PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 16005666
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-06
Publication Date: 2018-10
Patent Classification: ["236", "049300"]

Abstract:
The efficient fan controller includes a microprocessor receiving at least one signal input from thermostat/equipment control terminals to control a fan relay to operate a system fan. The microprocessor monitors a thermostat call for cooling/heating duration and determines a variable fan-off delay based on the cooling/heating cycle duration, and at an end of a cooling/heating cycle energize the fan relay to operate the system fan for the variable fan-off delay. The fan controller avoids false thermostat activation signals and includes a common wire adapter to provide continuous power to a smart communicating thermostat and is configured to evaluate floating, zero, rectified, false positive and active input signals. The fan controller can be embodied on a forced-air-unit control board or thermostat. The fan controller installation methods ensure the system fan/blower operates at high speed for heating and cooling to improve thermal comfort, efficiency and satisfy the thermostat sooner to save energy.

Claim (Index 10):
A fan controller for a Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning (HVAC) system ( 100 ), the fan controller comprising:\n a microprocessor ( 304 ); at least one electrical input configured to receive an electrical signal from a thermostat or equipment control terminal ( 201 ) or a smart communicating thermostat ( 800 ), wherein the electrical input is selected from the group consisting of:\n 1) a fan signal input ( 214 ) configured to connect to a thermostat G signal terminal ( 204 ) for the microprocessor ( 304 ) to monitor for an active G signal, \n 2) an Air Conditioning (AC) signal input ( 215 ) configured to connect to a thermostat Y signal terminal ( 207 ) for the microprocessor ( 304 ) to monitor for an active Y signal, \n 3) a heat signal input ( 216 ), configured to connect to a thermostat W signal terminal ( 208 ) for the microprocessor ( 304 ) to monitor for an active W signal, and \n 4) a temperature sensor input, configured to connect to a temperature sensor to monitor at least one temperature selected from the group consisting of: a conditioned space temperature, a return air temperature and a supply air temperature; and \n a first switching device ( 301 ) electrically connected to the microprocessor ( 304 ) to receive a control signal from the microprocessor ( 304 ); a common wire adapter ( 815 ), comprising at least one electrical component selected from the group consisting of:\n an HVAC element ( 814 ) providing at least two HVAC control signals to the HVAC system, \n a thermostat element ( 806 ) to receive at least two HVAC control signals from a thermostat, \n at least one electrical connection ( 808 ) between the thermostat element and the HVAC element carrying at least two HVAC control signals, and \n a second switching device ( 836 ) in the HVAC Element to respond to the negatively rectified signals on the single electrical connection ( 808 ) to re-create HVAC control signal  818 ; and \n a fan relay signal output ( 212 ) from the first switching device ( 301 ); and wherein the microprocessor ( 304 ) is configured to perform at least one action selected from the group consisting of:\n monitor an output ( 272 ) from a power supply ( 303 ) and an output ( 828 ) of an optoisolator ( 824 ) to provide a signal ( 832 ) to the second switching device ( 836 ) to provide a continuous AC waveform to output ( 818 ) to signal the HVAC system if the input ( 808 ) has a negatively rectified signal; \n monitor a duration of a cooling cycle and determine a variable fan-off delay time based on the duration of the cooling cycle, and at an end of the cooling cycle, either energize or continue to energize the fan relay signal output ( 212 ) to operate a system fan ( 206 ) for the variable fan-off delay time to deliver additional cooling energy to a conditioned space wherein the variable fan-off delay time is determined in order to improve energy efficiency, \n monitor a duration of a heating cycle and determine the variable fan-off delay time based on the duration of the heating cycle, and at an end of a heating cycle, either energize or continue to energize the fan relay signal output ( 212 ) to operate the system fan/blower ( 206 ) for the variable fan-off delay time to deliver additional heating energy to the conditioned space wherein the variable fan-off delay time is determined in order to improve energy efficiency, and \n monitor the temperature sensor input, and at an end of the cooling cycle or heating cycle either energize or continue to energize the fan relay signal output ( 212 ) to operate a system fan/blower ( 206 ) for the variable fan-off delay time to deliver additional cooling or heating energy to a conditioned space wherein the variable fan-off delay time is determined based on at least one threshold temperature selected from the group consisting of: the conditioned space temperature, the return air temperature and the supply air temperature.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 4.0
- Percentile: 94.0
- Lexical Diversity: 1.88235
- Patent Class: 236.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['15144806', '15251978', '15614600', '15358131', '14168503']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.8114969562140795
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5952339275960724
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.7898706533522788
- Mean Citation Score: 457.42610600000006
- Max Citation Score: 504.2814
- Similarity Product: 484.6920767023087

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 1
- Claim Label 112: 1
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test