Irrigation flow converter, monitoring system and intelligent water management system
First Claim
1. A method for intelligent irrigation water management implemented by an irrigation controller for a site comprising:
- registering cumulative water use information for water used at a site from a single metering device, said site having a plurality of irrigation zones and said cumulative water use comprises irrigation water usage and non-irrigation water usage data;
receiving first cumulative water use information at an irrigation controller for cumulative water used at the site over a first time period;
receiving second cumulative water use information at the irrigation controller for cumulative water used at the site over an irrigation time period, wherein the irrigation time period is within the first time period;
finding a first non-irrigation water use quantity for the first time period by reducing the first cumulative water use by the second cumulative water use;
forecasting a second non-irrigation use water quantity for a second time period;
calculating an irrigation cycle water quantity for a subsequent irrigation cycle in the second time period, said irrigation cycle water quantity comprises a plurality of water zone quantities, each of the plurality of water zone quantities is associated with an irrigation zone of the plurality of irrigation zones;
finding a reduced irrigation cycle water quantity for the subsequent irrigation cycle based on the forecast of the second non-irrigation use water quantity; and
executing the subsequent irrigation cycle at the reduced irrigation cycle water quantity.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention is directed to an intelligent water management irrigation system for monitoring the total water usage for a billing site and preventing cumulative water usage from exceeding a water budget by adjusting the amount of water used for irrigation. Irrigation zone priority values are selected for each irrigation zone that specify a percentage of the full water need that the foliage in the zone can survive and are saved in an intelligent water management irrigation (IWMI) controller. The IWMI controller receives water usage information originating from a property'"'"'s water meter and compares the measured water usage with the allowable water budget. Water usage is tracked separately for the household use and landscape use (irrigation). Prior to each irrigation cycle, the IWMI controller estimates the amount of water that will be needed by the landscape and for household use during the remainder of a billing cycle; household use is given precedence over landscape use. If the water budget will support both, irrigation can proceed normally. If the budget will not support both, the IWMI controller estimates the amount of water needed for the remainder of the billing cycle if only a priority watering amount is allocated for each landscape zone. If the water budget will support priority irrigation, landscape watering can proceed in priority irrigation mode. If the water budget will not support priority irrigation watering, the irrigation cycle is skipped and the water usage estimations are recalculated prior to the next irrigation cycle.
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Citations
39 Claims
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1. A method for intelligent irrigation water management implemented by an irrigation controller for a site comprising:
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registering cumulative water use information for water used at a site from a single metering device, said site having a plurality of irrigation zones and said cumulative water use comprises irrigation water usage and non-irrigation water usage data; receiving first cumulative water use information at an irrigation controller for cumulative water used at the site over a first time period; receiving second cumulative water use information at the irrigation controller for cumulative water used at the site over an irrigation time period, wherein the irrigation time period is within the first time period; finding a first non-irrigation water use quantity for the first time period by reducing the first cumulative water use by the second cumulative water use; forecasting a second non-irrigation use water quantity for a second time period; calculating an irrigation cycle water quantity for a subsequent irrigation cycle in the second time period, said irrigation cycle water quantity comprises a plurality of water zone quantities, each of the plurality of water zone quantities is associated with an irrigation zone of the plurality of irrigation zones; finding a reduced irrigation cycle water quantity for the subsequent irrigation cycle based on the forecast of the second non-irrigation use water quantity; and executing the subsequent irrigation cycle at the reduced irrigation cycle water quantity. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A system for implementing intelligent water management at a site comprising:
