Motorized window treatment
First Claim
1. A motorized window treatment comprising:
- a covering material;
a drive assembly configured to raise and lower the covering material;
a motor drive unit including a motor configured to drive the drive assembly to raise and lower the covering material between a fully-open position and a fully-closed position and to any position intermediate the fully-open and fully-closed positions; and
at least one battery pack configured to hold at least one battery for producing a battery voltage to power the motor drive unit;
wherein the motor drive unit is configured to monitor the magnitude of the battery voltage, the motor drive unit further configured to operate the motor at a reduced motor speed in response to the state of charge being reduced below a first predetermined threshold.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A motorized window treatment may provide a low-cost solution for controlling the amount of daylight entering a space through a window. The window treatment may include a covering material (e.g., a cellular shade fabric or a roller shade fabric), a drive assembly for raising and lowering the covering material, and a motor drive unit including a motor configured to drive the drive assembly to raise and lower the covering material. The motorized window treatment may comprise one or more battery packs configured to receive batteries for powering the motor drive unit. The batteries may be located out of view of a user of the motorized window treatment (e.g., in a headrail or in a battery compartment). The motorized window treatment may use various power-saving methods to lengthen the lifetime of the batteries, e.g., to reduce the motor speed to conserve additional battery power and extend the lifetime of the batteries.
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Citations
37 Claims
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1. A motorized window treatment comprising:
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a covering material; a drive assembly configured to raise and lower the covering material; a motor drive unit including a motor configured to drive the drive assembly to raise and lower the covering material between a fully-open position and a fully-closed position and to any position intermediate the fully-open and fully-closed positions; and at least one battery pack configured to hold at least one battery for producing a battery voltage to power the motor drive unit; wherein the motor drive unit is configured to monitor the magnitude of the battery voltage, the motor drive unit further configured to operate the motor at a reduced motor speed in response to the state of charge being reduced below a first predetermined threshold. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A motorized window treatment comprising:
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a covering material; a drive assembly configured to raise and lower the covering material; a motor drive unit including a motor configured to drive the drive assembly to raise and lower the covering material between a fully-open position and a fully-closed position and to any position intermediate the fully-open and fully-closed positions; and at least one battery pack configured to hold at least one battery for producing a battery voltage to power the motor drive unit; wherein the motor drive unit is configured to determine that the magnitude of the battery voltage is too low for continued operation and reserve enough energy in the battery to allow for at least one additional movement of the covering material to the fully-open position. - View Dependent Claims (31)
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32. A motorized window treatment comprising:
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a covering material; a drive assembly configured to raise and lower the covering material; a motor drive unit including a motor configured to drive the drive assembly to raise and lower the covering material between a fully-open position and a fully-closed position and to any position intermediate the fully-open and fully-closed positions; and at least one battery pack configured to hold at least one battery for producing a battery voltage to power the motor drive unit; wherein the motor drive unit comprises a motor and a controller configured to drive the motor to adjust the position of the covering material, the motor drive unit further comprising a power supply configured to receive the battery voltage and generate a DC supply voltage having a first nominal magnitude for powering the controller, the controller configured to increase the magnitude of the DC supply voltage to a second increased magnitude greater than the first magnitude when the controller is driving the motor to raise and lower the covering material.
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33. A motorized window treatment comprising:
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a covering material; a drive assembly configured to raise and lower the covering material; a motor drive unit including a motor configured to drive the drive assembly to raise and lower the covering material between a fully-open position and a fully-closed position and to any position intermediate the fully-open and fully-closed positions, the motor drive unit comprising a controller and a rotational position sensor to enable the motor drive unit to sense movement of an output shaft of the motor, the controller configured to determine the position of a bottom end of the covering material in response to the rotational position sensor, the motor drive unit having a memory configured to store position data related to the determined position; and at least one battery pack configured to hold at least one battery for producing a battery voltage to power the motor drive unit; and a supplemental power source for the controller, the supplemental power source configured to maintain a charged voltage for a period of time adequate to maintain the position data when the at least one battery is removed from the battery pack; whereby the the position data is not lost when the at least one battery is removed from the battery pack. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35)
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36. A motorized window treatment comprising:
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a covering material; a drive assembly configured to raise and lower the covering material; a motor drive unit including a motor configured to drive the drive assembly to raise and lower the covering material between a fully-open position and a fully-closed position and to any position intermediate the fully-open and fully-closed positions, the motor drive unit comprising a controller and a rotational position sensor to enable the motor drive unit to sense movement of an output shaft of the motor, the controller configured to determine the position of a bottom end of the covering material in response to the rotational position sensor; and wherein the covering material is engageable by a user to manually position the covering material at any position between the fully-open position and the fully-closed positions, the rotational position sensor configured to provide at least one sensor signal to the controller so that the controller can determine the position of the covering material in response to the covering material being manually adjusted. - View Dependent Claims (37)
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Specification