US-12628305-B1 - Automated terminal wiring modification

US12628305B1US 12628305 B1US12628305 B1US 12628305B1US-12628305-B1

Abstract

Tools and techniques are described to automate creation of point mapping diagrams between controllers and controlled resources. After receiving a defined space diagram (which may be input using a graphical interface of the controller, or by other means), resource locations and resource wiring requirements (which may be done automatically), a wiring diagram including point mapping between the resources and any necessary controllers is generated. If resources need to be moved, a new wiring diagram and/or point mapping can be regenerated.

Inventors

Troy Aaron Harvey
Jeremy David Fillingim

Assignees

Troy Aaron Harvey
Jeremy David Fillingim

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20240110

Claims (20)

1 . A computer-implemented method comprising: accepting a defined space representation into a controller, the controller comprising a processor and a memory; accepting a list of unit models into the controller, unit models within the list of unit models having wiring requirements and location within the defined space representation; generating, using the processor, the memory, and the defined space representation, a computed location of the controller within the defined space representation; generating a wiring route between the controller and the unit models within the list of unit models based at least in part on the defined space representation; allowing a user to modify a terminal wiring requirement of a wiring module of the controller, producing a modified wiring requirement, and wherein the controller is configured to check the modified wiring requirement to determine match between the modified wiring requirement and a wiring requirement of a resource to be connected to a terminal associated with the wiring module.
2 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein generating a wiring route between the controller and the unit models is further based in part on a desired percentage of the controller to be filled with devices.
3 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein generating a wiring route between the controller and the unit models is further based in part on a desired cost versus labor calculation.
4 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising using the processor and memory to generate a number of controllers needed based at least partially on a constraint.
5 . The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein the constraint comprises minimizing labor, minimizing hardware, maximizing labor, maximizing hardware, or specifying fill rate of hardware.
6 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising: displaying the controller on a user interface; receiving an interaction from the user interface indicating that the controller has been selected; generating a point mapping between the controller and the unit models within the list of unit models based in part on the wiring route; and displaying the point mapping between the controller and the unit models within the list of unit models.
7 . The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein a unit model within the list of unit models has wiring requirements, the wiring requirements are displayed on the user interface, and wherein wiring of a terminal associated with the controller is modified when a modified wiring requirement is received from a user via the user interface.
8 . The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , further comprising modifying the terminal associated with the wiring module to match at least a portion of requirements of the point mapping.
9 . A system comprising: a controller with a processor, and a memory in operable communication with the processor; including instructions residing in the memory, which are executable by the processor to perform a method which includes: accepting a defined space representation into the controller, the controller comprising a processor, and a memory; accepting a list of unit models into the controller, unit models within the list of unit models having wiring requirements and location within the defined space representation; generating, using the processor, the memory, and the defined space representation, a computed location of the controller; generating, using the processor, a wiring route between the controller and the unit models within the list of unit models based at least in part on the defined space representation; allowing a user to modify a terminal wiring requirement of a wiring module of the controller, producing a modified wiring requirement; checking the modified wiring requirement to determine match between the modified wiring requirement and a wiring requirement of a resource to be connected to a terminal associated with the wiring module; and wherein the controller is configured to check the modified wiring requirement to determine match between the modified wiring requirement and a wiring requirement of the resource to be connected to the terminal.
10 . The system of claim 9 , further comprising a program residing in memory that modifies a controller terminal on the controller based on a user instruction.
11 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the controller further comprises a wiring module with a terminal wiring requirement, the controller allowing a user instruction to modify the terminal wiring requirement of the wiring module, producing a modified wiring requirement.
12 . The system of claim 9 , further comprising, based on a user request, modifying a protocol of a wiring terminal associated with the controller.
13 . The system of claim 9 , further comprising a second controller and wherein a user interface is configured to allow a user to input a request to move one of the unit models to the second controller, and wherein the controller or the second controller rebuilds the wiring route.
14 . The system of claim 9 , further comprising: generating a point mapping between the controller and the unit models within the list of unit models based in part on the wiring route.
15 . The system of claim 14 , further comprising modifying the terminal associated with the wiring module to match at least a portion of requirements of the point mapping.
16 . A non-transient storage medium configured with code which upon execution by a controller having one or more processors coupled with memory-stored instructions performs a controller placement method, the method comprising: instructions for accepting a defined space representation into a controller based on a user instruction, the controller comprising a processor, and a memory; instructions for accepting a list of unit models into the controller, unit models within the list of unit models having wiring requirements and location within the defined space representation; instructions for generating a computed location of the controller using the processor, the memory, and the defined space representation; instructions for generating a wiring route between the controller and the unit models within the list of unit models based at least in part on the defined space representation; instructions for allowing a user to modify a terminal wiring requirement of a wiring module of the controller, producing a modified wiring requirement; instructions for the controller to check modified wiring requirement to determine match between the modified wiring requirement and a wiring requirement of a resource to be connected to a terminal associated with the wiring module; and wherein the controller is configured to check the modified wiring requirement to determine match between the modified wiring requirement and a wiring requirement of the resource to be connected to the terminal.
17 . The non-transient storage medium of claim 16 , further comprising: instructions for generating a point mapping between the controller and the unit models within the list of unit models based in part on the wiring route, and instructions for displaying the point mapping on a user interface.
18 . The non-transient storage medium of claim 17 , further comprising instructions for modifying the terminal associated with the wiring module to match at least a portion of requirements of the point mapping.
19 . The non-transient storage medium of claim 18 , wherein modifying the terminal associated with the wiring module comprises modifying pins on the wiring module.
20 . The non-transient storage medium of claim 18 , wherein generating a wiring route between the controller and the unit models is further based in part on a desired percentage of the controller to be filled with devices.

Description

RELATED APPLICATION The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/216,565, filed on Mar. 29, 2021, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/070,460 filed Aug. 26, 2020, the entire disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes. COPYRIGHT AUTHORIZATION A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. FIELD OF INVENTION The present disclosure relates to generating point maps, and more particularly to automatically generating point maps by creating a digital version of resources that are to be point mapped, and a digital version of the space that the resources will be in, which allows near-automatic creation of point maps. BACKGROUND Wiring diagrams take hours to create. Further, if a problem comes up when building a structure that requires that a wired device must be moved, the wiring diagram must be recreated from scratch, which can entail quite a bit of effort. Almost all building controls today are model-free. The model-free approach, while simple to implement, becomes quite difficult to manage and optimize as the complexity of the system increases. It also lacks the inherent self-knowledge to provide new approaches to programming, such as model-driven graphical programming, or to govern the interconnections between components and sub-system synergistics. Digital model based approaches to date have been limited in scope and specific to known models defined a-priori. They have thus lacked the ability to enable users to create complex systems of interconnected building zones by ad hoc means, use simple graphical user interfaces to define a system, or enable a digital system model to automate creation and easy updating of wiring diagrams. SUMMARY This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description section. This summary does not identify required or essential features of the claimed subject matter. The innovation is defined with claims, and to the extent this Summary conflicts with the claims, the claims should prevail. In general, one innovative embodiment comprises accepting a building representation into a controller, the controller comprising a processor, memory, and a user interface; accepting a unit model from a list of predefined models displayed on the user interface, the unit model having wiring requirements and location within the building representation; accepting a constraint; calculating placement of the controller within the building representation based at least partially on the constraint; determining a wiring route between the controller and the unit model based at least in part on the building representation; and determining point mapping between the controller and the unit model based in part on the wiring requirements. Some embodiments display the point mapping on the user interface. Some embodiments allow a user to move a unit model to a new location on a digital display, which can rebuild the wiring route or the point mapping. Some embodiments comprise a wiring module with a terminal wiring requirement. After a wiring diagram has be generated, a user can modify the wiring module; and the controller is able to determine if the modification is legal for the controller. If so, the controller can regenerate a new wiring diagram. Some embodiments allow the controller to modify wiring pins to match device wiring requirements. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES Non-limiting and non-exhaustive embodiments of the present embodiments are described with reference to the following FIGURES, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the various views unless otherwise specified. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an exemplary embodiment of a controller in conjunction which some described embodiments can be implemented. FIG. 2 is an exemplary block diagram of a resource interface in conjunction with which some described embodiments can be implemented. FIG. 3 is an exemplary flow chart illustrating steps in some methods of automated point mapping generation with which some described embodiments may be implemented. FIG. 4 is an exemplary block diagram of a unit model which some described embodiments can be implemented. FIG. 5 is an exemplary diagram showing how, in some embodiments, location can be determined. FIG. 6 is an exemplary diagram how, in some embodiments, unit model aspects can be determined. FIG. 7 is an exemplary diagram showing potential wiring constraints that can be used in some embodiments. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing relationship between a controller and unit model