Patent ID: 11933512
Assignee: LENNOX INDUSTRIES INC.
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC F  H  G | IPC F  H

Claim 0:
1. A Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) network provisioning system, comprising:
a plurality of controllers, wherein:
each controller is configured for wireless communications;
each controller is configured to operate at least a portion of an HVAC system; and
the plurality of controllers are members of a provisioned mesh network, wherein the provisioned mesh network is associated with a local area network, wherein one or more access point is configured to allow the plurality of controllers to communicate using the local area network; and

a network provisioning device, comprising:
a network interface configured to:
communicate with one or more wireless networks; and
communicate with controllers using a peer-to-peer connection; and

a processor operably coupled to the network interface, configured to:
establish a peer-to-peer connection with a controller that is a member of an unprovisioned mesh network;
send a request to the controller to identify a wireless network that is in range of the controller, wherein the wireless network is associated with the local area network;
obtain network credentials for the identified wireless network; and
send the network credentials to the controller to form a new provisioned mesh network that communicates with the plurality of controllers in the provisioned mesh network in the local area network via the one or more access points, wherein sending the network credentials to the controller triggers the controller to use the network credentials to form the new provisioned mesh network and to determine a number of unprovisioned controllers in the unprovisioned mesh network before forming the new provisioned mesh network.