Building management system with NFC tags for monitoring and controlling building equipment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9971327-B2
Application number	US-201514863219-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 23, 2015
Priority date	Sep 23, 2015
Publication date	May 15, 2018
Grant date	May 15, 2018

Abstract

A system for monitoring and controlling building equipment includes a near field communications (NFC) tag, a temperature sensor, a mobile device, and a controller. The NFC tag is located within a building space and stores a tag ID uniquely identifying the NFC tag. The temperature sensor is associated with the building space and configured to measure a temperature of the building space. The mobile device reads the NFC tag and obtains the tag ID from the NFC tag via NFC. The controller receives the tag ID from the mobile device and uses the tag ID to identify the temperature sensor associated with the building space. The controller receives the measured temperature from the temperature sensor and provides the measured temperature to the mobile device. The mobile device displays the measured temperature via a user interface of the mobile device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for monitoring and controlling building equipment associated with a building space, the system comprising:
a near field communications (NFC) tag located within the building space and storing a tag ID uniquely identifying the NFC tag, wherein the NFC tag comprises an integrated temperature sensor configured to measure a temperature of the building space at a location of the NFC tag, the temperature measured by the integrated temperature sensor defining a measured tag temperature;
a zone temperature sensor associated with the building space and configured to measure another temperature of the building space, the temperature measured by the zone temperature sensor defining a zone temperature;
a mobile device configured to communicate with the NFC tag, wherein the mobile device reads the NFC tag and obtains the tag ID from the NFC tag via NFC, wherein the NFC tag provides the measured tag temperature to the mobile device via NFC when the mobile device reads the NFC tag; and
a controller in communication with the mobile device, wherein the controller receives the tag ID from the mobile device and uses the tag ID to identify the zone temperature sensor associated with the building space, wherein the controller receives the zone temperature from the zone temperature sensor and provides the zone temperature to the mobile device;
wherein the mobile device displays the zone temperature and the measured tag temperature via a user interface of the mobile device;
wherein the mobile device sends the measured tag temperature to the controller and the controller uses the measured tag temperature to control the building equipment associated with the building space.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a control application running on the mobile device, wherein the control application displays the zone temperature and allows a user to adjust a setpoint for the zone temperature via the user interface of the mobile device;
wherein the mobile device sends the adjusted setpoint to the controller and the controller uses the adjusted setpoint to control building equipment associated with the building space.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the NFC tag stores a location of the control application and the mobile device obtains the location of the control location from the NFC tag via NFC;
wherein the mobile device uses the location of the control application to download and install the control application, the control application configuring the mobile device to communicate with the controller.

4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a locations database storing an association between the tag ID and the building space in which the NFC tag is located;
wherein the controller uses the stored association between the tag ID and the building space to determine that the mobile device is located within the building space.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the locations database stores an association between the building space and the zone temperature sensor;
wherein the controller uses the stored association between the building space and the zone temperature sensor to identify the zone temperature sensor associated with the building space.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the NFC tag is a passive NFC tag that becomes energized by the mobile device when the mobile device reads the NFC tag;
wherein the integrated temperature sensor measures the tag temperature in response to the NFC tag becoming energized by the mobile device.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the NFC tag comprises one or more integrated sensors including at least one of a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, an oxygen sensor, a pressure sensor, and an accelerometer;
wherein the NFC tag uses the one or more integrated sensors to measure at least one of a temperature, a humidity, an oxygen level, a pressure, and an acceleration at a location of the NFC tag when the NFC tag is energized by the mobile device.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the NFC tag is located within a wall of the building space and comprises an integrated humidity sensor configured to measure a humidity within the wall when the NFC tag is energized by the mobile device;
wherein the NFC tag provides the measured humidity to the mobile device via NFC when the mobile device reads the NFC tag.

9. A system for monitoring and controlling building equipment associated with a building space, the system comprising:
a controller for the building equipment;
a near field communications (NFC) tag located within the building space and storing a location of a control application, wherein the NFC tag comprises an integrated temperature sensor configured to measure a temperature of the building space at a location of the NFC tag, the temperature measured by the integrated temperature sensor defining a measured tag temperature; and
a mobile device configured to communicate with the NFC tag, wherein the mobile device reads the NFC tag and obtains the location of the control application, a tag ID uniquely identifying the NFC tag, and the measured tag temperature from the NFC tag via NFC;
wherein the controller receives the tag ID from the mobile device and uses the tag ID to identify a zone temperature sensor associated with the building space;
wherein the controller receives a measured temperature of the building space from the zone temperature sensor and provides the measured temperature of the building space to the mobile device;
wherein the mobile device uses the location of the control application to download and install the control application, the control application configuring the mobile device to communicate with the controller;
wherein the mobile device sends the measured tag temperature to the controller and the controller uses the measured tag temperature to control the building equipment associated with the building space.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the mobile device uses the control application to adjust a setpoint for the controller and the controller uses the adjusted setpoint to control the building equipment associated with the building space.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the NFC tag is configured to communicate using a first NFC protocol and a second NFC protocol;
wherein the mobile device obtains the location of the control application from the NFC tag using the first NFC protocol, the control application configuring the mobile device to communicate with the NFC tag using the second NFC protocol;
wherein the NFC tag stores additional information and provides the additional information to the mobile device when the mobile device reads the NFC tag using the second NFC protocol.

Assignees

• Johnson Controls Tech Co

Inventors

• Narain Vivek
• Goel Mohit

Classifications

• G05B2219/2642

  Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house · CPC title

• H04B5/0031

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04B5/0056

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G05B19/042 Primary

  using digital processors (G05B19/05 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04W4/04

  Electricity · mapped topic