# US 10,866,003 B2 · Thermostat with preemptive heating, cooling, and ventilation in response to elevated occupancy detection via proxy > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,866,003 B2 - Document ID: US10866003B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/953,228 - Filed: 2018-04-13 - Published: 2018-10-18 - Granted: 2020-12-15 - Earliest claimed: 2017-04-14 - Assignees: Johnson Controls Technology Company - Applicants: Johnson Controls Technology Company - Inventors: Michael J. Ajax; Joseph R. Ribbich; Nicholas S. Van Derven - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10866003B2 ## CPC - F24F 11/30: for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring - F24F 11/0001: {for ventilation (F24F11/30 takes precedence)} - F24F 11/523: for displaying temperature data - F24F 11/56: Remote control - F24F 11/80: for controlling the temperature of the supplied air - G05B 13/021: {in which a variable is automatically adjusted to optimise the performance} - G05B 15/02: electric - F24F 2011/0002: {for admittance of outside air} - F24F 2110/10: Temperature - F24F 2120/10: Occupancy - F24F 2120/12: Position of occupants - F24F 2140/60: Energy consumption - G05B 2219/2642: Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house - F24F: AIR-CONDITIONING; AIR-HUMIDIFICATION; VENTILATION; USE OF AIR CURRENTS FOR SCREENING (removing dirt or fumes from areas where they are produced B08B15/00; vertical ducts for carrying away waste gases from buildings E04F17/02; tops for chimneys or ventilating shafts, terminals for flues F23L17/02) - G05B: CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS (systems for controlling or regulating non-electric variables G05D; systems for regulating electric or magnetic variables G05F; control devices or systems insofar as characterised by mechanical features only G05G) ## Abstract A controller for controlling a temperature of a building space includes an occupancy sensor configured to measure an occupancy signal indicating whether one or more occupants are within the building space and a processing circuit configured to receive the occupancy signal from the occupancy sensor. The processing circuit is configured to determine whether the number of occupants within the building space has increased by a predefined amount based on the received occupancy signal, decrease a value of a temperature setpoint for the building space from a first value to a second value in response to a determination that the number of occupants within the building space has increased by the predefined amount based on the received occupancy signal, and reduce the temperature of the building space by controlling one or more pieces of building equipment associated with the building space. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A controller for controlling a temperature of a building space, the controller comprising: an occupancy gas sensor configured to measure an occupancy gas signal indicating whether one or more occupants are within the building space, wherein the occupancy gas signal indicates an occupant generated gas concentration level within the building space; and a processing circuit configured to: receive the occupancy gas signal from the occupancy gas sensor; generate a gas signal baseline based on a plurality of samples of the occupancy gas signal collected by the controller during deployment of the controller in the building space by periodically updating the gas signal baseline as the plurality of samples of the occupancy gas signal are collected; determine whether a number of occupants within the building space has increased by a predefined amount based on a comparison of the occupancy gas signal to the gas signal baseline; preemptively cause a cooling call to be generated by decreasing a value of a temperature setpoint for the building space from a first value to a second value less than the temperature of the building space in response to a determination that the number of occupants within the building space has increased by the predefined amount based on the occupancy gas signal; and reduce the temperature of the building space by controlling one or more pieces of building equipment associated with the building space based on the second value of the temperature setpoint in response to the cooling call being generated. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The controller of claim 1, further comprising a temperature sensor configured to measure the temperature associated with the building space, wherein the occupancy gas signal changes at a rate faster than the temperature changes at in response to the number of occupants within the building space changing by the predefined amount; wherein the processing circuit is configured to reduce the temperature of the building space by controlling the one or more pieces of building equipment associated with the building space based on the second value of the temperature setpoint and the temperature of the building space. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The controller of claim 1, wherein the controller further comprises at least one of a camera configured to record one or more camera signals associated with the building space or a microphone configured to generate audio signals of the building space. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The controller of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to control a ventilator associated with the building space to increase a level of ventilation of the building space in response to the determination that the number of occupants within the building space has increased by the predefined amount based on the occupancy gas signal. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The controller of claim 1, further comprising a camera configured to capture a camera signal associated with the building space; wherein the processing circuit is configured to: receive the camera signal from the camera; and determine whether the number of occupants within the building space has increased by the predefined amount by: identifying the number of occupants within the building space based on the camera signal; and comparing the number of occupants within the building space in the camera signal to a baseline occupancy level. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The controller of claim 1, further comprising a microphone configured to generate an audio signal indicative of sounds generated by occupants within the building space; wherein the processing circuit is configured to: receive the audio signal from the microphone; and determine whether the number of occupants within the building space has increased by the predefined amount by: identifying the number of occupants within the building space based on the audio signal; and comparing the number of occupants to a baseline occupancy level. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The controller of claim 1, wherein the occupant generated gas concentration level is at least one of a carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration level, a volatile organic compound (VOC) concentration level, and a nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentration level. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The controller of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to determine whether the number of occupants within the building space has increased by the predefined amount based on the occupant generated gas concentration level by: determining a rate at which the occupant generated gas concentration level is increasing based on the occupant generated gas concentration level and one or more other occupant generated gas concentration levels; and determining that the number of occupants within the building space has increased by the predefined amount in response to determining that the rate is greater than a predefined rate. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The controller of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to: determine a plurality of baseline levels based on a plurality of additional occupant generated gas concentration levels and store the plurality of baseline levels in a memory device, each of the plurality of baseline levels being associated with a particular time interval; and determine whether the number of occupants within the building space has increased by the predefined amount by: retrieving one of the plurality of baseline levels from the memory device based on a time at which the occupant generated gas concentration level is received from the occupancy gas sensor; and determine whether the number of occupants within the building space has increased by the predefined amount by comparing the occupant generated gas concentration level to the retrieved one of the plurality of baseline levels. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The controller of claim 9, wherein the processing circuit is configured to generate the one of the plurality of baseline levels based on the plurality of additional occupant generated gas concentration levels by performing a weighted average of the plurality of additional occupant generated gas concentration levels. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The controller of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to determine whether the number of occupants within the building space has increased by the predefined amount based on the occupant generated gas concentration level by comparing the occupant generated gas concentration level with a baseline. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The controller of claim 11, wherein the processing circuit is configured to: receive a plurality of additional occupant generated gas concentration levels from the occupancy gas sensor, each of the plurality of additional occupant generated gas concentration levels indicating a particular gas concentration level at a particular time of a plurality of times; and update the gas signal baseline based on the plurality of additional occupant generated gas concentration levels. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The controller of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to preemptively generate a ventilation call by increasing a ventilation level from a first level to a second level. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The controller of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to determine whether the number of occupants within the building space has increased by the predefined amount based on the occupancy gas signal based on a baseline value; wherein the processing circuit is configured to generate the baseline value by: determining a time associated with no occupancy; receiving a plurality of values of the occupancy gas signal from the occupancy gas sensor associated with the time; and generating the baseline value from the plurality of values. ### Claim 15 A method for controlling a temperature of a building space, the method comprising: receiving, by a processing circuit, an occupancy gas signal from an occupancy gas sensor, wherein the occupancy gas signal indicates an occupant generated gas concentration level within the building space, wherein the occupancy gas signal is a volatile organic compound (VOC) concentration level or a nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentration level; generating, by the processing circuit, a gas signal baseline based on a plurality of samples of the occupancy gas signal collected by the processing circuit during deployment of the processing circuit in the building space by periodically updating the gas signal baseline as the plurality of samples of the occupancy gas signal are collected; determining, by the processing circuit, a number of occupants within the building space based on a comparison of the occupancy gas signal to the gas signal baseline; determining, by the processing circuit, whether the number of occupants within the building space has increased by a predefined amount based on the occupancy gas signal; preemptively causing, by the processing circuit, a cooling call to be generated by decreasing a value of a temperature setpoint for the building space from a first value to a second value less than the temperature of the building space in response to a determination that the number of occupants within the building space has increased by the predefined amount based on the occupancy gas signal; and reducing, by the processing circuit, the temperature of the building space by controlling one or more pieces of building equipment associated with the building space based on the second value of the temperature setpoint in response to the cooling call being generated. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, further comprising receiving, by the processing circuit, occupancy data from at least one of a camera configured to record one or more camera signals associated with the building space or a microphone configured to generate audio signals of the building space. ### Claim 17 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, further comprising controlling, by the processing circuit, a ventilator associated with the building space to increase a level of ventilation of the building space in response to the determination that the number of occupants within the building space has increased by the predefined amount based on the occupancy gas signal. ### Claim 18 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, wherein determining whether the number of occupants within the building space has increased by the predefined amount based on the occupant generated gas concentration level comprises: determining a rate at which the occupant generated gas concentration level is increasing based on the occupant generated gas concentration level and one or more other occupant generated gas concentration levels; and determining that the number of occupants within the building space has increased in response to determining that the rate is greater than a predefined rate. ### Claim 19 A building control system for controlling a temperature of a building space, the building control system comprising: a gas sensor configured to measure an occupant generated gas concentration level within the building space; and a processing circuit configured to: receive the occupant generated gas concentration level from the gas sensor; generate a gas signal baseline based on a plurality of samples of the occupant generated gas concentration level collected by the building control system by periodically updating the gas signal baseline as the plurality of samples of the occupant generated gas concentration level are collected; determine whether a number of occupants within the building space has increased by a predefined amount based on a comparison of the occupant generated gas concentration level to the gas signal baseline; preemptively cause a cooling call to be generated by decreasing a value of a temperature setpoint for the building space from a first value to a second value in response to a determination that the number of occupants within the building space has increased by the predefined amount based on the occupant generated gas concentration level; and reduce the temperature of the building space by controlling one or more pieces of building equipment associated with the building space based on the second value of the temperature setpoint in response to the cooling call being generated. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The building control system of claim 19, wherein the processing circuit is configured to determine whether the number of occupants within the building space has increased based on the occupant generated gas concentration level by: determining a rate at which the occupant generated gas concentration level is increasing based on the occupant generated gas concentration level and one or more other occupant generated gas concentration levels; and determining that the number of occupants within the building space has increased in response to determining that the rate is greater than a predefined rate.