Auto-programmable electronic thermostat
First Claim
1. A method of programming a programmable thermostat having a default program set and one or more pre-programmed program sets stored in a long-term memory and loadable into a working memory, the default program set being loaded into the working memory upon power-up of the programmable thermostat, wherein each pre-programmed program set comprises a plurality of times and a plurality of temperatures, the method comprising the steps of:
- selecting one of said one or more pre-programmed program sets stored in long-term memory;
programming the programmable thermostat with the times and temperatures of the selected pre-programmed program set by loading the selected pre-programmed program set into the working memory; and
altering the times and temperatures of the selected pre-programmed program set within the working memory to create a tailored program set within the working memory which may remain within the working memory until further alteration by a user of the programmable thermostat.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention is a method for programming a programmable thermostat having a default program set and one or more pre-programmed program sets, wherein each pre-programmed program set has a plurality of times and a plurality of temperatures. The method includes the steps of selecting one of the plurality of pre-programmed program sets; programming the programmable thermostat with the times and temperatures of the selected pre-programmed program set; and altering the times and temperatures of the selected pre-programmed program set to create a tailored program set. An auto-programmable thermostat may include a first memory having a default program set which receives at least one of a plurality of pre-programmed program sets, wherein each pre-programmed program set includes a plurality of times and at least a plurality of temperatures. The thermostat also may have a plurality of alphanumeric identifiers, each identifier corresponding to one of the plurality of pre-programmed program sets; selection keys for selecting one of a plurality of the alphanumeric identifiers; a processor responsive to the selection keys for replacing the default program set on the first memory with the selected pre-programmed program set; and keys for altering the times and temperatures of the selected pre-programmed program set.
290 Citations
37 Claims
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1. A method of programming a programmable thermostat having a default program set and one or more pre-programmed program sets stored in a long-term memory and loadable into a working memory, the default program set being loaded into the working memory upon power-up of the programmable thermostat, wherein each pre-programmed program set comprises a plurality of times and a plurality of temperatures, the method comprising the steps of:
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selecting one of said one or more pre-programmed program sets stored in long-term memory; programming the programmable thermostat with the times and temperatures of the selected pre-programmed program set by loading the selected pre-programmed program set into the working memory; and altering the times and temperatures of the selected pre-programmed program set within the working memory to create a tailored program set within the working memory which may remain within the working memory until further alteration by a user of the programmable thermostat. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 20)
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12. An auto-programmable thermostat comprising:
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a first memory having a default program set stored therein and which receives at least a selected one of one or more pre-programmed program sets, wherein each pre-programmed program set comprises a plurality of times and a plurality of temperatures; a second memory for storing one or more pre-programmed program sets, each of which comprises a plurality of times and a plurality of temperatures; a plurality of alphanumeric identifiers, each identifier corresponding to one of the one or more pre-programmed program sets; selection means for selecting one of a plurality of the alphanumeric identifiers; means responsive to the selection means for replacing the default program set in the first memory with the selected pre-programmed program set from the second memory; and means for altering the times and temperatures of the selected pre-programmed program set within said first memory and retaining the selected pre-programmed set within said second memory without alteration. - View Dependent Claims (13)
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14. An auto-programmable thermostat comprising:
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a first memory having a default program set stored therein and which receives and stores one of at least one pre-programmed program set, wherein said pre-programmed program set comprises a plurality of times and at least one set of a corresponding number of temperatures; selection means for selecting one of the at least one pre-programmed program set; means responsive to the selection means for replacing the default program set with the times and temperatures of the selected pre-programmed program set in the first memory; and means for altering the times and temperatures of the selected pre-programmed program set within said first memory to create a tailored program set within said first memory which remains within said first memory until further alteration. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. An auto-programmable thermostat comprising:
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a first memory having a default program set which is programmable; a second memory for storing a plurality of pre-programmed program sets, where each pre-programmed program set comprises a plurality of times and at least a corresponding number of temperatures; selection means for selecting one of the stored pre-programmed program sets; means responsive to the selection means for loading the times and corresponding temperatures of the selected pre-programmed program set from said second memory into said first memory to replace the default program set; and means for altering the times and temperatures of the selected pre-programmed program set within said first memory. - View Dependent Claims (27)
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28. An auto-programmable thermostat comprising:
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a first memory which is programmable and has a default program set; a second memory for storing at least one standard program set, wherein the standard program set comprises a plurality of times and at least a corresponding number of temperatures; selection means for selecting a program set for loading in the first memory, wherein at least one of the times and temperatures of the selected program set has a predetermined relationship with the time and temperatures of the standard pre-programmed program set within said second memory, so that the selected program set is derived from the standard pre-programmed program set; means responsive to the selection means for replacing the default program set in the first memory with the times and temperatures of the selected program set; and means for altering the times and temperatures of the selected program set within said first memory. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A programmable thermostat comprising:
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a long-term memory having a default program set stored therein, said default program set including not more than one time value and not more than one temperature value for each of a heating and cooling operation, and further having a pre-programmed program set stored therein, said pre-programmed program set including a plurality of times and a plurality of corresponding temperatures for each of a heating and cooling operation; a working memory for automatically receiving and storing the default program set from said long-term memory upon initial power-up of the thermostat whereby the thermostat is initially programmed to be set at said one temperature value for each of said heating and cooling operations, and for receiving and storing said pre-programmed program set from said long-term memory whereby the thermostat is programmed to be set in accordance with said plurality of times and temperatures for each of a heating and cooling operation; means for displaying the default program set stored within said working memory for a plurality of time periods; means for altering the displayed default program set stored within said working memory for each of said plurality of time periods to set one or more of the time and temperature values so that the thermostat is programmed to operate at the set time and temperature values; means for selecting said pre-programmed program set within long-term memory and, responsive to said selecting means, loading the pre-programmed program set into said working memory to replace the program set then residing in said working memory; and means for altering the selected pre-programmed program set within said working memory to change one or more of the pre-programmed time and temperature values. - View Dependent Claims (35)
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36. A method of programming a programmable thermostat having a display, a long-term memory, and a working memory, and including a default program set and a pre-programmed program set, each of which are stored in the long-term memory and loadable into the working memory, wherein the default program set includes not more than one time value, and not more than one temperature value for each of a heating and cooling operation, and wherein the pre-programmed program set includes a plurality of starting time values and a plurality of set-point temperature values corresponding to the starting times for each of a heating and cooling operation, the method comprising the steps of:
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initializing the thermostat by applying power to the thermostat; automatically loading the default program set from the long-term memory to the working memory upon initializing the thermostat whereby the thermostat is initially programmed to be set at the default temperature value for one of the heating and cooling operations; displaying the not more than one time and temperature values of the default program set for each of a plurality of time periods; altering the default program set by at least one of the following steps (a) selecting a time value and a temperature value for the not more than one time value and not more than one temperature value of the displayed default program set for at least one of said plurality of time periods on a time period by time period basis; (b) selecting the pre-programmed program set from long-term memory and, in response thereto, loading the entire pre-programmed program set into said working memory in place of the default program set; altering a program set that resides within working memory by at least one of the following steps (c) changing one or more of the time and temperature values that resides within working memory for one or more of the time periods; (d) loading the entire pre-programmed program set from long-term memory into said working memory to replace the program set within working memory. - View Dependent Claims (37)
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Specification