Data structure for scheduled execution of commands in a facilities management control system

A system including a tool for programming a controller with a sequence of events which are selected by a system operator comprising:

• a data structure for storing a set of commands which can be executed by the controller, each of the commands having at least one context rule for defining the use of the command with respect to a sequence of selected commands;
• a validation engine associated with the tool, the validation engine maintaining a state table for tracking an outcome associated with the sequence of events, and the validation engine implementing a validation algorithm for validating the sequence of events;
• and
• an interface for providing data flow between the controller and the tool, whereby the validation engine gains access to the data structure for allowing the system operator to create the sequence of events, and for allowing the validation engine to apply the validation algorithm against the at least one context rule of each of the commands within the sequence of events.

A method for validating a sequence of events forming a strategy within a schedule for use with a controller comprising the steps of:

• providing a command table for storing a plurality of commands, said command table including a data structure having a command identification field and a plurality of command rule fields for defining context rules associated, with each command;
• accessing the command table with a controller independent scheduling tool for interpreting the commands and applying the context rules associated with each command for creating a strategy;
• selecting a command from the command table and associating the command with an execution time for defining an event within the strategy;
• validating each command within the strategy by applying a validation algorithm to the command rule fields of each command;
• repeating the steps of selecting and validating for creating said sequence of events until at least one validated strategy is defined;
• organizing the strategies into a schedule table;
• providing a processor within the controller for interpreting the schedule table;
• and
• executing the strategy stored in the schedule table for operating the controller.