METHOD FOR ASSIGNING A SMOKE DETECTOR TO BE REGISTERED AND A CORRESPONDING SMOKE DETECTOR MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Abstract

A method for assigning a smoke detector (2) to be registered to a user profile (11) of a smoke detector management system (1), comprising the steps: establishing a data connection between the smoke detector (2) and a server (3) and transmitting first identification data (6) of the smoke detector (2) to the server (3); establishing a data connection between a mobile device (4) and the server (3); logging into the user profile (11) by means of the mobile device (4) using the user identification data (5); transmitting second identification data (7) of the smoke detector (2) to be registered to the mobile device (4); transmitting the second identification data (7) and/or the user identification data (5) to the server (3) by means of the mobile device (4); and identifying the smoke detector (2) by means of the first and/or second identification data (6; 7) and assigning the smoke detector (2) to the logged in user profile (11) or the user profile (11) corresponding to the user identification data (5).

Claims

1. A method for assigning a smoke detector (2) to be registered to a user profile (11) of a smoke detector management system (1), comprising: establishing a data connection between the smoke detector (2) and a server (3) of the smoke detector management system (1) and transmitting first identification data (6) of the smoke detector (2) to be registered to the server (3); establishing a data connection between a mobile device (4) and the server (3); logging into the user profile (11) by means of the mobile device (4) using user identification data (5) uniquely assigned to the user profile (11); transmitting second identification data (7) of the smoke detector (2) to be registered to the mobile device (4); transmitting the second identification data (7) and/or the user identification data (5) to the server (3) by the mobile device (4); and identifying the smoke detector (2) by means of the first and/or second identification data (6; 7) and assigning the smoke detector (2) to the logged in user profile (11) or the user profile (11) corresponding to the user identification data (5).

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein after identifying the smoke detector (2) and assigning the smoke detector (2) to the user profile (11), position and/or address data (17) are assigned to the smoke detector (2) assigned to the user profile (11).

3. The method according to claim 1, in which the first and the second identification data (6; 7) are identical.

4. The method according to claim 1, in which the smoke detector (2) and/or the mobile device (4) is connected to the server (3) wirelessly, preferably via a mobile radio network, particularly preferably via narrow-band IOT, at least for the transmission of the respective data (5; 6; 7).

5. The method according to claim 1, in which the smoke detector (2), when establishing the connection to the server (3), either is directly connected to the server (3), or in which the smoke detector (2) is connected to the server (3) via the mobile device (4).

6. The method according to claim 1, in which the transmission of the second identification data (7) to the mobile device (4) either comprises detecting of a QR code attached to the smoke detector (2) with the mobile device (4), or comprises detecting a pictogram or alphanumeric code attached to the smoke detector (2) or enclosed with the smoke detector with the mobile device (4) and using image recognition software, or is carried out via a wireless connection between the smoke detector (2) and the mobile device (4).

7. The method according to claim 1, in which an authorization request is sent from the server (3) to the mobile device (4) before the smoke detector (2) is assigned.

8. The method according to claim 1, in which, after the smoke detector (2) has been assigned to a user profile, the smoke detector (2, 8) is assigned to at least one further user profile (11), this further assignment either is carried out analogously to the method described in claim 1 or by changing the allocation data stored on the server (3).

9. The method according to claim 1, in which, after the allocation, the smoke detector (2, 8) periodically transmits status data (9) and/or operating data and/or the first identification data (6) and/or the second identification data (7) to the server (3).

10. The method according to claim 1, in which, after the allocation, the smoke detector (2, 8) once or periodically compares operating parameters, settings and/or firmware with the server (3) and/or synchronises them with the server (3).

11. A smoke detector management system (1), comprising: at least one smoke detector (8) and at least one server (3), wherein at least one user profile (11) is stored on the server (3), wherein the server (3) is connected to the at least one smoke detector (8) for data exchange, wherein the server (3) is preferably cloud-based, the server (3) being set up to store data received from the smoke detector (8) and to make it accessible to a user profile (11) assigned to the smoke detector (8), the smoke detector (8) being assigned to the user profile (11) according to the method according to claim 1.

