Approach and system for avoiding ambiguous action via mobile apps through context based notification

Abstract

A mechanism, with action awareness, incorporating a building automation system (BAS) having an interface screen. A mobile device may be logged by a first user into an app for connecting with the interface screen. A display of the mobile device may show the interface screen that reveals one or more components in a space covered by the BAS. The first user may select a first component of the one or more components in the display and perform a first action on the component. A second user may log into an app with a second or the same mobile device which has a display that reveals the one or more components in the space. The second user may select the first component in the display and see a notification describing one or more actions already performed on the first component before deciding whether to perform an action on it.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of reconciling ambiguous actions with a mobile device via an app to a system, comprising:
 using a mobile device via an app to obtain an interface of a building automation system on a display of the mobile device;   clicking on one or more components of the building automation system shown in the interface on the display to see a list of actions that can be applied to the selected component;   clicking on the selected component that results in a context page of the component being downloaded, which displays a drop-down notification that shows actions that have been performed on the selected component; and   deciding whether to perform an action on the selected component in view of the drop-down notification.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the drop-down notification indicates a type and time of each action and details of who performed the action. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein two or more users of a mobile device with the app can perform an action on the same selected component. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein two or more users of a mobile device with the app can perform the same action on the same selected component. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a user is informed about different parameters of components of the building automation system on the context page in a form of alerts and notifications. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein security matters of various premises covered by the building automation system are provided in a form of drop-down alerts and notifications. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more actions are selected from a group comprising activating a component, deactivating a component, calibrating a component, creating a schedule for a component, and selecting or bypassing specific areas or premises covered by the building automation system. 
     
     
         8 . An apparatus for performing non-ambiguous actions in a building automation system, comprising:
 a building automation system; and   a mobile device having a display, connectable to the building automation system; and   wherein:   a user logs with the mobile device into an app that obtains an interface screen from the building automation system;   the user logged into the app can perform actions on a device of the building automation system via the interface screen on the display even though one or more other users can log into the app to perform actions on the device via the interface screen; and   when a user accesses the device page of the interface screen as shown on the display, and clicks on a device, a drop-down notification appears that indicates a type and time of a previous action performed on the device, details about who performed the action, and how many actions were performed on the device.   
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein a user can obtain the type and time of a previous action performed on the device, details about who performed the action, and how many actions were performed on the devices, without accessing log information of the app. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein in a situation of overlapping actions of users, an action performed on a particular device by a user of the app can be reversed or modified by another user accessing the app. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein each user of the app can be identified by credentials entered upon logging into the app by the user registering to use the app. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein an action that is performed on a device is selected from a group of actions comprising activating and deactivating devices, turning on and off devices, calibrating devices, creating schedules for devices, and centering on specific areas covered by the building automation system. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein the user can navigate in the interface screen to and click on a device to perform an action on the device.