Smart-home device that self-qualifies for away-state functionality

• US 8,622,314 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2012
• Issued: 01/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Nest Labs Incorporated (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Fisher, Evan J., Matsuoka, Yoky
• Primary Examiner(s): NORMAN, MARC E
• Application Number:
  US13/632,142
• Publication Number:
  US 20130098596A1
• Time in Patent Office: 464 Days
• Field of Search: 236/1.C, 236/46.C, 236/46.R, 165/237
• US Class Current: 236/46.C
• 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 11/62 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 11/64 using pre-stored data
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/65 for selecting an operating mode
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/10 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2120/10 Occupancy
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2120/12 Position of occupants
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2140/60 Energy consumption
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 11/01 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1904 variable in time

Abstract

A thermostat, includes a housing and an occupancy sensor that is disposed within the housing and configured to detect physical presences of users within a responsive area of the occupancy sensor. The thermostat may also include a processing system that is disposed within the housing and in operative communication with the occupancy sensor. The processing system may be configured to determine, after a trial period, whether to activate an away-state feature by storing indications of how often the occupancy sensor detected physical presences during the trial period, computing an occupancy level for the trial period, comparing the occupancy level to a threshold criterion, determining whether sufficiently true indications of occupancy conditions were sensed by the occupancy sensor during the trial period, and enabling the away-state feature of the thermostat if it is determined that the sufficiently true indications of occupancy conditions were sensed during the trial period.

Claims

1. A thermostat, comprising:

a housing;

a processing system disposed within the housing and coupled to a user interface, the processing system being configured to be in operative communication with one or more temperature sensors for determining an ambient air temperature, in operative communication with one or more input devices including said user interface for determining a setpoint temperature value, and in still further operative communication with a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system to control the HVAC system based at least in part on a comparison of a measured ambient temperature and the setpoint temperature value; and

at least one occupancy sensor in operative communication with the processing system, the thermostat including an away-state feature in which the thermostat enters into an away-state mode of operation upon a determination by the processing system based on readings acquired by the at least one occupancy sensor that an away-state criterion indicative of a non-occupancy condition for an enclosure in which the thermostat has been installed has been satisfied, the away-state mode of operation including an automated setpoint temperature setback mode;

wherein the processing system is further configured to automatically determine, without requiring user input, whether to activate said away-state feature for the enclosure in which the thermostat has been installed, said determining comprising;

receiving readings from the at least one occupancy sensor during a trial period;

comparing information derived from said trial period readings to a threshold criterion to establish whether sufficiently true indications of occupancy conditions were sensed by the at least one occupancy sensor during the trial period; and

enabling said away-state feature of the thermostat only if it is determined that the sufficiently true indications of occupancy conditions were sensed during the trial period.

2. The thermostat of claim 1, wherein the at least one occupancy sensor comprises a Passive Infrared sensor (PIR) mounted within the housing of the thermostat.

3. The thermostat of claim 1, wherein the threshold criterion is designed to establish whether the thermostat is placed in a location in the enclosure where occupancy information is readily sensed by the at least one occupancy sensor of the thermostat.

4. The thermostat of claim 1, wherein the trial period begins upon installation of the thermostat within the enclosure.

5. The thermostat of claim 1, wherein the trial period comprises between approximately five and eight days.

6. The thermostat of claim 1, wherein the trial period is divided into a plurality of time windows, wherein the each of the readings from the at least one occupancy sensor are stored in a corresponding one of the plurality of time windows during which the reading occurs.

7. A method of qualifying a thermostat to activate an away-state feature, the method comprising:

receiving readings from at least one occupancy sensor during a trial period, the at least one occupancy sensor being in operative communication with a processing system, wherein;

the processing system is disposed within a thermostat housing and coupled to a user interface, the processing system being configured to be in operative communication with one or more temperature sensors for determining an ambient air temperature, in operative communication with one or more input devices including said user interface for determining a setpoint temperature value, and in still further operative communication with a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system to control the HVAC system based at least in part on a comparison of a measured ambient temperature and the setpoint temperature value;

comparing information derived from said trial period readings to threshold criterion to establish whether sufficiently true indications of occupancy conditions were sensed by the at least one occupancy sensor during the trial period;

determining automatically, without requiring user input, whether to activate the away-state feature for an enclosure in which the thermostat has been installed, wherein;

the away-state feature causes the thermostat to enter into an away-state mode of operation upon a determination by the processing system based on the readings acquired by the at least one occupancy sensor that an away-state criterion indicative of a non-occupancy condition for the enclosure in which the thermostat has been installed has been satisfied, the away-state mode of operation including an automated setpoint temperature setback mode; and

enabling said away-state feature of the thermostat only if it is determined that the sufficiently true indications of occupancy conditions were sensed during the trial period.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one occupancy sensor comprises a Passive Infrared sensor (PIR) mounted within a housing of the thermostat.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the threshold criterion is designed to establish whether the thermostat is placed in a location in the enclosure where occupancy information is readily sensed by the at least one occupancy sensor of the thermostat.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the trial period begins upon installation of the thermostat within the enclosure.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the trial period comprises approximately 7 days.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the trial period is divided into a plurality of time windows, wherein the each of the readings from the at least one occupancy sensor are stored in a corresponding one of the plurality of time windows during which each reading occurs.

13. A thermostat, comprising:

a housing;

an occupancy sensor that is disposed within the housing and configured to detect physical presences of users within a responsive area of the occupancy sensor;

a processing system that is disposed within the housing and in operative communication with the occupancy sensor, the processing system being configured to determine after a trial period whether to activate an away-state feature, said determining comprising;

storing indications of how often the occupancy sensor detected physical presences of users during the trial period;

computing an occupancy level for the trial period based on the stored indications;

comparing the occupancy level to a threshold criterion;

determining whether sufficiently true indications of occupancy conditions were sensed by the occupancy sensor during the trial period based on the comparison; and

enabling the away-state feature of the thermostat only if it is determined that the sufficiently true indications of occupancy conditions were sensed during the trial period.

14. The thermostat of claim 13, wherein the processing system is further configured to exclude, from the computing of the occupancy level, a detected physical presence when the detected physical presence coincides with a physical manipulation of the thermostat.

15. The thermostat of claim 13, wherein a subset of the stored indications that correspond to a weekday are treated differently when computing the occupancy level than a subset of the stored indications that correspond to a weekend.

16. The thermostat of claim 13, wherein the away-state feature causes the thermostat to entes into an away-state mode of operation upon a determination by the processing system based on readings acquired by the occupancy sensor that an away-state criterion indicative of a non-occupancy condition for an enclosure in which the thermostat has been installed has been satisfied, the away-state mode of operation including an automated setpoint temperature setback mode.

17. The thermostat of claim 13, wherein the trial period comprises a first trial period, and wherein the processing system is further configured to determine whether to activate the away-state feature after a second trial period in response to a determination that the sufficiently true indications of occupancy conditions were not sensed during the first trial period.

18. The thermostat of claim 13, wherein the processing system is disposed within the housing and coupled to a user interface, the processing system being configured to be in operative communication with one or more temperature sensors for determining an ambient air temperature, in operative communication with one or more input devices including said user interface for determining a setpoint temperature value, and in still further operative communication with a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system to control the HVAC system based at least in part on a comparison of a measured ambient temperature and the setpoint temperature value.