EP3308368B1 - Sensors and alarms for multi-service management of a building and of equipment for the occupants thereof - Google Patents

Description

Technical area

The present invention relates to the field of alarms and sensors multi-service management of a building and equipment installed for the use of occupants.

State of the art

The multi-service management of a building, called in English "Facility Management" includes all the services necessary for the normal operation of a company, outside its core business and the management of human resources and financial services . For example: management of technical premises, fire, security, access rights, energy: electricity, refrigeration, heating, mail management, procurement of supplies, maintenance of buildings, green spaces, etc.

The technical management of energy and associated equipment (boiler room, air conditioning, etc.), as well as that of safety, traditionally comprises one or more systems consisting of a set of sensors and actuators distributed throughout the building and, in some cases cases, connected to a central post.

These systems make it possible to measure, and even to control, the temperature, the flow and the quality of the air, etc. in different areas of the building.

However, because of the size of the areas covered (for example a measurement of the CO _{2 content} in the central duct, a measurement of the temperature per plate, etc.) and the limited number of measured quantities, the sensors (and the actuators if necessary), do not allow a knowledge or a fine management of the comfort of the occupants.

One solution would be to multiply the number of sensors by putting in each room. However, the sensors have a relatively high and currently deployed systems have great difficulty in deployment (pulling cables), during the life of the building (reorganization of partitions, etc.), as well as during maintenance. In addition, they have a relatively low autonomy, of the order of 1 or 2 years for wireless systems. It is therefore economically unrealistic to multiply them.

In addition, when an occupant of such a building wants to report an anomaly causing discomfort, he must either call the central station, or send him an email, or fill out a form on a dedicated website.

For reasons of efficiency, the interventions of the professionals responsible for restoring the comfort of the occupants are often organized so as to prioritize the most critical interventions and / or to optimize their course.

Thus, it is important that the user who reports an anomaly also precisely identifies the location of the anomaly to allow an effective intervention. In addition, all data to help the professional to diagnose the criticality of the problem and to anticipate what will be necessary to restore comfort (tools, expertise, etc.) are becoming more and more important.

Regarding minor anomalies (eg neon malfunction, ventilation problem in a room, coffee machine out of service, etc.), it appears that users report them little because the processes to do so are too complicated, or too much heavy: go to a website where you have to remember the address, identify yourself with a password, describe the location of the anomaly, etc. Various aspects relating to the automatic and / or manual reporting of alarm situations can be found in US2014313032 , FR2920564 , US2015049190 or US2003067392 .

It would therefore be desirable to have a building anomaly management system that is easy to implement, at a moderate cost, easy to use for the occupants of this building, and contextualizes the anomalies reported to allow interventions more effective.

Description of the invention

• des capteurs de mesures physiques et/ ou chimiques et/ ou biologiques de l'environnement des occupants notamment de température, d'hygrométrie ou de taux de dioxyde de carbone ;
• un premier émetteur adapté pour transmettre les mesures recueillies par les capteurs à un serveur.

To solve one or more of the aforementioned disadvantages, a multi-service management device of a building and equipment installed for the use of occupants includes:

• sensors for physical and / or chemical and / or biological measurements of the environment of the occupants, in particular temperature, hygrometry or carbon dioxide levels;
• a first transmitter adapted to transmit the measurements collected by the sensors to a server.

It further comprises a user-triggerable alarm connected to a second transmitter for transmitting an alarm signal to the server and further comprising a medium containing an identifier of the device readable by a mobile terminal so that the server can associate the measurements collected by the sensors and / or the alarm signal with information from the mobile terminal and including the identifier.

