Remote controlled thermostat system for the sight-impaired

• US 7,108,194 B1
• Filed: 06/01/2004
• Issued: 09/19/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Robert E. Hankins II
• Original Assignee: Robert E. Hankins II
• Inventors: Hankins, Robert E. II
• Primary Examiner(s): Tanner, Harry B.
• Application Number:
  US10/857,675
• Time in Patent Office: 840 Days
• Field of Search: 621/25, 621/26, 621/27, 621/29, 621/30, 621/31, 621/61, 621/62, 621/63, 621/64, 236/51, 236/94, 165/11.1, 165/11.2
• US Class Current: 236/51
• CPC Class Codes: F23N 2223/38 Remote control
• 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 11/526 giving audible indications
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/56 Remote control
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/88 Electrical aspects, e.g. circuits
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/10 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1905 associated with tele control

Abstract

A thermostat remote control system includes a transmitter/receiver unit hard wired to a building climate control thermostat and a remote control unit that communicates with the hard-wired transmitter/receiver unit via wireless signals. The remote control unit includes braille labels associated with the control elements and further includes sound generators that generate audible signals that correspond to the temperature sensed by the thermostat and that also correspond to actions taken using the remote control.

Claims

1. A thermostat remote control system comprising:

a) a thermostat unit associated with a building climate control system, said thermostat unit including

(1) a temperature sensor that senses temperature of the building and generates temperature signals associated with the temperature sensed by the temperature sensor, and

(2) a building temperature control circuit that is electrically connected to the temperature sensor to receive temperature signals from the temperature sensor and is connected to the building climate control system to control building temperature in accordance with temperature signals received from the temperature sensor in response to temperature signals received from the temperature sensor;

b) a hard-wired unit which includes

(1) a housing,

(2) a wall-mounting element on the housing adapted to mount the housing on a wall,

(3) a power source in the housing,

(4) a first lead line which is electrically connected to the temperature sensor of said thermostat unit and a second lead line which is electrically connected to the building temperature control circuit of said thermostat unit,

(5) a thermostat-monitoring circuit that is electrically connected to the first lead line to be electrically connected to the temperature sensor of said thermostat unit to receive temperature signals from the temperature sensor the thermostat-monitoring circuit, the thermostat-monitoring circuit including a temperature signal-generating circuit which generates temperature-monitoring signals associated with the temperature signals received by the monitoring circuit from the thermostat temperature sensor in response to the temperature signals received from the thermostat temperature sensor,

(6) a transmitter circuit electrically connected to the thermostat-monitoring circuit to receive temperature-monitoring signals from the thermostat-monitoring circuit and generate wireless temperature-monitoring signals that are associated with the temperature-monitoring signals received by the transmitter circuit from the thermostat-monitoring circuit in response to the temperature-monitoring signals received from the thermostat-monitoring circuit,

(7) a thermostat control circuit which is electrically connected to the second lead line and which also is electrically connected via the second lead line to the building temperature control circuit of said thermostat unit to control the building temperature via the building temperature control circuit of said thermostat, and

(8) a receiver circuit which receives wireless signals and which is electrically connected to the thermostat control circuit and which generates control signals associated with the wireless signals received by the receiver circuit in response to the wireless signals received by the receiver circuit, the control signals being sent to the thermostat control circuit of said hard-wired unit and via the thermostat control circuit of said hard-wired unit to the building temperature control circuit of said thermostat unit and via the building temperature control circuit of said thermostat unit to said building climate control system, the thermostat building temperature control circuit being controlled in accordance with the wireless signals received by the receiver circuit of said hard-wired unit; and

c) a remote control unit which includes

(1) a housing,

(2) a power source,

(3) a display unit on the housing of said remote control unit,

(4) an on/off switch electrically connected to the power source of said remote control unit,

(5) a braille label associated with the on/off switch of said remote control unit,

(6) a temperature-increasing switch on the housing of said remote control unit,

(7) a temperature-increasing signal-generating circuit which is electrically connected to the temperature-increasing switch and to the power source of said remote control unit and which generates temperature-increasing signals when the temperature-increasing switch is activated and the on/off switch is in an “

on”

condition,

(8) a wireless signal-transmitting circuit which is electrically connected to the temperature-increasing signal-generating circuit to receive temperature-increasing signals from the temperature-increasing signal-generating circuit and generate wireless temperature increase signals associated with the temperature-increasing signals received by the wireless signal-transmitting circuit in response to temperature-increasing signals received from the temperature-increasing signal-generating circuit, the wireless temperature increase signals being received by the receiver circuit of said hard-wired unit, the receiver circuit of said hard-wired unit generating a temperature increase control signal in response to the wireless temperature increase signal received from the transmitter circuit of said remote unit,

(9) a braille label associated with the temperature-increasing switch on the housing of said remote control unit,

(10) a sound-generating circuit which is electrically connected to the power source on said remote control unit and which is electrically connected to the temperature-increasing switch via the on/off switch to emit a sound-generating signal when the temperature-increasing switch is activated and the on/off switch is “

on”

,

(11) a temperature-decreasing switch on the housing of said remote control unit,

(12) a temperature-decreasing signal-generating circuit which is electrically connected to the temperature-decreasing switch and to the power source of said remote control unit and which generates temperature-decreasing signals when the temperature-decreasing switch is activated and the on/off switch is in an “

on”

condition,

(13) the temperature-decreasing signal-generating circuit which is electrically connected to the wireless signal-transmitting circuit so the wireless signal-transmitting circuit receives temperature-decreasing signals from the temperature-decreasing signal-generating circuit and generates wireless temperature decrease signals associated with the temperature-decreasing signals received from the temperature-decreasing signal-generating circuit in response to temperature-decreasing signals received from the temperature-decreasing signal-generating circuit, the wireless temperature decrease signals being received by the receiver circuit of said hard-wired unit, the receiver circuit of said hard-wired unit generating a temperature decrease control signal in response to the wireless temperature decrease signal received from the wireless transmitting circuit of said remote unit,

(14) a braille label associated with the temperature-decreasing switch on the housing of said remote control unit,

(15) a sound-generating circuit which is electrically connected to the power source on said remote control unit via the on/off switch and which is electrically connected to the temperature-decreasing switch via the on/off switch to emit a sound-generating signal when the temperature-decreasing switch is activated and the on/off switch is “

on”

,

(16) an audio control element on said remote control unit, the audio control element being electrically connected to the sound-generating circuit connected to the temperature-increasing switch and to the sound-generating circuit connected to the temperature-decreasing switch to control the level of the sound-generating signals emitted by the sound-generating circuit connected to the temperature-increasing switch and by the sound-generating circuit connected to the temperature-decreasing switch,

(17) a braille label located on said remote control unit adjacent to said audio control element,

(18) a sound-generating speaker on said remote control unit, the sound-generating speaker being electrically connected via the audio control element to the sound-generating circuit connected to the temperature-increasing switch and to the sound-generating circuit connected to the temperature-decreasing switch via the audio control element, the sound-generating speaker generating a first audible signal when the temperature-increasing switch is activated and a second audible signal when the temperature-decreasing switch is activated, with the first audible signal being different from the second audible signal,

(19) a receiver circuit which receives wireless signals from the transmitter circuit of said hard-wired unit, the wireless signals received by the receiver circuit of said remote control unit corresponding to temperature readings of the temperature sensor of said thermostat unit and are generated by the transmitter circuit of said hard-wired unit in response to signals received by the transmitter circuit of said hard-wired unit from the temperature sensor of said thermostat via the thermostat-monitoring circuit of said hard-wired unit,

(20) a temperature display circuit electrically connecting the display unit of said remote control unit to the receiver circuit of said remote control unit to display visual signals on the display unit which correspond to the wireless temperature-monitoring signals received by the receiver unit of said remote control unit from the transmitter circuit of said hard-wired unit in response to the wireless temperature-monitoring signals received by the receiver unit of said remote control unit from the transmitter circuit of said hard-wired unit,

(21) an audio circuit electrically connected to the temperature display circuit of said remote control unit, the audio circuit including a sound generator which generates audible signals which correspond to the wireless temperature-monitoring signals received by the receiver unit of said remote control unit from the transmitter circuit of said hard-wired unit in response to the wireless temperature-monitoring signals received by the receiver unit of said remote control unit from the transmitter circuit of said hard-wired unit, the sound generator of the audio circuit on said remote control unit generating a first audio signal associated with tens digits in a temperature sensed by the temperature sensor of said thermostat and a second audio signal associated with units digits in the temperature sensed by the temperature sensor of said thermostat unit, the first and second audio signals of the audio circuit being different from each other and from the first audible signal associated with the temperature-increasing switch and from the second audible signal associated with the temperature-decreasing switch, and

(22) a supporting element on said remote control unit.

2. The thermostat remote control system as described in claim 1 wherein said remote control unit further includes a lighting element associated with the on/off switch and the temperature-increasing switch and the temperature-decreasing switch.

3. The thermostat remote control system as described in claim 2 wherein said remote control unit further includes a lighting element associated with the display unit.

4. The thermostat remote control system as described in claim 3 wherein said remote control unit further includes a lighting element associated with the audio control element on said remote control unit.

5. A thermostat remote control system comprising:

a) a thermostat unit associated with a building climate control system, said thermostat unit including a thermostat control circuit and a temperature sensor circuit, the thermostat control circuit connected to a building climate control system to control temperature of a building via the building climate control system and a temperature sensor;

b) a hard-wired unit electrically connected to said thermostat unit, said hard-wired unit including

(1) a thermostat temperature control circuit electrically connected to the thermostat control circuit of said thermostat unit,

(2) a transmitter circuit connected to the temperature sensor circuit of said thermostat unit and including a temperature signal generator which generates wireless temperature-monitoring signals, and

(3) a receiver circuit which is electrically connected to the thermostat temperature control circuit of said hard-wired unit and which receives wireless temperature control signals, the receiver circuit generating a thermostat temperature control signal that corresponds to a received wireless temperature control signal in response to the received wireless temperature control signal, the thermostat temperature control signal being sent to the temperature control circuit of said hard-wired unit; and

c) a remote control unit which includes

(1) a receiver circuit which receives wireless temperature-monitoring signals generated by the transmitter circuit of said hard-wired unit,

(2) a display unit electrically connected to the receiver circuit of said remote control unit, the display unit having a display that is controlled by the receiver circuit of said remote control unit and which displays a temperature corresponding to the temperature sensed by the temperature sensor circuit of said thermostat unit;

(3) a transmitter circuit which includes a generator which generates wireless temperature control signals,

(4) a temperature-increasing switch which is electrically connected to the transmitter circuit of said remote control unit to activate the transmitter circuit to generate a wireless temperature-increasing control signal when the temperature-increasing switch is activated,

(5) a braille label associated with the temperature-increasing switch,

(6) a sound-generating circuit electrically connected to the temperature-increasing switch, the sound-generating circuit generating a first audible signal when the temperature-increasing switch is activated,

(7) a temperature-decreasing switch which is electrically connected to the transmitter circuit of said remote control unit to activate the transmitter circuit to generate a wireless temperature-decreasing control signal when the temperature-decreasing switch is activated,

(8) a braille label associated with the temperature-decreasing switch,

(9) a sound-generating circuit electrically connected to the temperature-decreasing switch, the sound-generating circuit generating a second audible signal when the temperature-decreasing switch is activated, the second audible signal generated by the sound-generating circuit connected to the temperature-decreasing switch being different from the first audible signal generated by the sound-generating circuit connected to the temperature-increasing switch,

(10) an audio control element on said remote control element and electrically connected to the sound-generating circuit to control the level of sound generated by the sound-generating circuit,

(11) a braille label on said remote control unit adjacent to the audio control element,

(12) a temperature display sound-generating circuit on said remote control unit electrically connected to the temperature sensor circuit of said thermostat and which generates an audible signal associated with temperature sensed by the temperature sensor circuit of said thermostat, the audible signal associated with the temperature display sound-generating circuit being different from the first audible signal associated with the temperature-increasing switch and different from the second audible signal associated with the temperature-decreasing switch.