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US006731992B1 (12) United States Patent (10) Patent N0.: (45) Date of Patent: Ziegler, Jr. (54) REMOTELY ACCESSIBLE ENERGY Designer Manual Version 4.0, Sep. 1998, Atlantic Software, Eldon W. Ziegler, J r., Clarksville, MD (Us) (73) Assignee: Atlantic Software, Inc., Clarksville, MD (US) (*) Notice: May 4, 2004 2000 ProAtion for Windows 95 and NT—User Manual/ CONTROL SYSTEM (75) Inventor: US 6,731,992 B1 Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 521 days. Inc. ES—1400e—Enerlogic System 1400e User’s Manual, 1987—1991, Enerlogic Systems, Inc., Table of Contents w/pages 3—2,3—3, and B—6 through B—9. * cited by examiner (21) Appl. No.: 09/718,227 Primary Examiner—Ramesh Patel (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Crowell & Moring LLP (22) Filed: (57) Nov. 22, 2000 ABSTRACT (51) Int. Cl.7 .............................................. .. G05B 19/18 An advanced remotely accessible energy control system (52) US. Cl. ............................. .. 700/65; 700/9; 700/19; utilizes a client/server software architecture, and an “open” communication protocol, such as the well known TCP/IP 700/20; 700/66; 700/17; 700/83; 702/188 (58) Field of Search .......................... .. 700/9, 3, 65, 66, 700/17, 19, 20, 83; 702/188 (56) puters incorporating operating systems which are well suited References Cited U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 5,805,442 A * 5,845,230 A * 12/1998 Lamberson 5,909,368 A 5,923,557 A * * 6/1999 7/1999 Nixon et a1. Eidson .............. .. .... .. 700/2 700/129 5,956,487 A 5,960,214 A * * 9/1999 Venkatraman et a1. 9/1999 Sharpe et a1. .. .. 709/218 700/9 5,975,737 A * 11/1999 5,980,090 A 6,038,486 A * 11/1999 Royal et a1. * 3/2000 Saitoh et a1. .. 6,092,078 A * 6,176,421 B1 * 9/1998 Crater et a1. ................. .. 700/9 . 702/56 Crater et a1. .... .. 700/9 .. 700/241 700/96 7/2000 Adolfsson ................. .. 707/102 1/2001 protocol for design-in remote accessibility. Multiple graphic user interface clients can operate on widely available com Royal et a1. .............. .. 700/241 OTHER PUBLICATIONS ProAtion Energy Control System Sample Office System, no to graphic user interface functions, while the energy control server and the input/output interface components can oper ate on a separate computer, using other or different operating systems, which are adapted to the processing performed there. According to the invention, the graphic user interface software is resident on one or more graphic user interface consoles or clients, so that processing for formatting data for display, and processing of input actions taken by a system user are of?oaded from the server to the graphic user interface clients. Data describing the format of the display is stored on the server, so a user can move the graphic user interface software to another computer, connect to the server and view the system information, without transporting ?les describing the format of the display. date. ProAtion 2000 Energy Control System. 35 Claims, 18 Drawing Sheets @ TCP/IF SERVER PROCESS FOR u.|. CONNECTIONS % OPEN SERVER CREATE TCP/lP SERVER PROCESS FOR u.|. WAll' FOR couuzcmus counccnou mou u.|. ' 0N PROCESS T0 I/O *11] CREATE PROCESS FOR SERVER common 1 mm u.:. START ONE sacouu mm “ $3 Wm FOR MESSAGE I CREATE pnocsss FOR E éaglc'g MESSAGE TO wAn FOR WAIT FOR “HER saw ‘10 ul Freon; u.|. 