THERMOSTAT WITH ELECTRONIC IMAGE DISPLAY

• US 20070278320A1
• Filed: 08/17/2007
• Published: 12/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ademco Inc. (Resideo Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Amundson, John, Lunacek, Michael, Juntunen, Robert
• Granted Patent: US 8,554,374 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 236/94
• 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 11/62 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 11/63 Electronic processing
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0423 Input/output
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1902 characterised by the use of a variable reference value
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials

Abstract

A programmable controller for homes and/or buildings and their related grounds, such as thermostat, that has a display and an external interface. The external interface may be use for uploading electronic images and/or other information from an external data source, and may use the uploaded electronic images and/or other information for programming and/or updating the controller and/or for viewing the electronic images and/or other information on the display of the controller.

Claims

1. A thermostat for controlling a climate control system for a space, the thermostat comprising:

an interface for establishing communication with an external data source to enable the upload of at least one electronic image from the external data source;

a controller for controlling at least part of the climate control system, wherein the controller receives the at least one electronic image uploaded via the interface; and

an LCD display responsive to the controller for displaying at least one electronic image uploaded from the external data source.

2. The thermostat of claim 1 wherein the controller causes at least one electronic image to be displayed on the LCD display without requiring prompting by a user of the thermostat.

3. The thermostat of claim 1 wherein the thermostat includes a user interface, wherein the user interface includes the LCD display, the user interface being responsive to the controller to accept an input from a user and to provide an output to the user.

4. The thermostat of claim 3 wherein the controller is configured to monitor when the user interface accepts an input from a user, the controller configured to cause at least one electronic image to be displayed on the LCD display after a period of non-input by the user.

5. The thermostat of claim 1 wherein the controller causes at least one electronic image to be displayed as a background image on the LCD display with one or more thermostat parameters displayed on top of at least parts of the background image.

6. The thermostat of claim 1 wherein the controller causes at least one electronic image to be displayed as a background image in a first region of the LCD display with one or more thermostat parameters displayed in a second region of the LCD display, wherein the second region does not overlap the first region.

7. The thermostat of claim 1 wherein the interface includes an electrical interface.

8. The thermostat of claim 7 wherein the electrical interface includes a USB interface.

9. The thermostat of claim 7 wherein the electrical interface includes an Ethernet interface.

10. The thermostat of claim 7 wherein the electrical interface includes port that is adapted to accept a removable memory.

11. The thermostat of claim 10 wherein the removable memory includes a flash memory drive.

12. The thermostat of claim 10 wherein the removable memory is adapted to operate in conjunction with a digital camera.

13. The thermostat of claim 1 wherein the interface includes a wireless interface.

14. The thermostat of claim 13 wherein the wireless interface is a radio frequency (RF) wireless interface.

15. The thermostat of claim 13 wherein the wireless interface is an infrared (IR) wireless interface.

16. The thermostat of claim 13 wherein the wireless interface is a microwave wireless interface.

17. The thermostat of claim 10 wherein the electrical interface includes two or more ports, each adapted to accept a different type of removable memory.

18. The thermostat of claim 1 further comprising a memory coupled to the controller, wherein the memory stores at least one of the at least one electronic images uploaded via the interface, and wherein the controller reads at least one electronic image stored in the memory before displaying the at least one electronic image on the LCD display.

19. The thermostat of claim 1 wherein the external data source includes a removable flash memory and the interface includes a port for accepting the removable flash memory, and wherein the controller receives a first electronic image from the removable flash memory and displays the first electronic image on the LCD display before receiving a second electronic image from the removable flash memory and displaying the second electronic image on the LCD display.

20. The thermostat of claim 1 wherein the controller provides at least one image selection tool to aid a user in selecting which of the at least one electronic image uploaded from the external data source to display on the LCD display.

21. The thermostat of claim 20 wherein the image selection tool displays one or more thumbnail images of the at least one electronic image uploaded from the external data source on the LCD display to aid a user in selecting which of the at least one electronic image to display on the LCD display.

22. The thermostat of claim 1 wherein more than one electronic images are uploaded from the external data source, and wherein the controller is adapted to display two or more of the electronic images sequentially on the LCD display in a slide show format.

23. The thermostat of claim 22 wherein the controller is adapted to provide a slide show effect between the display of electronic images on the display, wherein the slide show effect is one or more of a fade effect, a shutter effect, a cross-comb effect, a mask effect, a brick effect, and a dissolve effect.

24. The thermostat of claim 22 wherein the controller is adapted to allow a user to select which of the electronic images will be shown more often in the slide show format.

25. The thermostat of claim 1 wherein more than one electronic images are uploaded from the external data source, and wherein the controller is adapted to display one of the electronic images on the display along with a next button, wherein when the user activates the next button, a next one of the electronic images is displayed on the display.

26. The thermostat of claim 1 wherein the controller is further adapted to display back button, wherein when the user activates the back button, a previous one of the electronic images is displayed on the display.

27. The thermostat of claim 1 wherein the at least one electronic image is an electronic video.

28. A thermostat for controlling a climate control system for a space, the thermostat comprising:

an interface for establishing communication with an external data source to enable the upload of at least two electronic images from the external data source;

a controller for controlling at least part of the climate control system, wherein the controller receives the at least two electronic images uploaded via the interface;

an LCD display responsive to the controller for displaying at least one electronic image uploaded from the external data source; and

the controller configured to select which of the at least two electronic images for display on the LCD display based on one or more thermostat parameters.

29. The thermostat of claim 28 wherein the one or more thermostat parameters includes a time of day related parameter.

30. The thermostat of claim 28 wherein the one or more thermostat parameters includes a date related parameter.

31. The thermostat of claim 28 wherein the one or more thermostat parameters includes a season related parameter.

32. The thermostat of claim 28 wherein the one or more thermostat parameters includes an operating mode related parameter.

33. The thermostat of claim 28 wherein the one or more thermostat parameters includes an outside temperature related parameter.

34. The thermostat of claim 28 wherein the one or more thermostat parameters includes a ventilation related parameter.

35. The thermostat of claim 28 wherein the one or more thermostat parameters includes a schedule related parameter.

36. The thermostat of claim 35 wherein the one or more thermostat parameters includes a schedule period parameter.

37. A thermostat for controlling a climate control system for a space, the thermostat comprising:

an interface for establishing communication with a removable flash memory drive to enable the upload of at least two electronic images from the removable flash memory drive;

a controller for controlling at least part of the climate control system, wherein the controller receives the at least two electronic image uploaded via the interface; and

an LCD display responsive to the controller for displaying the at least two electronic images uploaded from the removable flash memory drive; and

the controller is configured to provide at least one image selection tool to aid the user in selecting which of the at least two electronic images to display on the LCD display.