Patent ID: 7949433

Claim:
A method for controlling irrigation comprising: generating an indication representing the amount of rain fall at a sensor unit; transmitting a signal comprising at least the indication from the sensor unit to an interface unit, wherein the interface unit is adapted to cause an interruption of programmed watering schedules of an irrigation controller and wherein the interface unit is separate from the irrigation controller; receiving the signal at the interface unit; receiving user input relating to the interruption of the programmed watering schedules of the irrigation controller via a user interface integrated with the interface unit, wherein the user input defines a rain interruption threshold; determining, at the interface unit, based at least on the indication from the signal and the user input, whether irrigation should be interrupted; and generating an interrupt command to interrupt irrigation in the event it is determined that the irrigation should be interrupted; and wherein the determining step further comprises determining, based at least on a rate of rain fall whether the irrigation should be interrupted, wherein the user input received via the user interface defines a rain interruption threshold, and wherein the determining whether the irrigation should be interrupted step comprises determining, based on the rate of rain fall, that the irrigation should be interrupted, regardless of whether a relationship exists between the rain interruption threshold and the indication at the interface unit; and wherein the determining that the irrigation should be interrupted step further comprises determining, based on the rate of rain fall, that the irrigation should be interrupted where the amount of rain fall that is less than the rain interruption threshold.