THERMOSTAT WITH FIXED SEGMENT DISPLAY HAVING BOTH FIXED SEGMENT ICONS AND A VARIABLE TEXT DISPLAY CAPACITY

• US 20090001182A1
• Filed: 06/28/2007
• Published: 01/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ademco Inc. (Resideo Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Chandrashekar, Harsha N., Hobart, Gary J., Peterson, Thomas G., Siddaramanna, Lokesh T.
• Granted Patent: US 7,845,576 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 236/46.R
• 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 11/52 Indication arrangements, e.g. displays
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 23/1905 associated with tele control

Abstract

The disclosure pertains to thermostats having an improved interface. In some cases, the present disclosure relates to thermostats that can display not only menu items, temperature set points and the like, but also has an ability to display variable textual information that is not predefined at the time of manufacture of the display. The thermostat may include an LCD display that is viewable from outside of the thermostat housing and that includes a first region and a second region. The first display region may include an array of fixed segment pixels that are arranged into a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns for displaying text in a dot matrix format. In some cases, the first region may be adapted to display messages, including scrolling messages. The second region may include a plurality of fixed segment graphical icons, which may be more precisely and more clearly displayed than if displayed using the array of fixed segment pixels of the first region.

Claims

1. A thermostat for use with an HVAC system, comprising:

a thermostat housing;

a controller situated in the thermostat housing, the controller implementing a control algorithm that is adapted to at least partially control one or more components of an HVAC system;

an LCD display viewable from outside of the thermostat housing, the LCD display including;

a first region having an array of fixed segment pixels arranged into a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns for displaying text in a dot matrix format; and

a second region having a plurality of fixed segment graphical icons.

2. The thermostat of claim 1 wherein the controller is coupled to the LCD display and is adapted to display a message in the first region using the array of fixed segment pixels.

3. The thermostat of claim 2 wherein the message includes two or more text characters.

4. The thermostat of claim 2 wherein the controller is adapted to scroll the message across at least part of the first region using the array of fixed segment pixels.

5. The thermostat of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of fixed segment graphical icons is a word.

6. The thermostat of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of fixed segment graphical icons includes a word.

7. The thermostat of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of fixed segment graphical icons includes a perimeter boundary.

8. The thermostat of claim 7 wherein at least one of the plurality of fixed segment graphical icons includes a word within the perimeter boundary.

9. The thermostat of claim 1 wherein the LCD display is a touch screen, and at least one of the plurality of fixed segment graphical icons coincides with a first touch sensitive button.

10. The thermostat of claim 9 wherein the controller is coupled to the LCD display and is configured to react to a touching of the first touch sensitive button, and is further configured to display a message in the first region using the array of fixed segment pixels.

11. The thermostat of claim 10 wherein, when the first touch sensitive button is touched, the controller is configured to display the message in the first region using the array of fixed segment pixels.

12. The thermostat of claim 9 wherein the controller is coupled to the LCD display and is configured to react to a touching of the first touch sensitive button, and is further configured to display a plurality of different messages in the first region using the array of fixed segment pixels.

13. The thermostat of claim 12 wherein at least one of the plurality of fixed segment graphical icons coincides with a second touch sensitive button, and wherein when the second touch sensitive button is touched, the controller is configured to change the display from a first message to a second message in the first region.

14. The thermostat of claim 13 wherein the controller is configured to initially display one of the plurality of messages in the first region when the first touch sensitive button is touched.

15. The thermostat of claim 14 wherein the first region is positioned at or near the top of the LCD display, and the second touch sensitive button is also positioned at or near the top of the LCD) display and adjacent to the first region.

16. A thermostat for use with an HVAC system, comprising:

a thermostat housing;

a controller situated in the thermostat housing, the controller implementing a control algorithm that is adapted to at least partially control one or more components of an HVAC system;

an LCD display viewable from outside of the thermostat housing, the LCD display including;

a first region having an array of fixed segment pixels arranged into a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns for displaying text in a dot matrix format;

a second region having a plurality of fixed segment graphical icons; and

wherein the controller is coupled to the LCD display and is adapted to display a message in the first region using the array of fixed segment pixels.

17. The thermostat of claim 16 wherein the LCD display is a touch screen, and at least one of the plurality of fixed segment graphical icons coincides with a touch sensitive button, and wherein the controller is configured to display the message in the first region when the first touch sensitive button is touched.

18. The thermostat of claim 16 wherein the LCD display is a touch screen, and at least one of the plurality of fixed segment graphical icons coincides with a touch sensitive button, and wherein the controller is configured to change the message in the first region when the touch sensitive button is touched.

19. The thermostat of claim 16 wherein the controller is adapted to scroll the message across at least part of the first region using the array of fixed segment pixels.

20. A thermostat for use with an HVAC system, comprising:

a thermostat housing;

a controller situated in the thermostat housing, the controller implementing a control algorithm that is adapted to at least partially control one or more components of an HVAC system;

a display viewable from outside of the thermostat housing, the display including;

a first region having an array of fixed segment pixels arranged into a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns for displaying a text message in a dot matrix format; and

a second region having a plurality of fixed segment graphical icons.

21. The thermostat of claim 20 wherein the display is a touch screen display.