WEB-BASED IRRIGATION CONTROLLER
First Claim
1. An irrigation control system, comprising:
- an irrigation controller to control an irrigation system, where the irrigation controller is configured to communicate directly to a local bi-directional communication network such as a hub, switch or router, without the use of an access point.an application server which contains information that can be read by the user, using any type of and any number of web-enabled appliances without the use of an access point;
an application server that collects weather, geographic, geologic, agronomy, plant growth data via data-mining from multiple publically accessible servers. If a given server or servers are not accessible at a given moment, the application server merely accesses from a plethora of others.an application server that stores and maintains weather, geographic, geologic, agronomy, plant growth data.wherein the irrigation controller is configured with a baseline schedule for controlling the irrigation system. The baseline schedule is computed by direct user control of timings or by application server suggested timings. The baseline schedule can further automatically adjust as the weather seasons progress in his geographic area.wherein the irrigation controller maintains historical information as to water usage, or power usage and can forward that information up to the application server.wherein no personal computer or other web-based appliance need to have any configuration to obtain or return information to the application server via the bi-directional communications network without the use of an access point.wherein the application server is configured to retain a user'"'"'s baseline schedule and obtain a user'"'"'s historical water usage or power usage from the irrigation controller via the bi-directional communications network without the use of an access point.wherein the application server modifies the baseline schedule, using the weather information and then directly provides modifications to the baseline schedule. These modifications occur with or without user-direct manipulation. Water duration times can be increased or decreased or alternatively, watering days can be skipped or advanced.wherein the application server can load the baseline schedule with local seasonal adjustment to slowly change water timings or days as the seasons progress. In this manner, the irrigation controller can daily adjust for seasonal progressions without need of interaction with the application server.wherein the application server can also modify the baseline schedule based on specified types of plants or grasses, input from local master gardeners in communication, historical geographic-specific weather information, user drainage and terrain selections.wherein any number of and any type of web-enabled appliances can control the irrigation controller through the application server from any reasonable web connection (ie not through certain proxy servers).wherein the irrigation controller has any number of separately-controlled channels to provide the user'"'"'s irrigation needs.Wherein the irrigation controller can get sensor data from the irrigation site and revise the baseline schedule with or without sending the information to the application server.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A web-based irrigation controller with application server can avoid need for access points for irrigation controller communications to the application server, need for configurations on any number of any type of web-based appliances to communicate to the application server, and can provide easy access to giant databases of weather and plant growing information, automatic control and simplification for the plant and lawn growing effort, easy access to reports of actual water usage and power usage and maintenance problems, using sprinklers in an unusual manner to scare away birds from a freshly seeded lawn, reducing lawn water usage for unskilled users by backing off lawn timings until the user intervenes, slow seasonal adjustment to watering times without need for application server intervention, life-cycle based watering schedules based on types of garden plantings and easy for the user to follow the actions of a local amateur master gardener in growing similar plants.
-
Citations
30 Claims
-
1. An irrigation control system, comprising:
-
an irrigation controller to control an irrigation system, where the irrigation controller is configured to communicate directly to a local bi-directional communication network such as a hub, switch or router, without the use of an access point. an application server which contains information that can be read by the user, using any type of and any number of web-enabled appliances without the use of an access point; an application server that collects weather, geographic, geologic, agronomy, plant growth data via data-mining from multiple publically accessible servers. If a given server or servers are not accessible at a given moment, the application server merely accesses from a plethora of others. an application server that stores and maintains weather, geographic, geologic, agronomy, plant growth data. wherein the irrigation controller is configured with a baseline schedule for controlling the irrigation system. The baseline schedule is computed by direct user control of timings or by application server suggested timings. The baseline schedule can further automatically adjust as the weather seasons progress in his geographic area. wherein the irrigation controller maintains historical information as to water usage, or power usage and can forward that information up to the application server. wherein no personal computer or other web-based appliance need to have any configuration to obtain or return information to the application server via the bi-directional communications network without the use of an access point. wherein the application server is configured to retain a user'"'"'s baseline schedule and obtain a user'"'"'s historical water usage or power usage from the irrigation controller via the bi-directional communications network without the use of an access point. wherein the application server modifies the baseline schedule, using the weather information and then directly provides modifications to the baseline schedule. These modifications occur with or without user-direct manipulation. Water duration times can be increased or decreased or alternatively, watering days can be skipped or advanced. wherein the application server can load the baseline schedule with local seasonal adjustment to slowly change water timings or days as the seasons progress. In this manner, the irrigation controller can daily adjust for seasonal progressions without need of interaction with the application server. wherein the application server can also modify the baseline schedule based on specified types of plants or grasses, input from local master gardeners in communication, historical geographic-specific weather information, user drainage and terrain selections. wherein any number of and any type of web-enabled appliances can control the irrigation controller through the application server from any reasonable web connection (ie not through certain proxy servers). wherein the irrigation controller has any number of separately-controlled channels to provide the user'"'"'s irrigation needs. Wherein the irrigation controller can get sensor data from the irrigation site and revise the baseline schedule with or without sending the information to the application server. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27)
