OCCUPANCY-BASED WIRELESS CONTROL OF MULTIPLE ENVIRONMENTAL ZONES VIA A CENTRAL CONTROLLER
First Claim
1. A system for wirelessly controlling multiple environmental zones, comprising:
- a plurality of zone controllers, each zone controller being associated with one of the environmental zones and being configured to;
monitor an environmental condition of the environmental zone associated with the zone controller;
detect an occupancy state of the environmental zone associated with the zone controller indicative of whether the environmental zone is occupied or unoccupied; and
control a local device specific to the environmental zone associated with the zone controller to modify the environmental condition of the environmental zone associated with the zone controller; and
a central controller configured to;
communicate, wirelessly, with the plurality of zone controllers; and
control the plurality of zone controllers based at least in part on the occupancy state detected by each of the zone controllers.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An Electronically-Controlled Register vent (ECRV) that can be easily installed by a homeowner or general handyman is disclosed. The ECRV can be used to convert a non-zoned HVAC system into a zoned system. The ECRV can also be used in connection with a conventional zoned HVAC system to provide additional control and additional zones not provided by the conventional zoned HVAC system. In one embodiment, the ECRV is configured have a size and form-factor that conforms to a standard manually-controlled register vent. In one embodiment, a zone thermostat is configured to provide thermostat information to the ECRV. In one embodiment, the zone thermostat communicates with a central monitoring system that coordinates operation of the heating and cooling zones.
10 Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A system for wirelessly controlling multiple environmental zones, comprising:
-
a plurality of zone controllers, each zone controller being associated with one of the environmental zones and being configured to; monitor an environmental condition of the environmental zone associated with the zone controller; detect an occupancy state of the environmental zone associated with the zone controller indicative of whether the environmental zone is occupied or unoccupied; and control a local device specific to the environmental zone associated with the zone controller to modify the environmental condition of the environmental zone associated with the zone controller; and a central controller configured to; communicate, wirelessly, with the plurality of zone controllers; and control the plurality of zone controllers based at least in part on the occupancy state detected by each of the zone controllers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A method for wirelessly controlling multiple environmental zones, comprising:
-
monitoring, by a plurality of zone controllers associated with a respective plurality of environmental zones, an environmental condition of each of the environmental zones; detecting, by each zone controller, an occupancy state of the environmental zone associated with the zone controller indicative of whether the environmental zone is occupied or unoccupied; controlling, by at least one of the zone controllers, a local device specific to the environmental zone associated with the at least one zone controller to modify the environmental condition of the environmental zone; communicating, wirelessly, between the plurality of zone controllers and a central controller; and controlling, with the central controller, the plurality of zone controllers based at least in part on the occupancy state detected by each of the zone controllers. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
Specification