System for processing interior environment complaints from building occupants

Abstract

Occupants of a building are able to submit complaints regarding operating conditions, such as temperature, humidity and air quality, via a web site on an Intranet or Internet. The server for the web site logs the complaints and current environmental conditions in a storage device. The server also applies a filter criterion to each complaint and when the complaints satisfy the filter criterion a warning is sent to building management personnel. This filtering process enables the building management personnel to be alerted when the number of complaints exceeds a given number or when specific classes of occupants submit a complaint.

1. In a management system, an apparatus by which an occupant of a building submits a complaint regarding an environmental condition of the building, said apparatus comprising:
 a communication network which is accessible by the occupant to transmit complaint messages, wherein the complaint messages are configured to include information regarding an environmental condition of the building;  
 a message processing system coupled to the communication network to receive the complaint messages, the message processing system containing a predefined message filtering criterion which is applied to received complaint messages and generating a warning when the received complaint messages satisfy the predefined message filtering criterion; and  
 a display device coupled to the message processing system and presenting the warning a management of the building.  
 
   
   
     2. The apparatus as recited in  claim 1  wherein the predefined message filtering criterion specifies a given number of complaint messages which must be received in order for a warning to be generated. 
   
   
     3. The apparatus as recited in  claim 1  wherein the predefined message filtering criterion specifies a given number of complaint messages which must be received within a defined interval of time in order for a warning to be generated. 
   
   
     4. The apparatus as recited in  claim 1  wherein the predefined message filtering criterion specifies an occupant characteristic, and the warning is generated upon receipt of a complaint message from occupants possessing that characteristic. 
   
   
     5. The apparatus as recited in  claim 1  wherein the predefined message filtering criterion specifies a class of occupants, and the warning is generated upon receipt of a complaint message from an occupant in that class. 
   
   
     6. The apparatus as recited in  claim 1  wherein the predefined message filtering criterion specifies a given area of the building and the warning is generated upon receipt of a complaint message from that area. 
   
   
     7. The apparatus as recited in  claim 1  wherein the message processing system inhibits generation of a warning when a plurality of complain messages are received from a single occupant within a predefined interval of time. 
   
   
     8. The apparatus as recited in  claim 1  wherein the message processing system further comprises a storage device which retains information related to the received complaint messages. 
   
   
     9. The apparatus as recited in  claim 8  wherein the display device also presents the information related to the received complaint messages that has been stored in the storage device. 
   
   
     10. The apparatus as recited in  claim 1  wherein the message processing system comprises a server which forms an Intranet site on the communication network. 
   
   
     11. In a management system for a building that has a communication network which is accessible by occupants of the building, an apparatus by which the occupants submit complaints regarding an operating condition of the building, said apparatus comprising:
 a storage device containing a log for complaints received from the occupants, wherein the complaints are configured to include information regarding an operating condition of the building;  
 a web site connected to the communication network and to the storage device, wherein upon being contacted by an occupant the web site replies with a web page for submitting a complaint regarding an operating condition of the building, the web site also receives complaint messages from such an occupant via the communication network;  
 a complaint agent connected to the web site to receive complaint messages therefrom and connected to the storage device, the complaint agent storing received complaint messages into the log in the storage device; and  
 a workstation coupled to the storage device to obtain and present information from the log to building management personnel; wherein the complaint agent applies a filtering criterion to received complaint messages and generates a warning when the received complaint messages satisfy the filtering criterion; and the workstation presents the warning to building management personnel.  
 
   
   
     12. The apparatus as recited in  claim 11  wherein the workstation comprises a complaint analyst which processes data received from the complaint agent and the storage device and formulates displays of that data for presentation to the building management personnel. 
   
   
     13. The apparatus as recited in  claim 11  wherein the complaint message also contains information that for each occupant identifies an area of the building and the web site associates each complaint message received with the area of the building identified for the occupant who sent the complaint message. 
   
   
     14. The apparatus as recited in  claim 11  wherein the complaint agent logs environmental conditions with the complaint. 
   
   
     15. The apparatus as recited in  claim 11  wherein the web site customizes the web page according to an area of the building identified for an occupant who contacted the web site. 
   
   
     16. The apparatus as recited in  claim 15  wherein the web site customizes the web page with specific operating conditions defined for the area of the building identified for the occupant who contacted the web site. 
   
   
     17. The apparatus as recited in  claim 11  wherein the complaint agent inhibits generation of a warning when a plurality of complaint messages are received from a single occupant within a predefined interval of time. 
   
