Automated control-schedule acquisition within an intelligent controller
First Claim
1. An intelligent controller comprising:
- a processor;
a memory;
a control schedule stored in the memory;
a schedule interface;
a control interface; and
instructions stored within the memory that, when executed by the processor, cause the intelligent controller to;
control, during a monitoring period, an environmental system according to the control schedule, wherein the length of the monitoring period is at least one day in length;
receive immediate-control inputs through the control interface during the monitoring period and record the received immediate-control inputs in the memory;
receive schedule changes through the schedule interface during the monitoring period and record the received schedule changes in the memory;
generate, after the monitoring period, an updated monitoring-period schedule based on the recorded immediate-control inputs and the recorded schedule changes recorded in the memory during the monitoring period, and the control schedule;
substitute, after the monitoring period, the updated monitoring-period schedule for a portion of the control schedule corresponding to the monitoring period; and
propagate, after the monitoring period, the updated monitoring-period schedule to additional time periods within the control schedule.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The current application is directed to intelligent controllers that initially aggressively learn, and then continue, in a steady-state mode, to monitor, learn, and modify one or more control schedules that specify a desired operational behavior of a device, machine, system, or organization controlled by the intelligent controller. An intelligent controller generally acquires one or more initial control schedules through schedule-creation and schedule-modification interfaces or by accessing a default control schedule stored locally or remotely in a memory or mass-storage device. The intelligent controller then proceeds to learn, over time, a desired operational behavior for the device, machine, system, or organization controlled by the intelligent controller based on immediate-control inputs, schedule-modification inputs, and previous and current control schedules, encoding the desired operational behavior in one or more control schedules and/or sub-schedules.
161 Citations
20 Claims
-
1. An intelligent controller comprising:
-
a processor; a memory; a control schedule stored in the memory; a schedule interface; a control interface; and instructions stored within the memory that, when executed by the processor, cause the intelligent controller to; control, during a monitoring period, an environmental system according to the control schedule, wherein the length of the monitoring period is at least one day in length; receive immediate-control inputs through the control interface during the monitoring period and record the received immediate-control inputs in the memory; receive schedule changes through the schedule interface during the monitoring period and record the received schedule changes in the memory; generate, after the monitoring period, an updated monitoring-period schedule based on the recorded immediate-control inputs and the recorded schedule changes recorded in the memory during the monitoring period, and the control schedule; substitute, after the monitoring period, the updated monitoring-period schedule for a portion of the control schedule corresponding to the monitoring period; and propagate, after the monitoring period, the updated monitoring-period schedule to additional time periods within the control schedule. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. An intelligent controller comprising:
-
a processor; a memory; a schedule interface; a control interface; and instructions stored within the memory that, when executed by the processor, acquire an initial control schedule and store the initial control schedule in memory as a current control schedule, during an aggressive-learning phase, modify the current control schedule based on immediate-control inputs received through the control interface and schedule changes received through the schedule interface, and during a steady-state learning phase that follows the aggressive-learning phase, modify the current control schedule based on immediate-control inputs received through the control interface, schedule changes received through the schedule interface, and historical control schedules. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
-
-
19. A method that automatically learns a control schedule implemented within an intelligent controller that includes one or more processors and one or more memories, the method comprising:
-
acquiring an initial control schedule and storing the initial control schedule in one of the one or more memories as a current control schedule; during each of a set of successive monitoring periods; controlling, during the monitoring period, an environmental system according to the current control schedule, wherein the length of the monitoring period is at least one day in length; receiving immediate-control inputs through a control interface and recording the received immediate-control inputs in one of the one or more memories, and receiving schedule changes through a schedule interface and recording the received schedule changes of at least one type in the memory; and after each of the set of successive monitoring periods; generating an updated monitoring-period schedule based on the recorded immediate-control inputs, the recorded schedule changes, and the current control schedule, substituting the updated monitoring-period schedule for a portion of the current control schedule corresponding to the monitoring period, and propagating the updated monitoring-period schedule to additional time periods within the current control schedule. - View Dependent Claims (20)
-
Specification