Patent ID: 7460933

Claim:
A thermostat for controlling heating and/or cooling equipment, comprising: a backlit user display screen for displaying operational information about the heating and/or cooling equipment controlled by the thermostat; wherein the thermostat is configured to vary an illumination intensity of the backlit user display screen based on a user programmable illumination parameter; wherein the thermostat includes an idle mode and an active mode, wherein when the thermostat is in the idle mode the illumination intensity of the backlit user display screen is based on a user programmable active mode parameter and when the thermostat is in the active mode the illumination intensity of the backlit user display screen is based on a user programmable idle mode parameter; and wherein the user programmable active mode parameter is independent of the user programmable idle mode parameter such that the illumination intensity of the active mode may be varied to a lower illumination intensity than the illumination intensity of the idle mode.