HVAC schedule establishment in an intelligent, network-connected thermostat

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9256230-B2
Application number	US-201313842048-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 15, 2013
Priority date	Nov 19, 2010
Publication date	Feb 9, 2016
Grant date	Feb 9, 2016

Abstract

HVAC schedules may be programmed for a thermostat using a combination of pre-existing schedules or templates and automated schedule learning. For example, a pre-existing schedule may be initiated on the thermostat and the automated schedule learning may be used to update the pre-existing schedule based on users' interactions with the thermostat. The preexisting HVAC schedules may be stored on a device or received from a social networking service or another online service that includes shared HVAC schedules.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for programming an HVAC schedule for a thermostat, comprising:
generating, by a computerized system, one or more input options on a schedule interface, wherein the one or more input options correspond to one or more questions posed to a user;
receiving, by the computerized system, input corresponding to one or more responses to the one or more input options, wherein the input is received at the schedule interface;
selecting, by the computerized system, an HVAC schedule with which to initialize the thermostat from a plurality of template HVAC schedules stored on the thermostat, wherein:
the selection of the template HVAC schedule is based on the received input,
the template HVAC schedule is associated with a defined user type category corresponding to the one or more responses to the one or more questions, and
the template HVAC schedule includes a set of time intervals and a set of pre-defined temperature settings that are based on the defined user type category;

associating, by the computerized system, the thermostat with the selected HVAC schedule, wherein associating includes initiating the selected HVAC schedule on the thermostat for a first time period;
receiving, during the first time period subsequent to the association, input of one or more real-time user setpoints that each indicate a setpoint temperature, wherein:
each setpoint temperature is effectuated immediately by the thermostat upon reception of the corresponding real-time user setpoint of the one or more real-time user setpoints; and
the input corresponding to the one or more real-time user setpoints is received on a control interface;

generating an updated HVAC schedule for the first time period based at least in part on the selected HVAC schedule and the one or more real-time user setpoints, said generating comprising:
processing the received one or more real-time user setpoints together with one or more times at which the one or more real-time user setpoints were made to compute one or more candidate setpoints representative of user-desired temperatures and associated setpoint times for future instances of said first time period; and
mutually filtering the one or more candidate setpoints with the selected HVAC schedule according to a predetermined filtering algorithm to generate the updated schedule; and

associating the thermostat with the updated HVAC schedule, wherein associating includes initiating the updated HVAC schedule on the thermostat for the first time period.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the schedule interface is a web-based interface or provided at a display of the thermostat.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more input options are visually or audibly generated.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the received input is an audio input.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of template HVAC schedules is stored on a server accessible by the thermostat.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the received input can correspond to one or more of a plurality of template schedule paradigms, and wherein the plurality of template schedule paradigms correspond to one or more of the template HVAC schedules stored on the thermostat.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the inquiries include one or more of the following: “Do children live at this residence?”, “Tell me about yourself”, and “Is this business open on the weekends?”.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the defined user type category includes one or more of the following: working couple without kids, working spouse with stay-at-home spouse, young people with active nightlife who work from home, office building, and businesses open only on the weekdays.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein one or more of the input options is generated based on at least one of the one or more responses.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the plurality of template HVAC schedules includes a null HVAC schedule, and wherein the null HVAC schedule is the selected HVAC schedule when the received input does not correspond to one or more of the plurality of template schedule paradigms.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
associating the thermostat with the selected HVAC schedule, wherein associating includes initiating the selected HVAC schedule on the thermostat for a second time period;
receiving, during the second time period subsequent to the association, further input corresponding to one or more additional temperature control selections, wherein the further input is received on a control interface;
generating an updated HVAC schedule for the second time period based at least in part on the selected HVAC schedule and the one or more real-time user setpoints of the first time period, and the one or more additional temperature control selections of the second time period; and
associating the thermostat with the updated HVAC schedule, wherein associating includes initiating the updated HVAC schedule on the thermostat for the second time period.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein generating the updated HVAC schedule based on the selected HVAC schedule and the one or more real-time user setpoints further comprises:
processing the received one or more real-time user setpoints to detect one or more intended new temperature selections, the detected one or more real-time user setpoints correspond to one of the time intervals;
replicating the detected one or more intended new temperature selections throughout the corresponding time intervals;
overlaying the replicated one or more intended new temperature selections and the detected one or more intended new temperature selections onto the selected HVAC schedule; and
mutually filtering the overlayed new temperature selections and temperature selections of the selected HVAC schedule to generate the updated schedule.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 , wherein processing the received one or more real-time user setpoints to detect the one or more new temperature selections for the time period comprises:
clustering temperature control selections of the received one or more real-time user setpoints into clusters, wherein each of the clusters corresponds to a temperature selection at a point in time within one of the time intervals, wherein each of the received one or more real-time user setpoints correspond to a point in time, and wherein the received one or more real-time user setpoints that occur at nearby points in time are clustered into the same cluster;
harmonizing the one or more real-time user setpoints of each of the one or more of the clusters according to predetermined harmonization rules to generate single candidate temperature selections representative of each one of the clusters;
comparing one or more of the single candidate temperature selections to others of the single candidate temperature selections that correspond to similar points of time within the times intervals to detect patterns of similar candidates over multiple time intervals; and
establishing one or more of the single candidate temperature selections as one or more of the one or more intended new temperature selections if a pattern-establishing threshold of a number of similar candidates is met.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , wherein generating the updated HVAC schedule based on the selected HVAC schedule and the one or more real-time temperature

Assignees

• Google Inc

Inventors

• Matsuoka Yoky
• Fadell Anthony M
• Rogers Matthey L
• Sloo David
• Lee Eric A
• Hales Steven A
• Stefanski Mark D
• Sharan Rangoli

Classifications

• F24F11/59

  for presetting · CPC title

• F24F11/65

  for selecting an operating mode · CPC title

• F24F11/64

  using pre-stored data · CPC title

• F24F11/61

  using timers · CPC title

• F24F11/58

  using Internet communication · CPC title