Bluetooth thermostat and hub
A system and approach for remote reading, setting and control of devices such as thermostats. A phone, such as a smartphone, a gateway and a cloud may be incorporated relative to interaction with the device or devices. The gateway may have a hub that has bluetooth communication capabilities with the device. The hub may be connected to a router that in turn is connected to a cloud in a wireless or wired manner. The phone may communicate with the cloud to achieve interaction with the device. The hub may also handle WiFi communications. The gateway may instead be a phone that contains an app which lets operate as a gateway for communications with the cloud. There may be one or more devices that are a part of one or more home area networks that are connected to a gateway via bluetooth and WiFi, and in turn connected to the cloud.
1. A method for device commissioning with Bluetooth comprising:
pairing a smart phone with a thermostat having Bluetooth capability;
doing a handshake, by the smart phone, with the thermostat to confirm pairing and communication between the smart phone and the thermostat;
querying, by the smart phone, an app on the smart phone for an ISU (installation setup);
confirming the ISU in response to the querying the app on the smart phone for the ISU;
querying, by the smart phone, and transferring an address number from the thermostat to a cloud or smart phone; and
registering, by the smart phone, the thermostat at the cloud with the app of the smart phone.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the thermostat continuously broadcasts an advertisement which is information to the smart phone;
the paired smart phone controls, connects, changes a state, gets confirmation and disconnects; and
the thermostat is open for control by any paired smart phone in a vicinity of the thermostat.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
a Bluetooth connection between the smart phone and the thermostat is continuous;
the Bluetooth connection of the smart phone is on a priority list; and
when the smart phone leaves a vicinity of the thermostat, the smart phone loses connection and a second smart phone next on the priority list can connect to the smart phone and thus control the thermostat.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the thermostat also can broadcast an advertisement to enable one or more additional smart phones in the vicinity of a thermostat to join the smart phone still connected, in a connection to the thermostat, and also control the thermostat.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein in response to the smart phone acting as a gateway, the second smart phone can connect to the thermostat through the cloud.
6. The method of claim 4 , wherein:
acting as a gateway is embedded in an app of the smart phone; and
the smart phone acting as a gateway can convey status and control messages from the cloud to the thermostat.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the thermostat collects information about a state and history of the thermostat;
the smart phone can download the information about the state and history of the thermostat via Bluetooth; and
the information can be used for diagnostics, analytics or troubleshooting.
8. A communication layout comprising:
a thermostat having Bluetooth communication capability;
a first smart phone having a Bluetooth communication capability,
wherein the first smart phone is configured to be connected in communication with the thermostat, and
wherein the first smart phone is configured to operate as a gateway between the thermostat and a cloud; and
a second smart phone configured to be in communication with the cloud,
wherein the second smart phone is configured to receive and send messages to the cloud, and wherein the messages from the second smart phone are configured to be received and sent to the thermostat via the first smart phone.
9. The communication layout of claim 8 , wherein the first smart phone routes messages from the thermostat to the cloud.
10. The communication layout of claim 8 , wherein the first smart phone caches messages from the thermostat to the cloud.
11. The communication layout of claim 8 , wherein a user of the second smart phone is remote from a facility where the thermostat is situated.