• Le support comprend en outre une adresse URL, ladite adresse URL comprenant l'identifiant, pour permettre à un utilisateur dudit terminal mobile de transmettre des informations sur l'alarme audit serveur ;
• l'identifiant comprend une identification du lieu d'installation du dispositif ;
• l'identifiant est contenu dans une mémoire reliée à un troisième émetteur adapté pour transmettre par une liaison sans fil l'identifiant au terminal mobile ; et/ou
• le premier émetteur et le deuxième émetteur sont confondus en un émetteur unique ;
• il comprend un boîtier fermé contenant une carte électronique alimentée par une alimentation électrique autonome, la carte électronique contenant :
  • une diode lumineuse dont l'émission de lumière est visible depuis l'extérieur du boîtier ;
  • un capteur de température, hygrométrie et pression ;
  • un capteur de luminosité ;
  • des connecteurs électriques vers un capteur CO2 ; et
  • une antenne émettrice,
• et le boîtier est muni sur sa face avant
  • d'un bouton poussoir qui permet de déclencher une alarme, le bouton étant relié aux connecteurs de la carte électronique ;
  • une étiquette sans contact ;
  • d'une adresse URL de serveur ainsi qu'un numéro identifiant le dispositif imprimé ; et
  • le dispositif comprend en outre une source d'énergie autonome.

Particular features and embodiments, usable alone or in combination, are:

• The medium further comprises a URL address, said URL including the identifier, to enable a user of said mobile terminal to transmit alarm information to said server;
• the identifier includes an identification of the installation location of the device;
• the identifier is contained in a memory connected to a third transmitter adapted to transmit by a wireless link the identifier to the mobile terminal; and or
• the first transmitter and the second transmitter are combined into a single transmitter;
• it comprises a closed box containing an electronic card powered by an autonomous power supply, the electronic card containing:
  • a light diode whose light emission is visible from outside the housing;
  • a temperature sensor, hygrometry and pressure;
  • a brightness sensor;
  • electrical connectors to a CO2 sensor; and
  • a transmitting antenna,
• and the casing is provided on its front face
  • a push button that triggers an alarm, the button being connected to the connectors of the electronic card;
  • a contactless label;
  • a server URL and a number identifying the printed device; and
  • the device further comprises an autonomous power source.

Thus, advantageously, the association of an identifier with the device, and a URL where appropriate, makes it possible to manage information related to the device in an application, a website or any software executable by a computer or a mobile terminal.

An identifier of the device may be displayed on the device itself or on an associated medium, or the device may include a second transmitter adapted to wirelessly connect to a nearby mobile terminal such as a smartphone, transmit to the terminal mobile an identifier and / or a URL containing this identifier and for example an executable command to open a browser directed to the URL in question.

Thus, if it wishes, the user can advantageously access all or part of the information associated with the device, and for example check whether an alarm concerning the problem he wishes to report has already been transmitted, and / or transmit information to qualify an alarm, being automatically directed to the correct form and with a list of information already known to the system if any.

Thus, the device advantageously creates a link between a physical object and a virtual interface; and an unprecedented tripartite relationship between the occupant of the office, his employer - who is often the agent of the building manager - and the building manager.

This device also advantageously allows the creation and the regular enrichment of new sources of data on the comfort of the occupants to the professional in charge of ensuring it. It is also a way to return all or part of this information to the occupants and / or the representative, or any other stakeholder, ergonomically and easy to use.

• une pluralité de dispositifs comme ci-dessus ;
• un serveur relié à la pluralité de dispositifs pour recevoir des mesures des capteurs et/ou des alarmes de la pluralité de dispositifs.

In a second aspect of the invention, a multi-service management system of a building and equipment installed for occupant use includes:

• a plurality of devices as above;
• a server connected to the plurality of devices for receiving measurements of the sensors and / or alarms of the plurality of devices.

The multi-service management system also comprises, at the server level, means for acquiring information from mobile terminals and means for associating this information with the measurements of the sensors and / or the alarms, said information being associated with the identifier of a given device.

In a particular embodiment, it further comprises a plurality of supports, each support comprising an identifier similar to the identifiers of the devices above.

• connecter un terminal mobile au dispositif pour recevoir l'identifiant dudit dispositif ;
• obtenir une adresse d'un serveur ;
• transmettre à l'adresse du serveur un message construit en utilisant l'interface homme-machine du terminal mobile, le message comprenant l'identifiant du dispositif.

