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 1):
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, and \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; \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 ) receiving 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/blower ( 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, and \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 the energy efficiency.

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