Thermostat, system and method for providing awareness in a hospitality environment
A system and method for providing awareness in a hospitality environment are presented. In one embodiment, a vertical and horizontal array of thermostats is provided and each thermostat includes an identification corresponding to a room in which the thermostat is placed. Each thermostat includes a wireless transceiver that periodically transmits an identification beacon signal that is received by a proximate wireless-enabled programmable interactive device. The proximate wireless-enabled programmable interactive device, in turn, broadcasts data packets including an indication of the strength of thermostat identification signals received. The broadcasts are received by a server via an array of wireless routers. A location of the proximate wireless-enabled programmable interactive device is determined based on the signal strength information in the data packets.
1. A system for providing awareness in an environment, the system comprising:
a programming interface configured to communicate with a thermostat, the thermostat being a portion of a spatial array of thermostats, each thermostat being associated with a room in a built environment, each thermostat having an identification including a room identifier;
each thermostat of the spatial array of thermostats including a housing, a wireless transceiver associated with the housing, the wireless transceiver configured to send a beacon signal to communicate with a proximate wireless-enabled programmable device;
each thermostat of the spatial array of thermostats including a processor coupled to the wireless transceiver and non-transitory memory accessible to the processor;
the non-transitory memory including first processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:
periodically transmit a thermostat identification beacon signal including thermostat identification; and
a data packet associated with the proximate wireless-enabled programmable device, the data packet including at least one of the thermostat identification, a corresponding signal strength identification indicating the strength of the thermostat identification beacon signal, and a proximate wireless-enabled programmable device identification.
2. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the non-transitory memory further comprises second processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to operate in an operational mode selected from the group consisting of alerts-enabled, service request-enabled, tracking-enabled, and non-tracking-enabled.
3. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the non-transitory memory further comprises second processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to operate in an alerts-enabled operational mode.
4. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the non-transitory memory further comprises second processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to operate in a service request-enabled operational mode.
5. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the non-transitory memory further comprises second processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to operate in a tracking-enabled operational mode.
6. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the non-transitory memory further comprises second processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to operate in a non-tracking-enabled operational mode.
7. The system as recited in claim 1 , further comprising a location of the proximate wireless-enabled programmable device being determined following communication from the spatial array of thermostats to the proximate wireless-enabled programmable device to a server.
8. The system as recited in claim 7 , further comprising the location of the proximate wireless-enabled programmable device being determined following communication from the spatial array of thermostats to the proximate wireless-enabled programmable device to the server by way of a spatial array of routers, the spatial array of routers being disposed in the built environment.
9. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the wireless transceiver is configured to communicate with a standard selected from the group consisting of infrared (IR), 802.11, 3G, 4G, Edge, WiFi, ZigBee, near field communications (NFC), Bluetooth and Bluetooth low energy.
10. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the proximate wireless-enabled programmable device further comprises a user-supplied wireless-enabled programmable interactive device.
11. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the proximate wireless-enabled programmable device further comprises a single button personal locator device.
12. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the room comprises a place in an environment selected from the group consisting of hospitality environments, educational campuses, hospital campuses, office buildings, multi-unit dwellings, sport facilities, and shopping malls.
13. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the room comprises a place selected from the group consisting of elevators, hallways, and stairwells.
14. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the spatial array of thermostats comprises a vertical and horizontal array of thermostats.
15. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the spatial array of thermostats comprises a horizontal array of thermostats.
16. A system for providing awareness in an environment, the system comprising:
a programming interface configured to communicate with a thermostat, the thermostat being a portion of a spatial array of thermostats, each thermostat being associated with a room in a built environment, each thermostat having an identification including a room identifier, each thermostat having thermostat circuitry to monitor and control heating and cooling in the room to a setpoint temperature;
each thermostat of the spatial array of thermostats including a housing, a wireless transceiver associated with the housing, the wireless transceiver configured to send a beacon signal to communicate with a proximate wireless-enabled programmable device;
each thermostat of the spatial array including a processor coupled to the wireless transceiver and non-transitory memory accessible to the processor;
the non-transitory memory including first processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:
periodically transmit an identification beacon signal including thermostat identification; and
a data packet associated with the proximate wireless-enabled programmable device, the data packet including at least one of the thermostat identification, a corresponding signal strength identification indicating the strength of the thermostat identification beacon signal, and a proximate wireless-enabled programmable device identification.
17. The system as recited in claim 16 , wherein the non-transitory memory further comprises second processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to operate in an operational mode selected from the group consisting of alerts-enabled, service request-enabled, tracking-enabled, and non-tracking-enabled.
18. The system as recited in claim 16 , wherein the non-transitory memory further comprises second processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to operate in an alerts-enabled operational mode.
19. The system as recited in claim 16 , wherein the non-transitory memory further comprises second processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to operate in a service request-enabled operational mode.
20. The system as recited in claim 16 , wherein the non-transitory memory further comprises second processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to operate in a tracking-enabled operational mode.
21. The system as recited in claim 16 , wherein the non-transitory memory further comprises second processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to operate in a non-tracking-enabled operational mode.
22. A system for providing awareness in an environment, the system comprising:
a programming interface configured to communicate with a thermostat, the thermostat being a portion of a spatial array of thermostats, each thermostat being associated with a room in a built environment, each thermostat having an identification including a room identifier, each thermostat having thermostat circuitry to monitor and control heating and cooling in the room to a setpoint temperature;
each thermostat of the spatial array of thermostats including a housing, a wireless transceiver associated with the housing, the wireless transceiver configured to send a beacon signal to communicate with a proximate wireless-enabled programmable device;
each thermostat of the spatial array including a processor coupled to the wireless transceiver and non-transitory memory accessible to the processor;
the non-transitory memory including first processor-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:
periodically transmit an identification beacon signal including thermostat identification;
a data packet associated with the proximate wireless-enabled programmable device, the data packet including at least one of the thermostat identification, a corresponding signal strength identification indicating the strength of the thermostat identification beacon signal, and the proximate wireless-enabled programmable device identification; and
a location of the proximate wireless-enabled programmable device being determined following communication from the spatial array of thermostats to the proximate wireless-enabled programmable device to a server.