Enhanced premises monitoring and/or control

• US 9,638,431 B2
• Filed: 12/07/2012
• Issued: 05/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Energyhub Incorporated (Alarm.com Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Energyhub Incorporated (Alarm.com Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Frader-Thompson, Seth, DeBenedittis, Michael, Martin, Andrew, Oberwetter, Joshua, Tepper, Michele
• Primary Examiner(s): Lo, Kenneth M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chang, Sunray R
• Application Number:
  US13/708,100
• Publication Number:
  US 20130184874A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,607 Days
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/0001 for ventilation F24F11/30 takes precedence
• 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 11/523 for displaying temperature data
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/526 giving audible indications
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/57 using telephone networks
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/58 using Internet communication
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/61 using timers
• 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 2110/10 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2120/10 Occupancy
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1904 variable in time
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1905 associated with tele control

Abstract

Enhancements to premises monitor or control device (e.g., thermostats, etc) are detailed herein. For example, enhanced relating to simplification of scheduling, are described as well as other enhancements relating to reducing device costs or consumption costs, providing richer features or more robust feature sets, and/or delivering associated product or services with increased simplicity, convenience, or ease.

Claims

1. A premises monitor and control device that facilitates a change to a state of a premises, comprising:

a processor that executes or facilitates execution of computer executable components stored in a first memory, the computer executable components comprising;

a presentation component that presents;

a selection display comprising user-selectable schedule types indicative of types of schedule arrangements over a defined time period representing a week that includes sub-periods representing a day; and

a configuration display comprising a threshold setting for the state of the premises during a sub-period of the sub-periods; and

a data component that;

determines a number n in response to input to the selection display representing selection of a schedule type from among the user-selectable schedule types, wherein n is between two and a count of the sub-periods in the week; and

determines threshold data based on input data input to the threshold setting of the configuration display for the sub-period; and

a population component that populates n data structures included in a second memory of a premises state control device with the threshold data, wherein a data structure from the data structures relates to a single sub-period of the week.

2. The premises monitor and control device of claim 1, wherein the threshold data includes the input data and a transition time input to the configuration display that represents a time within the sub-period at which the threshold setting becomes active.

3. The premises monitor and control device of claim 1, further comprising a communication component that communicates with the premises state control device that controls the state of the premises, wherein the premises state control device is physically remote from the premises monitor and control device.

4. The premises monitor and control device of claim 1, wherein the data component stores n and the threshold data to a memory of the premises monitor and control device.

5. The premises monitor and control device of claim 1, wherein the schedule type is:

a 5-2 period display that facilitates input of;

a first set of input data from which the data component determines the threshold data that the population component utilizes to populate five data structures included in the second memory and a second set of input data from which the data component determines the threshold data that the population component utilizes to populate two data structures included in the second memory;

a 5-1-1 period display that facilitates input of;

a first set of input data from which the data component determines the threshold data that the population component utilizes to populate five data structures included in the second memory, a second set of input data from which the data component determines the threshold data that the population component utilizes to populate one data structure included in the second memory, and a third set of input data from which the data component determines the threshold data that the population component utilizes to populate one data structure included in the second memory;

or

a 7 period display that facilitates input of the input data from which the data component determines the threshold data that the population component utilizes to populate seven data structures included in the second memory.

6. The premises monitor and control device of claim 1, wherein the presentation component presents a preference display that facilitates input of preference data that relates to a preference associated with the change to the state of the premises and wherein the data component determines the threshold data further based on the preference data.

7. The premises monitor and control device of claim 1, wherein the presentation component presents an occupancy display associated with occupancy of a portion of the premises during the defined time period and wherein the data component determines the threshold data further based on occupancy data input to the occupancy display.

8. The premises monitor and control device of claim 1, wherein the premises monitor and control device facilitates changes to at least one heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) device.

9. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause a device comprising a processor to perform operations, comprising:

presenting a selection display comprising schedule types indicative of types of user-selectable schedules indicative of a week and including sub-periods indicative of a day;

in response to input to the selection display that selects a schedule type, determining a number between two and a number of sub-periods in the week that is indicative of the schedule type;

presenting a configuration display according to the schedule type including at least one threshold for a state of a premises;

determining threshold data associated with the at least one threshold based on input data input to the configuration display;

formatting the threshold data for a data structure included in a first memory of a premises management device that facilitates a change to the state of the premises, the data structure representing at least one transition point during a sub-period of the sub-periods; and

facilitating copying the threshold data to the number of data structures of a second memory included in a premises state management device.

10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the threshold data includes the threshold and a transition time within the sub-period at which the threshold becomes active.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, further comprising storing the number to the first memory.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the user-selected type is:

a 5-2 period display that facilitates input of;

a first set of input data from which first threshold data is determined and the number of data structures populated with the first threshold data is five and a second set of input data from which second threshold data is determined and the number of data structures populated with the second threshold data is two;

a 5-1-1 period display that facilitates input of;

a first set of input data from which first threshold data is determined and the number of data structures populated with the first threshold data is five, a second set of input data from which second threshold data is determined and the number of data structures populated with the second threshold data is one, and a third set of input data from which third threshold data is determined and the number of data structures populated with the third threshold data is one;

or

a 7 period display that facilitates input of the input data from which the threshold data is determined and the number of data structures populated with the threshold data is seven.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the configuration display includes a preference display that facilitates input of preference data relating to a preference associated with the change to the state of the premises and wherein the input data includes the preference data.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the preference display includes a user interface adjustment mechanism, with selectable settings ranging between two opposing metrics associated with an abstraction of the state of the premises, and wherein a selected setting from the selectable settings is translated from an abstract metric relating to the two opposing metrics to a quantitative value that is employed to update the threshold data.

15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the configuration display includes an occupancy display that displays, or facilitates input of, occupancy data associated with occupancy of a portion of the premises during the sub-period and wherein the input data includes the occupancy data.

16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the premises management device facilitates changes to at least one heating, ventilation or air conditioning device.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the device including the processor is included in the premises management device or a server device that is communicatively coupled to the premises management device.

18. A method, comprising:

facilitating, by a system comprising a processor, presentation of a selection display comprising user-selectable schedule types indicative of types of schedule arrangements over a seven-day period, wherein a first type of the user-selectable schedule types groups days of the seven-day period differently than a second type of the user-selectable schedule types;

determines a number in response to input to the selection display representing selection of a schedule type from among the user-selectable schedule types, wherein the number is between two and seven;

facilitating presentation of a configuration display that is selected from multiple user-selected types of different configuration displays based on input to the selection display, wherein the configuration display enables configuration of a threshold of a state of a premises over the seven-day period;

determining threshold data associated with the threshold based on input data that is input to the configuration display;

translating the threshold data in accordance with a data structure included in a memory of a premises state control device that facilitates a change to a state of a premises, wherein the data structure represents at least one transition point during the seven-day period; and

facilitating storing the threshold data to the number of data structures of the premises state control device.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising presenting a preference display for facilitating input of preference data relating to a preference associated with the change to the state of the premises and wherein the input data includes the preference data.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising facilitating presentation of an occupancy display that presents, or facilitates input of, occupancy data associated with occupancy of a portion of the premises during the seven-day period and wherein the input data includes the occupancy data.