Automated presence detection and presence-related control within an intelligent controller

An intelligent controller comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory that stores a control schedule and an indication of a presence state,
• one or more sensors;
• and
• instructions stored within the memory that, when executed by the processor, controls the intelligent controller to
• record output from the one or more sensors in memory, and
• at intervals,
• determine a probability of presence of one or more entities within a region of a controlled environment using the recorded sensor output in memory,
• update the indication of the presence state, and
• upon a change of the indication of the presence state, accordingly adjust the control schedule;
• wherein the intelligent controller updates the indication of the presence state by
• when a probability of presence for a region rises above a first threshold, setting the indication of the presence state for the region to indicate the presence of an entity in the region, and
• when a probability of presence for a region falls below a second threshold, setting the indication of the presence state for the region to indicate the absence of an entity in the region.

An intelligent thermostat comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory that stores a control schedule and an indication of a presence state,
• one or more sensors;
• and
• instructions stored within the memory that, when executed by the processor, controls the intelligent controller to
• record output from the one or more sensors in memory, and
• at intervals,
• determine a probability of presence of one or more people within a region of a controlled environment using the recorded sensor output in memory,
• update the indication of the presence state, and
• upon a change of the indication of the presence state, accordingly adjust the control schedule;
• wherein the indication of a presence state indicates one of
• a home state,
• an away-normal state,
• an away-vacation state, and
• a sleep state;
• and
• wherein the intelligent thermostat determines the probability of presence of one or more people within one or more regions and volumes within the controlled environment by
• for each of the one or more regions and volumes,
• determining a cumulative presence-probability value, and
• applying rules to the cumulative presence-probability value in order to adjust the cumulative presence-probability value for one or more additional considerations based on the additional electronically accessible information.