Patent ID: 7246499

Claim:
An air conditioner for an automobile having a passenger compartment, the air conditioner comprising: an air control system to control a property of air entering the passenger compartment; a manual setting member through which the property of the air is manually controlled; a control system that automatically controls the property of the air based on a control characteristic, wherein the control system updates the control characteristic based on an input from the manual setting member and based on a variable learning rate, wherein the variable learning rate is based on a first input from the manual setting member and a second input from the manual setting member, wherein the first input from the manual setting member corresponds to a time value measured between a first adjustment of the manual setting member and a second adjustment of the manual setting member, wherein the second input from the manual setting member corresponds to a magnitude of the second adjustment of the manual setting member; a second air control system to control a second property of air entering the passenger compartment; a second manual setting member through which the second property of the air is manually controlled; and a second control system that automatically controls the second property of the air based on a second control characteristic, wherein the second control system updates the second control characteristic based on an input from the second manual setting member and based on the variable learning rate.