Methods and apparatus for controlling a barrier movement operator having a timer-to-close feature are disclosed. The methods and apparatus include arrangements for conveniently inhibiting and re-activating the timer-to-close feature and for providing a mid-stop position during movement toward the closed position. Additionally, the embodiments include methods and apparatus for reversing barrier operation.

[0001]     This is a continuation of prior application Ser. No. 10/417,594 filed Apr. 17, 2003 which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND  
       [0002]     The present invention relates to barrier movement operators and particularly to such operators which include a timer-to-close feature.  
         [0003]     Barrier movement operators are known which include a motor for moving a barrier between open and closed positions and a controller for selectively energizing the motor to move the barrier. Gate operators and garage door operators are examples of the wide range of such barrier movement operators. The controller of a barrier operator may be responsive to stimulus signals to perform various barrier movements with safety. For example, the barrier operator may include a control switch which, when pressed, reverses the direction of travel of the barrier or starts the barrier moving toward the open or closed position.  
         [0004]     Most door movement has, for safety concerns, been under the control of a human operator. That is the barrier was opened or closed only when a human was present to provide a movement initiating stimulus. The human, being aware of the environment was a significant part of safely moving the barrier. Humans, however, are not infallible and occasionally the barrier is left open when it should be closed. Doing so may be energy inefficient by allowing heat or cool to escape from a space which should be a closed interior or it may be unwise because unauthorized persons may enter the area to be protected by the barrier.  
         [0005]     In order to combat the problem of a left-open barrier, some systems include a timer-to-close feature. This feature generally includes a timer which is enabled when the barrier is in the open position. When the timer indicates that the barrier has remained open for a predetermined period of time, the barrier operator motor is energized to move the barrier to the closed position. A barrier movement operator with a timer-to-close feature is generally equipped with special safety equipment like an alerting light and/or audible signal which are activated prior to moving the barrier to the closed position.  
         [0006]     It may be desirable for a user to pause the timer-to-close feature for reasons such as airing out the interior space of which a human user is in control. Known systems with a timer-to-close feature generally provide no user controlled ability to pause the feature without shutting the feature off, requiring at least a complete recycle of the barrier or even a reprogramming of the parameters of the feature. A need exists for a more convenient arrangement for pausing a timer-to-close feature.  
         [0007]     Further, known operators having a timer-to-close feature move the barrier directly from the open to the closed position. Such may not always be desirable either for reasons of safety or for reasons predicted by a human operator. A need also exists for a human controlled capability to move the barrier first to a mid-travel stopping point, then to the closed position. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]      FIG. 1  is a view of a barrier movement operator;  
         [0009]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a controller of the barrier movement operator and apparatus which interacts with the controller;  
         [0010]      FIG. 3  represents apparatus for defining particular points of barrier travel;  
         [0011]      FIG. 4  is a flow diagram of the inhibiting of a timer-to-close feature; and  
         [0012]      FIG. 5  is a flow diagram of barrier movement with a mid-travel point defined. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION  
       [0013]      FIG. 1  is a view of a barrier movement operator embodying the present invention.  FIG. 1  shows a jack shaft balanced, powered jack shaft moved residential garage door movement operator. It will be understood from the following that the improvements described and claimed herein apply to other types of barrier movement systems such as commercial door operators, rolling gate operators, swinging gate operators, other types of balancing such as tension spring, and other types of movement such as high lift and powered rail and trolley.  
         [0014]     In the embodiment of  FIG. 1 , a panel door  112  is raised and lowered in a pair of side tracks  114  and  116 . Door  112  is connected by cables  105  and  107  to a pair of drums  104  and  108  disposed on a jack shaft  106  and rotated under the power of a motor  150  contained by a head end  102 . The motor is selectively energized by a controller  208  and associated apparatus ( FIG. 2 ) to move the door  112  between a closed position, as shown in  FIG. 1 , and an open position. The controller  208 , which includes a programmed microprocessor, responds to user input signals from a wall control  124  and an rf transmitter  118  to initiate door movement. Obstructions to door movement may be detected by an optical transmitter  138  and receiver  142  which “watch” the door opening to detect when an obstruction is beneath the door. Similarly, an optional door edge sensor (not shown) may be attached to the bottom of the door to detect physical contact with an obstruction.  
         [0015]     When the barrier movement system is installed, the controller  208  is taught the open and closed positions of the door by known means so that the motor  150  is energized only long enough to move the door between those limit positions. Such limit positions may be learned in the software and data of controller  208 , they may consist of physical door detectors mounted to the rails, the garage, or the door, or they may be physical switches within head end  102  which sense the movement of representations of the door position.  FIG. 3  represents one apparatus internal to the head end for setting limits of door travel.  
         [0016]     The limit setting arrangement of  FIG. 3  comprises a first limit switch  145 , a second limit switch  146 , and a third limit switch  147 . Each limit switch includes an actuator lever, e.g.,  148 , which responds to contact by causing its associated switch to change from an open to a closed electrical state. The state of all switches is reported to controller  208  via a communication path  232 . Also included is a threaded shaft  149  which is connected to the output shaft of motor  150  to rotate therewith. In  FIG. 3 , the shaft is connected to motor  150  by means of a pulley  155  and belt  156 . Threaded onto shaft  149  are three switching cogs  152 ,  153 , and  154  which are kept from rotating during normal operation by a guide rail (not shown) attached to a mounting plate  151 .  
         [0017]     The open and closed limits are set by cogs  152  and  154 . They are set by lowering the door to the closed position, displacing mounting plate  151  so that the cogs are free to rotate, and rotating cog  152  until switch  145  changes state. Similarly, the open limit is set by moving the door to the open position and adjusting cog  154  until switch  146  changes state. After setting open and closed limits, controller  208  can accurately control barrier movement.  
         [0018]     After the barrier operator is installed, a user may press the command button  134  of wall control which signals controller  208  via a path  126 . Controller assesses the present state of the barrier based on various inputs discussed and sends a signal on a communication path  220  to control relays  222  which apply power to motor  150 . For example, when the barrier  112  is at the open limit and push button  134  is pressed, controller  208  energizes relays  222  to energize motor  150  to move the barrier toward the closed limit. During such movement the optical sensors  138  and  142 , and other safety equipment, are surveyed to assure safe movement of the door. A user can also initiate barrier movement by rf transmitting an appropriate security code from a transmitter  118  in a manner well known in the art. Such an rf transmission is received by a receiver  207  via an antenna  120  and the resultant received signal is sent on to controller  208 . A non-volatile memory  212  stores previously learned security codes and when a match exists between a previously learned code and a received code, the controller operates the door in the same manner as if button  134  of wall control  124  had been pressed.  
         [0019]     The present embodiment includes a timer-to-close feature which is in part implemented with routines to be performed by controller  208 . The timer-to-close feature automatically moves the barrier toward the closed position when the barrier has been in the open position for a predetermined period of time. The predetermined period of time may be preset and stored in controller  208  at the time of manufacture or it may be established by known user controlled methods during installation. The present embodiment adds to the timer-to-close feature by permitting the user to conveniently inhibit operation of this feature. A switch  132  of wall control  134  is used to enable and disable the timer-to-close feature.  
         [0020]      FIG. 4  is a flow diagram of an embodiment of the timer-to-close feature. The flow begins at block  161  which is entered whenever the door achieves the open position. In block  161  the timer-to-close timer is started. Flow proceeds to block  163  in which when a determination is made as to whether the timer is active. When the timer is active, flow proceeds to blocks  165  and  167  where switch  132  is checked to see if it has been pressed by a user. If not, flow proceeds to block  169  to determine whether the timer has reached the predetermined time out value. If it has not, flow returns to block  165 . As long as the switch  132  is not pressed, the loop of blocks  165 ,  167 , and  169  continues until time out is detected in block  169 , and flow proceeds to block  171  where a timer-to-close flag is set indicating that door closing movement was begun by the timer-to-close time out. The motor  150  is then energized in block  173  to move the door toward the closed position. When the door reaches the closed position, the timer-to-close flag is reset.  
         [0021]     Should a user press button  132  while the loop of blocks  165 ,  167 , and  169  is being executed, flow proceeds from block  167  to block  175  where the timer is turned off, which in the present embodiment includes resetting the timer. From block  175  flow returns to block  163  and on to blocks  177  and  179  where the state of switch  132  is again checked. When there has been no change, flow returns to block  163  and a loop consisting of blocks  163 ,  177  and  179  is repeatedly executed. Whenever block  179  detects a press of button  132 , flow proceeds to block  161  where the timer is again started and flow continues as previously described. Optionally the wall control  124  may include an LED  133  which is energized by controller  208  when the timer-to-close is being inhibited and is not energized when timer-to-close is in the normal mode.  
         [0022]     As discussed with regard to  FIG. 3 , the barrier movement operator described herein includes a limit switch  147  and corresponding limit cog  153  which may be adjusted to identify to controller  208  a position of the barrier intermediate to the positions identified by switches  145  and  146 . The point at which switch  147  changes state is adjusted in the manner described previously with regard to switches  145  and  146 . With such adjustment, the controller  208  will be informed each time the door passes the intermediate position while moving between open and closed positions. In the present embodiment, the passage of the intermediate position while the door is traveling upwardly toward the open position is ignored by controller.  FIG. 5  is a flow diagram representing downward or closing movement of the barrier during which the intermediate position is responded to.  
         [0023]     The routine of  FIG. 5  is performed each time the motor  150  is energized to move the barrier from the open position toward the closed position. The routine begins with the energization of motor  150  for downward motion in block  181 . A block  183  is performed throughout downward door movement to assure door movement safety. A decision block  185  is next performed to identify if the timer-to-close flag has been set. It will be remembered that the timer-to-close flag is set in block  171  ( FIG. 4 ) when the downward motion is initiated by time out of the timer-to-close timer. When block  185  determines that the timer-to-close flag is set, flow proceeds to block  187  where a loop is performed until the mid-travel position set by switch  147  is detected. When the mid-travel position is reached, flow proceeds to block  189  and the motor is stopped to await a mid-travel time out in block  191 , at which point the motor is re-energized in block  193  and finally closed in block  195 . When block  185  determines that the barrier is moving toward the closed position for reasons other than the timer-to-close (such as in response to a user command), flow proceeds from block  185  to continue its closing the barrier without regard for the mid-travel position.  
         [0024]     In the embodiments discussed above, the barrier waits at mid-travel until a timer re-initiates door movement as represented in blocks  191  and  193 . Alternatively, blocks  191  and  193  could be replaced with a single block  197  (shown in dotted line on  FIG. 5 ) in which a user command is awaited to re-energize the motor.  
         [0025]     Motor  150  can be energized to rotate either clockwise or counter-clockwise by power provided from an up and down motor control relay unit  223  of relays  222 . Whenever the barrier is to be moved, controller  208  transmits to the motor control relay unit  223  an appropriate set of signals to control relays  223  to rotate the motor in either the clockwise or counter-clockwise. The choice of clockwise, counter-clockwise rotation is made by controller  208  operating under pre-programmed parameters which are set using assumptions about the installation of the operator. It is possible that, because of decisions made during installation a control signal which causes the motor to rotate counter-clockwise will move the barrier toward the wrong limit. That is, the controller  208  may send a signal to relays  223  which is intended to raise a barrier and the result is that the barrier is lowered.  
         [0026]     Wall control unit  124  includes a two position switch in which one position indicates normal barrier travel and the other position indicates the reverse barrier travel. Whenever the barrier motor is to be energized, the controller  208  consults the switch  130  to determine whether the motor is to be energized normally i.e., in accordance with pre-programmed parameters, or in the reverse. For example, by pre-programming, controller  208  may direct the motor to rotate clockwise to move a barrier from open to closed position, and the installed gearing of the motor results in clockwise, rotation which moves the barrier from closed to open position. Such reversal may also happen due to placement of head end on the left of the doorway rather than on the right as shown in  FIG. 1 . When a user determines that the barrier is moving in the opposite direction to that expected the user changes the position of switch  130 . At the next command to energize the motor, controller  208  detects the changed setting of switch  130  and directs relays  223  to energize motor  150  for rotation opposite to the energization before the change of switch position. Additionally, controller  208  reverses the sense of the limit switches e.g.,  145  and  146  so that proper door operation will result.  
         [0027]     The preceding embodiments operate with a timer-to-close timer, the value of which may be set in any manner. The following discusses two examples for setting the timer-to-close timer to a particular value. A first example begins when a user presses the timer learn button  187  for a momentary contact to which controller  208  responds by entering a button oriented learn mode. The button oriented learn mode operates with an optional wall control  124 ′ which is shown in  FIG. 6 . Wall control  124 ′ replaces wall control  124  for the present example.  
         [0028]     In the button oriented learn mode, controller  208  responds to each press of an open button  135  by adding five seconds to the timer count, to each press of a close button  136  by adding one minute to the timer count and responds to a press of a stop button by clearing the timer count. Accordingly, when the button oriented learn mode is operational a user presses a combination of buttons  135  and  136  to total the desired timer value. The absence of button presses for a predetermined period of time e.g., 20 seconds, allows the controller to leave the learn mode and revert to the operating mode.  
         [0029]     A second method of setting the time out period of the timer-to-close timer is a time based learn mode which is entered by holding the timer learn button  187  closed for more than five seconds. In the time based learn mode the barrier should be at the open position when button  187  is pressed or the first act after entering the time based learn mode should be to move the barrier to the open position. Controller  208  then counts the time that the barrier is in the open position. When the appropriate time has passed e.g., five minutes, the user presses either the close button  136  ( FIG. 6 ) or the timer-to-close button. The time base for the timer-to-close timer then becomes the time that the barrier was in the open position.