12. The smoke detector management system (1) according to claim 11, in which the smoke detector (8) is connected to the server (3) wirelessly, preferably via a mobile radio network and particularly preferably via narrowband IoT.

13. The smoke detector management system (1) according to claim 11, wherein the server (3) is connected to at least one computer device (4, 13) for data exchange, wherein the computer device (4, 13) is adapted to download, manipulate or to add new data to the user profile (11) using user identification data (5) uniquely identifying the user profile (11), the data being received from the corresponding smoke detector (8) and stored on the server (3).

14. The smoke detector management system (1) according to claim 11, wherein a plurality of user profiles (11) are stored on the server (3), wherein at least one, preferably each of the user profiles (11) is assigned to at least one of at least two user profile groups (10), wherein each user profile (11) assigned to the same user profile group (10) is assigned to the same of the at least one smoke detector (8).

15. The smoke detector management system (1) according to claim 14, wherein at least one of the user profiles (11) assigned to a user profile group (10) has administrator rights at least with respect to the respective user profile group (10).

16. The smoke detector management system (1) according to claim 11, wherein the smoke detector management system (1) comprises an evaluation unit which can identify an alarm case and/or maintenance case from the data received from the smoke detector (8), wherein in the alarm case the system sends an alarm message (12) and/or in the maintenance case a maintenance message to the user profiles (11) assigned to the smoke detector.

Description

DRAWINGS

[0042] Further details of the invention are explained with reference to the following figures:

[0043] FIG. 1 a schematic representation of an embodiment of a method according to the invention for assigning a smoke detector to be registered;

[0044] FIG. 2 a schematic representation of an embodiment of an inventive smoke detector management system;

[0045] FIG. 3 an embodiment of a GUI showing a user profile;

[0046] FIG. 4 an embodiment of a GUI showing a distribution of rights of different user profiles assigned to a user profile group;

[0047] FIG. 5 an embodiment of a GUI showing an overview of smoke detectors associated with a user profile;

[0048] FIG. 6 an embodiment of a GUI showing messages communicated to a user profile, in particular an alarm message in case of an alarm.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0049] FIG. 1 schematically shows an embodiment of an inventive method for the registration of a smoke detector 2. The smoke detector 2 to be registered is connected to server 3 of the smoke detector management system 1 in such a way that data can be exchanged between smoke detector 2 to be registered and server 3. The mobile device 4 is connected to server 3 in such a way that data can be exchanged between the mobile device 4 and server 3. Preferably smoke detector 2 and server 3 as well as mobile device 4 and server 3 are connected wirelessly, e.g. via a mobile radio network, especially preferably via narrowband IoT. The smoke detector 2 to be registered transmits the first identification data 6 to Server 3. The connection of smoke detector 2 with Server 3 and the initiation of the transmission of the first identification data 6 can be carried out by a user, for example, through an actuating element of the smoke detector, e.g. a button or an actuating knob. The user can log into his user profile 11 stored on server 3 via an app or GUI stored on the mobile device 4 and inform server 3 via the GUI that a smoke detector 2 is to be added to his user profile 11. Then second identification data 7 is transmitted from the smoke detector 2 to the mobile device 4. The transmission of the second identification data 7 can take place, for example, by scanning a QR code attached to the smoke detector 2 by the mobile device 4. The mobile device 4 can then transmit the second identification data 7 received from the smoke detector 2 and the user identification data 5 uniquely identifying the user profile 11 to the server 3. Server 3 can then identify the smoke detector 2 to

[0050] be registered, e.g. by comparing the first and second identification data and assigning smoke detector 2 to user profile 11 on the basis of user identification data 5. The now assigned smoke detector 2 can now be displayed e.g. in the GUI and if necessary further configured by the user. For example, address data 17 can now be assigned to smoke detector 2, e.g. a street address or a room number. The address data 17 can already have been stored on server 3 before the smoke detector 2 was assigned to the user profile 11, e.g. also before the data connection between smoke detector 2 and server 3 was established. The address data 17 can also be stored on server 3 by assigning the address data 17 to the smoke detector 2.

