Building management system with integration of data into smart entities

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12399475-B2
Application number	US-202318367293-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 12, 2023
Priority date	Sep 27, 2017
Publication date	Aug 26, 2025
Grant date	Aug 26, 2025

Abstract

A building management system includes an entity database, a software defined gateway, and an entity service. The entity database stores a plurality of interconnected smart entities including object entities representing a plurality of physical devices, people, or spaces and data entities representing data associated with the plurality of physical devices, people, or spaces. The smart entities are interconnected by relational objects indicating relationships between the object entities and the data entities. The software defined gateway is configured to receive information technology (IT) data and operational technology (OT) data from a plurality of different data sources. The entity service is configured to create a new smart entity in the entity database or update an existing smart entity in the entity database using the IT data and the OT data. The new or existing smart entity includes one or more first attributes having values derived from the IT data and one or more second attributes having values derived from the OT data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A building system of a building comprising one or more storage devices storing instructions thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
connect to one or more information technology (IT) data sources and one or more operational technology (OT) data sources of an OT network;
receive IT data from the one or more IT data sources and OT data from the one or more OT data sources;
convert the IT data and the OT data from at least one first format to a second format for an entity graph; and
create a new object entity in the entity graph or update an existing object entity in the entity graph using the IT data and the OT data converted to the second format, the new object entity or the existing object entity related to one or more first attributes having values derived from the IT data and one or more second attributes having values derived from the OT data, the entity graph including object entities representing at least one of devices, people, spaces, or events associated with the building and data entities representing data associated with at least one of the devices, people, spaces, or events associated with the building, and relational objects indicating semantic relationships between the object entities and the data entities.

2. The building system of claim 1 , wherein the OT network is located within the building; and
wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to cause the entity graph to store the OT data by modifying the entity graph by updating existing information of the entity graph or adding information to the entity graph.

3. The building system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to:
cause the entity graph to store the IT by updating existing information of the entity graph or adding the information to the entity graph.

4. The building system of claim 1 , wherein the relational objects indicating the semantic relationships include a relational object indicating a semantic relationship that is a type of relationship of a plurality of types of relationships between a first entity and a second entity.

5. The building system of claim 1 , wherein the relational objects indicate a type of relationship of a semantic relationship with an attribute.

6. The building system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to:
cause the entity graph to store the IT data and the OT data by modifying the entity graph by updating existing information of the entity graph or adding the information to the entity graph;
wherein the one or more IT data sources are one or more software services that store the IT data and operate to perform a primary function separate from operational control or analysis of a physical environment.

7. The building system of claim 1 , wherein:
the IT data describes one or more characteristics of the devices, people, or spaces, the one or more characteristics being static or changing at a first rate; and
the OT data describes one or more states or conditions of the devices, people, or spaces, the one or more states or conditions being dynamic or changing at a second rate faster than the first rate.

8. The building system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to implement a software defined gateway;
wherein the software defined gateway is configured to use different communications protocols to communicate with the one or more OT data sources or the one or more IT data sources, the different communications protocols comprising at least one of BACnet, Modbus, LonTalk, SQL, JMS, AMQP, MQTT, FTP, or HTTP.

9. The building system of claim 1 , wherein the OT network includes one or more data sources comprising at least two of internet of things (IoT) devices, building equipment, a weather service, a news service, a document service, a human resources service, a billing service, or a media service.

10. The building system of claim 1 , wherein the OT data comprises event data received in real-time from building equipment installed within the building, the building equipment comprising at least one of a chiller, a boiler, a sensor, a cooling tower, an air handling unit, a rooftop unit, a variable air volume unit, lighting equipment, security equipment, or fire detection equipment.

11. The building system of claim 1 , wherein the OT data comprise data samples collected from building equipment devices comprising at least one of sensors, actuators, electronics, vehicles, or home appliances.

12. A method, comprising:
connecting, by one or more processing circuits, to an operation technology (OT) network located within an environment;
receiving, by the one or more processing circuits, OT data from an OT network located within the environment;
receiving, by the one or more processing circuits, information technology (IT) data from an IT data source;
converting, by the one or more processing circuits, the IT data and the OT data from at least one first format to a second format for an entity graph; and
generating or updating, by the one or more processing circuits, with the IT data and the OT data converted to the second format, at least a portion of the entity graph, the entity graph generated or updated to include object entities representing at least one of devices, people, spaces, or events associated with the environment and data entities representing data associated with at least one of the devices, people, spaces, or events associated with the environment, and relational objects indicating semantic relationships between the object entities and the data entities, wherein generating or updating the entity graph includes:
causing, by the one or more processing circuits, the entity graph to store the IT data and OT data by modifying the entity graph by updating existing information of the entity graph or adding information to the entity graph;

wherein:
the IT data describes one or more characteristics of the devices, people, or spaces, the one or more characteristics being static or changing at a first rate; and
the OT data describes one or more states or conditions of the devices, people, or spaces, the one or more states or conditions being dynamic or changing at a second rate faster than the first rate.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the relational objects indicating the semantic relationships include a relational object indicating a semantic relationship that is a type of relationship of a plurality of types of relationships between a first entity and a second entity.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the relational objects indicate a type of relationship of a semantic relationship with an attribute.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the one or more IT data sources are one or more software services that store the IT data and operate to perform a primary function separate from operational control or analysis of a physical environment.

16. A system of an environment, comprising:
one or more processors coupled with one or more memory devices, the one or more processors to:
connect to one or more information technology (IT) source and one or more operational technology (OT) data sources of an OT network, wherein the one or more IT data sources are one or more software services that store the IT data and operate to perform a primary function separate from operational control or analysis of a physical environment;
receive information technology (IT) data from one or more IT data sources and operational technology (OT) data from one or more OT data sources;
convert the IT data and the OT dat

Assignees

• Johnson Controls Tech Co

Inventors

• Park Youngchoon
• Sinha Sudhi R
• Venkiteswaran Vaidhyanathan
• Paulson Erik S
• Chennupati Vijaya S

Classifications

• G06F16/25 Primary

  Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems · CPC title

• G06F16/2379

  Updates performed during online database operations; commit processing · CPC title

• G06F16/288

  Entity relationship models · CPC title

• G06F16/22

  Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures · CPC title

• G05B2219/2614

  HVAC, heating, ventillation, climate control · CPC title