Active Device Management for Use in a Building Automation System

Abstract

A building automation system (BAS) comprising a plurality of end devices, at least one communication network, and a server engine comprising a communication state manager for actively managing the state of various devices in building automation system and an associated reconnect manager to reestablish communication with off-line devices. The communication manager and the reconnect manager coordinate the interaction between the server engine and the devices in order to minimizing the load on the communication network, while also working to establish the working state of any of the end devices and to transition off-line to an on-line state.

1 . A building automation system (BAS) comprising:
 a server engine configured to monitor and control a plurality of end devices;   a network communicatively coupling the server engine and the plurality of end devices;   a connection manager implemented in the server engine and configured to monitor the status of the plurality of end devices; and   a reconnect manager implemented in the server engine and configured to iteratively query any one of the plurality of devices that has entered an off-line status in an attempt to transition the one of the plurality of end devices from the off-line status to an on-line status.   
     
     
         2 . The building automation system of  claim 1 , wherein the reconnect manager is further configured to increment a delay period between the query to any one of the plurality of end devices based on a length of time that the end device has been in the off-line status. 
     
     
         3 . The building automation system of  claim 1 , wherein the reconnect manager is further configured to remove the one of the plurality of end devices from a list of end devices to be queried by the reconnect manager in the one end device has been in the off-line status for a maximum period of time. 
     
     
         4 . The building automation system of  claim 1 , wherein the connection manager and the reconnect manager share notifications that include an indication if an end device has transitioned from the off-line status to the on-line status or from the off-line status to the on-line status. 
     
     
         5 - 12 . (canceled)