Thermostat status notification through a network

• US 7,941,530 B2
• Filed: 10/17/2008
• Issued: 05/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Computime Electronics Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Computime Electronics Company Limited
• Inventors: Huang, Hao-hui, Qian, Gordon, Ha, Wai-leung, Lei, Kairy Kai
• Primary Examiner(s): WON, MICHAEL YOUNG
• Application Number:
  US12/253,561
• Publication Number:
  US 20100100358A1
• Time in Patent Office: 935 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 709/220, 709/224, 621/32
• US Class Current: 709/224
• 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 11/46 Improving electric energy efficiency or saving
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/52 Indication arrangements, e.g. displays
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/56 Remote control
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/64 using pre-stored data
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/00 Control inputs relating to air properties

Abstract

The present invention provides apparatuses and computer readable media for obtaining status information from a heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system and sending the status information to a remote networked device using a data container. A thermostat obtains status information from a HVAC system, associates the status information with a corresponding index number, and includes the index number and HVAC information in a data container. The data container can assume different forms, including a customer-defined cluster or a publicly accessible cluster. The HVAC information may be encoded so that the HVAC information can be included as an attribute of the publicly accessible cluster. HVAC information may include relay status of a relay in the HVAC system. The relay is identified by an index number that is included in an attribute. A networked device typically receives the HVAC information from the thermostat in at least one data container.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

a processor configured to retrieve computer-executable instructions from the memory and to perform;

obtaining a first status information from a heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, wherein the first status information comprises a relay status of a relay in the HVAC system and wherein the relay status comprises relay on time information and relay number of cycles information;

unconditionally associating a first index number with the first status information, wherein the first status information includes a current value of a characteristic in the HVAC system;

including the first index number in an attribute of a data container; and

sending the data container to a networked device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive a second status information from a HVAC system;

associate a second index number with the second status information and include the second index number with the second status information in the attribute.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data container comprises a publicly accessible cluster.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data cluster comprises a customer-defined cluster.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a communications interface configured to communicate with the networked device through a wireless network.

4. The apparatus of clam 3, wherein the processor is further configured to:

encode the first status information that is embedded in a readable attribute of the publicly accessible cluster.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions that when executed perform:

obtaining a first status information from a heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, wherein the first status information comprises a relay status of a relay in the HVAC system and wherein the relay status comprises relay on time information and relay number of cycles information;

unconditionally associating a first index number with the first status information, wherein the first status information includes a current value of a characteristic in the HVAC system;

including the first index number in an attribute of a data container and sending the data container to a networked device.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, further including computer-executable instructions that when executed perform:

receiving a second status information from a HVAC system;

associating a second index number with the second status information; and

including the second index number with the second status information in the attribute.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, further including computer-executable instructions that when executed perform:

encoding the first status information that is embedded in a readable attribute of a publicly accessible cluster.

10. An apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

a processor configured to retrieve computer-executable instructions from the memory and to perform;

receiving a data container having a plurality of status information from a heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system in at least one data container, wherein each status information is unconditionally associated with a different index number and includes a current value of a characteristic in the HVAC system; and

reading a selected status information using a selected index number, wherein the selected status information comprises a relay status of a relay in the HVAC system and wherein the relay status comprises relay on time information and relay number of cycles information.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the data container comprises a publicly accessible cluster.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to:

decode the selected status information that is embedded as a readable attribute of the publicly accessible cluster.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the data container comprises a customer-defined cluster.

14. An apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

a processor configured to retrieve computer-executable instructions from the memory and to perform;

obtaining first relay information of a first relay in a heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, wherein the first relay information comprises relay on time information and relay number of cycles information;

unconditionally associating a first index number with the first relay information, wherein the first relay information includes a current state of the first relay;

including the first index number in an attribute of a publicly accessible cluster;

encoding the first relay information to be embedded in the attribute of the publicly accessible cluster;

obtaining a second relay information of a second relay in the HVAC system;

associating a second index number with the second relay information, wherein the first index number is different from the second index number;

including a second index number in the attribute of the publicly accessible cluster;

encoding the second relay information to be embedded in the attribute of the publicly accessible cluster; and

sending the publicly accessible cluster to a networked device.