THERMOSTAT USER INTERFACE
First Claim
1. A thermostat, comprising:
- a frustum-shaped shell body having a circular cross-section and a central axis generally perpendicular to a wall when the thermostat is wall-mounted, the frustum-shaped shell body comprising a sidewall that extends along a length of the central axis between first and second ends of the frustum-shaped shell body, the first end of the frustum-shaped shell body being wall-facing when the thermostat is wall-mounted, the second end of the frustum-shaped shell body being user-facing when the thermostat is wall-mounted, the sidewall comprising inside and outside surfaces, the inside surface defining an interior for housing components of the thermostat;
a circular rotatable ring mounted proximate the second end of the frustum-shaped shell body, the circular rotatable ring having an axis of rotation generally perpendicular to the wall when the thermostat is wall-mounted, the circular rotatable ring being user rotatable about the axis of rotation;
a circular cover mounted proximate the second end of the frustum-shaped shell body, the circular cover having a central axis generally perpendicular to the wall when the thermostat is wall-mounted, the circular cover comprising a clear circular center portion surrounded by a colored outer portion;
at least one temperature sensor for use in sensing an ambient air temperature;
a plurality of HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) wire terminals configured to receive a plurality of HVAC wires;
a dot-matrix color display element mounted at a location between the second end of the frustum-shaped shell body and the circular cover, the dot-matrix color display element and the circular cover not rotating when the circular rotatable ring is rotated and the thermostat is wall-mounted; and
a processing system provided in operative communication with the plurality of HVAC wire terminals, the circular rotatable ring, the dot-matrix color display element, and the at least one temperature sensor, the processing system configured to;
cause the dot-matrix color display element to display a numerical value representative of a temperature value;
determine a user-selected temperature value based on user rotation of the circular rotatable ring; and
send a control signal to the HVAC system via at least one of the HVAC wire terminals based at least in part on a comparison of a user-selected temperature value and the sensed ambient temperature;
wherein said outside surface of said frustum-shaped shell body sidewall has a metallic appearing finish and wherein said sidewall increases in diameter along the central axis from the first end of the frustum-shaped shell body to the second end of the frustum-shaped shell body such that an acute angle is formed exterior to the thermostat between the outside surface of the sidewall and the wall when the thermostat is wall-mounted, whereby a naturally blending visual appearance of the thermostat with the wall is promoted by virtue of the frustum-shaped shell body, the metallic-appearing finish, and the acute angle when the thermostat is mounted to the wall;
and wherein the dot-matrix color display element is non-circular and the clear circular center portion of the circular cover permits a circular portion of the non-circular dot-matrix color display element to be visible through the circular cover, the colored outer portion of the circular cover masking a remaining portion of the non-circular dot-matrix color display element so as to create a circular graphical user interface.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A user-friendly, network-connected learning thermostat is described. The thermostat is made up of (1) a wall-mountable backplate that includes a low-power consuming microcontroller used for activities such as polling sensors and switching on and off the HVAC functions, and (2) separable head unit that includes a higher-power consuming microprocessor, color LCD backlit display, user input devices, and wireless communications modules. The thermostat also includes a rechargeable battery and power-stealing circuitry adapted to harvest power from HVAC triggering circuits. By maintaining the microprocessor in a “sleep” state often compared to the lower-power microcontroller, high-power consuming activities, such as learning computations, wireless network communications and interfacing with a user, can be temporarily performed by the microprocessor even though the activities use energy at a greater rate than is available from the power stealing circuitry.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A thermostat, comprising:
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a frustum-shaped shell body having a circular cross-section and a central axis generally perpendicular to a wall when the thermostat is wall-mounted, the frustum-shaped shell body comprising a sidewall that extends along a length of the central axis between first and second ends of the frustum-shaped shell body, the first end of the frustum-shaped shell body being wall-facing when the thermostat is wall-mounted, the second end of the frustum-shaped shell body being user-facing when the thermostat is wall-mounted, the sidewall comprising inside and outside surfaces, the inside surface defining an interior for housing components of the thermostat; a circular rotatable ring mounted proximate the second end of the frustum-shaped shell body, the circular rotatable ring having an axis of rotation generally perpendicular to the wall when the thermostat is wall-mounted, the circular rotatable ring being user rotatable about the axis of rotation; a circular cover mounted proximate the second end of the frustum-shaped shell body, the circular cover having a central axis generally perpendicular to the wall