Auto-configuring time-of day for building control unit
AssigneeGoogle Inc.
InventorYoky Matsuoka
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Provided according to some embodiments is a thermostat is capable of discerning the time-of-day without external input. Should the user fail to set the time, the thermostat uses one or more sensors to determine the time-of-day through a variety of techniques. In one example, a light sensor can monitor natural light to understand the cycle of sun with respect to the installation location. From the cycle of natural light a latitude, time-of-year, time-of-day, etc. can be estimated through processing sensor information over time. Should the thermostat have its time manually set or gathered from the network, it would override the estimated time-of-day. Techniques can be used to filter input from the one or more sensors to avoid confusion from other inputs, for example, man-made lighting.
Claims19
A thermostat, comprising:
- a power source;
- a housing;
- a clock function for tracking time-of-day;
- a sensor that performs measurements of an environmental condition that varies with a time-of-day;
- a processor configured to:
- receive the measurements from the sensor,
- perform a transform to convert the received measurements to the frequency domain;
- identify a component of the received measurements in the frequency domain having a frequency of approximately 11.57 μHz;
- determine when the component having the frequency of approximately 11.57 μHz has crossed a predefined threshold;
- estimate the time-of-day using the determination of when the component having the frequency of approximately 11.57 μHz crossed the predefined threshold, and
- program the clock function using the estimated time-of-day;
- an electronic display configured to display information to a user;
- and
- a plurality of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) wire connectors communicatively coupled to the processor and configured control an HVAC system as a function of the estimated time-of-day.
A method for operating a thermostat, the method comprising:
- loading sensor readings of environmental conditions, wherein the environmental conditions correlate with a time-of-day;
- performing a transform to convert the sensor readings to the frequency domain;
- identifying a component of the sensor readings in the frequency domain having a frequency of approximately 11.57 μHz;
- determining when the component having the frequency of approximately 11.57 μHz has crossed a predefined threshold;
- estimating the time-of-day using the determination of when the component having the frequency of approximately 11.57 μHz crossed the predefined threshold;
- tracking the estimated time-of-day within the thermostat;
- and
- controlling heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) wire connectors coupled to the thermostat, wherein the HVAC wired connectors are configured to control an HVAC system as a function of the estimated time-of-day.
A device for governing and/or facilitating the governance of a resource consuming system, comprising:
- a power input;
- a housing;
- a clock function for tracking a time-of-day;
- a sensor input configured to measure environmental conditions that vary with a time-of-day;
- a learning function configured to:
- transform measured environmental conditions made by the sensor to the frequency domain,
- identify a component of the measured environmental conditions in the frequency domain having a frequency of approximately 11.57 μHz,
- determine when the component having the frequency of approximately 11.57 μHz has crossed a predefined threshold,
- estimate the time-of-day using the determination of when the component having the frequency of approximately 11.57 μHz crossed the predefined threshold, and
- program the clock function using the estimated time-of-day;
- and
- at least one output that provides at least one output signal that is used in governance of the resource-consuming system, wherein said output signal is at least in part a function of the estimated time-of-day.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.