25am SEND Tap/n, I 1 MESSAGE I MESSAGE U.S. Patent May 4, 2004 Sheet 1 of 18 US 6,731,992 B1 CONTROLLED w 2 DEDICATED DR DIAL-UP COMMUNICATIONS LINE DEV'CES PROPRIETARY PROTOCOL SENSORS N3 I0 DEDICATED ENERGY DEDICATED OR DIAL-UP CONTROL SYSTEM CONTROLLED M2 COMMUNICATIONS LINE INCLUDING MEMORY DEVICES * RESIDENT DATABASE, PROPRIETARY PROTOCOL CONTROL LOGIC AND SENSORS M3 INTERFACE TO DEVICES PRIOR 'ART INTERNET, LOCAL AREA NETWORK (LAN) 0R DWFUP rep/II: 4 ONE OR MORE GRAPHIC USER INTERFACE CONSOLES (CUENTS) 7 \ 8 2 1 / / SERVER / CONTROLLED DEvIcE I/O g DEVICES CONIRoLLER L INTERFACE(S) sENsORs \5 I/O DEVICE INTERFACE SOFTWARE INTEGRATED WITH CONTROLLER OR I 3 A SEPARATE PROCESS WITHIN SERVER FIG]: U.S. Patent May 4, 2004 101 Sheet 3 of 18 132 US 6,731,992 B1 133 NETWORK TELEPHONE oevuc'e INTERFACE INTERFACE INTERFACE OS DRIVER OS DRIVER OS DRM-IR \ I04AI LINUX 03 \/ T8054? m6 1104B 104C FILE SERIAL SYSTEM‘ comm. ‘ 107 DATABASE ON FLASH 1 5 ' KIOB A MEMORY lGDiSK!‘ IOQI CONTROLLER APPUCATION SOFTWARE DEVICE INTERFACE APPLICATION SOFTWARE 110 I11 FIG.6 U.S. Patent May 4, 2004 Sheet 4 of 18 US 6,731,992 B1 ps onsol - ProActin ECT ?le Edit \[xew Ijelp Outside 86 Temperature Gymnasium Class Rooms 76 72 7O 66 73 65 75 72 75 Outsxde Lights -— —- — — — Suite N.W. Outside R0 m Room 100A Comer Kitchen 314 315 73 69 73 72 66 72 Book By G4 _ 73 65 75 By G1 Ready Store R m Room //, H607 U.S. Patent May 4, 2004 Sheet 5 of 18 US 6,731,992 B1 Ups Console - ProAc?TJJ-ECL file Edit \?ew Ijelp General Housekeeping General 9;00:09 0m ?oor (310161020103610461056106610761086109611061116112 0" 52:, G201(32026203620462056206620762086209621002116212 011 Figgr G301630263036304030563066307030863096310631 16312 F?gr G4016402C4038404640564060407640864096410641 16412 1/0 £2, 050105020503650405050506650705080509651065116512 PL0® F232! G601G6026603660466050606660766086609861006116612 8th Floor G801(580268036804680568066807680868096810681 10812 9th Floor G901690269036904090509066907090869096910691 16912 Ready ' é F1608 U.S. Patent May 4, 2004 Sheet 6 of 18 US 6,731,992 B1 Book Store Se?ings Heat Scheduie Cool Schedule Fun Schedule Heat Cool ~Mode ~Schedu|e Mode Set Point Set Point O Off @ Scheduled 8g _ — _ 80 _ P_ O Heat O 0001 0 Comfort 0 Economy _ _ (0) Auto 0 Unoccupied {:1 - - :1 - ‘ - ' ~ 40 - 4 65 [1 User Hold ~F0n @ M0 —Use Which Schedde?-—— @ Use Individual Schedule O 0" 0 Use Master Schedule 40 " - F 80 a F RG09 U.S. Patent ( START May 4, 2004 ) LOAD Sheet 7 of 18 US 6,731,992 B1 TCP/IP sERvER PROCESS FOR u.|. ooNNEcnoNs DATABASE I CREATE TCP/IP OPEN sERvER f SERVER PROCESS FOR 0.1. WAIT FOR coNNEcnoNs coNNEcnoN | FROM UJ. CREATE TCP/lP I coNNEcuoN CREATE PROCESS TO I/O PROCESS FOR SERVER CONNECHON 1 FROM u.|. START ONE- ] SECOND RNER _.__.. I CREATE WAIT FOR PROCESS FOR nNER 0R FRO“ U‘ NEssAeE MESSAGES k " Egg WAIT FOR MESSAGE TO WAR FOR “HER SEND T0 N1. FROM u.:. §EN0 SEND 'FPMESSAGE ROCESS MESSAGE TO u| VIA MESSAGE TO A v1A IPC NEssAcE TCP/IP ' __I FIG.1OA MESSAGE U.S. Patent May 4, 2004 Sheet 8 0f 18 US 6,731,992 B1 TCP/IP SERVER PROCESS FOR UJ. CONNECTIGNS oPEN SERVER —_...{ wArr FOR coNNEcnDN FROM u.|. WATT FOR —— MESSAGE I SEND CREATE PROCESS FOR GoNNEcnoN MADE coNNEGnoN MESSAGE TO FROM w. A VIA IPC __| ‘ CREATE PROCESS FDR MESSAGES FROM UJ. — SEND TO u.