ENERGY EFFICIENCY PROMOTING SCHEDULE LEARNING ALGORITHMS FOR INTELLIGENT THERMOSTAT
First Claim
1. A thermostat comprising:
- a housing;
a ring-shaped user-interface component configured to track a rotational input motion from a user;
a processing system disposed within the housing and coupled to the ring-shaped user interface component, the processing system being configured to be in operative communication with one or more temperature sensors for receiving ambient air temperature, the processing system further being configured to be in operative communication with an HVAC system control the HVAC system based at least in part on a comparison of the measured ambient temperature and a setpoint temperature, the processing system further being configured to identify a user'"'"'s desire to immediately control the setpoint temperature value based on the tracked rotational input, the processing system still further being configured to automatically reset the setpoint temperature to a less energy-consuming temperature upon an ending of a predetermined time interval and to generate a schedule for the thermostat based at least in part on repeated identifications of the user'"'"'s desire to immediately control the setpoint temperature; and
an electronic display coupled to the processing system and configured to display information representative of the identified setpoint temperature value.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A user-friendly programmable thermostat is described that includes receiving an immediate-control input to change set point temperature, controlling temperature according to the set point temperature for a predetermined time interval, and then automatically resetting the set point temperature upon the ending of the predetermined time interval such that the user is urged to make further immediate-control inputs. A schedule for the programmable thermostat is automatically generated based on the immediate-control inputs. Methods are also described for receiving user input relating to the user'"'"'s preference regarding automatically generating a schedule, and determining whether or not to automatically adopt an automatically generated schedule based on the received user input.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A thermostat comprising:
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a housing; a ring-shaped user-interface component configured to track a rotational input motion from a user; a processing system disposed within the housing and coupled to the ring-shaped user interface component, the processing system being configured to be in operative communication with one or more temperature sensors for receiving ambient air temperature, the processing system further being configured to be in operative communication with an HVAC system control the HVAC system based at least in part on a comparison of the measured ambient temperature and a setpoint temperature, the processing system further being configured to identify a user'"'"'s desire to immediately control the setpoint temperature value based on the tracked rotational input, the processing system still further being configured to automatically reset the setpoint temperature to a less energy-consuming temperature upon an ending of a predetermined time interval and to generate a schedule for the thermostat based at least in part on repeated identifications of the user'"'"'s desire to immediately control the setpoint temperature; and an electronic display coupled to the processing system and configured to display information representative of the identified setpoint temperature value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for generating a schedule for a programmable thermostat used for control of an HVAC system, the thermostat comprising a housing, a ring-shaped user interface component, a processing system, and an electronic display, the method comprising:
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accessing an ambient air temperature measured by one or more temperature sensors; detecting and tracking rotational movements of the ring-shaped user-interface component to track at least one rotational input motion of a user; identifying a first setpoint temperature value based on the tracked rotational input motion at a first point in time; controlling the HVAC system based at least in part on a comparison of the measured ambient air temperature and the first setpoint temperature value for a predetermined time interval; automatically resetting the first setpoint temperature upon the ending of the predetermined time interval; identifying a second setpoint temperature value based on the tracked rotational input motion at a second point in time; controlling the HVAC system based at least in part on a comparison of the measured ambient air temperature and the second setpoint temperature value for the predetermined time interval; automatically resetting the second set point temperature upon the ending of the predetermined time interval; generating with the processing system, a schedule for the programmable thermostat based at least in part on the first and second setpoints and the first and second points in time; and displaying information representative of the first and second identified setpoint temperature values on the electronic display. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A thermostat comprising:
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a disk-like housing including a circular front face; an electronic display centrally disposed on the front face; an annular ring member disposed around the centrally disposed electronic display, said annular ring member and said housing being mutually configured such that (i) said annular ring member is rotatable around a front-to-back axis of the thermostat, and (ii) said annular ring member is inwardly pressable along a direction of the front-to back axis; a processing system disposed within the housing and coupled to the annular ring member; said processing system being configured and programmed to dynamically alter a setpoint temperature value based on a user rotation of the annular ring member; said processing system being further configured to be in operative communication with one or more temperature sensors for receiving an ambient air temperature, said processing system being still further configured to be in operative communication with an HVAC system to control the HVAC system based at least in part on a comparison of the measured ambient temperature and the setpoint temperature value; said processing system being still further configured to identify from the annular ring member user input relating to the user'"'"'s preference regarding automatically generating a schedule and to determine therefrom whether or not to automatically adopt an automatically generated schedule. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification