Devices and methods for interacting with an HVAC controller
US10054327B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
- Jay Nelson
- David Bures
- Petr Kasparik
- Soumitri Kolavennu
- Roman Konecny
- Amit Kulkarni
- Daniel Becvar
- Martin Adamek
- Juraj Buno
- Steven R. Hoglund
- Libor Horky
- Jan Malek
- Adam Nemcek
- Martin Skala
- Tomas Losak
- Josef Novotny
- Thomas Gessner
- Preston Gilmer
- Ix
- Hari Thiruvengada
- Christopher Goh
- Robert D. Juntunen
- David Mulhouse
- Cary Leen
- Heidi J. Finch
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 20, 2014 |
| Grant date | Aug 21, 2018 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 12, 2037 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY02B10/40
- WIPO fieldThermal processes and apparatus
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
An HVAC controller may be controlled in response to a natural language audio message that is not recognizable by the HVAC controller as a command, where the natural language audio message is translated into a command recognizable by the HVAC controller. The HVAC controller may be a thermostat including a housing that houses a temperature sensor, a microphone, and a controller. The controller may identify a trigger phrase in an audio stream provided by the microphone. In response to identifying the trigger phrase, the controller initiates processing of the audio stream to identify a command following the trigger phrase and to generate a command understandable by the thermostat that instructs the controller to perform the identified command. The controller then executes the generated command understandable by the thermostat. A user may communicate with the thermostat via the microphone of the thermostat and/or a remote device having a microphone.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.