Patent ID: 10055699

Abstract:
The present invention relates to the field of supermarket refrigeration & HVAC control. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for concurrent and remote management of multiple supermarket refrigeration systems located at one or more retail sites. Embodiments may include at least one on-site computer, at least one central server, at least one user computer, one or more communication network, and one or more on-site refrigeration control systems. In embodiments, the on-site computer communicates with the on-site refrigeration control system(s), which may be the same or different, and multiple on-site computers and/or different store locations may be used. The on-site computer is capable of translating data received from these various refrigeration control systems into a single system-friendly generic format and the translated data is stored on the on-site computer. This data is intermittently copied and stored on a central server. Meanwhile, data and more particularly data updates are sent from the refrigeration control system to the on-site computer for storage. At a desired interval, for example every five minutes, the central server detects whether the information on the on-site computer is different from the information on the server. When there has been an update, the server downloads the current information in bulk from the on-site computer. The information on the server is then accessed by one or more users to manage the refrigeration control systems, optionally remotely. In contrast with other existing refrigeration control management systems, systems and methods of the present invention can be used with multiple legacy refrigeration control systems, including old and new versions of a system from one particular OEM provider, and/or different models from one particular OEM provider, and/or different versions or models from several different OEM providers. These systems and methods provide for compatibility between different control systems, which does not currently exist. Benefits of the inventive systems and methods include being capable of delivering information to a user, in response to a user query, faster than systems in which the user computer communicates with and obtains data stored on the legacy system itself.