when the thermostat is wall-mounted, the circular cover comprising a clear circular center portion surrounded by a colored outer portion; at least one temperature sensor for use in sensing an ambient air temperature; a plurality of HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) wire terminals configured to receive a plurality of HVAC wires; a dot-matrix color display element mounted at a location between the second end of the frustum-shaped shell body and the circular cover, the dot-matrix color display element and the circular cover not rotating when the circular rotatable ring is rotated and the thermostat is wall-mounted; and a processing system provided in operative communication with the plurality of HVAC wire terminals, the circular rotatable ring, the dot-matrix color display element, and the at least one temperature sensor, the processing system configured to; cause the dot-matrix color display element to display a numerical value representative of a temperature value; determine a user-selected temperature value based on user rotation of the circular rotatable ring; and send a control signal to the HVAC system via at least one of the HVAC wire terminals based at least in part on a comparison of a user-selected temperature value and the sensed ambient temperature; wherein said outside surface of said frustum-shaped shell body sidewall has a metallic appearing finish and wherein said sidewall increases in diameter along the central axis from the first end of the frustum-shaped shell body to the second end of the frustum-shaped shell body such that an acute angle is formed exterior to the thermostat between the outside surface of the sidewall and the wall when the thermostat is wall-mounted, whereby a naturally blending visual appearance of the thermostat with the wall is promoted by virtue of the frustum-shaped shell body, the metallic-appearing finish, and the acute angle when the thermostat is mounted to the wall; and wherein the dot-matrix color display element is non-circular and the clear circular center portion of the circular cover permits a circular portion of the non-circular dot-matrix color display element to be visible through the circular cover, the colored outer portion of the circular cover masking a remaining portion of the non-circular dot-matrix color display element so as to create a circular graphical user interface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A thermostat, comprising:
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a frustum-shaped shell body having a circular cross-section and a central axis generally perpendicular to a wall when the thermostat is wall-mounted, the frustum-shaped shell body comprising a sidewall that extends along a length of the central axis between first and second ends of the frustum-shaped shell body, the first end of the frustum-shaped shell body being wall-facing when the thermostat is wall-mounted, the second end of the frustum-shaped shell body being user-facing when the thermostat is wall-mounted, the sidewall comprising inside and outside surfaces, the inside surface defining an interior for housing components of the thermostat, the outside surface of the sidewall having a metallic appearing finish, the sidewall increasing in diameter along the central axis from the first end of the frustum-shaped shell body to the second end of the frustum-shaped shell body such that an acute angle is formed exterior to the thermostat between the outside surface of the sidewall and the wall when the thermostat is wall-mounted, whereby said acute angle and said metallic appearing finish cause the outside surface of the sidewall to appear to at least partially assume a color of the wall when the thermostat is wall-mounted; a circular rotatable ring mounted proximate the second end of the frustum-shaped shell body, the circular rotatable ring comprising an axis of rotation generally perpendicular to the wall when the thermostat is wall-mounted, the circular rotatable ring being user rotatable about the axis of rotation; a circular cover mounted proximate the second end of the frustum-shaped shell body, the circular cover comprising a central axis generally perpendicular to the wall when the thermostat is wall-mounted, the circular cover comprising a clear circular center portion surrounded by a colored outer portion; at least one temperature sensor for use in sensing an ambient air temperature; a plurality of HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) wire terminals configured to receive a plurality of HVAC wires; a passive infrared (PIR) sensor that senses infrared radiation to detect a proximal user presence; a dot-matrix color display element mounted at a location between the second end of the frustum-shaped shell body and the circular cover, the dot-matrix color display element and the circular cover do not rotate when the circular rotatable ring is rotated and the thermostat is wall-mounted; a processing system provided in operative communication with the plurality of HVAC wire terminals, the PIR sensor, the circular rotatable ring, the dot-matrix color display element, and the at least one temperature sensor, the processing system configured to; activate the dot-matrix color display element upon receiving a signal indicating the proximal user presence from the PIR sensor; cause the dot-matrix color display element to display a numerical value representative of a temperature value; determine a user-selected temperature value based on user rotation of the circular rotatable ring; and send a control signal to the HVAC system via at least one of the HVAC wire terminals based at least in part on a comparison of a user-selected temperature value and the sensed ambient temperature. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification