Auto-configuring time-of day for building control unit
View Patent ↗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.
1. 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.
2. The thermostat of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to estimate time-of-year from the input over a multi-day period.
3. The thermostat of claim 1 , wherein the sensor comprises:
a light transducer,
a temperature transducer,
an infra-red transducer,
a video capture array,
a sound transducer, and/or
an radio frequency transducer.
4. The thermostat of claim 1 , wherein the sensor comprises a light sensor filtered to accentuate wavelengths of sunlight over man-made light.
5. The thermostat of claim 1 , further comprising an input interface that receives a zip code entered by the user.
6. The thermostat of claim 5 , wherein the estimated time-of-day is a function of the zip code and the sensor.
7. The thermostat of claim 1 , wherein the estimated time-of-day is overridden by:
time-of-day entered by the user,
time-of-day received from a local area network (LAN), and/or
time-of-day received from a wide area network (WAN).
8. 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.
9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising estimating time-of year from sensor readings over a plurality of days.
10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising gathering the sensor readings from:
a light transducer,
a temperature transducer,
an infra-red transducer,
a video capture array,
a sound transducer, and/or
an radio frequency transducer.
11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising receiving an indication of location from a user, wherein estimating a time-of-day is a function of the indication.
12. The method of claim 8 , further comprising filtering wavelengths from the sensor readings, wherein the wavelengths correspond to man-made interference.
13. The method of claim 8 , further comprising overriding the estimated time-of-day is with:
time-of-day entered by the user,
time-of-day received from a local area network (LAN), and/or
time-of-day received from a wide area network (WAN).
14. 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.
15. The device of claim 14 , wherein the sensor input is configured to couple to:
a light transducer,
a temperature transducer,
an infra-red transducer,
a video capture array,
a sound transducer, and/or
an radio frequency transducer.
16. The device of claim 14 , further comprising:
a thermostat that governs operation of an HVAC system, and
an ambient light sensor coupled to said sensor input.
17. The device of claim 14 , further comprising an input interface that receives location information entered by the user, wherein the estimated time-of-day is a function of the location information and the sensor input.
18. The device of claim 14 , wherein the estimated time-of-day is overridden by:
time-of-day entered by the user, and/or
time-of-day received from a wireless network.
19. The device of claim 14 , the device is part of a system, which includes a battery-operated remote control unit, wherein:
the battery-operated remote control produces a wireless signal that is received by the device, and
said battery-operated remote control includes a ambient light sensor coupled to the sensor input using the wireless signal for transport.