Remote monitoring and control of movable barrier status

Apparatus for (i) enabling the remote monitoring, via the Internet, of the open or closed status of a garage door adapted to be driven between open and closed travel limits by a motor responsive to instructions from a garage door operator controller, the motor having a rotatable motor shaft, which direction of rotation determines the direction of travel of the garage door, said apparatus additionally (ii) enabling a change of door status in response to its receipt of a change-of-door status command wirelessly transmitted, via the Internet, from a remote location, said apparatus comprising:

• an encoder associated with said motor for generating electrical motor pulses in response to, and corresponding to the direction of, rotation of the motor shaft and indicative of the directional movement of the garage door;
• a programmable-controlled microprocessor, separate from the door operator controller, for processing the electrical motor pulses to generate digital door status signals indicative of either the open or closed status of the garage door, said microprocessor to enable the processing configured to (a) initially determine from the electrical motor pulses the location of the close travel limit of the garage door, and (b) thereafter determine whether the garage door, when stopped, is in sufficient proximity of the close travel limit to be in closed status, or if not, to thereby be in open status;
• a transceiver for wirelessly transmitting the so determined status of the garage door, via the Internet, to a remotely located Internet access monitoring device, the so determined status of the garage door being directed to the transceiver from the programmable-controlled microprocessor, and not from the door operator controller and
• circuitry routing said change-of-door status command, via the transceiver, to said programmable-controlled microprocessor, the microprocessor configured to responsively initially actuate a flashing light warning, and thereafter actuate the garage door operator controller, the actuating of the garage door operator controller delayed a predetermined time period after the actuation of the flashing light warning, the predetermined time period programmed into the microprocessor.

Apparatus for enabling a remote monitoring of the closed and not closed positional door status of a garage door, the apparatus comprising:

• a mechanism for imparting motion to the garage door, comprising:
• a motor having a rotatable motor shaft, and
• a drive assembly intermediate the motor and the garage door;
• a garage door operator for causing the motor and drive assembly to move the garage door between its travel limit positions, comprising:
• a first programmable-controlled microprocessor for instructing the motor to control the movement of the garage door;
• and motor control circuitry electrically connected to the output of the programmable door controller and to the input of the motor;
• an electronic monitoring network for the determination of the closed or not closed positional door status of the garage door, after the garage door has ceased its movement between the travel limit positions, (i) without monitoring apparatus proximate to the garage door and (ii) without obtaining positional door status from the programmable door controller, the electronic monitoring network comprising:
• an encoder operably associated with the motor for generating electrical motor pulses corresponding to the rotation of the motor shaft and directional movement of the garage door;
• a second programmable-controlled microprocessor for generating digital signals respectively indicative of the closed or not closed positional door status of the garage door, the second programmable controlled microprocessor configured to:
• (a) determine the location of the closed travel limit of the garage door from the electrical motor pulses, and
• (b) thereafter determine whether the garage door, when stopped, is within a pre-defined proximity of the closed travel limit;
• and
• transmitter means wirelessly transmitting closed or not closed positional door status information corresponding to the positional door status represented by the digital signals via Internet.