Digital snow and ice sensor and heating apparatus including same

A method for heating a structure during frozen precipitation, the method comprising:

• storing, within a memory, at least one geographic coordinate within a user-defined geographic zone around the structure;
• receiving, over a time frame, by a frozen precipitation forecast sensor that comprises one or more programmed processors, weather data for a geographic region in which the structure is located;
• determining, by the one or more programmed processors of the frozen precipitation forecast sensor, at time instances during the time frame, that at least one geographic coordinate associated with a likelihood of frozen precipitation is the same as the at least one geographic coordinate within the user-defined geographic zone around the structure based on the received weather data;
• transmitting, by the frozen precipitation forecast sensor, command signals to a control unit that controls the operation of a heater used for heating the structure, wherein the command signals comprise command signals for the operational state of the heater and the command signals are based on the determination that the at least one geographic coordinate associated with a likelihood of frozen precipitation is the same as the at least one geographic coordinate within the user-defined geographic zone around the structure;
• controlling, by the control unit, the operational state of the heater based on the command signals received from the frozen precipitation forecast sensor;
• transmitting, by the frozen precipitation forecast sensor, a first command signal to the control unit that the heater should be in an ON state upon a determination by the frozen precipitation forecast sensor that the at least one geographic coordinate associated with a likelihood of frozen precipitation is the same as the at least one geographic coordinate within the user-defined geographic zone around the structure;
• and
• transmitting, by the frozen precipitation forecast sensor, a second command signal to the control unit that the heater should be in an OFF state upon a determination by the frozen precipitation forecast sensor that the at least one geographic coordinate associated with a likelihood of frozen precipitation is not the same as the at least one geographic coordinate within the user-defined geographic zone around the structure;
• and
• wherein:
• the geographic zone is sufficiently large such that upon the determination of the at least one geographic coordinate where there is a likelihood of frozen precipitation in the geographic zone around the structure, the control unit controls the heater so that that the heater is in the ON state before the frozen precipitation sensor determines that the at least one geographic coordinate associated with a likelihood of frozen precipitation is the same as at least one geographic coordinate of the structure.

An apparatus for heating a structure during frozen precipitation, the apparatus comprising:

• heating means located near the structure;
• a control unit connected to the heating means for controlling operation of the heating means;
• and
• a memory configured to store at least one geographic coordinate within a user-defined geographic zone around the structure;
• a host server that is in communication with the control unit via the Internet, wherein the server is programmed to:
• receive, over a time frame, weather data for a geographic region in which the structure is located, wherein the weather data are received via the Internet from one or more Internet-connected weather service servers that serve weather data via the Internet;
• determine, at time instances during the time frame, at least one geographic coordinate associated with a likelihood of frozen precipitation based on the received weather data;
• determine whether the at least one geographic coordinate associated with a likelihood of frozen precipitation is the same as the at least one geographic coordinate within the user-defined geographic zone around the structure;
• and
• transmit command signals to the control unit via the Internet based on the determination that the at least one geographic coordinate associated with a likelihood of frozen precipitation is the same as the at least one geographic coordinate within the user-defined geographic zone around the structure, wherein the command signals comprise command signals for an operational state of the heating means, and wherein the control unit controls the heating means based on the command signals transmitted by the host server;
• wherein:
• upon a determination that the at least one geographic coordinate associated with a likelihood of frozen precipitation is the same as the at least one geographic coordinate within the user-defined geographic zone around the structure, the host server transmits a first command signal to the control unit that the heating means should be in an ON state;
• upon a determination that the at least one geographic coordinate associated with a likelihood of frozen precipitation is not the same as the at least one geographic coordinate within the user-defined geographic zone around the structure, the host server transmits a second command signal to the control unit that the heating means should be in an OFF state;
• and
• the geographic zone is sufficiently large such that upon the determination of the at least one geographic coordinate associated with a likelihood of frozen precipitation in the geographic zone around the structure, the control unit controls the heating means so that that the heating means is in the ON state before the frozen precipitation sensor determines that the at least one geographic coordinate associated with a likelihood of frozen precipitation is the same as at least one geographic coordinate of the structure.