[0051] It can be provided that the smoke detector 2 checks after its assignment or at periodic intervals whether its installed firmware corresponds to that of the version stored on server 3. In case of deviations, the firmware of the smoke detector can be updated automatically, e.g. by downloading the current version stored on server 3. In the same way, the smoke detector 2 can check after its allocation or at periodic intervals whether its settings or parameters correspond to those of Server 3. If the settings or parameters have been changed on the server side, e.g. by the user via the GUI, the smoke detector 2 can update or synchronise them. It may also be provided that instead of or in addition to the pull by the smoke detector 2, server 3 or the user initiates an update of e.g. the firmware or the parameters push, i.e. on the server side.

[0052] After its assignment, the smoke detector 2 can communicate status data or status data and/or operating data or measurement data to server 3 at periodic intervals. It may also be intended to transmit the first and/or second identification data together with the status and/or measurement data in order to enable simple assignment of the data received from server 3 to the respective user profiles 11. The received data can be evaluated on the server side, for example to identify an alarm case and/or a maintenance case.

[0053] FIG. 2 shows a smoke detector management system 1 with at least one server 3 and at least one assigned smoke detector 8. Smoke detector 8 can exchange data with server 3. For example, Smoke Detector 8 can transmit measurement data or status data to Server 3. Server 3 can send firmware updates to the smoke detector 8, for example. Server 3 is preferably cloud-based. Smoke Detector 8 and Server 3 can preferably be connected via a mobile phone network, e.g. GSM, GPRS, UMTS or LTE, and especially preferably via narrowband IoT. The smoke detector can have a suitable module for this purpose, e.g. a SIM card. This allows the smoke detector to be positioned flexibly, as there is no need to lay cables. The smoke detector 8 is particularly preferred to be connected directly to Server 3. This means that a gateway between the smoke detector 8 and Server 3 can be dispensed with, which further facilitates the installation, replacement and maintenance of the smoke detector 8. In one version, however, at least one of the smoke detectors 8 can also be connected to Server 3 by cable. Furthermore, FIG. 2 shows a smoke detector 2 to be registered and a mobile device 4 used for registration, both of which are connected to server 3 for data exchange in order to carry out the registration method described above. As shown in FIG. 2, another mobile device 4 is connected to server 3. Via mobile device 4 a user can access his user profile 11 stored on server 3 and, for example, retrieve the data stored on server 4 for the smoke detector 8 assigned to user profile 11. A stationary device 13 can also be used for the same purpose, i.e. the user can also access server 3 or his user profile 11 via the stationary device 13. The mobile device 4 can be, for example, a smartphone, a PDA, a tablet or a laptop. The stationary device 13 can be, for example, a desktop PC, a workstation or similar.

