User interfaces for remote management and control of network-connected thermostats
First Claim
1. A user interface method, comprising:
- receiving, by a thermostat management system, occupancy data based on measurements made by a first occupancy sensor incorporated as part of a thermostat located at a primary enclosure and occupancy data based on measurements made by a second occupancy sensor incorporated as part of a thermostat located at a secondary enclosure;
receiving a selection of the primary enclosure chosen from a plurality of enclosures, the plurality of enclosures each being associated with a same thermostat management account;
displaying a primary enclosure graphical element for the selected primary enclosure adjacent to a first set of thermostat graphical elements on a user interface of a display device, each thermostat graphical element being associated with a thermostat located at the primary enclosure, wherein the primary enclosure graphical element includes a first indication of occupancy related to the primary enclosure, the occupancy being determined based on the occupancy data from the thermostat located at the primary enclosure;
displaying a secondary enclosure graphical element for an individual enclosure of the plurality of enclosures adjacent to the primary enclosure graphical element, the secondary enclosure graphical element being associated with a second set of thermostat graphical elements that each correspond to a thermostat located at the secondary enclosure wherein each thermostat graphical element upon display exhibits a particular numerical temperature representation that is also displayed by the respective thermostat at the secondary enclosure, wherein the secondary enclosure graphical element includes a second indication of occupancy related to the secondary enclosure, the second indication of occupancy being determined based on the occupancy data from the thermostat located at the secondary enclosure;
determining that a further selection of the secondary enclosure graphical element has been made through the user interface;
in response to the further selection of the secondary enclosure graphical element, displaying the second set of thermostat graphical elements for the secondary enclosure adjacent to the second enclosure graphical element and visually enlarging the secondary enclosure graphical element; and
in response to the further selection of the secondary enclosure, ceasing to display of the first set of thermostats elements for the primary enclosure and visually reducing display of the primary enclosure graphical element.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Aspects of the present invention provide user interface methods for interacting with and managing network-connected thermostats through a thermostat management system. The user interface method identifies a primary enclosure associated with a thermostat management account with the remaining enclosures deemed secondary enclosures. The user interface displays the primary enclosure using a primary enclosure selection appearing in a foreground area of the user interface as a house and adjacent to thermostat selections representing each of the network-connected thermostats installed in the primary enclosure. In a background area of the user interface, a primary weather visual incorporates images of various weather patterns reflecting both a weather pattern in the vicinity of the primary enclosure and an approximate time of day at the geographic location of the primary enclosure. Secondary enclosure selections are visually deemphasized on the user interface when compared with the primary enclosure selection displayed on the user interface.
216 Citations
30 Claims
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1. A user interface method, comprising:
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receiving, by a thermostat management system, occupancy data based on measurements made by a first occupancy sensor incorporated as part of a thermostat located at a primary enclosure and occupancy data based on measurements made by a second occupancy sensor incorporated as part of a thermostat located at a secondary enclosure; receiving a selection of the primary enclosure chosen from a plurality of enclosures, the plurality of enclosures each being associated with a same thermostat management account; displaying a primary enclosure graphical element for the selected primary enclosure adjacent to a first set of thermostat graphical elements on a user interface of a display device, each thermostat graphical element being associated with a thermostat located at the primary enclosure, wherein the primary enclosure graphical element includes a first indication of occupancy related to the primary enclosure, the occupancy being determined based on the occupancy data from the thermostat located at the primary enclosure; displaying a secondary enclosure graphical element for an individual enclosure of the plurality of enclosures adjacent to the primary enclosure graphical element, the secondary enclosure graphical element being associated with a second set of thermostat graphical elements that each correspond to a thermostat located at the secondary enclosure wherein each thermostat graphical element upon display exhibits a particular numerical temperature representation that is also displayed by the respective thermostat at the secondary enclosure, wherein the secondary enclosure graphical element includes a second indication of occupancy related to the secondary enclosure, the second indication of occupancy being determined based on the occupancy data from the thermostat located at the secondary enclosure; determining that a further selection of the secondary enclosure graphical element has been made through the user interface; in response to the further selection of the secondary enclosure graphical element, displaying the second set of thermostat graphical elements for the secondary enclosure adjacent to the second enclosure graphical element and visually enlarging the secondary enclosure graphical element; and in response to the further selection of the secondary enclosure, ceasing to display of the first set of thermostats elements for the primary enclosure and visually reducing display of the primary enclosure graphical element. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A user interface method used on a computer device, comprising:
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receiving occupancy data based on occupancy measurements made by a first occupancy sensor incorporated as part of a thermostat located at a primary enclosure and occupancy data based on occupancy measurements made by a second occupancy sensor incorporated as part of a thermostat located at a secondary enclosure; receiving a selection of the primary enclosure chosen from a plurality of enclosures, the plurality of enclosures each being associated with a same thermostat management account; displaying, on a user interface of a display device, a primary enclosure graphical element for the selected primary enclosure adjacent to a first set of thermostat graphical elements, each thermostat graphical element being associated with a thermostat located at the primary enclosure and having a numerical temperature representation as an electronic display on the respective thermostat located at the primary enclosure so that each thermostat graphical element of the first set of thermostat graphical elements upon display exhibits a particular numerical temperature representation that is also displayed by the respective thermostat at the primary enclosure, wherein; the primary enclosure graphical element includes a first occupancy indication indicative of occupancy at the primary enclosure, the occupancy being determined based on the occupancy data from the thermostat located at the primary enclosure, displaying a secondary enclosure graphical element for an individual enclosure of the plurality of enclosures adjacent to the primary enclosure graphical element, the secondary enclosure graphical element being associated with a second set of thermostat graphical elements that each correspond to a thermostat located at the secondary enclosure, wherein; the secondary enclosure graphical element includes a second indication of occupancy related to the secondary enclosure, the second indication of occupancy being determined based on the occupancy data from the thermostat located at the secondary enclosure; receiving a further selection of a thermostat graphical element corresponding to a thermostat of the first set of thermostat graphical elements; displaying a heating and cooling schedule associated with the selected thermostat graphical element on a user interface of the computer device as one or more vertically stacked horizontal bars corresponding to one or more days in the heating and cooling schedule for the selected thermostat with a range of time in one day measured along a horizontal direction of each horizontal bar in the schedule; and displaying a setpoint selection as a geometric shape located on one of the one or more vertically stacked horizontal bars with at least one temperature threshold indicated by a value displayed in the center of the geometric shape with a thermal preference for operating an HVAC system when the at least one temperature threshold measured by the selected thermostat is detected. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A user interface method comprising:
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displaying a primary enclosure graphical element for the selected primary enclosure adjacent to a first set of thermostat graphical elements on a user interface of a display device, each thermostat graphical element being associated with a thermostat located at the primary enclosure, wherein the primary enclosure graphical element includes a first indication of occupancy related to the primary enclosure, the occupancy being determined based on occupancy measurements made by a first occupancy sensor incorporated as part of the thermostat located at the primary enclosure; displaying a secondary enclosure graphical element adjacent to the primary enclosure graphical element, the secondary enclosure graphical element being associated with a thermostat located at the secondary enclosure, wherein the secondary enclosure graphical element includes a second indication of occupancy related to the secondary enclosure, the second indication of occupancy being determined based on occupancy measurements made by a second occupancy sensor incorporated as part of the thermostat located at the secondary enclosure; retrieving, for the primary enclosure and the secondary enclosure, weather information corresponding to a first location of the primary enclosure and a second location of the secondary enclosure from a network-accessible weather service, wherein the weather information is further based on the first location and the second location being associated with the thermostat management account; and simultaneously displaying, in association with the primary enclosure graphical element for the primary enclosure, a primary visual weather indication indicative of the retrieved weather information for the primary enclosure and, in association with the secondary enclosure graphical element for the secondary enclosure, a secondary visual weather indication indicative of the retrieved weather information for the secondary enclosure. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A system for managing network-connected thermostats, the system comprising:
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a thermostat management system comprising one or more thermostat management servers and one or more thermostat databases; a first thermostat located at a primary enclosure, the first thermostat comprising; a first occupancy sensor; and a first network interface for communicating with the thermostat management system; a second thermostat located at a secondary enclosure, the second thermostat comprising; a second occupancy sensor; and a second network interface for communicating with the thermostat management system; and a smartphone comprising one or more processors that execute a thermostat access client, the thermostat access client comprising processor-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors of the smartphone, cause the smartphone to; output for display a primary enclosure graphical element adjacent to a first set of thermostat graphical elements on a user interface, each thermostat graphical element being associated with a thermostat located at the primary enclosure, wherein; a thermostat graphical element of the first set of thermostat graphical elements is associated with the first thermostat; and the primary enclosure graphical element includes a first