In a third aspect of the invention, a method of technical management of a building and equipment installed for the use of the occupants, wherein is installed at least one device as above with which an alarm is triggered, includes:

• connect a mobile terminal to the device to receive the identifier of said device;
• get an address from a server;
• transmitting to the server address a message constructed using the human-machine interface of the mobile terminal, the message comprising the identifier of the device.

In a fourth aspect of the invention, a computer program product downloadable from a communication network and / or recorded on a computer readable and / or executable medium by a processor, includes program code instructions for implementing process of the above process.

Brief description of the figures

• La Figure 1 représente un schéma générique des différents constituants d'un mode de réalisation de l'invention ; et
• La Figure 2 est un ordinogramme d'un procédé mettant en oeuvre le mode de réalisation de la Figure 1.

The invention will be better understood on reading the description which follows, given solely by way of example, and with reference to the appended figures in which:

• The Figure 1 represents a generic diagram of the various constituents of an embodiment of the invention; and
• The Figure 2 is a flow chart of a process implementing the embodiment of the Figure 1 .

Modes of realization

With reference to the Figure 1 , a part of a building includes a device 1.

The device 1 is connected by a link 3 to a server 5.

The link 3 may be a wired link or comprise, at least in part, a wireless link, preferably low consumption.

Depending on the desired characteristics, and in particular the configuration of the building, it is understood that, for example, the device 1 can be connected by a short-distance wireless link to a concentrator (not shown). For example, the wireless link is a "low power wide area" type link such as SigFox, LoRa, etc. This hub provides wireless links with several devices and serves as an intermediary to the server 5. For example, the hub can be connected by a wired ethernet link to the server 5.

The device 1 comprises sensors 9 for physical and / or chemical and / or biological measurement of the environment of the occupants, for example temperature, hygrometry and CO ₂ .

The device 1 comprises a transmitter 7 adapted to send via the link 3 information regularly and / or on detection of an event. If the link is a wireless link, the transmitter includes an antenna (not shown).

The measurements generated by the sensors 9 are sent to the server 5 by the transmitter 7.

The device 1 also comprises a triggering alarm 10 enabling a user to trigger an alarm signal transmitted by the device 1 to the server 5 by the transmitter 7, or by a second transmitter (not shown).

The device 1 further comprises a medium containing a user-readable identifier or via a second (or third) emitter 11, a mobile terminal 13. This emitter 11 can be of passive or active type. For example, a URL containing an identifier is contained in a barcode label, a QR-code, an RFID tag, an NFC tag, a beacon or any other element allowing automatic recognition by the mobile terminal 13, such as a mobile phone.

The device 1 further comprises an autonomous power source enabling it to overcome any connection to an electrical network. This autonomous energy source is for example a battery, a supercapacitor, a mechanical energy recuperator or photovoltaic cells.

The mobile phone 13 comprises at least one application software for dialogue with the transmitter, and for a data link with a server. This application software is for example a browser or a specific application. This application software is installed in the mobile terminal according to the usual methods and well known to those skilled in the art.

The operating mode is then the following, Figure 2 .

In normal mode, the device 1 is installed in a room. The device sends, step 21, the information coming from the sensors on a regular basis to the server 5. A correspondence table exists in the server between the device 1, and more precisely its identifier, and the position of the device so that the information from sensors are associated with a given location or part.

Software, installed on the server 5 or on another server (not shown) connected to the server 5, can collect, clean and analyze these data to restore them, in their raw form or in an enriched form (indicator calculations, presentation graphic, sending alerts if exceeding thresholds, crossing with other information, etc.), in particular to assist the staff ensuring the multi-service management of the building.

Thus, knowing that a management by multi-service building management is generally by zones, the information sent by the sensors will not allow to regulate finely by room, but rather to detect areas with malfunctions. Thus the possible actions are works and not necessarily an action to correct punctual problems. Another action may consist simply in having data to present to the customer to prove, for example, that the contractual setpoint temperature has been delivered but that occupants are not satisfied with the associated comfort.

When a user wishes to report an incident (for example neon failed, water leak, too high sound level, etc.) it can trigger an alarm via the device, step 23, for example by pressing a button 10. This alarm is sent to the server 5. Like the data from the sensors, the server 5 is able to associate the received alarm with a given device and therefore with a predetermined location.

