Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US9709290B2/en
Timestamp: 2019-06-16 00:04:22
Document Index: 669836255

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 2', 'art-2', 'Application No. 11841830', 'Application No. 12841861', 'Application No. 201280051827', 'Application No. 2015']

US9709290B2 - Control unit with automatic setback capability - Google Patents
US9709290B2
US9709290B2 US14/600,469 US201514600469A US9709290B2 US 9709290 B2 US9709290 B2 US 9709290B2 US 201514600469 A US201514600469 A US 201514600469A US 9709290 B2 US9709290 B2 US 9709290B2
US14/600,469
US20150142180A1 (en
2010-09-14 Priority to US12/881,463 priority Critical patent/US8606374B2/en
2010-09-14 Priority to US12/881,430 priority patent/US8510255B2/en
2010-11-19 Priority to US41577110P priority
2011-01-04 Priority to US12/984,602 priority patent/US9104211B2/en
2011-01-10 Priority to US12/987,257 priority patent/US9092040B2/en
2011-02-23 Priority to US29/386,021 priority patent/USD660732S1/en
2011-02-24 Priority to US13/034,678 priority patent/US8752771B2/en
2011-03-01 Priority to US13/038,191 priority patent/US8757507B2/en
2011-03-01 Priority to US13/038,206 priority patent/US8478447B2/en
2011-08-16 Priority to US29/399,618 priority patent/USD687044S1/en
2011-08-16 Priority to US29/399,623 priority patent/USD687045S1/en
2011-08-16 Priority to US29/399,630 priority patent/USD687057S1/en
2011-08-16 Priority to US29/399,614 priority patent/USD687851S1/en
2011-08-16 Priority to US29/399,636 priority patent/USD687047S1/en
2011-08-16 Priority to US29/399,617 priority patent/USD711916S1/en
2011-08-16 Priority to US29/399,627 priority patent/USD690322S1/en
2011-08-16 Priority to US29/399,621 priority patent/USD691629S1/en
2011-08-16 Priority to US29/399,625 priority patent/USD687056S1/en
2011-08-16 Priority to US29/399,632 priority patent/USD687046S1/en
2011-08-16 Priority to US29/399,609 priority patent/USD687043S1/en
2011-08-16 Priority to US29/399,637 priority patent/USD677180S1/en
2011-08-16 Priority to US29/399,633 priority patent/USD687459S1/en
2011-10-06 Priority to US13/267,871 priority patent/US9261287B2/en
2011-10-06 Priority to US13/267,877 priority patent/US9026254B2/en
2011-10-07 Priority to US13/269,501 priority patent/US8918219B2/en
2011-10-17 Priority to US13/275,307 priority patent/US9098279B2/en
2011-10-17 Priority to US13/275,311 priority patent/US8843239B2/en
2011-10-17 Priority to US13/317,423 priority patent/US9489062B2/en
2015-01-20 Application filed by Google LLC filed Critical Google LLC
2015-01-20 Priority to US14/600,469 priority patent/US9709290B2/en
2015-05-21 Publication of US20150142180A1 publication Critical patent/US20150142180A1/en
2017-07-18 Publication of US9709290B2 publication Critical patent/US9709290B2/en
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/279,151, filed Oct. 21, 2011, which claims the benefit of U.S. Prov. Ser. No. 61/415,771 filed Nov. 19, 2010; and of U.S. Prov. Ser. No. 61/429,093 filed Dec. 31, 2010, each of which is incorporated by reference herein. The subject matter of this patent specification relates to the subject matter of the following commonly assigned applications: U.S. Ser. No. 12/881,430 filed Sep. 14, 2010; U.S. Ser. No. 12/881,463 filed Sep. 14, 2010; U.S. Ser. No. 12/984,602 filed Jan. 4, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 12/987,257 filed Jan. 10, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 13/033,573 filed Feb. 23, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 29/386,021, filed Feb. 23, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 13/034,666, U.S. Ser. No. 13/034,674 and U.S. Ser. No. 13/034,678 filed Feb. 24, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 13/038,191 filed Mar. 1, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 13/038,206 filed Mar. 1, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 29/399,609 filed Aug. 16, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 29/399,614 filed Aug. 16, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 29/399,617 filed Aug. 16, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 29/399,618 filed Aug. 16, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 29/399,621 filed Aug. 16, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 29/399,623 filed Aug. 16, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 29/399,625 filed Aug. 16, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 29/399,627 filed Aug. 16, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 29/399,630 filed Aug. 16, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 29/399,632 filed Aug. 16, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 29/399,633 filed Aug. 16, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 29/399,636 filed Aug. 16, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 29/399,637 filed Aug. 16, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 13/199,108, filed Aug. 17, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 13/267,871 filed Oct. 6, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 13/267,877 filed Oct. 6, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 13/269,501 filed Oct. 7, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 29/399,609 filed Oct. 14, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 29/399,614 filed Oct. 14, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 29/399,617 filed Oct. 14, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 29/399,618 filed Oct. 14, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 29/399,621 filed Oct. 14, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 29/399,623 filed Oct. 14, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 29/399,625 filed Oct. 14, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 29/399,627 filed Oct. 14, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 13/275,307 filed Oct. 17, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 13/275,311 filed Oct. 17, 2011; U.S. Ser. No. 13/317,423 filed Oct. 17, 2011; and U.S. Ser. No. 61/627,996 filed Oct. 21, 2011. Each of the above-referenced patent applications is incorporated by reference herein. The above-referenced patent applications are collectively referenced hereinbelow as “the commonly assigned incorporated applications.”