indication of occupancy related to the primary enclosure, the occupancy being determined based on occupancy measurements made by the first occupancy sensor and retrieved by the smartphone from the thermostat management system; output for display a secondary enclosure graphical element for an individual enclosure of the plurality of enclosures adjacent to the primary enclosure graphical element, the secondary enclosure graphical element being associated with the second thermostat located at the secondary enclosure, wherein; the secondary enclosure graphical element includes a second indication of occupancy related to the secondary enclosure, the second indication of occupancy being determined based on occupancy measurements made by the second occupancy sensor and retrieved by the smartphone from the thermostat management system; retrieve, for the primary enclosure and the secondary enclosure, weather information corresponding to a first location of the primary enclosure and a second location of the secondary enclosure from a network-accessible weather service, wherein the weather information is further based on the first location and the second location being associated with the thermostat management account; and simultaneously output for display, in association with the primary enclosure graphical element for the primary enclosure, a primary visual weather indication indicative of the retrieved weather information for the primary enclosure and, in association with the secondary enclosure graphical element for the secondary enclosure, a secondary visual weather indication indicative of the retrieved weather information for the secondary enclosure. - View Dependent Claims (27)
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28. A mobile device for managing network-connected thermostats, the mobile device comprising:
one or more processors that execute a thermostat access client, the thermostat access client comprising processor-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors of the mobile device, cause the mobile device to; output for display a primary enclosure graphical element for the selected primary enclosure adjacent to a first set of thermostat graphical elements on a user interface, each thermostat graphical element being associated with a thermostat located at a primary enclosure, wherein; the primary enclosure graphical element includes a first indication of occupancy related to the primary enclosure, the first indication of occupancy being determined based on occupancy measurements made by a first occupancy sensor incorporated as part of a first thermostat located at the first enclosure; output for display a secondary enclosure graphical element adjacent to the primary enclosure graphical element, the secondary enclosure graphical element being associated with a second thermostat located at the secondary enclosure, wherein; the secondary enclosure graphical element includes a second indication of occupancy related to the secondary enclosure, the second indication of occupancy being determined based on occupancy measurements made by a second occupancy sensor incorporated as part of the second thermostat located at the secondary enclosure; retrieve, for the primary enclosure and the secondary enclosure, weather information corresponding to a first location of the primary enclosure and a second location of the secondary enclosure from a network-accessible weather service, wherein the weather information is further based on the first location and the second location being associated with the thermostat management account; and simultaneously output for display, in association with the primary enclosure graphical element for the primary enclosure, a primary visual weather indication indicative of the retrieved weather information for the primary enclosure and, in association with the secondary enclosure graphical element for the secondary enclosure, a secondary visual weather indication indicative of the retrieved weather information for the secondary enclosure. - View Dependent Claims (29)
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30. A thermostat user-interface server, comprising:
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one or more processors; and a memory communicatively coupled with and readable by the one or more processors and having stored therein processor-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to; cause a primary enclosure graphical element for the selected primary enclosure to be displayed adjacent to a first set of thermostat graphical elements on a user interface of a remote computerized device, each thermostat graphical element being associated with a thermostat located at a primary enclosure, wherein; the primary enclosure graphical element includes a first indication of occupancy related to the primary enclosure, the occupancy being determined based on occupancy measurements made by a first occupancy sensor of a first thermostat located at the primary enclosure; cause a secondary enclosure graphical element to be displayed adjacent to the primary enclosure graphical element on the user interface of the remote computerized device, the secondary enclosure graphical element being associated with a second thermostat located at a secondary enclosure, wherein; the secondary enclosure graphical element includes a second indication of occupancy related to the secondary enclosure, the second indication of occupancy being determined based on occupancy measurements made by a second occupancy sensor of the second thermostat; provide, for the primary enclosure and the secondary enclosure, weather information corresponding to a first location of the primary enclosure and a second location of the secondary enclosure, wherein the weather information is further based on the first location and the second location being associated with the thermostat management account; and cause, in association with the primary enclosure graphical element for the primary enclosure, display of a primary visual weather indication indicative of the retrieved weather information for the primary enclosure and, in association with the secondary enclosure graphical element for the secondary enclosure, display of a secondary visual weather indication indicative of the retrieved weather information for the secondary enclosure at the remote computerized device.
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Specification