Cloud-based automation system, zone controller, building gateway, and methods thereof for increasing energy efficiency of buildings

A method of building automation comprising:

• automatically collecting a plurality of collected data from a communication interface included on one or more on-premises equipment located on-premises at a building;
• transmitting the collected data from the on-premises equipment to a cloud controller via an external network, the cloud controller being located outside of the building and coupled to the on-premises equipment via the external network;
• analysing the collected data by the cloud controller in order to determine one or more components that are coupled to the on-premises equipment via the communication interface;
• updating, by the cloud controller, a building record stored in a data storage device to store a record of the one or more components determined to be coupled to the on-premises equipment;
• transmitting one or more configuration data by the cloud controller to the on-premises equipment according to the one or more components determined to be coupled to the on-premises equipment;
• and
• utilizing the configuration data by the on-premises equipment to dynamically reconfigure the communication interface to enable the on-premises equipment to communicate with the one or more components determined to be coupled to the on-premises equipment and performing at least one of receiving information from the one or more components and sending information to the one or more components.

A non-transitory processor-readable medium comprising processor executable instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to

• automatically collect a plurality of collected data from a communication interface included on one or more on-premises equipment located on-premises at a building;
• transmit the collected data from the on-premises equipment to a cloud controller via an external network, the cloud controller being located outside of the building and coupled to the on-premises equipment via the external network;
• analyze the collected data by the cloud controller in order to determine one or more components that are coupled to the on-premises equipment via the communication interface;
• update, by the cloud controller, a building record stored in a data storage device to store a record of the one or more components determined to be coupled to the on-premises equipment;
• transmit one or more configuration data by the cloud controller to the on-premises equipment according to the one or more components determined to be coupled to the on-premises equipment;
• and
• utilize the configuration data by the on-premises equipment to dynamically reconfigure the communication interface to enable the on-premises equipment to communicate with the one or more components determined to be coupled to the on-premises equipment and performing at least one of receiving information from the one or more components and sending information to the one or more components.

A building gateway apparatus comprising:

• one or more processors;
• a storage device storing a plurality of software instructions for execution by the one or more processors;
• a real time clock chip coupled to the one or more processors;
• a first radio interface coupled to the one or more processors and providing wireless communication by the processors to a cloud controller on an external network via a mobile data connection;
• a second radio interface coupled to the one or more processors and providing wireless communication by the processors to a wireless local area network;
• a first RS-485 interface and associated first RS-485 port coupled to the one or more processors and providing wired connection to a first RS-485 bus;
• and
• a first Ethernet interface and associated first Ethernet port coupled to the one or more processors and providing wired connection to a first Ethernet network;
• wherein, by executing the software loaded from the storage device, the processors are configured to:
• scan at least one of the second radio interface, the first RS-485, and the first Ethernet port in order to collect a plurality of collected data;
• utilize the first radio interface to transmit the collected data to the cloud controller via the external network;
• utilize the first radio interface to receive from the cloud controller one or more configuration data;
• and
• utilize the configuration data to perform at least one of receiving information from the one or more first components and sending information to the one or more components.

A zone controller apparatus comprising:

• one or more processors;
• a storage device storing a plurality of software instructions for execution by the one or more processors;
• a first radio interface coupled to the one or more processors and providing wireless communication by the processors to a first wireless local area network;
• a second radio interface coupled to the one or more processors and providing wireless communication by the processors to a second wireless local area network;
• a first RS-485 interface and associated first RS-485 port coupled to the one or more processors and providing wired connection to a first RS-485 bus;
• a first Ethernet interface and associated first Ethernet port coupled to the one or more processors and providing wired connection to a first Ethernet network;
• and
• an input output circuit and associated input output port that has a plurality of dynamically configurable modes, the input output port having four pins including a first power line, a second power line, a first data line, and a second data line;
• wherein, by executing the software loaded from the storage device, the processors are configured to:
• utilize the first radio interface to receive one or more configuration data;
• dynamically configure a mode of the input output port to be one of the dynamically configurable modes according to the configuration data.