|. ' MESSAGE? ND SEND “wag/‘T0 TCP/lP ___.._| YES SEND TERMINATE MESSAGE TO CVTAIPC PROCESS MESSAGE TO YES cDNNEcmN TERMINATE c WAN FOR TERMINATE FROM U.l. SEND coNNEcnoN LOST MESSAGE TO A VIA IPC I TERMINATE PRocEss U.S. Patent May 4, 2004 Sheet 9 of 18 US 6,731,992 B1 8 TCP/IP CONNECTIDN PRGGESS TO I/() SERVER CONNECT VIA TCP/IP T0 1/0 SERVER FAILED CREATE PROCESS FOR MESSAGES FRGM 1/0 DELAY FOR 30 MAR FOR MESSAGE TO MAR FOR MESSAGE SECONDS SEND TO l/O FRoM 1/0 SERVER SERVER SEND MESSAGE TO |/o s \M SEND MESSAGE TO A VIA IPC TCP/IP ,___i FHGQWC U.S. Patent May 4, 2004 Sheet 10 0f 18 ITMER PROCESSING PROCESS I TTMER II CHECK DME-DF- DISPLAY THE TIME OF DAY ON THE LCD DAY SCHEDULES FOR ANY CHANGES NOW DUE UPDATE lN-MEMORY DATABASE WITH NEW SETTTNG CHECK UST 0F HOUDAYS, SET HOUDAY FLAG FOR SCHEDULES AND NOTIFY ANY U1. CONNECTIONS SEND NEW SETTING TD ANY U.I. CDNNECTTDNS VIA IPC MESSAGE TO C SEND NEW’ CHECK MASTER SCHEDULES T0 SETTING TO I/D DErERMmE SERVER VTA IPC MESSAGE TO D WHICH IS ACTIVE ON THIS DATE. IS THE ITME A DIFFERENT MINUTE? RETURN YES RETURN US 6,731,992 B1 U.S. Patent May 4, 2004 Sheet 11 0f 18 US 6,731,992 B1 MESSAGE PROCESSING DEIERMINE MESSAGE SOURCE MESSAGE CONNECTION common MESSAGE FROM m. MADE LOST FROM |/o MESSAGE MESSAGE PROCESS MESSAGE FROM U ' 4-: ADD CONNECTION TO LIST 01-‘ ACTIVE couuecnons 1 REMOVE connecnou FROM LIST OF ACTIVE conuecnons 1 RETURN RETURN PROCESS MESSAGE FROM l 0 / U.S. Patent May 4, 2004 Sheet 12 of 18 PROCESS MESSAGE FROM I/O UPDATE VALUES IN DATABASE NOTIFY ANY U.|. CONNEC'HONS VIA IPC MESSAGES T0 C COMPUTE ANY SEI'HNGS TO BE Cl-LANGED SEND COMMANDS T0 l/O SERVER VIA IPC MESSAGES T0 0 NOW-Y ANY UJ. CONNEC'HONS VIA IPC MESSAGES T0 C l RETURN FIG.1OF US 6,731,992 B1 U.S. Patent May 4, 2004 Sheet 13 of 18 US 6,731,992 B1 PROCESS MESSAGES FROM U.l. DETERMTNE MESSAGE TYPE REQUEST FOR CHANGE INFDRMADDN SEITTNGS MESSAGE MESSAGE RETRIEVE INFORMATION FROM TN-MEMORY DATABASE Mom ANY OTHER u.|. GDNNEGTTDNS 0F GRANGES vlA IPC MESSAGES T0 0 NOHFY uM. \AA ' IPC MESSAGES T0 T3 I UPDATE VALUES IN DATABASE REIURN SEND GDMMANDS T0 l/D SERVER VIA IPC MESSAGES T0 0 1 RETURN FIG.10G U.S. Patent May 4, 2004 Sheet 14 of 18 US 6,731,992 B1 @ mmAuzE GREATE PROCESS FOR DEVICE B coMMumcAnou S A WAIT FGR MESSAGE GEIERMIME MESSAGE SOURCE DEVICE coMM. PROCESS M?SSAGE FROM COMROLLER MESSAGE To CONWLLER coMMEcnoM MADE MESSAGE coMMEcnoM LOST MESSAGE CREATE TCP/IP SEND MESSAGE TO SEND MESSAGE TO C0N" 0N MADE cONNWERK CUON SERVER DEVICE CONTROLLER PROCESS coMM. vlA IPC READY FOR PRocESs VIA comRouER IPC MESSAGE coMMEcnoMS TO G MESSAGE TO 0 M A A FIG.11A LOST , A A U.S. Patent May 4, 2004 Sheet 15 of 18 B US 6,731,992 B1 * ~ ! WAIT FOR IIIIER 0" MESSAGE SEND oEvIcE com. PROCESS READY MESSAGE TO A W\ IPc IF IIIIER PROCESS INfHAUZE POLLING, RESEND. DEVICE E WER OPERATION AND VERIFY TIMERS IF MESSAGE PROCESS OPEN SERIAI. HES?“ PORT DEvIcIE CREATE PROCESS FOR DEVICE INPUT 7 = IIIAII FOR DEVICE INPUT SEND DEVICE INPUT MESSAGE T0 0 WI IPc FIG.11B c U.S. Patent May 4, 2004 US 6,731,992 B1 Sheet 16 0f 18 TCP/IP SERVER PROCESS FOR CONTROLLER CONNECTION l WATT FOR OPEN SERVER MESSAGE FROM UJ. -———-4 WAIT FOR CONNECTION FROM CONTROLLER CONNECTION YES sens TERMINATE CREATE PROCESS FOR SEND MESSAGE TO MESSAGES FROM ___J WAIT FOR MESSAGE TO SEND TO CONTROLLER TERMINATE MESSAGE? SEND MESSAGE TO UJ. vm 0 VIA iPC A VIA IPC CONTROLLER NO SEND MESSAGE TO CONNECTION LOST MESSAGE TO A VIA IPC TCP/IP FIG.11C TERMINATE PROCESS U.S. Patent May 4, 2004 Sheet 17 of 18 US 6,731,992 B1 PROCESS IIVIER DETERMINE TIRER TYPE POLLING IIMER RESEND IIVER DEVICE OPERATION VERIFY TIMER IIIIER I nun NEXT HND NExI DEVICE T0 DEVICE T0 ‘goals? 