Thermostat with mode settings for multiple zones

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10760809-B2
Application number	US-201815983899-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 18, 2018
Priority date	Sep 11, 2015
Publication date	Sep 1, 2020
Grant date	Sep 1, 2020

Abstract

A building controller for a building that includes a first zone and a second zone. The building controller includes a processing circuit configured to store zone modes for the building. The zone modes include zone activity modes each associated with an occupant activity within the zone and one or more environmental settings. The processing circuit is configured to receive an indication to operate the first zone in a first zone mode of the zone modes and an indication to operate the second zone in a second zone mode of the zone modes. The processing circuit is configured to operate one or more pieces of building equipment based on the first zone mode and operate the one or more pieces of building equipment based on the second zone mode.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A building controller for a building comprising a first zone and a second zone, the building controller comprising:
a user interface configured to display output to a user; and
a processing circuit configured to:
store a plurality of zone modes for the building, wherein the plurality of zone modes comprise zone activity modes associated with an occupant activity within a zone and one or more environmental settings;
cause the user interface to display one or more zone mode selection user interfaces prompting the user to select an operating zone mode for each of the first zone and the second zone, wherein the one or more zone mode selection user interfaces comprises a first set of the plurality of zone modes for the first zone and a second set of the plurality of zone modes for the second zone;
receive an indication to operate the first zone in a first zone mode of the plurality of zone modes and an indication to operate the second zone in a second zone mode of the plurality of zone modes by receiving, via the user interface, a first mode selection of the first set of the plurality of zone modes and receiving, via the user interface, a second mode selection of the second set of the plurality of zone modes;
operate one or more pieces of building equipment to control an environmental condition of the first zone based on one or more first environmental settings associated with the first mode selection; and
operate the one or more pieces of building equipment to control an environmental condition of the second zone based on one or more second environmental settings associated with the second mode selection.

2. The building controller of claim 1 , wherein the one or more pieces of building equipment comprise one or more first pieces of building equipment associated with the first zone configured to control the environmental condition of the first zone and one or more second pieces of building equipment associated with the second zone configured to control the environmental condition of the second zone.

3. The building controller of claim 1 , wherein the zone activity modes comprise at least two of:
a cooking zone mode associated with one or more first temperature setpoints that account for heat generated by cooking equipment within one of the first zone or the second zone;
a party zone mode associated with one or more second temperature setpoints that account for heat generated by a predefined number of occupants being within one of the first zone or the second zone; and
a workout zone mode associated with one or more third temperature setpoints that account for heat generated by the user within one of the first zone and the second zone exercising.

4. The building controller of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of zone modes comprise one or more inactive user modes, wherein the one or more inactive user modes comprise at least one of:
an away zone mode associated with one or more first temperature setpoints that reduce operations of the one or more pieces of building equipment when an occupant is not within one of the first zone or the second zone; or
a sleep zone mode associated with one or more second temperature setpoints that are user preferred sleep temperature setpoints.

5. The building controller of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of zone modes comprises a custom zone mode, wherein the processing circuit is configured to:
receive an indication of the custom zone mode, wherein the indication of the custom zone mode is a label describing the custom zone mode defined by the user;
receive one or more custom environmental settings for the custom zone mode; and
generate and store the custom zone mode based on the indication of the custom zone mode and the one or more custom environmental settings.

6. The building controller of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to:
receive an indication to activate mode control for the first zone;
receive an indication to deactivate mode control for the second zone;
operate the one or more pieces of building equipment to control the environmental condition of the first zone based on the one or more first environmental settings associated with the first mode selection in response to a first determination that the indication to activate mode control for the first zone is received; and
operate the one or more pieces of building equipment to control the environmental condition of the second zone based on one or more predefined settings instead of the one or more second environmental settings associated with the second mode selection in response to a second determination that the indication to deactivate mode control for the second zone is received.

7. The building controller of claim 1 , wherein the first set of the plurality of zone modes and the second set of the plurality of zone modes each comprise at least one different zone mode.

8. The building controller of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to:
cause the user interface to display a zone mode set selection interface comprising:
an indication of the first zone and the second zone; and
a user interface element for selecting the first set of the plurality of zone modes and the second set of the plurality of zone modes from the plurality of zone modes;

receive, via the user interface, the first set and the second set.

9. The building controller of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to cause the user interface to display a first zone home screen for the first zone, wherein the first zone home screen comprises a selection element allowing the user to select between modes of only the first set of the plurality of zone modes.

10. A method for controlling an environmental condition of a first zone of a building and an environmental condition of a second zone of the building, the method comprising:
storing, by one or more processing circuits, a plurality of zone modes for the building, wherein the plurality of zone modes comprise zone activity modes each associated with an occupant activity within a zone and one or more environmental settings;
causing, by the one or more processing circuits, a user interface to display one or more zone mode selection user interfaces prompting a user to select an operating zone mode for each of the first zone and the second zone, wherein the one or more zone mode selection user interfaces comprises a first set of the plurality of zone modes for the first zone and a second set of the plurality of zone modes for the second zone;
receiving, by the one or more processing circuits, an indication to operate the first zone in a first zone mode of the plurality of zone modes and an indication to operate the second zone in a second zone mode of the plurality of zone modes by receiving, via the user interface, a first mode selection of the first set of the plurality of zone modes and by receiving, via the user interface, a second mode selection of the second set of the plurality of zone modes;
operating, by the one or more processing circuits, one or more pieces of building equipment to control the environmental condition of the first zone based on one or more first environmental settings associated with the first mode selection; and
operating, by the one or more processing circuits, the one or more pieces of building equipment to control the environmental condition of the second zone based on one or more second environmental settings associated with the second mode selection.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the zone activity modes comprise at least two of:
a cooking zone mode associated with one or more first temperature setpoints that account for heat generated by cooking equipment wi

Assignees

• Johnson Controls Tech Co

Inventors

• Gillette Theresa N
• Atchison Shaun B
• Burns Jonathan A

Classifications

• F24F2120/12

  Position of occupants · CPC title

• F24F2140/60

  Energy consumption · CPC title

• F24F2120/20

  Feedback from users · CPC title

• F24F2120/14

  Activity of occupants · CPC title

• F24F11/64

  using pre-stored data · CPC title