Patent ID: 8311650

Claim:
An equipment management system comprising: a programmable controller that accepts setting of a control program corresponding to a unique function of facility equipment and setting of an identification code from a removable program/code setting unit, that generates control information for said facility equipment by executing the control program, and that transmits the control information for said facility equipment and the identification code; and a centralized controller that controls said facility equipment according to a control program corresponding to a standard function of said facility equipment, that receives the control information and the identification code transmitted from said programmable controller, and that transmits the control information to said facility equipment only when the identification code from the programmable controller is a valid code for said facility equipment, the identification code being unique to each piece of the facility equipment and calculated from an individual identification number assigned to each piece of the facility equipment, the individual identification number being a manufacturer's serial number of the facility equipment, wherein the programmable controller detects a connection to the centralized controller and transmits the identification code accepted from the removable program/code setting unit to said centralized controller when the connection is detected, generates the control information and then transmits the control information to said centralized controller when a control enabling signal that authorizes control of the facility equipment is received from the centralized controller, and inhibits the transmission of the control information to said centralized controller when a control disabling signal that disables control of the facility equipment is received from the centralized controller, and the centralized controller receives the identification code and determines whether the identification code received is the valid code for said facility equipment or not, generates the control enabling signal to the programmable controller which authorizes control of the facility equipment when the identification code from the programmable controller is determined to be the valid code, and generates the control disabling signal to the programmable controller that disables control of the facility equipment when the identification code is determined not to be the valid code.