BLUETOOTH THERMOSTAT AND HUB

• US 20160040903A1
• Filed: 08/07/2015
• Published: 02/11/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ademco Inc. (Resideo Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Emmons, David J., Kolavennu, Soumitri, Pai, Ajay
• Granted Patent: US 10,691,083 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1078 Resource delivery mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/007 with remote control systems remote control in general G08C
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/086 using security domains
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 for collecting sensor information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/04 adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user

Abstract

A system and approach for remote reading, setting and control of devices such as thermostats. A phone, such as a smartphone, a gateway and a cloud may be incorporated relative to interaction with the device or devices. The gateway may have a hub that has bluetooth communication capabilities with the device. The hub may be connected to a router that in turn is connected to a cloud in a wireless or wired manner. The phone may communicate with the cloud to achieve interaction with the device. The hub may also handle WiFi communications. The gateway may instead be a phone that contains an app which lets operate as a gateway for communications with the cloud. There may be one or more devices that are a part of one or more home area networks that are connected to a gateway via bluetooth and WiFi, and in turn connected to the cloud.

Claims

1. A thermostat system comprising:

a thermostat having bluetooth capability;

a hub having a bluetooth connection with the thermostat, and having WiFi capability;

a router having a WiFi connection with the hub and a cloud for transactions on cloud computing; and

a smart phone or tablet having a WiFi connection with the cloud; and

wherein the smart phone or tablet has transmission and reception of signals to and from the thermostat.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the smart phone and the thermostat within a certain proximity of each other can have peer to peer communication over bluetooth.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the hub provides a gateway to the cloud for remote access and data warehousing.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the hub further is a gateway to one or more additional bluetooth devices.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein:

the one or more additional bluetooth devices are connected to a first home area network; and

the one or more WiFi devices are connected to a second home area network.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

one or more additional hubs; and

wherein each of the one or more additional hubs has a bluetooth connection to a thermostat.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising one or more devices having a bluetooth connection to the each of the one or more additional hubs.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising one or more devices having a WiFi connection to each of the one or more additional hubs.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the hub is line powered;

the hub provides a continuous connection of the thermostat to the cloud; and

the hub is a gateway for one or more additional bluetooth and WiFi devices.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein:

one or more additional smartphones can be connected to the thermostat via the cloud, the router and the hub; and

the one or more additional smart phones are registered with the thermostat via a pairing procedure.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein:

a registered smartphone can update data about the thermostat to the cloud; and

the registered smart phone can change parameters of the thermostat.

12. A method for device commissioning with a bluetooth comprising:

pairing a smart phone with a thermostat having bluetooth capability;

doing a handshake with the thermostat to confirm pairing and communication;

querying an app on the smart phone for an ISU (installation setup);

confirming the ISU;

querying and transferring an address number from the thermostat to the cloud or smart phone; and

registering the thermostat at a cloud with the app of the smart phone.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein:

the thermostat continuously broadcasts an advertisement which is information to the smart phone;

the paired smart phone controls, connects, changes a state, gets confirmation and disconnects; and

the thermostat is open for control by any paired smart phone in a vicinity of the thermostat.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein:

a bluetooth connection of the smart hone thermostat is continuous;

the connection of the smart phone is on a priority list; and

when the smart phone leaves a vicinity of the thermostat, the smart phone loses connection and a second smart phone next on the prioritized list can connect to the smart phone and thus control the thermostat.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the thermostat also can broadcast an advertisement to enable one or more additional smart phones in the vicinity of a thermostat to join the smart phone still connected, in a connection to the thermostat, and also control the thermostat.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein:

the thermostat collects information about a state and history of the thermostat;

the smart phone can download the information about the state and history of the thermostat via bluetooth; and

the information can be used for diagnostics, analytics or troubleshooting.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein if the smart phone is acting as a gateway, the second smart phone can connect to the thermostat through the cloud.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein:

acting as a gateway is embedded in an app of the smart phone; and

the smart phone acting as a gateway can convey status and control messages from the cloud to the thermostat.

19. A communication layout comprising:

a thermostat having bluetooth communication capability;

a first smart phone that operates as a gateway between the thermostat and the cloud; and

a second smart phone that receives and sends messages to the cloud that receives and sends the messages from the second smart phone to the thermostat via the first smart phone.

20. The layout of claim 19, wherein the first smart phone routes messages from the thermostat to the cloud.

21. The layout of claim 19, wherein the first smart phone caches messages from the thermostat to the cloud.

22. The layout of claim 19, wherein a user of the second smart phone is remote from a facility where the thermostat is situated.