ELECTRIC TIMER FOR CONTROLLING POWER TO A LOAD

• US 20100025210A1
• Filed: 07/29/2008
• Published: 02/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ademco Inc. (Resideo Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Simard, Pierre, Meilleur, Benoit
• Granted Patent: US 8,314,517 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 200/33.R
• CPC Class Codes: G04C 23/347 some operations being overridden
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 15/006 for operating at a number of different times cigar or cigarette receptacles or boxes with means for limiting the frequency of smoking A24F15/005

Abstract

A wall mountable electric timer that is capable of switching power to a load between an “on” state and an “off” state in accordance with a programmable schedule. In some cases, the electric timer may be programmed such that a user can program the electric switch by interacting with only a first button and a second button of a user interface. Alternatively, or in addition, the electric switch may include a power stealing circuit, a series of setup menus, a visual indicator to indicate the operating state of the load, and/or a randomly generated schedule.

Claims

1. A wall mountable electric timer for switching power to a load between an “

on”

state and an “

off”

state in accordance with a programmable schedule, the wall mountable electric timer comprising;

a housing having a front, a back and side walls extending between the front and the back, the housing configured to be mountable to a wall with the back situated toward the wall and the front facing away from the wall;

at least one memory for storing a programmable schedule and one or more controller settings;

a controller coupled to the at least one memory for controlling the switching of power to a load between an “

on”

state and an “

off”

state in accordance with the programmable schedule;

a user interface situated on the front of the housing and coupled to the controller, the user interface including a display, a first button, and a second button; and

the controller is programmed such that a user can program the programmable schedule and the one or more controller settings by interacting with only the first button and the second button.

2. The wall mountable electric timer of claim 1, wherein the user interface further includes a third button, wherein the controller is programmed such that a user can program the programmable schedule and the one or more controller settings by interacting with only the first button, the second button and the third button.

3. The wall mountable electric timer of claim 2, wherein the controller has an operating mode and a setup mode.

4. The wall mountable electric timer of claim 3, wherein in the operating mode, depressing the first button causes the controller to switch power to the load between the “

on”

state and the “

off”

state.

5. The wall mountable electric timer of claim 4, wherein in the operating mode, the current day of the week and the active programmable schedule may be displayed on the display.

6. The wall mountable electric timer of claim 4, wherein in the operating mode, depressing the first button for an extended period of time causes the controller to enter the setup mode.

7. The wall mountable electric timer of claim 6, wherein the extended period of time is at least 1 second.

8. The wall mountable electric timer of claim 6, wherein, when the setup mode is initially entered, depressing the second button causes the controller to designate a next setup menu on the display from two or more setup menu choices.

9. The wall mountable electric timer of claim 8, wherein depressing the first button causes the controller to select the designated setup menu.

10. The wall mountable electric timer of claim 9, wherein depressing the first button causes the controller to select the designated setup menu and display at least one parameter related to the designated setup menu on the display.

11. The wall mountable electric timer of claim 10, wherein once the designated setup menu is selected, depressing the second button or the third button causes the controller to change a value of the at least one parameter.

12. The wall mountable electric timer of claim 11, wherein depressing the first button causes the controller to accept the changed parameter value and advance to a next parameter.

13. The wall mountable electric timer of claim 12, wherein the changed parameter blinks one or more times to indicate that the changed parameter value has been accepted.

14. The wall mountable electric timer of claim 1, wherein the controller includes a microcontroller, and the at least one memory is part of the microcontroller.

15. The wall mountable electric timer of claim 1, wherein the controller includes a microcontroller, and the at least one memory is external to the microcontroller.

16. The wall mountable electric timer of claim 3, wherein in the operating mode, depressing the second button causes the controller to display a sunrise time parameter on the display, and depressing the third button causes the controller to display a sunset time parameter on the display.

17. A wall mountable electric timer for switching power to a load between an “

on”

state and an “

off”

state in accordance with a programmable schedule, the wall mountable electric timer comprising;

a housing having a front, a back and side walls extending between the front and the back, the housing configured to be mountable to a wall with the back situated toward the wall and the front facing away from the wall;

a controller for controlling the switching of power to a load between an “

on”

state and an “

off”

state in accordance with a programmable schedule, the programmable schedule capable of referencing a sunset parameter and a sunrise parameter;

a user interface situated on the front of the housing and coupled to the controller, the user interface including a display, a first button, a second button and a third button; and

the controller having an operating mode and a setup mode, wherein in the operating mode, depressing the first button causes the controller to switch power to the load between the “

on”

state and the “

off”

state, and depressing the second button causes the controller to display the sunset parameter on the display.

18. The wall mountable electric timer of claim 17, wherein depressing the third button causes the controller to display the sunrise parameter on the display.