   
     18. The apparatus as recited in  claim 11  wherein the complaint agent generates a warning in response to a given number of complaint messages being received. 
   
   
     19. The apparatus as recited in  claim 11  wherein the complaint agent generates a warning in response to a given number of complaint messages being received within a defined period of time. 
   
   
     20. The apparatus as recited in  claim 11  wherein the complaint agent contains a message filtering criterion which specifies an occupant characteristic and the complaint agent generates a warning upon receipt of a complaint message from occupants possessing that characteristic. 
   
   
     21. The apparatus as recited in  claim 11  wherein the complaint agent generates a warning in response to receipt of a complaint message from a predefined area of the building. 
   
   
     22. In a management system, an apparatus by which occupants of a building submit complaints regarding an operating condition of the building, the building having a communication network which is accessible by the occupants, said apparatus comprising:
 a storage device containing a log of complaints received from the occupants, wherein the complaint messages are configured to include information regarding an environmental condition of the building;  
 a web site connected to the communication network and to the storage device, wherein upon being contacted by an occupant the web site replies with a web page for submitting a complaint regarding an operating condition of the building, the web site also receives complaint messages from the occupant;  
 a complaint agent connected to the web site to receive complaint messages therefrom and connected to the storage device, the complaint agent storing received complaint messages into the log in the storage device and further applying a filtering criterion to the received complaint messages and generating a warning when the received complaint messages satisfy the filtering criterion; and  
 a workstation coupled to the complaint agent to receive and present the warning to building management personnel.  
 
   
   
     23. The apparatus as recited in  claim 22  wherein the workstation presents building management personnel with information that was stored in the log in the storage device. 
   
   
     24. The apparatus as recited in  claim 22  wherein the filtering criterion applied by the complaint agent inhibits a plurality of complaint messages sent by one occupant within a given interval of time from causing generation of a warning. 
   
   
     25. The apparatus as recited in  claim 22  wherein the complaint agent logs environmental conditions with the complaint. 
   
   
     26. The apparatus as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the management system is a facility management system, further comprising a building control system server coupled to the communication network to obtain information related to the complaint messages regarding the environmental condition of the building from the facility management system. 
   
   
     27. The apparatus as recited in  claim 26 , further including a storage device that retains information related to the complaint messages regarding the environmental condition of the building obtained from the building control system. 
   
   
     28. The apparatus as recited in  claim 14 , wherein the management system is a facility management system, further comprising a building control system server coupled to the communication network to obtain the environmental conditions from the facility management system. 
   
   
     29. The apparatus as recited in  claim 25 , wherein the management system is a facility management system, further comprising a building control system server coupled to the communication network to obtain the environmental conditions from the facility management system. 
   
   
     30. A method of processing complaint messages, the method comprising:
 receiving the complaint messages in a message processing system, wherein the complaint messages are configured to include information regarding an environmental condition of a building, and wherein the complaint messages are received from a communication network which is accessible by occupants of the building;  
 filtering the complaint messages according to a predefined message filtering criterion;  
 generating a warning when the received complaint messages satisfy the predefined message filtering criterion; and  
 presenting the warning to management of the building.  
 
   
   
     31. The method of  claim 30 , wherein the predefined message filtering criterion specifies a given number of complaint messages which must be received within a defined interval of time in order for the warning to be generated. 
   
   
     32. The method of  claim 30 , wherein the predefined message filtering criterion specifies an occupant characteristic, and the warning is generated upon receipt of a complaint message from occupants possessing that characteristic. 
   
   
     33. The method of  claim 30 , wherein the predefined message filtering criterion specifies a class of occupants, and the warning is generated upon receipt of a complaint message from an occupant in that class. 
   
   
     34. The method of  claim 30 , wherein the predefined message filtering criterion specifies a given area of the building and the warning is generated upon receipt of a complaint message from that area. 
   
   
     35. The method of  claim 30 , wherein the message processing system is configured to inhibit generation of the warning when a plurality of complaint messages are received from a single occupant within a predefined interval of time. 
   
   
     36. The method of  claim 30 , wherein the message processing system comprises a server which forms an Internet site on the communication network. 
   
   
     37. The method of  claim 30 , further comprising obtaining information related to the complaint messages from a building control system server coupled to the communication network. 
   
   
     38. The method of  claim 37 , further comprising storing with the complaint messages the information related to the complaint messages. 
   
   
     39. the method of  claim 38 , wherein the information related to the complaint messages includes a measured environmental condition of the building.