-
-
25. An irrigation system, comprising:
-
an irrigation controller which controls multiple valves and sensors providing irrigation to various parts of the irrigation site at separate times, where the irrigation controller is configured to communicate to the application server over a local bi-directional network without an access point. multiple irrigation controllers, each of which controls multiple valves and sensors providing irrigation to various parts of the irrigation site at separate times, wherein multiple irrigation controllers act independently as to irrigation times, where the irrigation controller is configured to communicate to the application server over one or more local bi-directional networks without access points. wherein the irrigation controllers are configured with a baseline irrigation schedule for controlling the irrigation system; wherein the irrigation controller is configured to maintain information concerning water usage and power usage; wherein the application server data-mines a variety of web-sites for geographic location-specific weather information and modifies the irrigation controller'"'"'s schedule based on that information with or without intervention from the user and using only local bi-directional networks without the need for access points. wherein the irrigation controllers provide sensor information back to the application server for storage, aggregation, display to user and modification to the irrigation controllers schedule with or without intervention from the user and using only local bi-directional networks without the need for access points. wherein the irrigation controllers provide sensor information back to the application server and that information can result in messaging or communicating directly to the user or assigned maintenance workers as to problems with the irrigation system. wherein the user can access the application server to modify the baseline schedule or read-back information from the application server using any number of and any type of web-based appliances, including but not limited to;
iPhone, iPad, Droid, Blackberry, Microsoft personal computer, Apple personal computer, from any point in the world with normal web access.
-
-
26. The irrigation control system comprising:
-
an irrigation controller connected to a communication network via a hub, switch or router without the need of an access point; an irrigation controller configured to control an irrigation system, where the irrigation controller is configured to communicate directly with a local bi-directional communications network without an access point. an application server configured to communicate over the entire world-wide collection of users that have irrigation controllers or significant portions of the collection, as long as the users conform to the application server information protocols and licensing agreements. an application server that stores and maintains the entire world-wide collection of user scheduling data, historical water usage and power usage data, all known local legal limits for water usage, all known local weather information, localized plant and grasses growing information. This information can be obtained by application server data-mining or provided by local experts or the user. An application server that communicates and interacts with users over any number of and any kind of web-enabled appliances, tailoring the display of the graphical or tabular data to the specific kind of web-enabled appliances.
-
-
28. For a lower-cost irrigation controller that is not web-enabled—
- or in fact any general purpose timer/controller, start times and duration coding can be done by inserting a programmed USB flash memory.
-
29. An irrigation control system, comprising:
-
an irrigation controller to control an irrigation system, where the irrigation controller is configured to communicate directly to a personal computer using ad-hoc protocol without web-access. The ad-hoc protocol accesses a data form located in erasable non-volatile memory on the irrigation controller itself. That data form can be accessed by a browser on the user'"'"'s web browser. Note that some web-based appliances require special configurations to work with ad-hoc networks;
for example, some kinds of Droid smart phones need this. Most of the advantages of the application server (which cannot be reached in this kind of irrigation control system) are available for the user. The user fully controls the baseline schedule. The user can manually collect information from the application server as to seasonal adjustments, local legal watering restrictions or plant-specific life-cycle watering needs.wherein the irrigation controller is configured with a baseline schedule for controlling the irrigation system. The baseline schedule is computed by direct user control of timings. The baseline schedule can further automatically adjust as the seasons progress in his geographic area. wherein the irrigation controller maintains historical information as to water usage, or power usage. wherein no personal computer or other web-based appliance need to have any configuration to obtain or return information to the web-based appliance via the ad-hoc bi-directional communications network without the use of an access point. wherein the web-based appliance can load the baseline schedule with local seasonal adjustment to slowly change water timings or days as the seasons progress. In this manner, the irrigation controller can daily adjust for seasonal progressions without need of interaction with web-based appliance. wherein the web-based appliance can also modify the baseline schedule based on specified types of plants or grasses, historical geographic-specific weather information, user drainage and terrain selections. wherein any number of and any type of web-enabled appliances can control the irrigation controller. wherein the irrigation controller has any number of separately-controlled channels to provide the user'"'"'s irrigation needed. Wherein the irrigation controller can get sensor data from the irrigation site and revise the baseline schedule.
-
-
30. A system feature to enable a new user to easily revert to his old irrigation controller, comprising:
- A Loopback Board with connectorization to enable a user'"'"'s solenoid wire pairs to be disconnected from our irrigation controller back to his/her original irrigation controller. Such a change can be done in less than ten seconds. This system allows a dissatisfied or unsure user to revert back to his/her original irrigation controller without jeopardizing valuable, established lawns and plantings.
Specification