Rain Bird Corporation

Darin K Price

Harvey J Nickerson

Jonathan I Marsters

Douglas H Callison

Sundarraj Karthikeyan

Steven A Hollington

A decoder-based irrigation controller comprising a controller housing; a first microcontroller within the controller housing; a decoder interface coupled to the first microcontroller; and a handheld user device, wherein the handheld user device comprises an optical imaging device configured to read an optically readable pattern from each of the plurality of decoder units, wherein the handheld user device is configured to cause data read from the optically readable pattern of the plurality of decoder units to be transferred to the first microcontroller, and wherein the data read comprises an address of each of the plurality of decoder units.

Method and apparatus for programming a decoder-based irrigation controller

A decoder-based irrigation controller comprising a controller housing; a first microcontroller within the controller housing; a decoder interface coupled to the first microcontroller; a first connector coupled to the first microcontroller; a removable cartridge configured to removably and detachably coupled to the first connector to fit into the controller housing, wherein the removable cartridge comprises a second microcontroller; and a handheld barcode reader, wherein the handheld barcode reader comprises an optical reader configured to read an optically readable pattern from each of the plurality of decoder units, wherein the handheld barcode reader is configured to transfer data read from the optically readable pattern of the plurality of decoder units to the second microcontroller of the removable cartridge, and wherein the data read comprises an address of each of the plurality of decoder units.

A method and decoder-based irrigation controller, and method and programming chart, are provided. In some embodiments, a decoder-based irrigation controller comprises a microcontroller; and a first connector coupled to the microcontroller and configured to couple to a reader, wherein the reader comprises an optical reader configured to read an optically readable pattern, wherein the first connector is further configured to couple an input from the reader to the microcontroller; and wherein the microcontroller is configured to interpret the input from the reader and perform an action at the decoder-based irrigation controller according to the input.

A method and programming chart having viewable indicia thereon for programming a decoder-based controller is disclosed. The programming chart comprises a specific portion comprising a station number area for one or more stations being controlled by a decoder-based irrigation controller, a decoder address area adapted to receive an entry indicating an address of a decoder being associated with each of the one or more stations and a plurality of other information areas for each of the one or more stations to receive information pertaining to each of the one or more stations. Furthermore, a method is provided for programming a decoder-based irrigation controller comprising associating a decoder unit with at least a first station, removing a decoder address indicator provided with the decoder unit and recording the decoder address indicator onto a programming chart onto an area designated for a decoder address associated with the first station.

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San Diego, CA, United States of America

Darin K Price