Geofencing for thermostatic control
First Claim
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1. A thermostat system having geofencing for control, comprising:
- a geofencing device;
a thermostat connected to the geofencing device;
a computational mechanism configured to receive one or more geofencing events from the geofencing device and to adjust the thermostat; and
a heating and cooling system situated in a building and connected to the thermostat; and
wherein;
when the geofencing device crosses a geofence in a direction away from a location of the thermostat, a first signal indicating a first event of a geofence crossing is sent to the thermostat;
when the geofencing device crosses a geofence in a direction towards the location of the thermostat, a second signal indicating a second event of a geofence crossing is sent to the thermostat;
an estimated time of arrival of the geofencing device is determined upon receiving the first signal by the computational mechanism;
the thermostat controls the heating and cooling system for achieving a preset temperature within the building by the estimated time of arrival of the geofencing device; and
when there is insufficient data for a specific user to the generate the estimated time of arrival, the estimated time of arrival is based at least on part on a probabilistic model of behavior patterns created from a plurality of users in a database.
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Abstract
A system and approach using geofencing events for controlling temperature in a building for comfort of a user upon his or her arrival to the building. A decision may be made when to use a direct trigger by an incoming geofencing event and when to use a time of arrival prediction casted by an outgoing geofencing event. One or more geofences may be placed optimally based on the trigger decision and other aspects related to commuting patterns of the user.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A thermostat system having geofencing for control, comprising:
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a geofencing device; a thermostat connected to the geofencing device; a computational mechanism configured to receive one or more geofencing events from the geofencing device and to adjust the thermostat; and a heating and cooling system situated in a building and connected to the thermostat; and wherein; when the geofencing device crosses a geofence in a direction away from a location of the thermostat, a first signal indicating a first event of a geofence crossing is sent to the thermostat; when the geofencing device crosses a geofence in a direction towards the location of the thermostat, a second signal indicating a second event of a geofence crossing is sent to the thermostat; an estimated time of arrival of the geofencing device is determined upon receiving the first signal by the computational mechanism; the thermostat controls the heating and cooling system for achieving a preset temperature within the building by the estimated time of arrival of the geofencing device; and when there is insufficient data for a specific user to the generate the estimated time of arrival, the estimated time of arrival is based at least on part on a probabilistic model of behavior patterns created from a plurality of users in a database. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of geofencing control, comprising:
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selecting a target location; placing a geofence about the target location; and detecting an event of a geofence crossing with a localization enabled mobile application on a smartphone carried by a user; and wherein the geofence event of a geofence crossing causes a direct trigger or a prediction based trigger of an action relative to the target location; and wherein when there is insufficient data for a specific user to the generate a prediction for the prediction based trigger, the prediction is based at least on part on a probabilistic model of behavior patterns created from a plurality of users in a database. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
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13. A geofence control system comprising:
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one or more geofences around a place of interest; and a geofencing detector; and wherein; the geofence detector detects and records geofence crossing events; a geofence crossing event toward the place of interest indicates an arrival time by the geofence detector to a device at the place of interest; a geofence crossing event going away from the place of interest indicates a departure time from the place of interest, wherein the departure time is used to predict an estimated arrival time before the geofence crossing event toward the place of interest indicates the arrival time and if insufficient data is available for a specific user, the estimated arrival time is based at least on part on a probabilistic model of behavior patterns created from a plurality of users in a database; and the device ensures that an accomplishment of a specific condition at the place of interest is began before the arrival time; and the one or more geofences are selected from a group of time-based and distance-based geofences. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification