Patent ID: 8288981

Claim:
A method of automatically controlling a position of a motorized window treatment while minimizing occupant distractions, the motorized window treatment adapted to control the amount of sunlight entering a space of a building through a window located in a faÃ§ade of the building, the position of the window treatment controllable between an open-limit position and a closed-limit position to control a sunlight penetration distance within the space, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a desired maximum sunlight penetration distance for the space; building a timeclock schedule having a start time and an end time, the timeclock schedule including a number of timeclock events that will occur between the start time and the end time; receiving a minimum time period that may occur between any two consecutive timeclock events; calculating optimal positions of the motorized window treatment at a plurality of different times between the start time and the end time, such that the sunlight penetration distance will not exceed the desired maximum sunlight penetration distance at the plurality of different times between the start time and the end time; determining, for each of the timeclock events, an event time between the start time and the end time, such that at least the minimum time period exists between the event times of any two consecutive timeclock events; determining a respective event position for each of the timeclock events to which the motorized window treatment will be controlled at the respective event time, such that the sunlight penetration distance does not exceed the desired maximum sunlight penetration distance for all of the events between the start time and the end time of the timeclock schedule; and automatically controlling the motorized window treatment according to the timeclock schedule by adjusting the position of the motorized window treatment to the respective position of each of the timeclock events at the respective event time; wherein if the optimal positions of the motorized window treatment are characterized by a flat region during which the optimal positions do not change in value for at least the minimum time period that may occur between any two consecutive timeclock events, the position of the motorized window treatment is controlled to a constant position for an amount of time greater than the minimum time period that may occur between any two consecutive timeclock events.