PROGRAMMABLE SMART THERMOSTAT

• US 20160209071A1
• Filed: 05/14/2015
• Published: 07/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lennox Industries Incorporated (Lennox International Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Lennox Industries Incorporated (Lennox International Incorporated)
• Inventors: CASTILLO, Daniel, MOWERY, Keith, CHARAVDA, Jayprakash, AMOROS, Melissa, KHIANI, Sunil K., GOLDEN, Kyle, LAZAR, Steve
• Granted Patent: US 10,782,039 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 11/49 ensuring correct operation, e.g. by trial operation or configuration checks
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/52 Indication arrangements, e.g. displays
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/523 for displaying temperature data
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/58 using Internet communication
• 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 11/89 Arrangement or mounting of control or safety devices
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2120/10 Occupancy
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2130/00 Control inputs relating to environmental factors not covered by group F24F2110/00
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2130/10 Weather information or forecasts
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0426 Programming the control sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25168 Domotique, access through internet protocols
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2614 HVAC, heating, ventillation, climate control
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2827 Reporting to a device within the home network; wherein the reception of the information reported automatically triggers the execution of a home appliance functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks

Abstract

A thermostat includes a front housing, a rear housing interoperably coupled to the front housing, at least one sensor integrated with the front housing, a display integrated with the front housing, and processing circuitry interoperably coupled to the at least one sensor and the display. The display is a touch-screen display and is configured to demonstrate a user-interface screen. The user-interface screen comprises a horseshoe-shaped temperature scale, a heat set-point control, and a cool set-point control. The heat set-point control and the cool set-point control are positioned on the horseshoe-shaped temperature scale. The horseshoe-shaped temperature scale can be adjusted by dragging at least one of the heat set-point control and the cool set-point control along circumferential edges of the horseshoe-shaped temperature scale.

Claims

1. A thermostat comprising:

a front housing;

a rear housing interoperably coupled to the front housing;

at least one sensor integrated with the front housing;

a display integrated with the front housing;

processing circuitry interoperably coupled to the at least one sensor and the display;

wherein the display is a touch-screen display and is configured to demonstrate a user-interface screen;

wherein the user-interface screen comprises a horseshoe-shaped temperature scale, a heat set-point control, and a cool set-point control;

wherein the heat set-point control and the cool set-point control are positioned on the horseshoe-shaped temperature scale; and

wherein the horseshoe-shaped temperature scale can be adjusted by dragging at least one of the heat set-point control and the cool set-point control along circumferential edges of the horseshoe-shaped temperature scale.

2. The thermostat of claim 1, wherein the user-interface screen further comprises at least one of a status tab, an away tab, and a mode-selection tab.

3. The thermostat of claim 2, wherein the status tab displays at least one of system maintenance reminder messages.

4. The thermostat of claim 2, wherein, upon selection of the away tab, regular programming schedule of an HVAC system is switched to an energy-saving mode.

5. The thermostat of claim 1, wherein the user-interface screen further comprises a plurality of modes of operation of the thermostat.

6. The thermostat of claim 1, wherein the display is configured to demonstrate at least one of indoor temperature, current date, current time, indoor humidity, location, air quality, chance of rain, and wind speed.

7. The thermostat of claim 1, wherein the display is configured to demonstrate weather forecast for upcoming days.

8. The thermostat of claim 1, wherein the display is configured to demonstrate hour-by-hour breakdown of outside weather conditions.

9. The thermostat of claim 1, wherein the display is configured to demonstrate, in addition to numeric representations of indoor and outdoor temperature, an animation mimicking current outside weather conditions.

10. The thermostat of claim 9, wherein the animation comprises at least one of still images and video.

11. The thermostat of claim 1, wherein the display is configured to demonstrate representations of a keyboard.

12. The thermostat of claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor is a video camera configured to perform at least one of room lighting determination, distance determination, facial recognition, and occupancy detection.

13. The thermostat of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry comprises a communications interface for communicating with at least one server via a wireless network.

14. The thermostat of claim 13, wherein the at least one server is associated with at least one of a manufacturer, a support provider, and a service provider.

15. The thermostat of claim 1, wherein the thermostat is programmable.

16. The thermostat of claim 1, wherein the display is configured to demonstrate at least one of diagrams, pictures, characters, animations, videos, and words.

17. The thermostat of claim 1, wherein the display is configured to demonstrate performance reports.

18. A system comprising:

a programmable thermostat; and

at least one server configured to communicate with the programmable thermostat via a wireless network;

wherein the programmable thermostat comprises;

a front housing;

a rear housing interoperably coupled to the front housing;

at least one sensor integrated with the front housing;

a display integrated with the front housing;

processing circuitry interoperably coupled to the at least one sensor and the display;

wherein the display is a touch-screen display and is configured to demonstrate a user-interface screen;

wherein the user-interface screen comprises a horseshoe-shaped temperature scale, a heat set-point control, and a cool set-point control;

wherein the heat set-point control and the cool set-point control are positioned on the horseshoe-shaped temperature scale; and

wherein the horseshoe-shaped temperature scale can be adjusted by dragging at least one of the heat set-point control and the cool set-point control along circumferential edges of the horseshoe-shaped temperature scale.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the at least one server is associated with at least one of a manufacturer, a support provider, and a service provider.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the at least one server is configured to communicate with at least one of maintenance contractors and weather forecasting agencies.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the at least one server is configured to forward information to the programmable thermostat for viewing on the display.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the information comprises at least one of indoor temperature, current date, current time, indoor humidity, location, air quality, chance of rain, and wind speed.

23. The thermostat of claim 21, wherein the information comprises weather prediction for upcoming days.

24. The thermostat of claim 21, wherein the information comprises hour-by-hour breakdown of outside weather conditions.

25. A thermostat comprising:

a front housing;

a rear housing interoperably coupled to the front housing;

at least one sensor integrated with the front housing;

a display integrated with the front housing;

processing circuitry interoperably coupled to the at least one sensor and the display;

wherein the display is a touch-screen display and is configured to demonstrate a user-interface screen;

wherein the user-interface screen comprises a horseshoe-shaped temperature scale and a temperature set-point control;

wherein the temperature set-point control is positioned on the horseshoe-shaped temperature scale; and

wherein the horseshoe-shaped temperature scale can be adjusted by dragging the temperature set-point control along circumferential edges of the horseshoe-shaped temperature scale.