Granted Patent B2

US 12,400,035 · App. 18/225,024 · Granted Aug 26, 2025

Inventors: Youngchoon Park (Brookfield, WI); Sudhi R. Sinha (Milwaukee, WI); Justin Ploegert (Cudahy, WI)

Assignee: JOHNSON CONTROLS TECHNOLOGY COMPANY

G06F21/6254G05B15/02G06F16/2255G06F16/2379G06F16/288H04L63/101G05B2219/2614G05B2219/2642H04L2209/04

Abstract

Claims (69)

1. A building system of a building comprising:

one or more storage media storing instructions thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

store at least one digital twin in the one or more storage media, the at least one digital twin including personal identifying information (PII) associated with a user and an indication that a security device has access to the PII;

receive a request from the security device for the PII for the user, wherein the security device performs one or more security functions for the building;

determine, based on the at least one digital twin, that the security device has access to the PII associated with the user; and

provide the PII associated with the user to the security device.

2. The building system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to:

identify, based on the at least one digital twin, that the security device performs the one or more security functions for the user; and

determine that the security device has access to the PII for the user responsive to an identification that the security device performs the one or more security functions for the user.

3. The building system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one digital twin includes representations of:

the user and relationships between the security device, the user, and the PII associated with the user.

4. The building system of claim 1 , wherein the security device is an access control device that controls access of the user to a space of the building;

wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to:

identify, based on the at least one digital twin, that the access control device provides the user access to the space; and

determine, based on the at least one digital twin, that the access control device has access to the PII associated with the user responsive to an identification that the access control device provides the user access to the space.

5. The building system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to:

determine, based on the at least one digital twin, that the security device has access to the PII associated with the user by:

identifying that an entity of the building represented by a first digital twin of the at least one digital twin has access to the PII;

identifying that a second digital twin of the at least one digital twin representing the security device is related via a relationship to the first digital twin; and

determining that the security device that the security device has access to the PII associated with the user based on identifying that the second digital twin is related via the relationship to the first digital twin.

6. The building system of claim 5 , wherein the entity of the building is another security device of the building.

7. The building system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one digital twin include a first digital twin representing the security device and a second digital twin representing the PII;

wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to:

infer a relationship between the first digital twin and the second digital twin based on a plurality of other relationships of a plurality of digital twins, wherein the relationship inferred between the first digital twin and the second digital twin indicates that the security device performs the one or more security functions associated with the user.

8. The building system of claim 7 , wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to:

infer the relationship inferred between the first digital twin and the second digital twin by determining a transitive closure for the plurality of digital twins.

9. The building system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to:

receive, from the security device, access values;

retrieve, from the at least one digital twin, a mask template from a plurality of mask templates based on the access values, the plurality of mask templates being data structures indicating different types of masking for the PII; and

generate a masked information data structure based on private information and the mask template; and

provide the masked information data structure to the security device.

10. The building system of claim 9 , wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to:

select the mask template from the plurality of mask templates by selecting the mask template from the plurality of mask templates as a function of the access values.

11. The building system of claim 9 , wherein each of the plurality of mask templates is associated with a particular combination of values of the access values;

wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to:

select the mask template from the plurality of mask templates by selecting the mask template based on the particular combination of values of the access values by identifying the mask template of the plurality of mask templates associated with the particular combination of values of the access values.

12. The building system of claim 9 , wherein each of the plurality of mask templates comprises a plurality of masking operators

wherein the plurality of masking operators comprise at least one of:

a first masking operator configured to replace one or more values of the PII with a particular masking character;

a second masking operator configured to show the PII in the clear;

a third masking operator configured to show only a particular number of a plurality of values of the PII; or

a fourth masking operator configured to apply a particular encryption method on the PII.

13. The building system of claim 9 , wherein the access values comprise at least one of:

a type of the security device;

a geographic location of the security device;

an application of the security device associated with generating the request for the PII; or

a vertical identifying a business use associated with the security device.

14. The building system of claim 9 , wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to generate an access hash key based on the access values;

wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to select the mask template from the plurality of mask templates from a plurality of digital twins based on the access values by selecting the mask template from the plurality of mask templates with the access hash key, wherein each of the plurality of mask templates is associated with a particular value of the access hash key.

15. The building system of claim 14 , wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors to generate the access hash key by concatenating the access values and hashing the access values concatenated to generate the access hash key.

16. A method, comprising:

storing, by one or more processing circuits, at least one digital twin in the one or more storage media, the at least one digital twin including personal identifying information (PII) associated with a user and an indication that a security device has access to the PII;

receiving, by the one or more processing circuits, a request from the security device for the PII for the user, wherein the security device performs one or more security functions for the building;

determining, by the one or more processing circuits, based on the at least one digital twin, that the security device has access to the PII for the user; and

providing, by the one or more processing circuits, the PII for the user to the security device.

17. The method of claim 16 , comprising:

identifying, by the one or more processing circuits, based on the at least one digital twin, that the security device performs the one or more security functions associated with the user; and

determining, by the one or more processing circuits, that the security device has access to the PII for the user responsive to an identification that the security device performs the one or more security functions.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the at least one digital twin includes representations of:

the user, relationships between the security device, the user, and the PII associated with the user.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the security device is an access control device that controls access of the user to a space of the building;

wherein the method comprising:

identifying, by the one or more processing circuits, based on the at least one digital twin, that the access control device provides the user access to the space; and

determining, by the one or more processing circuits, based on the at least one digital twin, that the access control device has access to the PII for the user responsive to an identification that the access control device provides the user access to the space.

20. One or more storage media storing instructions thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

store at least one digital twin in the one or more storage media, the at least one digital twin including personal identifying information (PII) associated with a user and an indication that a security device has access to the PII;

receive a request from the security device for the PII for the user, wherein the security device performs one or more security functions for the building;

determine, based on the at least one digital twin, that the security device has access to the PII for the user; and

provide the PII for the user to the security device.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (8)

References Cited (400)