Patent Publication Number: US-8977400-B1

Title: Landscape controller with feature module

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/243,897, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,953,517, which was filed Oct. 1, 2008, and which is pending as of the filing of this application. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to residential and commercial irrigation systems used with turf and landscaping, and more particularly to irrigation controllers that execute watering schedules and other landscape related functions in accordance with an operational program. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Electronic irrigation controllers have long been used on residential and commercial irrigation sites to water turf and landscaping. They typically comprise a plastic housing that encloses circuitry including a processor that executes a watering program. Watering schedules are typically manually entered or selected by a user with pushbutton and/or rotary controls while observing an LCD display. The processor turns a plurality of solenoid actuated valves ON and OFF with solid state switches in accordance with the watering schedules that are carried out by the watering program. The valves deliver water to sprinklers connected by subterranean pipes. 
     Irrigation controllers are manufactured with a wide range of sizes and features. Large irrigation controllers are typically used in commercial applications, golf courses, playing fields and parks. Large irrigation controllers have the capability of watering many zones, e.g. fifty zones or more, and sometimes have sophisticated features not found in smaller irrigation controllers used in residential applications. For example, large irrigation controllers may have built-in capability for turning sprinklers on and off to optimize the flow of water through the irrigation pipes while meeting the irrigation requirements of the property 
     The features provided by irrigation controllers continue to evolve to accommodate more complex landscapes and continuously developing strategies to manage water and energy more effectively. Irrigation controllers used in the professional market place tend to be relatively expensive and labor intensive to replace as new feature are introduced. There is a growing need to provide different features on different sites. From a cost standpoint, homeowners and professionals do not want to pay for features they do not require. There is also a need to develop irrigation controllers that meet multiple needs of a landscaped property besides just irrigating plants. 
     At the present time homeowners and professionals can only purchase irrigation controllers with the capability of adding station modules to increase the number of zones, but without feature upgrade capability. This forces distributors to stock a wide range of irrigation controllers which adds the cost of carrying a large inventory of different types of irrigation controllers. Moreover, as the irrigation needs of a particular landscape site change and/or as government imposes more water usage restrictions, homeowners and professionals are sometimes forced to buy entirely new irrigation controllers. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In accordance with the present invention a landscape controller includes a housing and a control panel on the housing. The control panel includes a display and at least one manual control that enables a user to enter and/or select a watering schedule. A memory is provided for storing an operational program for carrying out the watering schedule. A processor is connected to the memory and is capable of executing the operational program. A connecting device in the control panel operatively connects at least one feature module to the processor. The controller further includes station control circuitry controlled by the processor that enables the processor to selectively energize a plurality of valves to deliver water to sprinklers in accordance with the watering schedule. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a front elevation view of a landscape controller in accordance with an embodiment of the present with its front door open to reveal its removable face pack. 
         FIG. 2  is a front elevation view of the landscape controller of  FIG. 1  with its face pack carrying frame swung open to reveal the screw type wire connectors and other components mounted in its rear panel. 
         FIG. 3A  is an isometric view of the face pack of the landscape controller of  FIG. 1  removed from the frame and rear housing and with a single feature module plugged into the left slot in its lower edge. 
         FIG. 3B  is view of the face pack of the landscape controller of  FIG. 1  showing the feature module removed from its slot. 
         FIG. 4  is a block diagram of the landscape controller of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 5  is a block diagram of the landscape controller of  FIG. 1  connected to a feature module with a serial memory. 
         FIG. 6  is a flow diagram illustrating a method of writing a byte of data to the serial memory chip inside the feature module of  FIG. 5 . 
         FIG. 7  is flow diagram illustrating a method of reading a byte of data from the serial memory chip inside the feature module of  FIG. 5 . 
         FIG. 8  is a block diagram of the landscape controller of  FIG. 1  connected to a feature module with a parallel memory. 
         FIG. 9  is a flow diagram illustrating a method of writing a byte of data to the parallel memory chip inside the feature module of  FIG. 8 . 
         FIG. 10  is flow diagram illustrating a method of reading a byte of data from the parallel memory chip inside the feature module of  FIG. 8 . 
         FIG. 11  is a block diagram of a feature module configured like a USB thumb drive 
         FIG. 12  is a block diagram of a feature module that includes a microcontroller. 
         FIG. 13  is a block diagram of a feature module that incorporates an asynchronous communications channel. 
         FIG. 14  is a flow diagram illustrating a method of unlocking features preprogrammed into the face pack of the landscape controller of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 15  is a block diagram of a robust feature module. 
         FIG. 16  is a block diagram of a feature module that enables wireless communication between the landscape controller of  FIG. 1  and external devices such as environmental sensors. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The entire disclosures of the following U.S. patents and U.S. patent applications are hereby incorporated by reference: U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,861 granted Mar. 24, 1992 of Larry K. Hopkins et al. entitled IRRIGATION METHOD AND CONTROL SYSTEM; U.S. Pat. No. 5,444,611 granted Aug. 22, 1995 of Peter J. Woytowitz, et al. entitled LAWN AND GARDEN IRRIGATION CONTROLLER; U.S. Pat. No. 6,088,621 granted Jul. 11, 2000 of Peter J. Woytowitz et al. entitled PORTABLE APPARATUS FOR RAPID REPROGRAMMING OF IRRIGATION CONTROLLERS; U.S. Pat. No. 6,842,667 granted Jan. 11, 2005 of Beutler et al. entitled POSITIVE STATION MODULE LOCKING MECHANISM FOR EXPANDABLE IRRIGATION CONTROLLER; U.S. Pat. No. 7,069,115 granted Jun. 27, 2007 of Peter J. Woytowitz entitled HYBRID MODULAR/DECODER IRRIGATION CONTROLLER; U.S. Pat. No. 7,412,303 granted Aug. 12, 2008 of LaMonte D. Porter et al. and entitled EVAPOTRANSPIRATION UNIT FOR RE-PROGRAMMING AN IRRIGATION CONTROLLER; pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/748,356 filed May 14, 2007 of La Monte D. Porter entitled IRRIGATION CONTROLLER WITH INDIRECTLY POWERED STATION MODULES; and pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/181,894 filed Jul. 29, 2008 of Peter J. Woytowitz et al. entitled IRRIGATION SYSTEM WITH ET BASED SEASONAL WATERING ADJUSTMENT. The aforementioned U.S. patents and applications are all assigned to Hunter Industries, Inc., the assignee of the subject application. 
     It would be highly desirable in the irrigation controller marketplace to be able to modify and/or add to features within an existing irrigation controller to customize the irrigation controller for a particular site. It would also be desirable to meet the changing watering needs of the particular irrigation site by allowing an irrigation controller to be upgraded. The present invention provides a landscape controller that can be easily and economically configured and/or upgraded by the user to meet the specific needs of the associated irrigation site. This is accomplished by installing at least one feature module that communicates with the processor of the landscape controller and alters the operational program, changes a functionality of an operational program executed by the processor, and/or provides additional memory capacity. The term “landscape controller” as used herein refers to a device which can function as an irrigation controller, and optionally perform additional functions on a site besides watering, such as the control of landscape lights and water features. 
     The present invention allows the homeowner or professional to purchase a base controller with only the features needed for his or her particular irrigation site. Features can easily be added at a later date to the installed landscape controller. Landscape controllers can thus be readily and economically tailored to meet the different needs of different sites. Distributors can carry a smaller inventory of controllers and still meet the needs of a wide range of customer demands. 
     The feature module of the present invention is installed into the control panel portion of the controller that typically contains the processor, display and manual controls where the user enters watering schedules. The feature module can have various designs to meet particular needs. One form of the feature module is a simple electronic key that enables and/or disables features already programmed into the existing memory of the landscape controller. Another form of feature module provides additional memory, thereby allowing the processor to handle more complex tasks not otherwise capable of being performed by the base controller, such as a memory intensive data logging feature. The feature module may contain new programs that are down loaded into the landscape controller and change the functionality of the operational program executed by the processor, thereby enhancing, adding to and/or otherwise changing the functional irrigation features available to the user, such as providing the capability of modifying watering schedules based on ET data, or optimizing the flow of water through the irrigation pipes In addition to just changing programming in the controller, the feature module may facilitate expanded communications, e.g. wireless communications with an external rain sensor, a soil moisture sensor, or a weather station, and other capabilities such as controlling a pump relay, landscape lighting and aesthetic water features such as an electric water fountain. Therefore, instead of using the term “watering program” to refer to the overall program executed by the processor to carry out watering schedules, that code is referred to herein using the term “operational program.” The stored watering program includes a comprehensive set of functional irrigation features and the feature module can be configured to unlock less than all of the functional irrigation features. The feature module and the operational program can be configured so that the feature module can only unlock predetermined functional irrigation features on a predetermined controller and not other controllers. This prevents customers from undercutting the sales of controllers with enhanced features by loaning his feature module to other customers and unlocking the desired features. The feature module can be configured so that the irrigation controller will only execute specified functions so long as that feature module is plugged into the control panel. The feature module can simultaneously unlock certain functional irrigation features stored in the landscape controller and add additional functional irrigation features not found in the firmware originally present in the program memory of the landscape controller. The landscape controller of the present invention can be partially or entirely re-programmed through the feature module years after installation to incorporate many new utilities not previously available on the controller. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a landscape controller  10  includes a rectangular housing or back panel  12  in which a control panel in the form of a face pack  14  is removably mounted. A door  16  mounted on a hinge assembly  18  may be swung closed to seal and protect the face pack  14  and the electronics mounted in the back panel that interact with the face pack  16 . The door  16  may be secured in its closed position by actuating a key lock  20  mounted on the door with a key (not illustrated). A feature module  22  is shown plugged into a slot formed in the bottom edge of the face pack  14 . The face pack  14  has manual controls that enable a user to enter and/or select a watering schedule, including a rotary switch  24  and seven push button switches  26 . The face pack further includes a liquid crystal display (LCD)  28  that provides a graphical user interface (GUI) and a slide switch  30  that enables a user to bypass an optionally installed rain sensor. The face pack  14  is removably mounted in a rectangular receptacle formed in a rectangular frame  32  connected to the hinge assembly  18 . The face pack  14  is held in place in the frame by releasable latches (not visible). After the door  16  has been swung to its open position, the frame  32  can be swung to its open position illustrated in  FIG. 2 , revealing a plurality of screw type wire connectors  34  mounted in the back panel  12  used to connect wires to valves, sensors, lights and pump relays, and other auxiliary devices. A transformer  36   a  is also mounted in the back panel  12 . A wiring enclosure  36   b  is adjacent to the transformer to provide an area to make wiring connections from the outside power source. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3A and 3B , various feature modules, such as  22  can be removably inserted in one of two slots  38  and  40  formed in the bottom edge of the face pack  14 . The first portion of the connecting device on each feature module is located on the forward end thereof for mating with the second portion of the connecting device which is located in the end of the slot. 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , the removable face pack  14  includes a portable power source  42  in the form of a battery so that watering schedules can be created or modified when the face pack  14  has been removed from the frame  32  and a person is carrying the face pack  14  around the landscape site. When the face pack  14  is mounted in the frame  32 , its processor  44  receives power from the power supply  36  through mating multi-pin electro-mechanical connectors (not illustrated) and a ribbon cable  46  illustrated diagrammatically as dashed lines in  FIG. 4 . Similarly, when the face pack  14  is mounted in the frame  32 , a first communications link  48  in the face pack  14  establishes communications capability with a second communications link  50  in the back panel  12  through the ribbon cable  46 . The communications link between the face pack  4  and the circuitry in the back panel  14  could alternatively be established indirectly by suitable means such as mating optical emitter/detector pairs or RF connection. The electronic components of the face pack  14  are mounted on a first printed circuit board  52 . A driver  54  mounted on the printed circuit board  52  is connected between the processor  44  and the LCD  28 . The processor  44  communicates with a program memory (PM)  56  and a data memory (DM)  58 . The processor, PM  56  and DM  58  could be provided by a single chip computer. 
