Programmable thermostat

A thermostat for a heating and/or air conditioning system, comprising:

• an electronic memory in which three occupancy state temperature set-points are stored and predefined, the predefined occupancy state temperature set-points assigned to three occupancy states including an unoccupied state, an occupied-awake state, and an occupied-asleep state, where the predefined occupancy state temperature set-points are user-predefined for the occupancy states independently of any time period scheduled or schedulable for thermostat operation;
• and
• a microprocessor in communication with the electronic memory, being configured to control operation of a heating and/or air conditioning system to maintain a temperature set-point for a space, the microprocessor configured to execute instructions to:
• in response to user input, assign to each of a plurality of time periods during a day, one of the unoccupied state, the occupied-awake state and the occupied-asleep state;
• the microprocessor further configured to control operation of the heating and/or air conditioning system during a given time period to maintain the pre-defined occupancy state temperature set-point that corresponds to the occupancy state assigned to the given time period;
• wherein one of the occupancy states is selectable by a user for two or more of the time periods during the day.

A method of controlling a climate control system, the method comprising:

• displaying, on a display for user selection therefrom independent of any time period scheduled or schedulable for thermostat operation, three occupancy states including an unoccupied state, an occupied-awake state, and an occupied-asleep state;
• receiving at least one user input predefining at least one temperature set-point for assignment to a user-selected one of the three displayed occupancy states;
• storing one or more user-predefined temperature set-points including one or more of the following:
• a pre-defined unoccupied temperature set-point associated with the unoccupied state, a pre-defined occupied temperature set-point associated with the occupied-awake state and a pre-defined sleep temperature set-point associated with the occupied-asleep state;
• receiving a user selection of one of a plurality of time periods within a day, and a user selection of one of the three occupancy states for assignment to the user-selected time period;
• establishing thermostat operation to maintain only the occupied temperature set-point during any time period assigned the occupied-awake state, and only the unoccupied temperature set-point during any time period assigned the unoccupied state, and only the sleep temperature set-point during any time period assigned the occupied-asleep state;
• and
• assigning, in accordance with user input, one of the occupancy states to more than one time period in a day.