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a site irrigation system, said site irrigation system having a plurality of irrigation zones, each zone having an actuator valve; an irrigation controller in communication with at least one actuator valve, said irrigation controller comprising; a communication controller for interrogating a water meter at the site for said cumulative water use information; valve actuation control circuitry electrically coupled to the at least one irrigation valve; a memory for storing processor usable program code for intelligent water management; and a processing unit connected to the memory and receptive of the program code, wherein the program code for intelligent water management, when executed by said processing unit, causes the irrigation controller to; receive first cumulative water use information at an irrigation controller from a single water meter for cumulative water used at the site over a first time period; receive second cumulative water use information at the irrigation controller from the single water meter for cumulative water used at the site over an irrigation time period, wherein the irrigation time period is within the first time period; find a first non-irrigation water use quantity for the first time period by reducing the first cumulative water use by the second cumulative water use; forecast a second non-irrigation use water quantity for a second time period; calculate an irrigation cycle water quantity for a subsequent irrigation cycle in the second time period, said irrigation cycle water quantity comprises a plurality of water zone quantities for each respective zone in the plurality of irrigation zones; find a reduced irrigation cycle water quantity for the subsequent irrigation cycle based on the forecast of the second non-irrigation use water quantity; and execute the subsequent irrigation cycle at the reduced irrigation cycle water quantity. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method for intelligent irrigation water management implemented by an irrigation controller for a site comprising:
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receiving a water budget quantity at the irrigation controller, the water budget quantity defining a maximum allowable water use quantity for the site over a combined first and second time periods, wherein the maximum allowable water use quantity comprises both irrigation water usage and non-irrigation water usage over the first time period and the second time period; receiving a first water use quantity at the irrigation controller for the first time period, wherein the first water use quantity comprises at least one of as first irrigation use water quantity over the first time period and non-irrigation use water quantity over the first time period; forecasting a second non-irrigation use water quantity for the second time period based; and calculating an available irrigation use water quantity for the second time period based on a difference between the water budget quantity and a sum of at least two of the first non-irrigation use water quantity, the first irrigation use water quantity and the second non-irrigation use water quantity. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A method for intelligent irrigation water management implemented by an irrigation controller for a site comprising:
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receiving a water use quantity at the irrigation controller for a first time period, wherein the water use quantity comprises at least a first non-irrigation use water quantity and a first irrigation use water quantity; forecasting a second non-irrigation use water quantity for a second time period; calculating an available irrigation use water quantity for the second time period based on at least one of the water use quantity, a historical non-irrigation use water quantity and the first non-irrigation use water quantity; calculating an irrigation cycle water quantity for a subsequent irrigation cycle in the second time period, said irrigation cycle water quantity comprises a plurality of water zone quantities, each of the plurality of water zone quantities is associated with an irrigation zone of the plurality of irrigation zones; finding a reduced irrigation cycle water quantity for the subsequent irrigation cycle based on one of the second non-irrigation use water quantity and the available irrigation use water quantity; and executing the subsequent irrigation cycle at the reduced irrigation cycle water quantity.
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35. A method for intelligent irrigation water management implemented by an irrigation controller for a site comprising:
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receiving a plurality of zone irrigation water priorities for prioritizing a plant water requirement quantity for a foliage type in one irrigation zone over other plant water requirement quantities for foliage types in other irrigation zones of a plurality of irrigation zones, each of the plurality of zone irrigation water priorities is associated with a unique irrigation zone of the plurality of irrigation zones and each of the plurality of zone irrigation water priorities represents a fraction of a plant water requirement quantity for foliage in a respective irrigation zone that is greater than a maintenance fraction of the plant water requirement quantity necessary for keeping foliage in the respective irrigation zone alive; calculating an irrigation cycle water use quantity for a subsequent irrigation cycle, said irrigation cycle water use quantity comprises a plurality of water zone quantities, each of the plurality of water zone quantities is associated with an irrigation zone of the plurality of irrigation zones; finding a reduced irrigation cycle water quantity for the subsequent irrigation cycle, comprises; determining a priority water quantity for each of the associated irrigation zones by applying each of the plurality of zone irrigation water priorities to a respective plant water requirement quantity for foliage in the respective irrigation zone; and dispersing the reduced water zone quantity across the plurality of irrigation zones during the subsequent irrigation cycle. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39)
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Specification