The user identifies, step 25, the device. For example, the user uses his phone's camera to scan the barcode or uses the NFC link to interact with the RFID tag.

The dedicated software (or a web browser connected to a server software) presents, step 27, a form on the mobile phone interface to the user. This completes, step 29, the form by giving details of the anomaly. Then the dedicated software sends, step 31, the information collected on the server 5 accompanied by the identifier of the device.

By using its association table, the server 5 associates, step 33, the piece with the description of the incident received from the telephone and with the alarm, which allows an effective intervention of resolution of the incident, and avoids the user to have to give the place of the incident.

The server 5 thus makes it possible to monitor the incidents in progress and in real time, to have indicators with a suitable level of detail and function of the number of implemented devices of the temperature, hygrometry and CO2 in the building . This advantageously allows a gain because if the parts, or the area, are too heated or too air-conditioned compared to the set point, the devices will signal it and it will be possible to adjust the temperature and therefore the energy paid according to real data accurate.

In a first variant, the identifier may contain a URL ("Uniform Reference Locator" address) of the server 5 thus allowing the dedicated software to configure itself to present the form and send the data. It may also contain a reference to the room in which the device is arranged, which makes it possible to avoid having an association table on the server 5.

By deploying the device 1 on the whole of a building, it is thus possible to have an infrastructure of data feedback in the building and "local" interactions with each occupant of the building.

In a complementary way, and for some places where we do not need the data collected by the sensors, the device can be replaced by a support containing the identifier, for example a barcode label glued to the wall. This label is used by the dedicated software according to the same conditions as the identifier of the device 1, except that no alarm is raised directly by the label, unlike the device 1 when pressing the button 10. This has the advantage of allowing a tighter mesh building cheaply.

In a second variant, the input form is presented to the user with fields previously filled in with the incidents already reported by other users in the same place, allowing him not to have to fill in the form again but only by an "n + 1" iteration of the incident already reported. In addition, by analyzing the requests already recorded on this site, the system will be able to offer a presentation to the user adapted to the actual situation of the incident to report, and this predictively with contextualized dropdown menus.

The invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and the foregoing description. This must be considered as illustrative and given by way of example and not as limiting the invention to this description alone. Many variants are possible for example, the shape of the device, its appearance, its functions, including the sensors it has, may vary depending on the destination of the room, the specific equipment concerned and the needs of the occupants.

In addition, the server 5 of the example can correspond to several physical or virtual servers. For example, a first server receives the information from the sensors of the devices 1 and a second server, of the web server type, receives the fault reports via the mobile phones.

• une diode lumineuse dont l'émission de lumière est visible depuis l'extérieur du boîtier,
• un capteur de température, hygrométrie et pression,
• un capteur de luminosité,
• des connecteurs électriques vers un capteur CO₂ et un bouton poussoir intégré sur la partie haute du boîtier,
• une antenne émettrice.

Le boîtier est muni sur sa face avant d'un bouton poussoir qui permet de déclencher une alarme telle que décrite plus haut dans ce texte, le bouton étant relié aux connecteurs de la carte électronique. Sur cette même face avant est collé du côté intérieur une étiquette NFC (« Near Field Connection » en anglais - connexion en champ proche) et figurent également côté extérieur une adresse URL du serveur ainsi qu'un numéro identifiant le dispositif, ce qui permet également de se connecter avec un un terminal fixe ou un terminal mobile ne disposant pas de liaison NFC ni de caméra. Il est également muni sur sa face arrière d'un adhésif de fixation tous supports (murs, plafonds, bureaux, machines à café, cloisons, boiseries, etc.), afin d'y être installé de manière rapide et immédiate. Les composants du dispositif ainsi que leur mode de fonctionnement sont choisis de telle sorte que la durée d'autonomie (batterie incluse) atteigne de 5 à 10 ans sans aucune intervention humaine.In a particular embodiment, the device consists of a closed parallelepipedal housing of approximately 2 x 5 x 5 cm provided with an air opening and which contains an electronic card powered by a 3.6 V battery, the electronic card containing:

• a light diode whose light emission is visible from outside the housing,
• a temperature sensor, hygrometry and pressure,
• a brightness sensor,
• electrical connectors to a CO ₂ sensor and an integrated pushbutton on the upper part of the housing,
• a transmitting antenna.