19. A wall mountable electric timer for switching power to a load between an “

on”

state and an “

off”

state in accordance with a programmable schedule, the wall mountable electric timer having a first terminal and a second terminal, wherein a voltage is provided between the first terminal and the second terminal at least some of the time, the wall mountable electric timer comprising;

a housing having a front, a back and side walls extending between the front and the back, the housing configured to be mountable to a wall with the back situated toward the wall and the front facing away from the wall;

a controller for controlling the switching of power to a load between an “

on”

state and an “

off”

state in accordance with a programmable schedule; and

a power stealing circuit coupled to the first terminal and the second terminal, wherein the power stealing circuit steals power from the first terminal and the second terminal during at least part of the time a voltage is applied between the first terminal the second terminal to supply power for the controller.

20. The wall mountable electric timer of claim 19, further comprising a capacitor for storing at least some of the power stolen by the power stealing circuit.

21. The wall mountable electric timer of claim 19, further comprising:

a user interface situated on the front of the housing and coupled to the controller, the user interface including a display, a first button, a second button and a third button;

the controller configured to program the programmable schedule and the one or more controller settings by accepting input from the first button, the second button and the third button;

the power stealing circuit steals power from the first terminal and the second terminal during at least part of the time a voltage is applied between the first terminal the second terminal to supply power for the display.

22. A wall mountable electric timer for switching power to a load between an “

on”

state and an “

off”

state in accordance with a programmable schedule, the wall mountable electric timer comprising;

a housing having a front, a back and side walls extending between the front and the back, the housing configured to be mountable to a wall with the back situated toward the wall and the front facing away from the wall;

at least one memory for storing a programmable schedule and one or more controller settings;

a controller coupled to the at least one memory for controlling the switching of power to a load between an “

on”

state and an “

off”

state in accordance with the programmable schedule; and

a user interface situated on the front of the housing and coupled to the controller, the user interface including a display and a first button, the controller is programmed to sequentially display a series of menus on the display when the first button is repeatedly depressed, the series of menus including;

a mode menu for selecting an operating mode from two or more operating modes of the wall mountable electric timer;

a time menu for setting a current time for the wall mountable electric timer;

a configuration menu for setting up one or more configuration parameters of the wall mountable electric timer; and

a program menu for setting up one or parameters related to the programmable schedule.

23. The wall mountable electric timer of claim 22, wherein the time menu, once selected, cycles through two or more time menu screens when a second button is repeatedly depressed before returning to an original time menu screen.

24. The wall mountable electric timer of claim 23, wherein the configuration menu, once selected, cycles through two or more configuration menu screens when the second button is repeatedly depressed before returning to an original configuration menu screen.

25. The wall mountable electric timer of claim 24, wherein the program menu, once selected, cycles through two or more program menu screens when the second button is repeatedly depressed before returning to an original program menu screen.

26. The wall mountable electric timer of claim 25, wherein the user interface includes a third button, and the third button can be depressed to change a value of a parameter displayed in one or more of the time menu screens, configuration menu screens, and program menu screens.

27. A wall mountable electric timer for switching power to a load between an “

on”

state and an “

off”

state in accordance with a programmable schedule, the wall mountable electric timer comprising;

a housing having a front, a back and side walls extending between the front and the back, the housing configured to be mountable to a wall with the back situated toward the wall and the front facing away from the wall;

at least one memory for storing a programmable schedule and one or more controller settings;

a controller coupled to the at least one memory for controlling the switching of power to a load between an “

on”

state and an “

off”

state in accordance with the programmable schedule;

a user interface situated on the front of the housing and coupled to the controller, the user interface including a display, a first button, and a second button; and

wherein the front of the housing includes a surface area, and wherein the display is configured to occupy at least twenty-five percent of the front surface area.

28. The wall mountable electric timer of claim 27, wherein the display is configured to occupy at least fifty percent of the front surface area.

29. A wall mountable electric timer for switching power to a load between an “

on”

state and an “

off”

state in accordance with a programmable schedule, the wall mountable electric timer comprising;

a housing having a front, a back and side walls extending between the front and the back, the housing configured to be mountable to a wall with the back situated toward the wall and the front facing away from the wall;

a controller for controlling the switching of power to a load between an “

on”

state and an “

off”

state in accordance with a programmable schedule;

a user interface situated on the front of the housing and coupled to the controller, the user interface including a display, a first button and a second button;

the controller having an operating mode including an “

on”

state to provide power to the load and an “

off”

state to turn off power to the load; and

a visual indicator to indicate if the controller is in the “

on”

state to provide power to the load or in the “

off”

state to turn off power to the load.

30. The wall mountable electric timer of claim 29, wherein the visual indicator is a light emitting diode (LED).

31. The wall mountable electric timer of claim 29, wherein the visual indicator is displayed on at least a portion of the display.

32. A wall mountable electric timer for switching power to a load between an “

on”

state and an “

off”

state in accordance with a schedule, the wall mountable electric timer comprising;

a housing having a front, a back and side walls extending between the front and the back, the housing configured to be mountable to a wall with the back situated toward the wall and the front facing away from the wall;

a controller for controlling the switching of power to a load between an “

on”

state and an “

off”

state in accordance with the schedule; and

wherein the controller is programmed to randomly generate a schedule for switching of power to the load between the “

on”

state and the “

off”

state.