Systems and methods for seamlessly transferring a radio connection between components of a climate control system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11564148-B2
Application number	US-202016923950-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 8, 2020
Priority date	Jul 8, 2020
Publication date	Jan 24, 2023
Grant date	Jan 24, 2023

Abstract

Methods and related systems for operating a climate control system for an indoor space are disclosed. In an embodiment, the method includes establishing a connection between a device and a hub of the climate control system along a first signal pathway, wherein at least a portion of the first signal pathway comprises a short-range radio connection between the device and a first component of the system. In addition, the method includes monitoring one or more parameters of the first signal pathway and one or more parameters of a second signal pathway extending between the device and the hub, wherein at least a portion of the second signal pathway comprises a short-range radio connection between the device and a second component of the system. Further, the method includes re-routing the connection between the portable device and the system hub from the first signal pathway to the second signal pathway.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of operating a climate control system for an indoor space, the method comprising:
(a) establishing a connection between a portable device and a system hub of the climate control system along a first signal pathway extending between the portable device and the system hub, wherein at least a portion of the first signal pathway comprises a short-range radio connection between the portable device and a first component of the climate control system;
(b) monitoring one or more parameters of the first signal pathway and one or more parameters of a second signal pathway extending between the portable device and the system hub, wherein at least a portion of the second signal pathway comprises a short-range radio connection between the portable device and a second component of the climate control system; and
(c) re-routing the connection between the portable device and the system hub from the first signal pathway to the second signal pathway in response to a change in at least one of the parameters of at least one of the first signal pathway and the second signal pathway, wherein
the second component is connected to the first component by a wired communication bus of the climate control system and wherein at least a portion of the communication bus is disposed in the indoor space,
the one or more parameters of the first signal pathway comprises a signal quality of the first signal pathway,
the one or more parameters of the second signal pathway comprises a signal quality of the second signal pathway, and
the change comprises the signal quality of the second signal pathway being at least 10% greater than the signal quality of the first signal pathway.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the one or more parameters of the first signal pathway further comprises a data throughput of the first signal pathway;
the one or more parameters of the second signal pathway further comprises a data throughput of the second signal pathway; and
the change further comprises the data throughput of the second signal pathway surpassing the signal quality and the data throughput of the first signal pathway.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein (a) comprises:
(a1) transmitting a connection request comprising a predefined code between a system hub of the climate control system and the portable device, and wherein at least one of the portable device and the system hub establishes the connection between the portable device and the system hub in response to the system hub validating the predefined code.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the connection between the system hub and the portable device is established automatically in response to one of the parameters of the first signal pathway exceeding a predefined threshold.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the first component comprises an outdoor unit of the climate control system, wherein the outdoor unit comprises an outdoor controller in wired communication with the system hub via the communication bus; and
the second component comprises an indoor unit of the climate control system, wherein the indoor unit comprises an indoor controller in wired communication with the system hub via the communication bus.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of both the first signal pathway and the second signal pathway comprises at least a portion of the communication bus.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the system hub comprises the first component or the second component.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
(d) receiving a request for information pertaining to at least one of the first component and the second component at a system hub of the climate control system;
(e) accessing the requested information from a database stored in a memory of the system hub which comprises information related to both the first component and the second component;
(f) transmitting the requested information directly from at least one of the first component and the second component to the portable device; and
(g) transmitting the requested information from the portable device to a communication network.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
(a) comprises:
(a1) establishing a short-range radio connection between the portable device and both the first component along the first signal pathway and the second component along the second signal pathway;
(a2) designating the connection between the portable device and the system hub along the first signal pathway as active for transferring data between the portable device and the system hub; and
(c) comprises:
(c1) re-routing the active designation from the first signal pathway to the second signal pathway.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the radio connection between the portable device and the first component and the radio connection between the portable device and the second component each comprises a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radio link.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
(d) increasing a power level of a radio frequency (RF) signal broadcasted by at least one of the first component and the second component in response to (a).

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
(d) broadcasting radio frequency (RF) signals from the first component and the second component, wherein the RF signals broadcasted from the first component and the second component each comprise a shared identifier.

13. A climate control system for an indoor space, the climate control system comprising:
a plurality of components comprising a system hub of the climate control system and at least one of an indoor unit and an outdoor unit of the climate control system, wherein the system hub is connected to at least one other component of the plurality of components by a wired communication bus of the climate control system which is at least partially disposed in the indoor space; and
a non-transitory machine-readable medium including instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
establish a connection between a portable device and the system hub along a first signal pathway extending between the portable device and the system hub, wherein at least a portion of the first signal pathway comprises a short-range radio connection between the portable device and a first component of the plurality of components, wherein the first component comprises at least one of the system hub, the indoor unit, and the outdoor unit;
monitor one or more parameters of the first signal pathway and one or more parameters of a second signal pathway extending between the portable device and the system hub, wherein at least a portion of the second signal pathway comprises a short-range radio connection between the portable device and a second component of the plurality of components, wherein the second component comprises at least one of the system hub, the indoor unit, and the outdoor unit; and
re-route the connection between the portable device and the system hub from the first signal pathway to the second signal pathway in response to a change in at least one of the parameters of at least one of the first signal pathway and the second signal pathway, wherein
the one or more parameters of the first signal pathway comprises a signal quality of the first signal pathway,
the one or more parameters of the second signal pathway comprises a signal quality of the second signal pathway, and
the change comprises the signal quality of the second signal pathway being at least 10% greater than the signal quality of the first signal pathway.

14. The climate control system of claim 13 , wherein the system hub comprises the non-transit

Assignees

• Trane Int Inc

Inventors

• Garrett Carl L
• Smith Nathan
• Blair Daniel J
• Whitehurst Drew
• Davis Caleb

Classifications

• H04W40/34 Primary

  Modification of an existing route · CPC title

• G05B19/042

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

• H04W76/10

  Connection setup · CPC title

• G05B2219/2614

  HVAC, heating, ventillation, climate control · CPC title

• H04W4/80 Primary

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title