The housing is provided on its front face with a push button that triggers an alarm as described above in this text, the button being connected to the connectors of the electronic card. On the same front face is glued on the inside a NFC (Near Field Connection) label and also include a server's external address and a number identifying the device, which also allows to connect with a fixed terminal or a mobile terminal that does not have an NFC link or camera. It is also provided on its back side with a fixing adhesive all supports (walls, ceilings, offices, coffee machines, partitions, woodwork, etc.), in order to be installed quickly and immediately. The components of the device and their mode of operation are chosen so that the battery life (battery included) reaches 5 to 10 years without any human intervention.

In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements and the indefinite article "one" does not exclude a plurality.

Claims (11)

1. Device for multi-service management of a building and of equipment installed for use by the occupants comprising:

   - sensors (9) for taking physical and/or chemical and/or biological measurements of the occupants' environment, in particular the temperature, relative humidity or carbon dioxide level;

   - a first transmitter (7) suitable for transmitting the measurements taken by the sensors to a server;

   characterised in that it further comprises an alarm (10) that can be triggered by a user connected to a second transmitter so as to transmit an alarm signal to the server and further comprising a medium containing a device identifier that can be read by a mobile terminal in such a way that the server can associate the measurements taken by the sensors and/or the alarm signal with information originating from the mobile terminal and including the identifier.
2. Device according to claim 1, characterised in that the medium further comprises a URL address, said URL address including the identifier, in order to enable a user of said mobile terminal to transmit information on the alarm to said server via this URL address.
3. Device according to either claim 1 or claim 2, characterised in that the identifier comprises an identification of the place of installation of the device.
4. Device according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterised in that the identifier is contained in a memory connected to a third transmitter suitable for transmitting the identifier to the mobile terminal via a wireless connection.
5. Device according to any of the previous claims, characterised in that the first transmitter and the second transmitter are combined in a single transmitter.
6. Device according to any of the previous claims, characterised in that it comprises:

   - a closed box containing a printed circuit board powered by an independent power supply, the printed circuit board containing:

   - a light-emitting diode, the light emission whereof can be seen from outside the box;

   -- a temperature, relative humidity and pressure sensor (9);

   -- a visible light sensor;

   -- electrical connectors for a CO₂ sensor; and

   -- a transmitting antenna (7),

   and the box is provided, on the front face thereof, with

   -- a push button that allows an alarm to be triggered, the button being connected to the connectors of the printed circuit board;

   -- a contactless tag and

   -- a server URL address as well as a number identifying the printed device.
7. Device according to any of the previous claims, characterised in that it further comprises an independent power supply.
8. System for multi-service management of a building and of equipment installed for use by the occupants comprising:

   - a plurality of devices (1) according to any of claims 1 to 6;

   - a server (5) connected to the plurality of devices for receiving measurements from the sensors and/or alarms of the plurality of devices;

   characterised in that it further comprises, at the level of the server, means for acquiring information originating from mobile terminals and means for associating said information with the measurements taken by the sensors and/or the alarms, said information being associated with the identifier of a given device.
9. System according to claim 8, characterised in that it further comprises a plurality of mediums, each medium comprising an identifier similar to the identifiers of the devices according to one of claims 1 to 6.
10. Method for the technical management of a building and of equipment installed for use by the occupants, in which at least one device according to one of claims 1 to 6 is installed, with which device an alarm is triggered, characterised in that it includes:

    - connecting a mobile terminal to said device in order to receive the identifier of said device;

    - obtaining an address of a server;

    - transmitting, to the address of the server, a message built using the man-machine interface of the mobile terminal, said message comprising the identifier of said device.
11. Computer program product capable of being downloaded from a communication network and/or saved on a computer-readable medium and/or capable of being executed by a processor, characterised in that it comprises program code instructions for implementing the method according to claim 10.

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