Monitoring and recoverable protection of thermostat switching circuitry
AssigneeNest Labs, Inc.
InventorsDaniel Adam Warren, Brian J. Conner, Ian C. Smith
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of automated sensing of an electrical anomaly associated with a thermostat may include switching a switching circuit within the thermostat to an on state. The switching circuit may be configured to activate an HVAC function when switched to the on state. The method may also include monitoring one or more electrical properties associated with the switching circuit. The method may additionally include determining if an electrical anomaly is associated with the switching circuit based at least in part on the monitored one or more electrical properties. The method may further include switching the switching circuit to an off state if an electrical anomaly is detected.
Claims21
1-25. (canceled)
A method of automated sensing of an electrical anomaly associated with a thermostat, the method comprising:
- switching a switching circuit within the thermostat to an on state, the switching circuit configured to activate an HVAC function when switched to the on state;
- monitoring one or more electrical properties associated with the switching circuit;
- determining if an electrical anomaly is associated with the switching circuit based at least in part on the monitored one or more electrical properties;
- and
- switching the switching circuit to an off state if an electrical anomaly is detected.
A thermostat comprising:
- a switching circuit configured to operate in an on state and an off state, the switching circuit further configured to activate an HVAC function when switched to the on state;
- a monitoring circuit configured to monitor one or more electrical properties associated with the switching circuit;
- and
- a processor coupled to the switching circuit and the monitoring circuit, the processor being programmed to:
- cause the switching circuit to switch to the on state to activate the HVAC function;
- determine if an electrical anomaly associated with the switching circuit is present based at least in part on the monitored one or more electrical properties provided by the monitoring circuit;
- and
- cause switching circuit to switch to the off state if an electrical anomaly is detected.
A thermostat comprising:
- a first Field Effect Transistor (FET);
- a second FET, wherein:
- the first FET and the second FET are connected in series;
- and
- turning on the first FET and the second FET activates an HVAC function;
- a monitoring circuit that monitors the voltage level at a node between the first FET and the second FET to detect when the voltage level surpasses a threshold voltage;
- a processor that is programmed to:
- cause the first FET and the second FET to turn on and activate the HVAC function;
- receive an indication from the monitoring circuit that an electrical anomaly is present based on the voltage level surpassing the threshold voltage;
- and
- cause the first FET and the second FET to turn off when the electrical anomaly is present.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.