Html driven embedded controller

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/587,920 filed Jul. 14, 2004.

The present invention is directed to a system and method for communicating or for the transport of electronic data and information from controlled building equipment to local and remotely located users. More particularly, this invention is directed to a system and method for providing data and information from particular items of controlled building equipment, such as heating ventilation air-conditioning and refrigeration (hereinafter “HVAC&R”) equipment, to a user, such as a servicing technician or contractor, using a dedicated Hypertext Markup Language (“HTML”) embedded, non-PLC, controller that collects and serves data to a website generated by a web server in the controller. The website can be accessed and reviewed by remotely located users on remotely located devices, and can simultaneously be accessed and displayed by other users, including users accessing a local display preferably located on or in proximity to the controlled equipment. Whether in local or remote access mode, the website allows authorized users to control the equipment, and also to independently control the display of the data from the equipment.

Modern buildings include sophisticated HVAC&R systems that control the building\'s interior environment and/or a system process. For example, the air conditioning component of a building HVAC&R system includes at least one compressor, and often several compressors, that operate in conjunction with condensers, evaporators, fans, and other refrigeration circuit components to dehumidify and cool the air circulating throughout the building\'s interior. Ordinarily, each item of building equipment includes an electronic control panel that permits an operator to activate, deactivate, or adjust the speed or other operating parameter of the building equipment. The electronic control panel is often mounted directly on the equipment, but may alternatively be placed in proximity to the equipment at a location more easily accessible to the operator.

Increasingly, items of building equipment are being networked through building automation systems (“BAS”) to permit monitoring and limited control of the equipment by technicians and operators at on-site locations, such as a control room, that are several feet to several hundred feet away from the operating equipment. This allows operators to obtain data from the equipment and to adjust operating parameters of networked equipment accordingly. One component of such a BAS includes a Programmable Logic Controller (“PLC”) that includes a back plane for connecting building equipment control modules to the PLC, and further includes simple “ladder logic” for controlling the modules. Due to their logic structure, PLCs, as opposed to microprocessors, can only handle a very limited number of logic functions, and can only perform a very limited number of calculations or other tasks simultaneously. The priority task of known PLCs is to provide data gathering for monitoring purposes, and known PLC-type controllers inherently require attachment to other items of equipment and to a local computer network in order to function in a BAS. The BAS is in essence an intelligent breaker box that turns equipment on or off at scheduled times and upon the happening of certain events. For example, in the case of a fire, a building fire system component would detect fire and tell the BAS to shut off lights and other building equipment that may encourage the spread of fire. Moreover, PLCs operating in a BAS are required to respond to a large number of systems, and must adhere to inflexible communication protocols by which the connected systems can connect and poll with, as well as different protocols for communicating with and controlling the controlled equipment. These requirements, combined with the limited logic capability and slow processing speed of known PLCs, make PLCs a poor choice for flexible and intelligent control of building equipment.

Accordingly, what is needed is a non-PLC controller having a microprocessor that permits fast and accurate gathering, processing, and storage of data from both standalone and BAS-networked building equipment, and also having an embedded web server that allows a plurality of authorized users, whether local or remote, to simultaneously access and view data, and to adjust operation of the equipment.

Furthermore, in typical known embedded controllers, only about twenty percent (20%) of the software program is dedicated to control of the equipment. The remaining eighty percent (80%) is dedicated to monitoring and permitting interaction with users, such as at a human-machine interface device (“HMI”). Accordingly, what is needed is a controller that separates the program code for monitoring from the program code for equipment control in a manner that is efficient yet invisible to users accessing the controller through a HMI.

The present invention provides a method of locally and remotely monitoring controlled items of building equipment has the step of providing an item of building equipment to be controlled, the building equipment communicably connected to a dedicated HTML-driven, non-PLC, controller. The controller includes an embedded web server and microprocessor executing a computer program stored in memory. The method also includes the steps of operating the equipment, gathering data using the controller, processing the data in a preselected fashion based upon a user profile, serving the data to a website, accessing the website using a microprocessor-controlled device, and displaying the served data on the microprocessor-controlled device. The method can further include the steps of adjusting the display of served data based upon a user\'s preferences, the preferences associated with a user profile.

A system is provided for simultaneously locally and remotely monitoring and controlling an item of building equipment via an Internet website served by an HTML controller associated with the controlled equipment. The system includes at least one item of building equipment, an HTML-driven, non-PLC, controller communicably connected to the at least one item of building equipment. The controller has a microprocessor executing a computer program that includes computer instructions to poll the equipment and process and display the collected data in a preselected fashion based upon a user profile. The controller of the system further includes a web server to serve a web page to a wide area network for access by a user through an HMI. The computer program includes instructions to prompt the user to enter a user name and password, to recognize the user name and password and to associate the user name and password with a stored user profile that includes an access level for the recognized user. The software further includes instructions to send the data using the web server to the HMI. The sent data corresponds with the access level of the user, and includes instructions executable by the HMI device to generate a display having predetermined display characteristics associated with the stored user profile.

In another embodiment, a system for remotely monitoring building equipment includes: at least one item of building equipment, a non-PLC controller communicably connected to the at least one item of building equipment to receive data from the building equipment, and an HMI interface in communication with the non-PLC controller. The non-PLC controller includes a web server, a microprocessor and a memory storing a computer program executable by the microprocessor. The computer program includes computer instructions to gather data from the connected building equipment and to capture the data in Common Gateway Interface (“CGI”) scripts. CGI is a standard for external gateway programs to interface with information servers such as HTTP servers. The computer program further includes computer instructions to populate the data into tags provided in an HTML web page generated by the web server of the non-PLC controller. The computer program further includes instructions to permit a remote user to log on to the web server using a HMI, to prompt the user to enter a user name and password, to recognize the user name and password, to associate the user name and password with a stored user profile that includes an access level for the user, and to send data using the web server to the HMI. The data sent to the HMI corresponds with the user\'s access level, and further includes instructions executable by the HMI device to generate a display having predetermined display characteristics associated with the user profile, to allow an authorized user to remotely access preselected data, to allow the authorized user to manipulate the data, and to process the user-manipulated data for return to the controller for return to the controller to modify an operating parameter of the building equipment.

An advantage of the present invention is that a local user such as an on-site technician, as well as remote users such as off-site contractors or other authorized remote users, can access the web site of the controller and be linked with the controlled equipment for gathering and monitoring of data, as well as for control of the displayed parameters such as the language of text, units of measure, and types of data displayed without disrupting the data that may be displayed on devices of other users who are simultaneously accessing the controller.

Another advantage of the present invention is that the use of a website generated by a dedicated HTML-driven controller permits data transfer from particular items of building equipment to remotely located users, without the need for networking the controller or item of controlled equipment to a BAS or other local computer network.

Another advantage of the present invention is that the use of a website generated by a dedicated HTML-driven controller provides a quick and easy way for equipment information to be accessed by both local and remote users.

Yet another advantage of the present invention is that it permits a remotely located contractor to monitor numerous pieces of equipment, including equipment located at different geographical sites, without the need for a dedicated connection to any non-Internet computer network(s) that might otherwise control the building equipment.

Still another advantage of the present invention is that it allows service personnel to troubleshoot equipment problems from remote locations, such as their home or office, by providing access to an Internet website generated by the controller, thus allowing them to see exactly what an on-site operator of the equipment would see on a local display linked to the equipment, allowing less service calls while maintaining adequate equipment and customer service.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following more detailed description of the preferred embodiment, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention.