Abstract:
An environmental sensor system that communicates sensor data to a receiving unit using wireless means such as a radio frequency signal. The receiving unit interfaces with a controllable system, possibly affecting its operation. This arrangement allows one or more sensor and transmitter units to be remotely mounted at a distance from the receiver, without regard to installation complications that often result with a hardwired type units. In the preferred embodiment, an irrigation system is interfaced wirelessly with an environmental sensor such as a rain sensor. The rain sensor is contemplated such that in the event of sufficient rainfall, a wireless signal is transmitted to the receiver unit, which in turn interfaces with an irrigation controller resulting in the cessation of watering cycles until the sensor system provides another wireless directive to resume watering.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is entitled to the benefit of Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/103,444 filed Oct. 7, 1998. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Field of Invention 
     This invention relates to environmental sensors, specifically to environmental sensors that control irrigation systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to the use of a wireless environmental sensor system. 
     2. Description of Prior Art 
     This invention relates primarily to the field of automatic irrigation systems like those used for landscape and agricultural watering. Most common types of irrigation systems incorporate a means of controlling the watering cycles via an automatic controller. The need to suspend a watering cycle due to the occurrence of an environmental influence is crucial in order to save natural resources, money, and to prevent unsafe conditions. Such environmental conditions include precipitation, high wind and freezing temperatures. The primary means of halting an automatic watering cycle in this situation is by an operator manually suspending the cycle at the irrigation controller. In most situations this proves to be an ineffective means of conserving resources due to the inconsistent and inefficient methods followed by the operator. In fact, quite often the operator ignores the need to suspend the watering cycle altogether, and in some cases neglects to resume the watering cycle when required, leading to both over-watered and under-watered landscaping, respectively. 
     It is because of this unreliable and inconvenient manual method that current environmental sensors were developed that allow for an automatic interruption of the controller due to an environmental condition. In particular, the use of rain sensors for irrigation systems has proven to be an effective and economical method of conserving water, energy, and money. This fact can be shown by the increasing number of municipalities throughout the United States who are now requiring that rain sensors be installed on every landscape irrigation system. 
     Even though reliable, the major drawback of current rain sensors is the extensive installation time and difficult method required for a proper installation. A rain sensor is usually mounted on the side of a structure near its roof in such a manner that it is exposed to the elements equally from all directions. This requires an installer to route a control wire from the sensor to the irrigation system&#39;s control box through the structure&#39;s wall, in an attic, inside a wall, etc. In some low quality installations the wires are run directly on the outside of the structure&#39;s wall, leading to an unattractive installation. Often, this installation is beyond the capabilities of the average home owner, requiring special tools and materials not normally found in the household. Due to the difficult and expensive nature of this installation process, most irrigation systems do not have a rain sensor installed at all, leading to needlessly wasted resources as noted above. 
     SUMMARY 
     The present invention allows for a quick, easy, and cost effective installation of an environmental sensor such as a rain sensor, by utilizing wireless transmissions of environmental sensor data. The data is wirelessly received at the location of a control mechanism and is interpreted accordingly in order to affect the operation of the controller as desired. 
     Specifically, this invention uses wireless technology to transmit the status of an environmental sensor, in particular a rain sensor, to a receiving unit that deactivates the watering cycle of an irrigation system as preprogrammed. The transmitter contains at least one environmental sensor such as a rain sensor, an instant precipitation sensor, a freeze sensor, a wind sensor, or the like, but it need not be integrally housed with the sensor. The receiver may be a stand-alone unit that can be retrofitted to any existing irrigation system, an integral part of a control box that is built in at the time of manufacture, or it may “plug in” as an upgrade to a pre-configured, accepting controller. The communication means between the transmitter and receiver is one that utilizes a wireless technology such as, but not limited to radio frequency, infrared, or ultrasonic. The transmitter unit would transmit a signal to the receiver based on the status of an environmental sensor and the receiver would respond accordingly as predetermined. 
     Objects and Advantages 
     Accordingly, besides the objects and advantages of the wireless environmental sensor in our above patent, several objects and advantages of the present invention are: 
     (a) to provide for much easier and faster installations of environmental sensors for irrigation systems; 
     (b) to provide for installations requiring minimal expertise and no special tools or materials; 
     (c) to provide for additional installation locations that could otherwise not be accomplished without undue effort and expense; 
     (d) to provide for “cleaner” installations without running unsightly wires; 
     (e) to provide for ease in retrofit type installations, integrating with already installed irrigation systems; 
     (f) to provide for installation locations that are safer for the installer to access. 
     Further objects and advantages of our invention will become apparent from a consideration of the drawings and ensuing description. 
    
    
     DRAWING FIGURES 
     In the drawings, closely related figures have the same number but different alphabetic suffixes. 
     FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a typical arrangement of the invention. 
     FIG. 2A shows an elevation view of a typical installation of the invention by indicating relative component locations in respect to a typical structure installation. 
     FIG. 2B shows another typical installation, exemplifying the possibility of a remote sensor location, unattached to the structure housing the irrigation control mechanism. 
     FIG. 3A is a cross-sectional view of the preferred embodiment of the invention, showing a typical sensor and transmitter module configuration, in this instance, a rain sensor as the environmental sensor. 
     FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of the invention, showing a wind sensor as the environmental sensor connected to the transmitter module. 
     FIG. 3C is a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of the invention, showing the combination of more than one environmental sensor connected to the transmitter module, in this instance a temperature sensor and rain sensor. 
     FIG. 3D is a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of the invention, showing a non-integrally housed sensor and transmitter module configuration. 
     FIG. 3E is a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of the invention, showing a configuration using more than one transmitter module and soil sensors as the environmental sensor. 
     FIG. 3F is a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of the invention, showing the use of a solar cell to power the transmitter module. 
     FIG. 3G is a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of the invention, showing the use of a piezoelectric actuator to power the transmitter module. 
     FIG. 4A shows the receiver module in cross section connected to an irrigation system type controller. 
     FIG. 4B shows a partial cross section cutaway view of the receiver module integrally housed with the irrigation system controller. 
     
       
         
               
             
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
               
               
                 Reference Numerals in Drawings 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                   
               
             
          
           
               
                  2 
                 environmental sensor 
                  4 
                 transmitter control 
               
               
                  6 
                 transmitter 
                  7 
                 transmitter module 
               
               
                  8 
                 wireless signal 
                 10 
                 receiver 
               
               
                 11 
                 receiver module 
                 12 
                 receiver control 
               
               
                 14 
                 controlled system 
                 16 
                 structure 
               
               
                 18 
                 system controller 
                 20 
                 remote structure 
               
               
                 21 
                 switch 
                 22 
                 rain sensor 
               
               
                 23 
                 hygroscopic assembly 
                 24 
                 wind sensor 
               
               
                 25 
                 Wind sensor transducer 
                 26 
                 wind sensor cup assembly 
               
               
                 27 
                 temperature sensor 
                 30 
                 soil sensor 
               
               
                 32 
                 ground 
                 40 
                 solar cell 
               
               
                 42 
                 piezoelectric element 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION 
     FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a typical arrangement of the invention. An environmental sensor  2  is connected to a transmitter control circuit  4 . Transmitter control circuit  4  is connected to a transmitter  6 . Transmitter  6  communicates via a wireless signal or link  8  with a receiver  10 . Receiver  10  is connected to a receiver control circuit  12  which is in turn connected to a controlled system  14 . 
     FIGS. 2A and 2B show elevation views of two typical installation configurations of the invention. FIG. 2A shows a building, structure, or dwelling  16  with sensor  2 , transmitter control circuit  4 , and transmitter  6  mounted on structure  16 . Transmitter  6  communicates with receiver  10  via wireless signal  8 . Receiver  10  is connected via control circuitry  12  to the system controller  18 . FIG. 2A shows one typical installation configuration where transmitter components  2 ,  4 , and  6  are attached to the same structure as receiver components  10  and  12 . FIG. 2B shows another typical installation where transmitter components  2 ,  4  and  6  are mounted on a remote structure  20  that is not physically attached to structure  16  which houses receiver components  10  and  12  which connects to system controller  18 . 
     FIGS. 3A-3G show cross-sectioned, elevation views of some typical transmitter component embodiments. FIG. 3A shows a rain sensor  22  connected to a transmitter module  7 . Rain sensor  22  in this embodiment is shown with a hygroscopic assembly  23  impinging upon a switch or actuator  21 . Switch  21  is wired via control circuitry  4  to transmitter  6 . 
     FIG. 3B shows another embodiment, in particular replacing rain sensor  22  of FIG. 3A with a wind sensor  24 . In this embodiment, wind sensor  24  comprises a wind sensor cup assembly  26  connected via a wind sensor transducer  25  to transmitter module  7 . 
     FIG. 3C shows another embodiment with the connection of two environmental sensors, a temperature sensor  27  and rain sensor  22  to control circuitry  4 . 
     FIG. 3D shows an embodiment where rain sensor  22  and transmitter module  7  are not integrally housed. 
     FIG. 3E shows an embodiment where the environmental sensor is a soil sensor  30  installed in the ground  32 . FIG. 3E also shows an embodiment where more than one environmental sensor and transmitter module  7  can be used simultaneously. 
     FIG. 3F shows an embodiment where a photovoltaic type solar cell  40  is connected to the transmitter module  7 . Similarly, FIG. 3G shows an embodiment where a piezoelectric element is connected to the transmitter module  7 . 
     FIGS. 4A and 4B show typical embodiments of the receiver configuration in cross-section and cutaway type elevation views. In FIG. 4A, the receiver module  11  is shown not integrally housed with the system controller  18 . Receiver  10  is connected to system controller  18  via receiver control circuitry  12 . In FIG. 4B, receiver  10  and receiver control circuitry  12  are integrally housed within system controller  18 , however all connections and logic remain the same as in FIG.  4 A. 
     Operation 
     The manner of using the wireless environmental sensor is very similar to environmental sensors in current use, with one major difference in that the link between the environmental sensor  2  and the controlled system  14  is wireless in the current invention. In traditional sensors, this link is always hardwired. 
     The overall operation can be described referring to FIG.  1 . When an environmental condition such as rainfall is sensed at the environmental sensor  2 , the response of sensor  2  is interpreted by transmitter control circuitry  4 . Transmitter control circuitry  4  outputs desired information to transmitter  6  which in turn outputs wireless signal  8  to be received at receiver  10 . Received signal  8 , is interpreted by receiver control circuitry  12  and used to provide information to controlled system  14 . The preferred embodiment would pass the received information in a form such that it was usable by irrigation controller  18  as shown in FIG. 4A to affect the watering cycles of controlled system  14 . 
     Typical installations of the current invention as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B show relative component locations. This figure aids in the visualization of the typical separation between sensor  2  and system controller  18 , clearly showing the advantage of utilizing a wireless signal  8 . 
     FIG. 3A shows the preferred embodiment using rain sensor  8  of the hygroscopic disk variety. In this scenario, rain impinges on hygroscopic assembly  23  causing it actuate rain sensor switch  21 . A signal from the rain sensor switch  21  is interpreted by transmitter control circuitry  4 , which communicates the desired information to transmitter  6 . Transmitter  6  then wirelessly relays this information in order to control a system such as an irrigation system. Referring to FIG. 4A, the preferred embodiment of receiver module  11  and system controller  18 , wireless signal  8  is then received in proximity to the system controller  18  by the receiver  10 . Receiver  10  sends information to receiver control circuitry  12  which interprets and processes the information and outputs data or other form of instructions to system controller  18 . Thereby the wireless environmental sensor provides information wirelessly in order to possibly affect the functioning of the controlled system. 
