Occupancy based energy optimization systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9689583-B2
Application number	US-201314023256-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 10, 2013
Priority date	Sep 10, 2013
Publication date	Jun 27, 2017
Grant date	Jun 27, 2017

Abstract

A method for occupancy based energy optimization can include determining a size and speed of a number of objects within an area, determining a number of human occupants within the area based on the size and speed of the number of objects within the area, and altering a number of environmental settings for the area based on the determined number of human occupants.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A system, comprising:
a high frequency sensor to:
send wave pulses through an area and determine changes in reflections of the wave pulses to determine a size and movement of objects within the area;
determine a location of non-human occupants within the area; and
determine a quantity of human occupants within the area based on a comparison of the determined size and movement of objects within the area to a predetermined relative size and movement of potential human occupants and the determined location of non-human occupants within the area;

a soft sensor to confirm the quantity of human occupants based on an expected location of the potential human occupants utilizing soft sensor data that is specific to an identity of each of the potential human occupants, wherein the soft sensor data includes calendar information, security access information for the area specific to the identity of each of the potential human occupants, and connections between access points within the area and mobile computing devices associated with the potential human occupants; and
a computing device coupled to the high frequency sensor and soft sensor to:
generate occupancy data within the area based on the determined quantity of human occupants and confirmed quantity of human occupants;
determine real time occupancy of the area based on the occupancy data; and
alter environmental settings for the area based on the real time occupancy of the area and a particular outdoor temperature.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the soft sensor includes, wireless access devices, mobile computing devices, security devices, and scheduling devices to determine the expected location of the potential human occupants.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein altering the environmental settings includes altering a number of settings of a heating air conditioning and ventilation (HVAC) system.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the high frequency sensor utilizes Doppler radar techniques.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the high frequency sensor is a microwave sensor.

6. The system of claim 4 , wherein the high frequency sensor determines the number of human occupants by counting.

7. A method for adaptive optical zoom, comprising:
sending, via a high frequency sensor, through an area to determine a size and speed of objects within the area based on changes in reflections of the wave pulses;
determining, based on the changes in reflections of the wave pulses, a location of non-human occupants within the area;
determining a quantity of human occupants within the area based on a comparison of the size and speed of the objects within the area to a predetermined relative size and speed of potential human occupants and based on the determined location of non-human occupants;
confirming the quantity of human occupants based on an expected location of the potential human occupants utilizing soft sensor data that is specific to an identity of each of the potential human occupants, wherein the soft sensor data includes calendar information, security access information for the area specific to each of the potential human occupants, and connections between access points within the area and mobile computing devices associated with the human occupants; and
altering environmental settings for the area based on the determined quantity of human occupants and a particular outdoor temperature.

8. The method of claim 7 , comprising analyzing soft sensors that are utilized by the determined quantity of human occupants.

9. The method of claim 8 , comprising comparing the analysis of the soft sensors with the determined quantity of human occupants within the area.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein determining a size and speed of the objects includes comparing the size and speed of the objects to predetermined objects.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein determining the quantity of human occupants includes confirming a quantity of non-human objects within the area utilizing soft sensors.

12. The method of claim 7 , wherein altering the environmental settings includes altering a temperature setting for a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system.

13. A system, comprising:
a high frequency sensor to:
send wave pulses through an area and determine changes in reflections of the wave pulses;
determine a location of non-human occupants within the area based on the reflections of the wave pulses;
determine a size and speed of objects within an area based on the reflections of the wave pulses; and
determine a quantity of human occupants within the area based on a comparison of a determined size and movement of objects within the area to a predetermined relative size and movement of potential human occupants and based on the determined location of non-human occupants within the area;

a soft sensor to:
access scheduling data relating to the potential human occupants within the area;
access security data relating to the potential human occupants within the area;

a computing device coupled to the high frequency sensor and to the soft sensor to:
receive the determined quantity of human occupants within the area;
receive the scheduling data and security data relating to the potential human occupants within the area;
determine an identity of the quantity of human occupants within the area based on the received quantity of human occupants, the scheduling data, and the security data; and
confirm the identity of the quantity of human occupants based on an expected location of the potential human occupants utilizing soft sensor data that is specific to an identity of each of the potential human occupants, wherein the soft sensor data includes calendar information, security access information for the area specific to each of the potential human occupants, and connections between access points within the area and mobile computing devices associated with the potential human occupants.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the computing device alters environmental settings for the area based on the occupancy patterns of the area.

15. The system of claim 13 , wherein the security data includes data received from a security system utilizing identification badges to access the area.

16. The system of claim 13 , wherein the scheduling data includes calendar data received from a scheduling program utilized within the area.

17. The system of claim 13 , wherein the high frequency sensor is a microwave sensor.

18. The system of claim 13 , wherein the high frequency sensor determines a quantity of non-human objects within the area.

Assignees

• Honeywell Int Inc

Inventors

• Katuri Srinivasarao
• Huseth Steve
• Kulkarni Amit

Classifications

• F24F11/64

  using pre-stored data · CPC title

• F24F11/46 Primary

  Improving electric energy efficiency or saving · CPC title

• F24F11/30 Primary

  for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring · CPC title

• H04L67/125

  involving control of end-device applications over a network · CPC title

• F24F2011/0035

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic