Patent ID: 7028912

Claim:
A programmable thermostat system for controlling space conditioning equipment comprising: A) at least one environmental condition sensor providing an electrical signal indicative of the ambient temperature of a conditioned space in which said environmental condition sensor is situated; B) a transparent touch pad juxtaposed with a liquid crystal display to constitute a touch screen for interactive interface with a user; C) a processor, said processor including: 1) a central processing unit; 2) a real time clock; 3) a memory coupled to said central processing unit for storing program and data information; and 4) an input/output unit coupled between said processor and said touch screen for carrying out information transfer therebetween, said input/output unit further including: a) a sensor input coupled to each said environmental condition sensors for receiving said electrical signal therefrom; and b) a control output coupled to the space conditioning equipment for issuing control signals thereto; and D) a control program stored in said memory for causing said central processing unit to communicate through said input/output unit to selectively: 1) establish on said liquid crystal display a first representation produced by a first mode comprising a plurality of virtual buttons for detecting user input that controls operation of one or more components of space conditioning equipment and a plurality of items of information or graphics on the liquid crystal display; 2) detect the occurrence of first condition which causes a change from operation of the first mode to operation of a simple mode in the control program; and 3) activate the simple mode and display on said liquid crystal display a simple representation produced by the simple mode comprising fewer virtual buttons and items of information or graphics than displayed in the first mode.