THERMOSTAT WITH ELECTRONIC IMAGE DISPLAY

• US 20150268652A1
• Filed: 06/03/2015
• Published: 09/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ademco Inc. (Resideo Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Lunacek, Michael, Amundson, John B., Juntunen, Robert D.
• Granted Patent: US 10,423,140 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/30 for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/62 characterised by the type of control or by internal processing, e.g. using fuzzy logic, adaptive control or estimation of values
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/63 Electronic processing
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0423 Input/output
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1902 characterised by the use of a variable reference value
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials

Abstract

A programmable controller for homes and/or buildings and their related grounds, such as thermostat, that has a display and an external interface. The external interface may be use for uploading electronic images and/or other information from an external data source, and may use the uploaded electronic images and/or other information for programming and/or updating the controller and/or for viewing the electronic images and/or other information on the display of the controller.

Claims

1. An HVAC controller for controlling a climate control system of a building, the HVAC controller comprising:

a housing configured to house a communication interface, a controller, and a user interface;

the communication interface is configured to establish communication with an external data source to enable the upload of at least two electronic image files from the external data source to the HVAC controller, wherein each of the at least two electronic image files stores a discrete digital still photographic image;

the controller is configured to generate control signals for controlling at least part of the climate control system;

the user interface is configured for interacting with a user of the HVAC controller, the user interface comprising a display having a display area, wherein the user interface is responsive to the controller for displaying one or more HVAC controller parameters on the display; and

the user interface is further responsive to the controller for displaying at least two digital still photographic images uploaded via the communication interface one at a time on the display as a slideshow, wherein the display automatically changes from one digital still photographic image to another digital still photographic image.

2. The HVAC controller of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to cause the display to display at least two discrete digital still photographic images on the display as a slideshow in a user-selected order.

3. The HVAC controller of claim 1 wherein the controller is configured to cause the display to begin the slideshow after a predetermined amount of time of no user interaction with the user interface of the HVAC controller is detected.

4. The HVAC controller of claim 1 wherein the controller is configured to cause the display to display a first digital still photographic image after a predetermined amount of time of no user interaction with the user interface of the HVAC controller, and wherein the first digital still photographic image is displayed for a first period of time after which the first digital still photographic image is automatically replaced with a second digital still photographic image.

5. The HVAC controller of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to cause the display to display a transition effect on the display between the display of at least two discrete digital still photographic images.

6. The HVAC controller of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to allow a user to select via the user interface which of the two or more digital still photographic images will be shown in the slideshow.

7. The HVAC controller of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to display each of the at least two digital still photographic images for a period of time, wherein the period of time is in a range of one second to five minutes.

8. The HVAC controller of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to simultaneously display one of the discrete digital still photographic images and at least one HVAC controller parameter.

9. The HVAC controller of claim 8, wherein the at least one HVAC controller parameter is displayed over-laid on top of at least part of the simultaneously displayed discrete digital still photographic image.

10. The HVAC controller of claim 8, wherein the at least one HVAC controller parameter is displayed in a parameter box adjacent to the simultaneously displayed discrete digital still photographic image.

11. The HVAC controller of claim 8, wherein the at least one HVAC controller parameter that is simultaneously displayed comprises a temperature set point.

12. The HVAC controller of claim 8, wherein the at least one HVAC controller parameter that is simultaneously displayed comprises a sensed temperature.

13. The HVAC controller of claim 8, wherein the at least one HVAC controller parameter that is simultaneously displayed comprises an HVAC system status parameter.

14. A thermostat for controlling a climate control system of a building, the thermostat comprising:

a housing configured to house a communication interface, a controller, and a display;

the communication interface is configured to establish communication with an external data source to enable the upload of at least one electronic image file from the external data source to a memory of the thermostat, wherein each of the at least one electronic image file comprises a digital still photographic image;

the controller is configured to receive an environmental signal from a sensor and to generate one or more control signals for controlling one or more HVAC components of the climate control system based at least in part on the received environmental signal; and

the controller is further configured to receive the at least one electronic image file uploaded via the communication interface and to display on the display one or more thermostat parameters and at least one of the uploaded digital photographic images uploaded simultaneously or sequentially.

15. The thermostat of claim 14, wherein the at last one electronic image file includes two or more electronic image files, each storing a discrete still photographic image, and wherein the controller is configured to display one still photographic image at a time on the display as a slideshow.

16. The thermostat of claim 14 wherein the controller is configured to cause the digital still photographic image to be displayed as a background image on the display with one or more thermostat parameters over-laid on top of at least part of the digital still photographic image.

17. The thermostat of claim 14, wherein the controller is configured to simultaneously display the uploaded digital photographic image and at least one thermostat parameter.

18. The thermostat of claim 14, wherein the display has a display area, and the digital still photographic image covers greater than 25% of the display area.

19. The thermostat of claim 14, wherein the controller is configured to sequentially display two or more digital still photographic images stored in two or more electronic image files after a period of no user activity.

20. A thermostat for controlling a climate control system of a building, the thermostat comprising:

a housing configured to house a communication interface, a controller, a display, and a temperature sensor;

the communication interface is configured to establish communication with an external data source to enable the upload of at least two electronic image files from the external data source to the thermostat, wherein each of the at least two electronic image files comprises a digital still photographic image;

the controller is configured to receive an environmental signal from the sensor and to generate one or more control signals for controlling one or more HVAC components of the climate control system based at least in part on the received environmental signal;

the controller is further configured to display on the display one or more thermostat parameters on the display; and

the controller is further configured to display at least two of the uploaded digital still photographic images on the display as a slide show after a period of no detected user activity.