Abrégé

The invention relates to a method for controlling a home appliance (5) depending on a user position. The method comprises the steps of: determining a position of a smartphone (10) of a user; transmitting positional information on the determined position (P1, P2, P3) from the smartphone (10) to a remote server; judging from the positional information whether the determined position (P1, P2, P3) is within or outside a predefined home zone (1) surrounding the home appliance (5); generating a control signal dependent on whether the determined position (P1, P2, P3) is judged to be within or outside the home zone (1); transmitting the control signal to a control device (7) configured to control the home appliance (5); judging from the positional information whether the determined position (P1, P2, P3) is within a predefined problematic zone (3) which is outside the home zone (1); and reclassifying the determined position (P3) to be within the home zone (1 ) or ignoring the determined position (P3) depending on at least whether or not the determined position (P3) is judged to be within the problematic zone (3). A corresponding system for controlling a home appliance (5) is also disclosed.

Classes IPC  ?

• H04L 12/28 - Réseaux de données à commutation caractérisés par la configuration des liaisons, p.ex. réseaux locaux [LAN Local Area Networks] ou réseaux étendus [WAN Wide Area Networks]

Abrégé

The present disclosure relates to a control device for controlling an air conditioner, AC. The control device comprises IR transmission means for emitting control signals to an AC; a microphone for measuring audio acknowledgement signals produced by the AC; and electronic control and evaluation means configured to determine whether sounds measured with the microphone include an audio acknowledgement signal produced by the AC, and being configured to perform a power state determination procedure to determine a power state of the AC. The power state determination procedure comprises: sending a first control signal which is not a on/off control signal and determining whether an audio acknowledgment signal of the AC is subsequently measured, and judging whether or not the AC is in an off-state depending on whether an audio acknowledgment signal is measured subsequent to the sending of the first control signal. Furthermore a corresponding method for controlling an AC is disclosed.

Classes IPC  ?

• F24F 11/00 - Aménagements de commande ou de sécurité

Abrégé

A thermostat device for controlling a heating system comprises a first, a second and a third electrical terminal for connection to a heating system, and a control device which can generate a heating control command and can output this command either in the form of an analogue voltage at the third electrical terminal or in the form of a modulated digital voltage or a modulated digital current via the first and/or second electrical terminal. The thermostat device also comprises voltage and current measuring means which are arranged to read digital signals from the heating system such that a voltage and a current can be measured between the first terminal and the second terminal. The voltage measuring means can also measure a voltage at the third electrical terminal. In order to detect incorrect connection of wires of a heating system to the electrical terminals, the control device can enter a mis-wiring check mode. In this mode, the voltage measuring means measures a voltage at the third electrical terminal, the control device compares the measured voltage with at least one reference value and the control device generates a mis-wiring detection signal on the basis of a result of the comparison. A corresponding method for controlling a heating system having a thermostat device is also disclosed.

Classes IPC  ?

• F24D 19/10 - Aménagements ou montage des dispositifs de commande ou de sécurité
• G05D 23/19 - Commande de la température caractérisée par l'utilisation de moyens électriques
• H01R 3/00 - Connexions conductrices de l'électricité non prévues ailleurs

Abrégé

A device for controlling a heating and/or cooling system comprises: a communication interface to which a heating and/or cooling system can be connected for data transmission and power supply; voltage-converting means for converting an input voltage applied to the communication interface into a DC voltage that differs therefrom; electronic energy distribution means for supplying electric energy to electronic components of the device by means of the DC voltage output by the voltage-converting means; signal-evaluating means for evaluating electric signals transmitted by the heating and/or cooling system to the communication interface; and signal-outputting means for outputting a control command to the heating and/or cooling system and designed for generating a modulated electric signal for the communication interface. According to the invention, a DC-DC converter is provided as the voltage-converting means, and at least one capacitor is connected to the input of the DC-DC converter in order to increase the input capacity of the latter. The device further comprises a decoupling circuit arranged between the communication interface and the DC-DC converter and designed to reduce the influence of the capacitor on the input voltage at the communication interface. A corresponding method is also described.

Classes IPC  ?