8E POLLED BE REIRIED OPERAHON QUEUE NEXT oEVIcE oPERAIIoN u IRESEND THE LAST - COMMAND TO THE nEVIcE T0 POLL THE DEVICE sEI IVAIIIIII; REIIIRR VERIFIcAIIoR Ems; HOLD THE DEVICE oPERAIIoNs ouEuE; START THE VERIFY TIMER REIURN FIG.11D U.S. Patent May 4, 2004 Sheet 18 0f 18 DEVICE OPERATION! VERIFY TIMER DO THE DO VERIFY DEVICE “HER US 6,731,992 B1 OPERATION MARK OPERATION SET UP DEVICE Ag FAILED MESSAGE FOR THIS DEVICE AND COMMAND SEND ERROR TO CONTROLLER MESSAGE SET UP EXPECTED To A VIA |Pc RESPONSE FOR THIS DEVICE AND COMMAND SEND THE COMMAND TO THE DEVICE INCREMENT ERROR COUNT ERROR SET WAITING VERIFICATION FLAG; HOLD THE DEVICE OPERATIONS QUEUE; START THE VERIFY TIMER RETURN COUNT < 3 7 OUEUE NEXT DEVICE OPERATION TO SEND SEND DEVICE FAILURE ERROR THE CURRENT TO CONTROLLER OPERATION TO THE MESSAGE DEVICE TO A VIA IPC RETURN RETURN FIG.IIE US 6,731,992 B1 1 2 REMOTELY ACCESSIBLE ENERGY CONTROL SYSTEM processor or a PC as a system control unit. Remote acces sibility is then provided only via a proprietary softWare protocol, or by a sloW generic PC communications products, Which are commercially available for linking PC’s via the Internet. One communication package Which is available for this purpose, for example, is knoWn as pcAnyWhereTM. FIG. BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a method and appa ratus for remote control of electrical or electrically actuated 1, for example, illustrates this type of control system, using systems, such as for example heating, ventilation and air controller 1 controls a plurality of controlled devices 2 using information supplied by the control devices, as Well as by a suite of sensors 3, Which provide information concerning local ambient conditions at each of the control devices. The a PC for the central control unit. In this embodiment, a PC conditioning (HVAC) systems, lighting systems, security systems, laWn sprinkler systems and the like. Computerized automation systems can improve control PC controller in this case provides an “all-in-one” system, over HVAC systems, and When combined With communi cating thermostats, can result in reduced cost, as Well as enhanced operational convenience and comfort. Communi 15 cating digital thermostats provide the reliability of conven user interface. As noted previously, remote access to the tional thermostats, plus the ability to communicate With an automation system. While such digital thermostats control heating and air conditioning on their oWn, they can also system controller PC can be obtained only by a proprietary protocol or a dedicated or dial-up communications line. FIG. 2 shoWs a second embodiment of an energy control accept temperature set point changes from the computer system according to the prior art, Which is similar to the embodiment shoWn in FIG. 1, except that in place of a PC, controller and can send the current temperature and heating and air conditioning operating conditions to the computer controller, for the purpose of implementing a control regime. Because communicating thermostats install in place of conventional thermostats, they may be used With different brands of HVAC systems. The relays in these thermostats a dedicated processor 1a is used. Each of the foregoing prior art systems suffers from a 25 unreliable. As a practical matter, such systems can be very inconvenient in use. In addition, the prior art systems thermostats, including special features, but With the added for example: described above do not provide a built-in security system Which constrains actions that may be taken by a user Who has logged into the system via the remotely situated PC. And ?nally, the controller itself must be either a PC or an 35 Multiple temperature changes throughout the course of a equivalent dedicated processor, Which is capable of perform ing all of the functions previously described, including processing for graphic user interface display and processing of input actions taken by a system user; this in turn neces day, With separate schedules, for example, for days of sitates the use of equipment having suf?cient computing and memory