Architectural opening coverings and methods

1. An architectural opening covering system to be used to cover an architectural opening, comprising:

a first motor to move a middle rail relative to a fixed top rail;

a second motor to move a bottom rail relative to the middle rail and the fixed top rail;

a covering between the middle rail and the bottom rail, a first movement of the middle rail relative to the fixed top rail to retract the covering to expose the architectural opening between the middle rail and the fixed top rail, a second movement of the middle rail relative to the fixed top rail to cover the architectural opening between the middle rail and the bottom rail; and

a controller to selectively actuate the first motor to move the middle rail based on a first position of the middle rail and a first position of the bottom rail, and to selectively actuate the second motor to move the bottom rail based on a second position of the middle rail and a second position of the bottom rail.

2. A system as defined in claim 1 , further including an optical rotary encoder to detect an upward end-of-travel position of the middle rail.

3. A system as defined in claim 1 , wherein when the first position of the middle rail is an upward end-of-travel position of the middle rail, the controller is responsive to a first input signal to selectively actuate the first motor to move the middle rail downward either to an intermediate position of the middle rail or to a downward end-of-travel position of the middle rail.

4. A system as defined in claim 3 , wherein when the first position of the middle rail is the downward end-of-travel position of the middle rail, the controller is responsive to a second input signal to selectively actuate the first motor to move the middle rail upward either to the intermediate position of the middle rail or to the upward end-of-travel position of the middle rail.

5. A system as defined in claim 4 , wherein when the second position of the bottom rail is an upward end-of-travel position of the bottom rail, the controller is responsive to a third input signal to selectively actuate the second motor to move the bottom rail downward either to an intermediate position of the bottom rail or to a downward end-of-travel position of the bottom rail.

6. A system as defined in claim 5 , wherein when the second position of the bottom rail is the downward end-of-travel position of the bottom rail, the controller is responsive to a fourth input signal to selectively actuate the second motor to move the bottom rail upward either to the intermediate position of the bottom rail or to the upward end-of-travel position of the bottom rail.

7. A system as defined in claim 1 , wherein the controller is to determine a maximum upward position and a maximum downward position of the middle rail based on measurements of electrical current drawn by the first motor.

8. A system as defined in claim 7 , further including a rotary encoder, wherein the controller is to determine the maximum upward position by associating a first electrical current measurement with a first rotary encoder reading from the rotary encoder and to determine the maximum downward position by associating a second electrical current measurement with a second rotary encoder reading from the rotary encoder.

9. A system as defined in claim 1 , further including a ribbon cable to provide communications between the second motor and the controller.

10. A system as defined in claim 1 , wherein the first and second motors are located in the top rail.

11. A system as defined in claim 1 , further including a first motor control circuit, and a second motor control circuit.

12. A method to control an architectural opening covering system to be used to cover an architectural opening, comprising:

selectively actuating a first motor to move a middle rail based on a first position of the middle rail and a first position of a bottom rail to extend or retract a covering positioned between the middle rail and the bottom rail; and

selectively actuating a second motor to move the bottom rail based on a second position of the middle rail and a second position of the bottom rail, a first movement of the middle rail relative to the bottom rail to retract the covering between the middle rail and the bottom rail to expose the architectural opening between the middle rail and a top rail, a second movement of the middle rail relative to the bottom rail to extend the covering between the middle rail and the bottom rail to cover the architectural opening with the covering extending between the middle rail and the bottom rail.

13. A method as defined in claim 12 , wherein when the first position of the middle rail is an upward end-of-travel position of the middle rail, the selective actuation of the first motor causes the middle rail to move downward either to an intermediate position of the middle rail or to a downward end-of-travel position of the middle rail.

14. A method as defined in claim 13 , further including using an optical rotary encoder to detect the upward end-of-travel position of the middle rail.

15. A method as defined in claim 13 , wherein when the first position of the middle rail is the downward end-of-travel position of the middle rail, the selective actuation of the first motor causes the middle rail to move upward either to the intermediate position of the middle rail or to the upward end-of-travel position of the middle rail.

16. A method as defined in claim 15 , wherein when the second position of the bottom rail is an upward end-of-travel position of the bottom rail, the selective actuation of the second motor causes the bottom rail to move downward either to an intermediate position of the bottom rail or to a downward end-of-travel position of the bottom rail.

17. A method as defined in claim 16 , wherein when the second position of the bottom rail is the downward end-of-travel position of the bottom rail, the selective actuation of the second motor causes the bottom rail to move upward either to the intermediate position of the bottom rail or to the upward end-of-travel position of the bottom rail.

18. A method as defined in claim 12 , further including determining a maximum upward position and a maximum downward position of the middle rail based on measurements of electrical current drawn by the first motor.

19. A method as defined in claim 18 , further including:

determining the maximum upward position of the middle rail by associating a first electrical current measurement with a first rotary encoder reading from a rotary encoder; and

determining the maximum downward position of the middle rail by associating a second electrical current measurement with a second rotary encoder reading from the rotary encoder.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions to cause a machine to at least:

selectively actuate a first motor to move a middle rail based on a first position of the middle rail and a first position of a bottom rail to extend or retract a covering positioned between the middle rail and the bottom rail; and

selectively actuate a second motor to move the bottom rail based on a second position of the middle rail and a second position of the bottom rail, a first movement of the middle rail relative to the bottom rail to retract the covering between the middle rail and the bottom rail to expose an architectural opening between the middle rail and a top rail, a second movement of the middle rail relative to the bottom rail to extend the covering between the middle rail and the bottom rail to cover the architectural opening with the covering.