• F24D 19/10 - Aménagements ou montage des dispositifs de commande ou de sécurité
• H04B 3/54 - Systèmes de transmission par lignes de réseau de distribution d'énergie

Abrégé

The invention relates to a control device for remote controlling an air conditioning system, comprising: a transmitter device for transmitting an air conditioning system control command; electronic signal-receiving means for receiving instructions for controlling the air conditioning system; and control- and evaluation means, which are designed to control the transmitter device, depending on received instructions for controlling the air conditioning system, in order to transmit an air conditioning system control command. According to the invention, measuring means are provided for determining at least one environmental characteristic, and the control- and evaluation means are designed to assess, based on measured values of the measuring means, whether a change in the measured environmental characteristic has occurred after transmitting an air conditioning system control command, and to re-transmit an air conditioning system control command should the assessment reveal that no change in the measured environmental characteristic has occurred.

Classes IPC  ?

• F24F 11/00 - Aménagements de commande ou de sécurité

Abrégé

The invention is directed to a method for switching a night mode of a heating system and/or an air-conditioning system on and off, wherein an energy consumption of the heating system and/or air-conditioning system is reduced when the night mode is switched on and is increased when the night mode is switched off. The invention provides for a smart phone to be used to detect an activity of a user of the smart phone, for program code to be used to infer an activity state of the user when an activity is ascertained and to infer a state of rest of the user when an activity is absent, wherein the program code is stored in a non-volatile data memory, and for electronic control means to switch the night mode on or off depending on whether a state of rest or an activity state of the user has been ascertained. The invention also relates to a corresponding control apparatus.

Classes IPC  ?

• H04L 12/28 - Réseaux de données à commutation caractérisés par la configuration des liaisons, p.ex. réseaux locaux [LAN Local Area Networks] ou réseaux étendus [WAN Wide Area Networks]
• H04L 29/08 - Procédure de commande de la transmission, p.ex. procédure de commande du niveau de la liaison
• G05B 15/02 - Systèmes commandés par un calculateur électriques

Abrégé

The invention relates to a device for controlling a heating and/or cooling system, having a communications interface to be connected to a heating and/or cooling system and having electronic control means to output control values via the communications interface to the heating and/or cooling system and to process input signals which are received on the communications interface from the heating and/or cooling system. The device is characterized in that, in order to read input signals from various heating and/or cooling systems, the electronic control means are equipped to define a threshold value selectably in order to distinguish between a high and low level of the digital input signal, and to compare the digital input signal with the selected threshold value. The invention further relates to a corresponding method for controlling a heating and/or cooling system.

Classes IPC  ?

• G05D 23/19 - Commande de la température caractérisée par l'utilisation de moyens électriques

Abrégé

The invention relates to a method and a device for controlling a system state of a stationary system affected by delays as a function of a variable geoposition of a person, wherein the system is intended to have a predefined presence state when the person arrives at the location of the system. The method comprises a determination of the geoposition of the person; an estimation of a time period needed by the person from the geoposition to the arrival at the location of the system; and a predefinition of a set point to change the current system state, wherein, in order to achieve the state of presence within the estimated time period, the set point is determined as a function of the predefined presence state, the performance capability of the system and the estimated time period. The device comprises analogously conceived means for determining the geoposition, for estimating the time period and for predefining the set point.

Classes IPC  ?

• H04L 12/28 - Réseaux de données à commutation caractérisés par la configuration des liaisons, p.ex. réseaux locaux [LAN Local Area Networks] ou réseaux étendus [WAN Wide Area Networks]
• H04W 4/02 - Services utilisant des informations de localisation

Abrégé

A building-installation control system comprises at least one interface unit for functional coupling to a building-installation functional unit, and a user status determination arrangement designed to determine a current building user status, wherein on the basis of the determined building user status, a control specification for the building-installation functional unit adapted thereto is then determined and used for controlling the operation of the building-installation functional unit. The user status determination arrangement preferably comprises one or more of the following devices: a building user geodata acquisition device, an appliance usage sensing device, a radio frequency monitoring device and/or a power consumption sensing device that can be coupled to a smart meter.

Classes IPC  ?

• H04L 12/28 - Réseaux de données à commutation caractérisés par la configuration des liaisons, p.ex. réseaux locaux [LAN Local Area Networks] ou réseaux étendus [WAN Wide Area Networks]