     FIG. 3D shows essentially the same scenario in regards to the operation of this invention as FIG. 3A, however this embodiment shows that rain sensor  22  can be physically separated from transmitter module  7  while still electrically connected. In a similar fashion, the operation of this invention is also essentially unaffected thorough the use of the additional embodiment shown in FIG. 4B where receiver  10  and receiver control circuitry  12  are integrally housed as part of irrigation system controller  18 . 
     Other typical embodiments utilize different sensors, such as wind sensor  24  of FIG. 3B which transfers wind speed or direction information via wind sensor transducer  25  to the transmitter control circuitry  4 . This information is interpreted and relayed wirelessly via the transmitter  6  as in the preferred embodiment. 
     FIG. 3C shows another embodiment where two environmental sensors, rain sensor  22  and temperature sensor  27 , are connected into one transmitter module  7 . In this instance, more than one data source is present, from which data is gathered, interpreted, and wirelessly transmitted to affect the controlled system in the desired fashion. Likewise, FIG. 3E shows that more than one transmitter module  7  can be used simultaneously, sending information back to the same receiver if need be. FIG. 3E also introduces another sensor embodiment in that soil sensors  30  are shown providing information on the condition of the soil to the transmitter module  7 . 
     FIGS. 3F and 3G show two additional embodiments in regard to the power source of transmitter module  7 . While the preferred embodiment utilizes a portable power source such as a battery contained within the transmitter module  7 , FIG. 3F shows how solar cell  40  may be connected to provide power either to directly power the unit, or to charge the installed battery. Likewise, FIG. 3G shows another embodiment where piezoelectric element  42  is used to power or charge the unit. 
     In addition, referring back to FIG. 1, receiver control circuitry  12  may also perform logic processing that allows for the incorporation of an automatically resetting bypass switch which allows for the current state of the environmental sensor  2  to be ignored in order to perform system checks or maintenance. Control circuitry  4 ,  12  may also be configured to allow for intelligent environmental condition prediction techniques to be used based on input from one or more environmental sensors  2 . It should also be noted that wireless signal  8  can contain data other than sensor state such as battery condition or other system operational data. 
     Let it be noted that the exact electronics and/or mechanics presented are not important in that many various types of configurations can accomplish the similar task and that it is the method described within that is important. In particular, it is the wireless link between an environmental sensor and control system that is unique and not the exact interconnecting means thereof. 
     Conclusion, Ramification, and Scope 
     Thus the reader will see that the wireless environmental sensor system provides for a much easier, simpler, and more cost effective installation of a sensor for use in controlling systems when compared to existing design configurations. Using a wireless sensor system also provides for additional installation locations that could otherwise not be accomplished without undue effort and expense. Safer installations can also be accomplished in that often no ladder work at height is required to install a wireless sensor, whereas traditional designs quite often necessitate this. Installations of a wireless environmental sensor system also require no special tools unlike installations of existing designs. Installations of a wireless sensor system is aesthetically more professional with no dangling wires or holes drilled in the sides of buildings. 
     While our above description contains many specificities, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the invention, but rather as an exemplification of preferred embodiments thereof. Many other variations are possible. For example, an irrigation system controller could be sold with transmitting and receiving units built-in to which a separately sold environmental sensor could be connected and still fall within the scope of this invention. Moreover, a sensor and transmitter unit could be sold as a separate device compatible with a controller that has a receiver module built-in. Further examples include using the invention to control home automation functions such as closing windows during rain, or making use of a pressure, light, or precipitation sensor, or controlling the irrigation system without using the controller such as controlling the water supply pump directly. Other applications are also possible, such as automotive, marine, or commercial building system control. 
     Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be determined not by the embodiments illustrated, but by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.