Irrigation system with soil moisture based seasonal watering adjustment
First Claim
1. A soil moisture based irrigation system, comprising:
- a stand alone irrigation controller comprisinga control panel including a display and a plurality of user inputs that enable a user to enter a watering schedule including a run time, and to manually adjust a percentage adjustment value of a percentage adjustment feature;
a computer processor operatively connected to the control panel;
a memory connected to the computer processor, said computer processor configured to execute programs stored in the memory;
a plurality of switches operatively connected to the computer processor for turning a power signal ON and OFF to a plurality of valves that deliver water to a plurality of sprinklers; and
programming stored in the memory to accept input from the user via the plurality of user inputs to implement the watering schedule, wherein during said run time, the computer processor operates ones of the plurality of switches to turn the power signal ON to one or more of the plurality of valves thereby delivering the water to ones of the sprinklers to irrigate an irrigation site, the programming further accepting input from the user via the plurality of user inputs to implement the percentage adjustment feature to increase or decrease the run time of the watering schedule by the percentage adjustment value;
at least one soil moisture sensor; and
a stand alone soil moisture control unit different from and operatively in communication with the stand alone irrigation controller and the at least one soil moisture sensor, the stand alone soil moisture control unit installed on the irrigation site and comprising a memory storing programming that calculates a soil moisture requirement value using a signal from the at least one soil moisture sensor and communicates a soil moisture adjustment value responsive to the soil moisture requirement value to the computer processor of the stand alone irrigation controller to automatically increase or decrease the percentage adjustment value of the percentage adjustment feature, the percentage adjustment feature configured to change the watering schedule by said percentage adjustment value.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A soil moisture based irrigation system includes a stand alone irrigation controller with a seasonal adjust feature and a stand alone weather station including at least one soil moisture sensor. The soil moisture based irrigation system further includes a stand alone soil moisture control unit operatively connected to the irrigation controller and the soil moisture sensor. The soil moisture control unit includes programming configured to calculate an estimated soil moisture requirement value using a signal from the soil moisture sensor and to automatically modify a watering schedule of the irrigation controller through the seasonal adjust feature based on the estimated soil moisture requirement value to thereby conserve water while maintaining plant health.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A soil moisture based irrigation system, comprising:
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a stand alone irrigation controller comprising a control panel including a display and a plurality of user inputs that enable a user to enter a watering schedule including a run time, and to manually adjust a percentage adjustment value of a percentage adjustment feature; a computer processor operatively connected to the control panel; a memory connected to the computer processor, said computer processor configured to execute programs stored in the memory; a plurality of switches operatively connected to the computer processor for turning a power signal ON and OFF to a plurality of valves that deliver water to a plurality of sprinklers; and programming stored in the memory to accept input from the user via the plurality of user inputs to implement the watering schedule, wherein during said run time, the computer processor operates ones of the plurality of switches to turn the power signal ON to one or more of the plurality of valves thereby delivering the water to ones of the sprinklers to irrigate an irrigation site, the programming further accepting input from the user via the plurality of user inputs to implement the percentage adjustment feature to increase or decrease the run time of the watering schedule by the percentage adjustment value; at least one soil moisture sensor; and a stand alone soil moisture control unit different from and operatively in communication with the stand alone irrigation controller and the at least one soil moisture sensor, the stand alone soil moisture control unit installed on the irrigation site and comprising a memory storing programming that calculates a soil moisture requirement value using a signal from the at least one soil moisture sensor and communicates a soil moisture adjustment value responsive to the soil moisture requirement value to the computer processor of the stand alone irrigation controller to automatically increase or decrease the percentage adjustment value of the percentage adjustment feature, the percentage adjustment feature configured to change the watering schedule by said percentage adjustment value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A soil moisture based irrigation system, comprising:
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an interface including a display and a plurality of user inputs that enables a user to enter a watering schedule including a run time and to manually adjust a percentage adjustment value of a percentage adjustment feature; a computer processor operatively connected to the interface; a memory operatively connected to the computer processor to store the watering schedule, said computer processor configured to execute programs stored in the memory; a plurality of switches operatively connected to the computer processor and configured to turn a power signal ON and OFF to a plurality of valves that deliver water to a plurality of sprinklers; at least one sensor configured to generate a signal representative of a soil condition, the computer processor configured to calculate a soil moisture requirement value based at least in part on the signal from the at least one sensor and to determine a soil moisture adjustment value responsive to the soil moisture requirement value; and programming stored in the memory to accept input from the user via the plurality of user inputs to implement the watering schedule, wherein during said run time, the computer processor operates ones of the plurality of switches to turn the power signal ON to one or more of the plurality of valves thereby delivering the water to ones of the sprinklers to irrigate an irrigation site, the programming further accepting input from the user via the user inputs to implement said percentage adjustment feature to increase or decrease the run time of the watering schedule by the percentage adjustment value, the programming automatically increasing or decreasing said percentage adjustment value of the percentage adjustment feature based on the soil moisture adjustment value, said percentage adjustment feature configured to change said run time of said watering schedule by said percentage adjustment value. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method of controlling a plurality of valves on an irrigation site, the method comprising:
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accepting inputs from a user that enable the user to enter a watering schedule including a run time, and to manually adjust a percentage adjustment value of a percentage adjustment feature; storing the watering schedule; selectively turning a power signal ON to a plurality of valves that deliver water to a plurality of sprinklers located on an irrigation site in accordance with the watering schedule; implementing said percentage adjustment feature to increase or decrease the run time of the watering schedule by the percentage adjustment value; receiving a signal representative of a soil condition on the irrigation site; calculating a soil moisture requirement value based at least in part on the signal; determining a soil moisture adjustment value responsive to the soil moisture requirement value; and automatically increasing or decreasing said percentage adjustment value of the percentage adjustment feature based on the soil moisture adjustment value, said percentage adjustment feature configured to change said watering schedule by said percentage adjustment value. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification