Patents by Inventor Janusz L. Konrad

Janusz L. Konrad has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Fusion-based occupancy sensing for building systems
    Patent number: 11193688
    Abstract: Sensing and control apparatus for a building HVAC system includes interior and boundary sensors, such as cameras and thermal sensors, generating sensor signals conveying occupancy-related features for an area. A controller uses the sensor signals to produce an occupancy estimate and to generate equipment-control signals to cause the HVAC system to supply conditioned air to the area based on the occupancy estimate. The controller includes fusion systems collectively generating the occupancy estimate by corresponding fusion calculations, the fusion systems producing a boundary occupancy-count change based on sensor signals from the boundary sensors, an interior occupancy count based on sensor signals from the interior sensors, and the overall occupancy estimate. Fusion may be of one or multiple types including cross-modality fusion across different sensor types, within-modality fusion across different instances of same-type sensors, and cross-algorithm fusion using different algorithms for the same sensor(s).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: Trustees of Boston University
    Inventors: Janusz L. Konrad, Prakash Ishwar, Thomas D C Little, Michael Gevelber
  • FUSION-BASED OCCUPANCY SENSING FOR BUILDING SYSTEMS
    Publication number: 20190360714
    Abstract: Sensing and control apparatus for a building HVAC system includes interior and boundary sensors, such as cameras and thermal sensors, generating sensor signals conveying occupancy-related features for an area. A controller uses the sensor signals to produce an occupancy estimate and to generate equipment-control signals to cause the HVAC system to supply conditioned air to the area based on the occupancy estimate. The controller includes fusion systems collectively generating the occupancy estimate by corresponding fusion calculations, the fusion systems producing a boundary occupancy-count change based on sensor signals from the boundary sensors, an interior occupancy count based on sensor signals from the interior sensors, and the overall occupancy estimate. Fusion may be of one or multiple types including cross-modality fusion across different sensor types, within-modality fusion across different instances of same-type sensors, and cross-algorithm fusion using different algorithms for the same sensor(s).
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 23, 2019
    Publication date: November 28, 2019
    Inventors: Janusz L. Konrad, Prakash Ishwar, Thomas DC Little, Michael Gevelber