Apple Inc.

Google Inc.

Nest Labs, Inc.

Vestaboard, Inc.

Andrea Mucignat

Edwin H Satterthwaite, Jr

Anthony Michael Fadell

Hugo Fiennes

Daniel Adam Warren

Grant Michael Erickson

Joseph E Palmer

Matthew Lee Rogers

Ian C Smith

David Bell

Jonathan Alan Dutra

Duncan Robert Kerr

Jeffrey Traer Bernstein

Avi Elias Cieplinski

David T Amm

Omar Sze Leung

Brian Michael King

Paul Puskarich

Marc J Piche

Praveen R Subramani

Muhammad Umar Choudry

Osborne B Hardison

Oliver W Steele

Richard J Schultz

Joseph Adam Ruff

Senthilvasan Supramaniam

Mark D Stefanski

Bryan J James

Saurabh Gupta

Fletcher R Rothkopf

David Hendler Sloo

Steven Porter Hotelling

Fred Bould

Brian Quentin Huppi

Brian Richards Land

Jonah Alexander Harley

Shigefumi Honjo

Benjamin B Lyon

Andrew Lewis Johnston

David I Simon

Kwan Hon Anson Cheung

Christopher Tenzin Mullens

Louis W Bokma

Lakshman Rathnam

David R Falkenburg

Joseph R Fisher

Erturk Kocalar

Matthew L Rodgers

Faiza Hassan

Dorrian Porter

Ian Guyer

Senthil Supramaniam

Edwin H Satterthwaite

Richard J Shultz

Richard J Iii Schultz

Methods, devices, and split flap wheel apparatuses that can display alphanumeric characters, messages, and graphics are provided. For example, one or more embodiments described herein can comprise a split flap wheel apparatus, comprising: a housing adapted to rotate about a center axis; flaps hingeably coupled, via hinges, to the housing that rotate externally to the housing with rotation of the housing; and a motor disposed within the housing that drives the rotation of the housing. One or more embodiments described herein can comprise a device comprising: a housing with at least one opening; a wheel within the housing; a group of hinged flaps affixed to an outside surface of the wheel along a circumference of the wheel; and a motor disposed within the wheel that operates to spin the wheel by the fixed amount of angular rotation.

Modular split and/or flap displays and associated interfaces and communications

Methods and systems facilitate network communications between a wireless network-connected thermostat and a cloud-based management server in a manner that promotes reduced power usage and extended service life of an energy-storage device of the thermostat, while at the same time accomplishing timely data transfer between the thermostat and the cloud-based management server for suitable and time-appropriate control of an HVAC system. The thermostat further comprises powering circuitry configured to: extract electrical power from one or more HVAC control wires in a manner that does not require a 'common' wire; supply electrical power for thermostat operation; recharge the energy-storage device (if needed) using any surplus extracted power; and discharge the energy-storage device to assist in supplying electrical power for thermostat operation during intervals in which the extracted power alone is insufficient for thermostat operation.

Smart-home proxy devices with long-polling

A thermostat includes a plurality of HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) wire connectors for receiving a plurality of HVAC control wires corresponding to an HVAC system. The thermostat also includes a thermostat processing and control circuit operative to at least partially control the operation of the HVAC system and a powering circuit coupled to the HVAC wire connectors and configured to provide an electrical load power to the thermostat processing and control circuit. The thermostat includes circuitry and methods for maximizing efficiency of energy harvested from the HVAC system connected to the thermostat, and depending on which system is connected to the thermostat, different power schemes can be implemented in order to obtain power from the HVAC system.

Power management in single circuit HVAC systems and in multiple circuit HVAC systems

Touch and hover switching is disclosed. A touch and hover sensing device can switch between a touch mode and a hover mode. During a touch mode, the device can be switched to sense one or more objects touching the device. During a hover mode, the device can be switched to sense one or more objects hovering over the device. The device can include a panel having multiple sensors for sensing a touching object and/or a hovering object and a touch and hover control system for switching the device between the touch and hover modes. The device's touch and hover control system can include a touch sensing circuit for coupling to the sensors to measure a capacitance indicative of a touching object during the touch mode, a hover sensing circuit for coupling to the sensors to measure a capacitance indicative of a hovering object during the hover mode, and a switching mechanism for switching the sensors to couple to either the touch sensing circuit or the hover sensing circuit. The device can switch modes based on a condition of the device, such as an expiration of a timer or a relative distance of an object from the panel.

Touch and hover switching

Detecting a signal from a touch and hover sensing device, in which the signal can be indicative of concurrent touch events and/or hover events, is disclosed. A touch event can indicate an object touching the device. A hover event can indicate an object hovering over the device. The touch and hover sensing device can ensure that a desired hover event is not masked by an incidental touch event, e.g., a hand holding the device, by compensating for the touch event in the detected signal that represents both events. Conversely, when both a hover event and a touch event are desired, the touch and hover sensing device can ensure that both events are detected by adjusting the device sensors and/or the detected signal. The touch and hover sensing device can also detect concurrent hover events by identifying multiple peaks in the detected signal, each peak corresponding to a position of a hovering object.

Concurrent signal detection for touch and hover sensing

A thermostat is described that includes a rechargeable battery, a graphical user interface and a wireless network communication capabilities. During installation, in cases where the rechargeable battery is below a first threshold, the installation procedure is limited so as to avoid energy intensive installation steps which may not be supported by the low battery level. An example of an installation step that is avoided due to low battery level is set up of wireless communication. According to some embodiments, if the battery level is very low during initial installation, the installation process is halted while the battery is charged. An indication such as a flashing LED may be displayed so as to indicate to the user that the battery is being charged.

Installation of thermostat powered by rechargeable battery

An intelligent stylus is disclosed. The stylus can provide a stylus condition in addition to a touch input. The stylus architecture can include multiple sensors to sense information indicative of the stylus condition, a microcontroller to determine the stylus condition based on the sensed information, and a transmitter to transmit the determined condition to a corresponding touch sensitive device so as to cause some action based on the condition.

Intelligent stylus

A thermostat may include a memory and a processing system. The processing system may operate by determining a set of wake-up conditions for the processor to enter into a second operating state from a first operating state, the set of wake-up conditions including at least one threshold value associated with at least one environmental and/or time-of-day condition; causing the set of wake-up conditions to be stored in a memory; operating in a first mode in which the processor is in the first operating state during a time interval subsequent to causing the set of wake-up conditions to be stored in the memory; determining, while the processor is in the first operating state, whether at least one of the set of wake-up conditions has been met; and then operating in a second mode in which the processor is in the second operating state.

Prospective determination of processor wake-up conditions in energy buffered HVAC control unit having a preconditioning feature

Methods and systems facilitate network communications between a wireless network-connected thermostat and a cloud-based management server in a manner that promotes reduced power usage and extended service life of a energy-storage device of the thermostat, while at the same time accomplishing timely data transfer between the thermostat and the cloud-based management server for suitable and time-appropriate control of an HVAC system. The thermostat further comprises powering circuitry configured to: extract electrical power from one or more HVAC control wires in a manner that does not require a 'common' wire; supply electrical power for thermostat operation; recharge the energy-storage device (if needed) using any surplus extracted power; and discharge the energy-storage device to assist in supplying electrical power for thermostat operation during intervals in which the extracted power alone is insufficient for thermostat operation.

Power-preserving communications architecture with long-polling persistent cloud channel for wireless network-connected thermostat

Signal processing for a touch and hover sensing display device is disclosed. A touch and hover sensing display device can include a sensing panel for sensing a touch or hover event, a display for displaying graphical information to select based on the touch or hover event, and a control system for processing a signal indicative of the touch or hover event. The control system can process the signal to determine to which display location a hovering object is pointing according to a profile of the object's shape. In addition or alternatively, the control system can process the signal to differentiate between a close small object and a distant large object so as to subsequently perform intended actions of the device based, at least in part, on the object distance and/or area (or size). The display can be positioned at a desirable distance from the panel so as to reduce interference from the display to the panel and avoid adverse effects on the signal.

Signal processing for touch and hover sensing display device

A thermostat may include one or more temperature sensors, a processor configured to operate in a sleep mode and a wake mode, and a Wi-Fi chip that wirelessly communicates with a thermostat management server. The Wi-Fi chip may be configured to receive data packets from the thermostat management server while the processor operates in the sleep mode, and determine a priority level of the received data packets. The priority level may include a standard priority level and a keep-alive priority level. The Wi-Fi chip may also be configured to filter the received data packets based on the determined priority level of each packet such that the keep-alive priority level packets are discarded, and forward the standard priority level packets to the processor.

Methods and systems for data interchange between a network-connected thermostat and cloud-based management server

Compensation for sensors in a touch and hover sensing device is disclosed. Compensation can be for sensor resistance and/or sensor sensitivity variation that can adversely affect touch and hover measurements at the sensors. To compensate for sensor resistance, the device can gang adjacent sensors together so as to reduce the overall resistance of the sensors. In addition or alternatively, the device can drive the sensors with voltages from multiple directions so as to reduce the effects of the sensors' resistance. To compensate for sensor sensitivity variation (generally at issue for hover measurements), the device can apply a gain factor to the measurements, where the gain factor is a function of the sensor location, so as to reduce the sensitivity variation at different sensor locations on the device.

Touch and hover sensor compensation

Systems and methods for processing data from a motion sensor to detect intentional movements of a device are provided. An electronic device having a motion sensor may process motion sensor data along one or more dimensions to generate an acceleration value representative of the movement of the electronic device. The electronic device may then determine whether the acceleration value changes from less than a low threshold, to more than a high threshold, and again to less than the low threshold within a particular amount of time, reflecting an intentional movement of the electronic device by the user. In response to determining that the acceleration value is associated with an intentional movement of the electronic device, the electronic device may perform a particular event or operation. For example, in response to detecting that an electronic device has been shaken, the electronic device may shuffle a media playlist.

Systems and methods for processing motion sensor generated data

In a multi-sensing, wirelessly communicating learning thermostat that uses power-harvesting to charge an internal power source, methods are disclosed for ensuring that the battery does not become depleted or damaged while at the same time ensuring selected levels of thermostat functionality. Charge status is monitored to determine whether the present rate of power usage needs to be stemmed. If the present rate of power usage needs to be stemmed, then a progression of performance levels and/or functionalities can be scaled back according to a predetermined progressive power conservation algorithm. In one embodiment, a wake-on-proximity function that activates a user interface based on readings from the proximity sensor may be altered while still allowing a HVAC control circuitry to operate as normal.

Strategic reduction of power usage in multi-sensing, wirelessly communicating learning thermostat

Growing community of inventors

San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Andrea Mucignat