capacity to accommodate such tasks. Accordingly, such systems are costly. One object of the present invention is to provide an energy control system Which is easily and conveniently accessible the Week and holidays. Separate temperature schedules for each of the thermo stats included in the HVAC system Preheating and precooling of environmentally controlled spaces during periods of loW energy cost, depending on the outside temperature and the actual local interior temperature number of common de?ciencies. In particular, and most importantly, communications betWeen a remotely situated PC and the system control PC is extremely sloW and replace the contacts inside a conventional thermostat. The HVAC system operates as it Would With conventional control of the computer system. SoftWare in the computer controller uses information from the thermostats, along With time of day schedules, outside Weather conditions and interior conditions to improve management of the HVAC systems. Such energy control systems therefore can include, Which includes not only a system control database, moni toring and control logic and an interface to the control devices 2, but also the hardWare and softWare for graphic from a remote location. 45 Another objection of the present invention is to provide an energy control system in Which the functionality of the Computer enforced limits on the amount by Which a central control processor is limited, so that loW cost com temperature can be changed, and for hoW long; and Tie-in betWeen the security system and the energy control puter equipment can be used, Without requiring a monitor, keyboard and mouse. system. Still another object of the present invention is to provide In automated, centrally controlled systems such as a control system in Which graphic user interface function ality is performed outside the central control unit itself, so that different operating systems may be used for monitoring described above, the status of all thermostats can be moni tored centrally from a computer controller. Typically, icon displays shoW the current temperature, as Well as heating and cooling set points for each thermostat included Within the system, together With its operating mode (off, heat, cool, 55 and control processing on the one hand, and for graphic display processing on the other hand. Yet another object of the invention is to provide such a auto) and other information. Each of the respective thermo control system, Which can operate on an embedded stats is then separately controllable from the central location. An important feature of systems such as described above processor, Without requiring moving storage devices, such as hard drives, ?oppy or “Zip” disk drives, or CD-ROM drives. is that, With appropriate communications capacity, the Still another object of the present invention is to provide a remotely accessible energy control system in Which input/ output interfaces betWeen the control processor and the control devices operate on multiple, small, loW-cost HVAC system can be monitored, and settings changed, over an internal netWork, via the Internet, or by dialing into the energy controller. Such remote operation can improve service, and save trips to the operating site. Remote access is typically secured by the use of special softWare, codes and passWords. KnoWn energy control systems of the type described above have been implemented using either a dedicated 65 processors, separate from a control logic and user interface softWare. These and other objects and advantages are achieved by the energy control system according to the present invention,