[0054] Preferably, the user can access his user profile 11 via a computer device, for example, mobile device 4 and/or stationary device 13, using a computer program, app or GUI. FIGS. 3 to 6 show an example of a suitable GUI. The GUI allows the user to add, remove and/or manage smoke detectors and to view smoke detector data that has been transmitted. FIG. 3 shows, for example, an overview of the smoke detectors 8 assigned to a user profile 11. The status data 9 of the smoke detectors 8 assigned to user profile 11 can be seen directly at a glance. As shown in FIG. 3, the respective smoke detectors 8 can be divided into any smoke detector groups 16, for example, to facilitate administration. The respective smoke detector groups 16 can also be divided into any smoke detector subgroups 17. This can result in any group hierarchy of the assigned smoke detectors 8. The administration of smoke detector 8 can thus be made considerably easier by a suitable group hierarchy. It is not necessary to divide all smoke detectors 8 into smoke detector groups 16; in the example shown in FIG. 3, for example, 404 smoke detectors out of 1835 smoke detectors are divided into a first smoke detector group 16 (Endava) with three smoke detector subgroups 17 (3 buildings) and a further 404 smoke detectors into a second smoke detector group (Lupus Electronics) also with three smoke detector subgroups (3 buildings). The smoke detectors 8, the smoke detector groups 16 and/or smoke detector subgroups 17 can be assigned further attributes, e.g. a descriptive text or position and/or address data. In the exemplary design shown in the figures, the smoke detector subgroups 17 are determined by the address data 17 of the smoke detectors. In the design example shown, a smoke detector subgroup 17 thus includes all smoke detectors 8 installed in the same building. Of course, smoke detectors 8 can also be or become divided into more or less smoke detector groups or smoke detector subgroups; for example, all smoke detectors 8 installed on one floor of a building could be or become divided into a further subgroup. Such a division allows smoke detectors to be conveniently and flexibly divided into meaningful groups. A division of the smoke detectors into fewer smoke detector groups or smoke detector subgroups can also be carried out additionally or instead on the basis of other criteria. It can be provided for, for example, to also group the smoke detectors exclusively or additionally according to, for example, the type designation or according to manufacturer, in order to facilitate administration, for example, or, for example, in the case of maintenance messages, to send these to companies specializing exclusively in the respective manufacturer or smoke detector type. It can be advantageous to make the data transmitted by the smoke detector 8 available to other users or other user profiles 11. For this purpose, at least one or every smoke detector 8, smoke detector group 16 and/or smoke detector subgroup 17 can be assigned to or correspond to a user profile group 10. The respective user profile group 10 corresponds to the group of those user profiles 11 which can access some or all data of the smoke detector 8 assigned to the respective smoke detector 8 and/or smoke detector group 16 and/or smoke detector subgroup 17. As shown in FIG. 4, a group administrator can add or remove user profiles 11 to user profile group 10. Adding can be done particularly easily by using the user identification data 5 corresponding to a user profile 11. The administrator can individually grant or withdraw access rights 15 to each User Profile 11 in User Profile Group 10. This allows the administrator to control which user profile 11 can access which data of which smoke detector 8 and/or which notifications are sent to the respective user profile 11. As shown in FIG. 4, the user profiles 11 of user profile group 10 can also be divided into different sub-groups 14; in the example in FIG. 4 the roles Owner; Admin, Installer, Tenant or Custom. Each role can have different rights; the respective roles Owner; Admin, Installer, Tenant can be templates or their rights can be predefined, allowing the administrator to manage rights quickly and conveniently. For example, a user profile 11 with the role Tenant can be configured to receive only notifications, e.g. in the event of an alarm, while another user profile 11 with the role Installer can also change the operating parameters of smoke detector 8. Unless otherwise provided, the user profile 11 can be the administrator who added the first smoke detector 8 to smoke detector group 16 using the method according to the invention.

[0055] FIG. 5 shows another exemplary overview of the smoke detectors assigned to smoke detector group 16. This enables User Profile 11 to view the battery status of the respective smoke detectors or their status, for example.

[0056] FIG. 6 shows an example of notifications sent to User Profile 11. In the event of an alarm, an alarm message 12 can be sent to the user profiles 11 assigned to the smoke detector 8 reporting the alarm, or to the user profiles 11 of the assigned user profile group 10, which are equipped with the respective rights. Notifications can also be as shown in FIG. 6, e.g. installation or maintenance events or warnings regarding changes in smoke detector status, e.g. sensor failure or battery life. It may be intended that the notifications are sent to computer devices assigned to the respective user profile, such as mobile devices 4 and/or stationary devices 13, e-mail addresses, and telephone numbers or the like.

[0057] The features disclosed in the above description, in the drawings as well as in the claims may be essential for the realization of the invention either individually or in any combination.