According to some embodiments, for the combined purposes of inspiring user confidence and further promoting visual and functional elegance, the thermostat 300 is controlled by only two types of user input, the first being a rotation of the outer ring 312 as shown in FIG. 3A (referenced hereafter as a “rotate ring” input), and the second being an inward push on the upper cap 308 (FIG. 3B) until an audible and/or tactile “click” occurs (referenced hereafter as an “inward click” input). For further details of suitable user-interfaces and related designs which are employed, according to some embodiments, see co-pending patent application U.S. Ser. No. 13/033,573 and U.S. Ser. No. 29/386,021, both filed Feb. 23, 2011, and are incorporated herein by reference.
Provided according to one embodiment is an algorithm for setpoint schedule modification based on occupancy patterns and/or corrective manual input patterns associated with repeated instances of “auto-away” triggering and/or “auto-arrival” triggering. Occupancy and/or corrective manual input behaviors associated with “auto-away/auto-arrival” features are continuously monitored and filtered at multiple degrees of time periodicity in order to detect patterns in user occupancy that can, in turn, be leveraged to “trim” or otherwise “tune” the setpoint temperature schedule to better match actual occupancy patterns. By filtering at multiple levels of time periodicity, it is meant that associated patterns are simultaneously sought (i) on a contiguous calendar day basis, (ii) on a weekday by weekday basis, (iii) on a weekend-day by weekend-day basis, (iv) on a day-of-month by day-of-month basis, and/or on the basis of any other grouping of days that can be logically linked in terms of user behavior. Thus, for example, if a particular occupancy and/or corrective manual input behavior associated with “auto-away/auto-arrival” is observed for a series of successive Fridays, then the setpoint temperature schedule for Fridays is adjusted to better match the indicated occupancy pattern. If a particular occupancy and/or corrective manual input behavior associated with “auto-away/auto-arrival” is observed for both a Saturday and Sunday, and then for the next Saturday and Sunday, and then still for the following Saturday and Sunday, then the setpoint temperature schedule for Saturdays and Sundays is adjusted to better match the indicated occupancy pattern detected. As yet another example, if a particular occupancy and/or corrective manual input behavior associated with “auto-away/auto-arrival” is observed for the 2nd through 7th day of the month for several months in a row, then the setpoint temperature schedule for the 2nd through 7th day of the month is adjusted, and so on. According to some preferred embodiments, two “auto away/auto-arrival” events that occur on consecutive similar days (e.g. two consecutive weekdays or on the same days of the week for two consecutive weeks) that (a) are within a predetermined time of day of each other (e.g. within 60 minutes), and (b) are not corrected manually (i.e. there is no associated “punishing” behavior), then the standard schedule will either be automatically modified or the change will be proposed to a user.
In case 1052, one of the thermostats, 1020 has insufficient confidence in its activity sensor data. This could be, for example that it has been newly installed, or it could be due to poor placement for occupancy sensing (e.g. its “view” is severely limited by walls and/or doors). The other two thermostats 1010 and 1030 have sufficient confidence, have not detected activity within the ASCW and have set their AAR flags to “Yes.” In this case the thermostat 1020 “sees” the other “Yes” flags and changes its flag to “Yes.” The decision is unanimous and the Away state is implemented. In this case the thermostat 1020 that had low confidence was not allowed to “veto” the decision of the two confident thermostats 1010 and 1030.
controlling temperature within the conditioned enclosure according to a setpoint temperature, an initial value of the setpoint temperature being from a preexisting schedule and representing a temperature suitable for when one or more persons are occupying the conditioned enclosure;
periodically determining occupancy based on data received from one or more occupancy sensors adapted to detect occupancy within the conditioned enclosure;
periodically updating the setpoint temperature upon expiration of a predetermined time interval during which no occupancy has been detected, the updated setpoint temperature requiring substantially less energy to maintain than the initial value of the setpoint temperature; and
periodically modifying the predetermined time interval based at least in part on received manual settings that indicate occupancy following the updating the setpoint temperature.
2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the determining occupancy and periodically updating occur during daytime hours.
3. A method according to claim 1 wherein the conditioned enclosure is at least part of a dwelling or a light commercial building.
4. A method according to claim 1 wherein periodically updating the setpoint temperature comprises updating the setpoint temperature to a setpoint temperature from the preexisting schedule.
5. A method according to claim 4 wherein periodically updating the setpoint temperature comprises returning the setpoint temperature to the initial value.
6. A method for controlling temperature in a conditioned enclosure comprising:
periodically modifying the predetermined time interval based at least in part on prior received data and prior automatic changes of the setpoint temperature in the conditioned enclosure.
7. A method according to claim 6 wherein the determining occupancy and periodically modifying occur during daytime hours.
8. A system for controlling temperature in a conditioned enclosure comprising:
a thermostat that controls a heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system of the conditioned enclosure and that classifies the conditioned enclosure at least as being in an occupied state or an unoccupied state, the thermostat comprising:
an occupancy sensor for detecting occupancy within the conditioned enclosure, and
occupancy history information from the occupancy sensor;
a local flag having a value based on the occupancy history information being consistent with the conditioned enclosure being unoccupied; and
one or more peer flags having values that correspond to local flags stored by one or more peer thermostats, each of the peer flags being updateable to reflect a value of a local flag of a respective one of the peer thermostats; and
wherein the thermostat:
updates the local flag at least according to information from the occupancy sensor;
receives information of the values of the local flags of the one or more peer thermostats to update the peer flags;
classifies the conditioned enclosure in the unoccupied state when the value of the local flag and values of all of the peer flags reflect that the occupancy history information of the thermostat and all of the peer thermostats is consistent with the conditioned enclosure being unoccupied; and
controls the temperature in the conditioned enclosure according to a first schedule when the conditioned enclosure is classified in the occupied state, and according to a second schedule when the conditioned enclosure is classified in the unoccupied state.
9. The system of claim 8, wherein the thermostat is capable of disqualifying a peer thermostat of the one or more peer thermostats based on insufficient sensed occupant activity at the peer thermostat being disqualified, such that the value of the peer flag corresponding to the peer thermostat that is disqualified is not considered when the thermostat classifies the conditioned enclosure.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein the thermostat is capable of requalifying a disqualified peer thermostat, based on the disqualified peer thermostat sensing a predetermined level of occupant activity, such that the value of the peer flag corresponding to the peer thermostat that is requalified is again considered when the thermostat classifies the conditioned enclosure.
11. The system of claim 8, the thermostat further comprising a wireless transceiver, and wherein the thermostat receives the information of the status of the local flag of at least one of the one or more peer thermostats to update the peer flags, through peer to peer communication with the at least one of the one or more peer thermostats, using the wireless transceiver.
12. The system of claim 8, the thermostat further comprising a wireless transceiver, and wherein the thermostat receives the information of the status of the local flag of at least one of the one or more peer thermostats to update the peer flags, from a cloud-based management server through the wireless transceiver.
13. The system of claim 8, wherein the second schedule includes a temperature setpoint at an energy-saving temperature value, relative to a temperature setpoint at a corresponding time of day in the first schedule.
14. The system of claim 8, further comprising the one or more peer thermostats.
15. A method for controlling temperature in a conditioned enclosure comprising:
controlling a heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system for the conditioned enclosure with a thermostat that comprises:
an occupancy sensor for detecting occupancy within the conditioned enclosure;
memory that stores:
one or more peer flags having values that correspond to local flags stored by one or more peer thermostats, each of the peer flags being updateable to reflect a value of a local flag of a respective one of the peer thermostats;
updating the local flag at least according to information from the occupancy sensor;
updating the peer flags according to received information of the values of the local flags of the one or more peer thermostats;
classifying the conditioned enclosure, by the processing system, in the unoccupied state when the value of the local flag and values of all of the peer flags reflect that the occupancy history information of the thermostat and all of the peer thermostats is consistent with the conditioned enclosure being unoccupied; and
controlling the temperature in the conditioned enclosure, by the processing system, according to a first schedule when the conditioned enclosure is classified in the occupied state, and according to a second schedule when the conditioned enclosure is classified in the unoccupied state.
16. The method of claim 15, further comprising disqualifying, by the processing system, one of the one or more peer thermostats based on insufficient sensed occupant activity, such that the value of the peer flag corresponding to the disqualified peer thermostat is not considered when the thermostat classifies the conditioned enclosure.
17. The method of claim 16, further comprising requalifying, by the processing system, the disqualified peer thermostat, when the disqualified peer thermostat senses a predetermined level of occupant activity, such that the value of the peer flag corresponding to the requalified peer thermostat is again considered when the thermostat periodically determines classification of the conditioned enclosure.
18. The method of claim 15, further comprising receiving, by the thermostat, the information of the status of the local flag of at least one of the one or more peer thermostats to update the peer flags, through a wireless transceiver in peer to peer communication with the at least one of the one or more peer thermostats.
19. The method of claim 15, further comprising receiving, by the thermostat, the information of the status of the local flag of at least one of the one or more peer thermostats to update the peer flags, through a wireless transceiver from a cloud-based management server.
20. The method of claim 15, wherein the second schedule includes a temperature setpoint at an energy-saving temperature value, relative to a temperature setpoint at a corresponding time of day in the first schedule.
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