.

2. The BAS controller in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the primary controller is further configured to respond to a determination that the overcurrent condition does not exist by continuing to supply operating current to the inserted USB device and enabling operating current to be supplied to a subsequently-inserted USB device.

3. The BAS controller in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the primary controller receives a device identifier in response to a USB device being inserted into one of the plurality of USB ports, and wherein the primary controller determines a corresponding operating current for the USB device from a device lookup table.

4. The BAS controller in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the determination that the overcurrent condition exists comprises comparing the combined current draw of USB devices inserted into the plurality of USB ports plus a defined safety margin value to the defined energy budget.

5. The BAS controller in accordance with claim 1 , further comprising an auxiliary peripheral interface.

6. The BAS controller in accordance with claim 5 , wherein the one or more peripheral devices includes an auxiliary device connected to the auxiliary peripheral interface.

7. The BAS controller in accordance with claim 1 further comprising a port priority array.

8. The BAS controller in accordance with claim 7 , wherein the primary controller supplies power to each of the plurality of USB ports in order according to the port priority array.

9. The BAS controller in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the primary controller is configured to remove power from individual ones of the plurality of USB ports.

10. The BAS controller in accordance with claim 1 , further comprising a current latch configured to remove power from one of the plurality of USB ports.

11. The BAS controller in accordance with claim 1 , further comprising a user interface that presents energy budget data regarding the one or more peripheral device, wherein the energy budget data comprises at least one of: the defined energy budget, the combined current draw, and a remaining current indicative of the defined energy budget less the combined current draw.

12. The BAS controller in accordance with claim 11 , wherein the energy budget data presented by the user interface further comprises a respective current draw attributed to respective ones of the one or more peripheral devices.

13. The BAS controller in accordance with claim 11 , wherein the energy budget data presented by the user interface further comprises respective switch elements associated with the one or more peripheral devices, and wherein the respective switch elements are configured to change between a first physical state and a second physical state, resulting in adding or removing power to an associated one of the plurality of USB ports in response to input to the user interface.

14. A method of operating a BAS controller, comprising:
providing a BAS controller that includes a USB hub having a plurality of USB ports, wherein each of the plurality of USB ports is independently-powerable via respective operating currents that, when combined, represent a combined current draw of the USB hub;
sensing an insertion of a USB device into one of the plurality of USB ports;
supplying operating current to currently-inserted USB devices;
determining that the inserted USB device caused an overcurrent condition in which the combined current draw exceeds a defined energy budget; and
in response to the inserted USB device causing the overcurrent condition, continuing to supply operating current to the inserted USB device and setting a switch of an unused port of the plurality of USB ports to an open state, thereby preventing operating current from being supplied to a subsequently-inserted USB device.

15. The method in accordance with claim 14 , further comprising responding to a determination that the overcurrent condition does not exist by continuing to supply operating current to the inserted USB devices and enabling operating current to be supplied to a subsequently-inserted USB device.

16. The method in accordance with claim 14 , wherein the BAS controller receives a device identifier in response to a USB device being connected to the USB hub.

17. The method in accordance with claim 14 , wherein the determining that the overcurrent condition is caused comprises comparing the combined current draw plus a defined safety margin value to the defined energy budget.

18. The method in accordance with claim 14 , further comprising supplying operating current power to each of the plurality of USB ports in a predetermined order of priority.

19. The method in accordance with claim 14 , further comprising presenting, on a user display, a respective current draw attributed to respective ones of currently-inserted USB devices.

20. The method in accordance with claim 14 , further comprising:
presenting, on a user interface, one or more control elements associated with one or more currently-inserted USB devices, respectively; and
toggling a currently-inserted USB device between a first physical state and a second physical state, wherein in the first physical state operating current is supplied to the currently-inserted USB device and in the second physical state operating current is removed from the currently-inserted USB device, based upon input to the user interface.

Assignees

• Trane Int Inc

Inventors

• Basterash Thomas Christopher
• Longen Nathan P
• Garnsworthy Christopher
• Martin Mark

Classifications

• H02J7/70

  characterised by the mechanical construction · CPC title

• G06F1/266 Primary

  Arrangements to supply power to external peripherals either directly from the computer or under computer control, e.g. supply of power through the communication port, computer controlled power-strips · CPC title

• G06F1/3215 Primary

  Monitoring of peripheral devices · CPC title

• H02J7/00

  Circuit arrangements for charging or discharging batteries or for supplying loads from batteries · CPC title

• G06F2213/0042

  Universal serial bus [USB] · CPC title