     The back panel  12  houses a second printed circuit board  60  that functions as a so-called “back plane.” The printed circuit board  60  mechanically supports and/or electrically interconnects the second communications link  50 , power supply  36  and station control circuitry in the form of driver/switch circuits  62 ,  64  and  66 . The processor  44  executes an operation program, including a watering program, that is stored in PM  56  in order to carry out the desired watering schedules and any other functions such as turning landscape lighting on and off. By activating the driver/switch circuits  62 ,  64  and  66  via communications link  50 . The driver/switch circuits  62 ,  64  and  66  are conventional and may include transistor drivers responsive to ON and OFF commands from the processor  44  that turn triacs ON and OFF to switch low voltage AC power from power supply  36 . The driver/switch circuits  62 ,  64  and  66  control six irrigation valves  68  and  70 , and three landscape lights  72  that are connectable to dedicated field lines  74 ,  76  and  78  and a common return line  80  via screw terminals  34  ( FIG. 2 ). The processor  44  could also control a pump relay (not illustrated) through one of the driver/switch circuits  62 ,  64  or  66 . The power supply  36  is conventional in form and its input is connected to standard 115 or 230 volt AC power and its output supplies the low voltage AC power for the valves  68 ,  70  and  72  as well as the low voltage DC power required by the electronic components on the printed circuit board  52  in the face pack  14 . 
     Referring still to  FIG. 4 , the feature module  22  is operatively connected to the processor  44  in the face pack  14  via any suitable connecting device  82  which is illustrated diagrammatically by a phantom line in  FIG. 4 . These may be male and female multi-pin electrical connectors, card edge connectors, optical connectors or any other suitable connecting devices used in the world of consumer electronics devices with removable components.  FIG. 4  illustrates a second removable feature module  84  operatively connected to the processor  44  via a second connecting device  86 . The landscape controller of the present invention advantageously operates with feature modules  22  and  84  that are operatively connectable to the processor  44  through a communications path that does not include the backplane  60 . 
     The operational program stored in the PM  56  includes a watering program having all of the features and algorithms necessary to satisfy multiple irrigation controller market segments. The watering program includes scheduling code for sports field application, as well as nursery application. Additional code allows the watering program to make adjustments based on evapotranspiration (ET) data supplied to the processor  44  from a service or from environmental sensors. Different feature modules  22  may be manufactured for installation in the face pack  14  that each enable or activate for usage a predetermined sub-set of a comprehensive set of features capable of being executed by the processor  44 . The different feature modules can enable, through unique keys stored on an integrated circuit, different feature sets for different irrigation controller market segments. The most expensive feature module may enable the processor  44  to execute every available feature. Thus, the feature module  22  that is inserted into the face pack  14  enables a predetermined specific set of instructions that implement a comprehensive set of features capable of being executed by the processor  44 . In this way, the user only pays for the features needed on his or her particular irrigation site. 
     Our invention allows a user to buy the base landscape controller  10  and the desired feature set that is enabled by a specific one of several interchangeable feature modules  22 . The user can only access a predetermined sub-set of the comprehensive set of features capable of being executed by the processor  44  that are included in the extensive operational program stored in the PM  56  of the face pack. The manufacturer&#39;s software engineers only need to write one comprehensive watering program, instead of different watering programs for irrigation controllers targeted at different market segments. Field upgrades can be accomplished by simply purchasing and installing a new feature module  22 . Since the feature module is plugged into the face pack  14 , all of the authorized functionality of the landscape controller is fully available to the user when the face pack is unplugged from the frame  32  so that the user can walk around the irrigation site, change the water schedule, and make other adjustments. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 7,257,465 of Perez et al. discloses a modular irrigation controller with a removable face pack. The controller has a number of bays or receptacles in its rear panel into which a plurality of station modules may be individually plugged to increase the number of zones that can be watered. These station modules are not plugged into the removable face pack but are instead plugged into the receptacles so as to allow the station modules to electrically connect to the back plane in the rear panel. So-called “smart” modules can be plugged into these receptacles, such as an ET module or a decoder module, in order to provide additional functionality to the base irrigation controller. However, this irrigation controller architecture suffers from a number of drawbacks. First of all, each time a smart module is plugged into one of the receptacles in the rear panel, the number of zones that can potentially be controlled is correspondingly reduced since that receptacle is no longer available to receive a station module. Secondly, since the smart modules are not plugged into the face pack, the processor in the face pack may not be able to be programmed using all of the additional functionality provided by the smart modules when the face pack is unplugged from the rear housing. Thirdly, the smart modules disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,257,465 of Perez et al. have no capability for unlocking or enabling otherwise non-available features programmed into the main memory of the base controller. The landscape controller of the present invention overcomes each of these shortcomings. 
     The primary purpose of an alternate feature module  22  can be the provision of additional memory, or data via that memory, to the face pack  14 . For instance, once the processor  44  detects that additional memory has been plugged into the face pack  14 , it may enable a memory intensive data logging function not previously possible with the DM  58  in the face pack. Alternatively, the processor  44  may allow more complex programming when there is additional memory available to store more start times, run times, etc. Yet another use of the additional memory is to provide the processor  44  with data. For instance, a memory chip in the feature module  22  may be pre-loaded with historic environmental conditions to allow automatic watering schedule changes. This historic data may be historic average daily ET data for a particular zip code, for example. See U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/176,936 filed Jul. 21, 2008, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. A new version of application code may later be developed for the face pack  14 . Microcontrollers are currently available for use as the processor  44  that have the ability to write to their own memory (re-flashable). Such a microcontroller can read the information out of the memory in the feature module  22 , and re-program itself. 
     The feature module  22  can contain a variety of different types of memory that can be accessed by the processor  44  in a number of different ways. Serial memory can be accessed with only a few lines. In most cases, these consist of only a clock line, and a data line. There may also be two data lines—one for each direction of data flow. Examples of this type of memory are the 93XX and 24XX industry standards. For instance, the 24LC512 manufactured by Microchip Technology, is a serial, 512 Kbit non-volatile memory chip. The 93LC66, also from Microchip Technology, is a serial, 4 Kbit non-volatile memory chip. An example of how a 24LC512 is configured to work with the host processor (the microcontroller in the landscape controller), is illustrated in  FIG. 5 . The serial clock (SCLK) and data (SDATA) lines from the feature module  88  allow the processor  44  to exchange command or data information with the memory chip  90  inside the feature module  88 .  FIG. 6  is a flow diagram illustrating a method of writing a byte of data to the memory chip  90 .  FIG. 7  is a flow diagram illustrating a method of reading a byte of information from the memory chip  90 . The main disadvantage of serial memory is that it is slower to access that parallel memory. However, in most cases, it is sufficiently fast for the purpose of an embedded control device, such as a landscape controller, where most of the reads and writes occur in response to user actions, which by their nature are relatively slow events. Serial memory may be either volatile or non-volatile. 
     Parallel memory has the advantage that it can be accessed much faster than serial memory. This is because once the address has been set up (all at once), and the chip is enabled, all the data bits appear simultaneously, usually within a few tens or hundreds of nanoseconds. There are usually no clocking operations involved. One example of parallel memory is the CY62128 from Cypress Semiconductor, which is a 128K Byte RAM. An example of how this device can be connected to the processor  44  is illustrated in  FIG. 8 . The feature module  92  houses a parallel memory chip  94 .  FIG. 9  is a flow diagram illustrating a method of writing to the parallel memory chip  94 .  FIG. 10  is a flow diagram illustrating a method of reading from the parallel memory chip  94 . Like serial memory, parallel memory may be either volatile, or nonvolatile. 
     The feature module can be configured as a plug-in memory module that has its own microcontroller on-board. The purpose of this microcontroller is to adapt a memory chip (either serial or parallel) to an industry standard protocol. One example of this is a USB flash or thumb drive. These devices typically have a parallel flash memory chip, such as the Toshiba TC58DVG02A1 connected to a USB-enabled microcontroller such as the Freescale Semiconductor 9S12UF32. The microcontroller manages the implementation of instructions (read/write) over the USB interface, and communicates with the memory chip via its Smart Media Interface. With slightly different firmware, the microcontroller can be adapted to interface to a number of different memory devices, yet the USB interface is standardized. 
       FIG. 11  is a block diagram illustrating a feature module  96  configured like a USB thumb drive. The feature module  96  includes a flash memory  98  and a USB-enabled microcontroller  100 . While the feature module  96  includes a USB interface, it should be apparent that this technique can be expanded to cover a variety of physical and protocol layers. For instance, the physical layer may be RS232, or simple TTL level asynchronous data (this is advantageous since most microcontrollers have UART built in that can communicate over such a channel), while the protocol layer may be some proprietary standard. It should also be noted that with onboard intelligence, the data being transmitted to and from the memory module may also be encrypted. 
     As already explained, a feature module can be inserted to enable more, or less functions in the face pack  14 . The landscape controller  10  may be sold in a version in which all features already exist in the face pack. In this version, the operational program stored in the PM  56  has all the features that the end user could ever utilize already coded in firmware. When the unit is shipped, some, but not all of these features are active, perhaps for logistic reasons (they may confuse less savvy end users), or for marketing reasons (the end user may be willing to pay more for some features). In either case, the purpose of the feature module  22  is to enable some or all of the features already contained in the face pack code, or to de-feature it.  FIG. 12  illustrates a feature module  102  that includes a PIC12F508 microcontroller  104  from Microchip Technology, which incorporates a communication interface to the face pack  14 . The feature module  102  may employ a generic asynchronous communication channel as illustrated in  FIG. 13 , which allows the processor  44  in the face pack  14  to communicate with the microcontroller  104  in the feature module  102  over two data lines, RXD and TXD. The purpose of this communication is to allow the face pack  14  to determine which features to unlock, or to hide.  FIG. 14  is a flow diagram illustrating a method of unlocking features pre-programmed into the PM  56  of the face pack  14 . Both the face pack code, and the feature module code preferably utilize a data encryption algorithm that generates a unique output number for a unique input number. The processor  44  generates a random number of large size and passes this to the feature module  102 . The fact that the number is large makes it difficult or impossible to reverse engineer the algorithm because the number of input/output possibilities is too large. The feature module  102  passes this number through its algorithm and generate a unique response. The processor  44  passes the number through one or several algorithms, each corresponding to a different feature, or set of features. The response from the feature module  102  is compared to the results obtained by the processor  44  in the face pack  14 , and the appropriate feature set(s) are enabled. 
     In another version of the landscape controller  10  all of the features are not already programmed into the PM  56  of the face pack  14 . In this version of the landscape controller  10 , the face pack does not have a particular feature or features that could be added later with a feature module. In order to accomplish this, new operational code must be programmed into the PM  56  of the face pack  14 , or otherwise made available to the processor  44 . As discussed above, a memory module could hold code that is re-flashed into the face pack  14 . However, such a module may be taken to multiple landscape controllers (even if it was only paid for once), and used to re-flash all of them. This limitation can be overcome in several ways. Part of the new application code could be a routine to periodically go out and check for the presence of the memory module, even though its “services” are no longer needed. Another approach is for the microcontroller to actually execute the code out of the module itself.  FIG. 15  illustrates a robust feature module  106  that includes two memory components  108  and  110 . The feature module  106  receives a key or cipher from the processor  44  in the face pack  14 . This key is used as a seed for encrypting data from the feature module  106  to the face pack  14 . This encrypted data represents code and instructions and can be an entirely new program which it re-flashes itself with, or it can be a simple code patch. The term “patch” means a portion of code that is patched over an existing program. The patch may modify only a handful of instructions in the code of the operational program stored in the PM  56 , or it may replace an entire functional module in the operational program. A patch does not replace the entire operational program as a full re-flash would accomplish. This new code (patch or entire new operational program) enables features not previously in the operational program of the face pack  14 . The processor  44  periodically repeats this process in order to make sure the Feature module is still installed. 
       FIG. 16  illustrates a feature module  112  that allows the face pack  14  to communicate wirelessly with other devices. These other devices may range in scope from sensors (rain, wind, temperature, humidity, solar radiation, soil moisture, etc) to other controllers, or even PC&#39;s, blackberry&#39;s, Palm® hand held&#39;s, cell phones, and other programming or communication devices. The feature module  112  includes a frequency-agile RF transceiver  114 , in the form of the CC1020 transceiver available from Texas Instruments, to communicate with a remote device. A microcontroller  116  in the form of the PIC16F628 microcontroller from Microchip Technology is used to orchestrate the exchange of data between the CC1020 and the processor  44  in the face pack  14 . The microcontroller  116  also programs the transceiver  114 . There are four connections (PCLK, PDATI, PDATO, PSEL) between the microcontroller  116  and the transceiver  114  that allow the microcontroller  116  to set up the frequency and operating mode of the transceiver  114 . There are two additional connections (DCLK and DIO) that allow data to be exchanged between the microcontroller  116  and the transceiver  114 . Depending on the nature of this data, the wireless feature module  112  can communicate with a variety of remote devices. The wireless communications feature module  112  can utilize RF, infrared or other wireless circuitry (receiver or transmitter, or transceiver), that allows a remote device to communicate with the face pack  14 . 
     While an embodiment of a landscape controller with a control panel insertable feature module has been described in detail, persons skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention can be modified in arrangement and detail. For example, the feature module  84  ( FIG. 4 ) could include the functional equivalent of the ET module circuitry illustrated in FIG. 10 of the aforementioned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/181,894. This would enable the processor  44  to communicate with an on-site weather station such as that illustrated in  FIGS. 12A ,  12 B and  13  of that application and use the actual ET data acquired to modify its watering schedules to thereby conserve water. Our landscape controller with control panel insertable feature modules could be configured as a modular controller with a plurality of removable station modules, utilizing an electro-mechanical architecture such as those disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 6,842,667, U.S. Pat. No. 7,069,115 or U.S. application Ser. No. 12/181,894 filed Jul. 29, 2008, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein. Our landscape controller with control panel insertable feature modules could be configured as a decoder controller with at least one removable or fixed encoder device installed to operate multiple valves through multiple decoder circuits. Where our invention is configured as a modular landscape controller, the controller has a plurality of receptacles for each receiving a removable station module that includes a plurality of switch circuits for energizing a plurality of valves. The station modules can releasably connected to the back plane with multi-pin, card edge or other well known electro-mechanical connectors used in the electronics industry to establish multi-path mating electrical connections. In the modular controller form of our invention, each feature module is operatively connectable to the processor through a separate connecting device on the control panel that is not associated with a station module receptacle. The feature modules are physically incompatible with the connecting devices in the station module receptacles and are therefore not interchangeable with any of the station modules. Our landscape controller need not include a removable face pack. Instead, the control panel (including the display and at least one manually actuable control for entering or selecting a watering schedule) could be fixed and non-removable relative to the remainder of the controller and include at least one connector-equipped slot or other non-slot mechanism for operatively connecting a feature module. Therefore, the protection afforded the subject invention should only be limited in accordance with the scope of the following claims.