Patent ID: 7890195

Claim:
A method for programming a programmable thermostat that is configured to control one or more pieces of HVAC equipment in accordance with a schedule, the schedule having a number of days and one or more time periods for each of at least some of the days, and wherein one or more control parameters are associated with each of the time periods, the method comprising: (a) selecting a first time period of the schedule via a user interface; (b) displaying control parameters for the selected first time period but not displaying control parameters for non-selected time periods; (c) individually sequentially selecting each of two or more days using the user interface without first requiring the user to assign the selected days to a group; (d) entering a control parameter value for the first selected time period via the user interface; (e) selecting a next time period of the schedule via the user interface; (f) displaying control parameters for the selected next time period but not displaying control parameters for non-selected time periods; (g) entering a control parameter value for the selected next time period via the user interface; (h) repeating steps (e) through (g) for additional desired time periods; and (i) using the entered control parameter value for each selected time period on the two or more selected days of the schedule when subsequently operating the programmable thermostat.