US 6,792,319 B1 · Home automation system and method

Abstract

A home automation system and method for automatic control of controlled devices throughout a home. A unique architecture of occupancy sensors includes entry/exit sensors for detecting movement through doorways that separate rooms in the home, room motion sensors for detecting room occupancy, spot sensors to detect occupancy of specific locations within the rooms, and house status sensors to detect the status of certain parameters of the home. A central controller communicates with the sensors and controlled objects over a communications network, where the sensors and controlled objects can be added to the system in a ‘plug and play’ manner. The central controller controls the controlled objects in response to the entry/exit sensors, room motion sensors, spot sensors and the house status sensors. This control is accomplished by assigning each room to one of a plurality of room occupancy states, which dictate how the controlled objects are controlled by the central controller. The controlled objects also have controlled object states, which are used by the central controller to control the controlled objects.

Claims64

Dependent claims

A home automation system for a home having a plurality of rooms separated by doorways, wherein each of the rooms has at least one of the doorways associated therewith, the system comprising:

a plurality of controlled objects each disposed in one of the plurality of rooms;
a plurality of entry/exit sensors each disposed at one of the doorways to detect movement of a person therethrough;
a plurality of room motion sensors each disposed in one of the plurality of rooms to detect occupancy by a person therein;
and
a controller for controlling the controlled objects in response to detected movement by the plurality of entry/exit sensors and detected occupancy by the plurality of room motion sensors;
wherein for at least one of the rooms:
the controller assigns the one room to a first room state in response to no detected movement by any of the entry/exit sensors at the doorway associated with the one room and to no detected occupancy by any of the room motion sensors disposed in the one room, to a second room state in response to detected movement by any of the entry/exit sensors at the doorway associated with the one room, and to a third room state in response to detected occupancy by any of the room motion sensors disposed in the one room;
and
the control of any of the controlled objects in the one room by the controller varies depending upon which of the first, the second and the third room states the one room is assigned to.

6 more elements

A method of automated control of a plurality of controlled objects disposed in a plurality of rooms in a home that are separated by doorways, wherein a plurality of entry/exit sensors are each disposed at one of the doorways to detect movement of a person therethrough and a plurality of room motion sensors are each disposed in one of the rooms to detect occupancy by a person therein, and wherein each room has at least one of the doorways associated therewith, the method comprising:

controlling the controlled objects in response to detected movement by the plurality of entry/exit sensors and in response to detected occupancy by the plurality of room motion sensors, wherein for at least one of the rooms the controlling of the controlled objects includes:
assigning the one room to a first room state in response to no detected movement by any of the entry/exit sensors at the doorway associated with the one room and no detected occupancy by any of the room motion sensors disposed in the one room;
assigning the one room to a second room state in response to detected movement by any of the entry/exit sensors at the doorway associated with the one room;
assigning the one room to a third room state in response to detected occupancy by any of the room motion sensors disposed in the one room;
and
controlling any of the controlled objects in the one room in a manner that varies depending upon which of the first, the second and the third room states the one room is assigned to.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Home automation system and method

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Home automation system and method

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims64