Geofencing for thermostatic control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10317102-B2
Application number	US-201715490879-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 18, 2017
Priority date	Apr 18, 2017
Publication date	Jun 11, 2019
Grant date	Jun 11, 2019

Abstract

A system and approach using geofencing events for controlling temperature in a building for comfort of a user upon his or her arrival to the building. A decision may be made when to use a direct trigger by an incoming geofencing event and when to use a time of arrival prediction casted by an outgoing geofencing event. One or more geofences may be placed optimally based on the trigger decision and other aspects related to commuting patterns of the user.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A thermostat system having geofencing for control, comprising:
a geofencing device;
a thermostat connected to the geofencing device;
a computational mechanism configured to receive one or more geofencing events from the geofencing device and to adjust the thermostat; and
a heating and cooling system situated in a building and connected to the thermostat; and
wherein:
when the geofencing device crosses a geofence in a direction away from a location of the thermostat, a first signal indicating a first event of a geofence crossing is sent to the thermostat;
when the geofencing device crosses a geofence in a direction towards the location of the thermostat, a second signal indicating a second event of a geofence crossing is sent to the thermostat;
an estimated time of arrival of the geofencing device is determined upon receiving the first signal by the computational mechanism;
the thermostat controls the heating and cooling system for achieving a preset temperature within the building by the estimated time of arrival of the geofencing device; and
when there is insufficient data for a specific user to the generate the estimated time of arrival, the estimated time of arrival is based at least on part on a probabilistic model of behavior patterns created from a plurality of users in a database.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein upon receipt of the second signal from the geofencing device, a re-estimated time of arrival is determined by the computational mechanism, and the thermostat controls the heating and cooling system for achieving the preset temperature within the building by the re-estimated time of arrival of the geofencing device.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the computational mechanism determines a thermostat control strategy;
determining the thermostat control strategy involves a decision whether the thermostat controls the heating and cooling system for achieving a preset temperature within the building by the estimated time of arrival of the geofencing device upon receiving the first signal, or whether the thermostat controls the heating and cooling system for achieving a preset temperature after receiving the second signal;
the determining the thermostat control strategy is reflecting aspects related to a ramp-up time needed by the heating and cooling system and the commute patterns of a user including the ramp-up time needed to achieve a preset temperature in the building and expected commute time of the user to arrive at the building;
a target position is selected; and
a geofence is placed about the target position.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein:
the geofence and target position are chosen so that the geofence is around the building if the thermostat controls the heating and cooling system for achieving a preset temperature within the building by the estimated time of arrival of the geofencing device upon receiving the first signal; or
the geofence and target position are chosen so that the geofence is around the places of frequent activity of the user, in which case the thermostat controls the heating and cooling system for achieving a preset temperature upon receiving the second signal.

5. The system of claim 3 , wherein:
the geofencing device issues signals upon determination of crossing multiple geofences; and
the computational mechanism combines signals issued by the geofencing device upon a crossing of multiple geofences and the thermostat controls to achieve a preset temperature upon an estimated time of arrival to home.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the geofencing device conveys to the computational mechanism information related to aspects of immediate activity of the user including a current position of the user, traffic density on a commuting path of the user, mode of transport used by the user, and an estimate of a frequent activity pattern that user may be performing; and
the computational mechanism uses the information related to aspects of immediate activity of the user, to calculate an estimate of remaining time that the user needs to arrive to the building and send a signal to the thermostat when the estimate of the remaining time is equal to ramp-up time needed by the heating and cooling system to achieve a preset temperature in the building.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the estimated time of arrival is based on specific probabilistic models of the user, trained on previously collected signals sent by the geofencing device of the user within a predefined period;
a validity of the specific probabilistic models of the user, is assessed upon a time of a new estimation of the time of arrival of the geofencing device;
an assessment of the validity of the specific probabilistic models of the user, is performed by checking how many signals similar to current signals were used to build the specific probabilistic models of the user;
probabilistic models from many users of different buildings are combined to form probabilistic models of an average user; and
the probabilistic models of the average user are used to estimate a time of arrival of the geofencing device if an outcome of the assessment of the validity of the user specific probabilistic models of the user indicate that the user specific probabilistic models are invalid.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the geofence device is an application of a smartphone held by a user.

9. A method of geofencing control, comprising:
selecting a target location;
placing a geofence about the target location; and
detecting an event of a geofence crossing with a localization enabled mobile application on a smartphone carried by a user; and
wherein the geofence event of a geofence crossing causes a direct trigger or a prediction based trigger of an action relative to the target location; and
wherein when there is insufficient data for a specific user to the generate a prediction for the prediction based trigger, the prediction is based at least on part on a probabilistic model of behavior patterns created from a plurality of users in a database.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein:
the target location is a house of the user;
the direct trigger is an activation of a thermostat to cause a heating and cooling system to heat or cool the house, when the geofencing device crosses a geofence in a direction towards the location of the thermostat, and a signal indicating an event of a geofence crossing is sent to the thermostat; and
the prediction based trigger is a calculated arrival time of the user to the house, when the geofencing device crosses a geofence in a direction away from the location of the thermostat, and a signal indicating an event of a geofence crossing is sent to the thermostat, resulting in an activation of the thermostat early enough to ensure that a heating and cooling system heats or cools the house to a pre-set temperature on the thermostat.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein:
the placing of the geofence is chosen so that an amount of time for the user to reach to the house from a point of a geofence crossing is equal to or larger than a ramp-up time of the heating and cooling system; and
the ramp-up time is an amount of time for the heating and cooling system to change a temperature in the house to match a temperature set point on the thermostat.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the calculated arrival time of the user is a function of a time when the user leaves the house, as well as one or more factors selected from a group comprising a current day of week, actual weather at a time of the user's leaving home, forecasted weather at a predicted time of arrival at home, indication of whether the actual day

Assignees

• Ademco Inc

Inventors

• Libal Vit
• Vacha Pavel
• Kopicka Ondrej
• Sikora Marek

Classifications

• G05B13/048

  using a predictor · CPC title

• F24F2120/12

  Position of occupants · CPC title

• G05B19/042

  using digital processors (G05B19/05 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F24F2120/10

  Occupancy · CPC title

• F24F11/52

  Indication arrangements, e.g. displays · CPC title