United States Patent 9,625,179

SYSTEM TO PROVIDE A BACKCHANNEL TO AN HVAC THERMOSTAT

 

Issued 4-18-2017 to Margolin

 

Application Number 15/137,038

 

Filed 4/25/2016

 

 

 

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

 

In an HVAC system Polarity Splitting is used to provide for one or more backchannels from the furnace to the thermostat. Polarity Splitting is also used to allow a four-wire house cable to provide for three thermostat functions as well as furnace power to the thermostat while also providing for one or more backchannels. A serial datalink can be used to provide for a number of thermostat functions and a number of backchannels as well as to provide furnace power to the thermostat while using only three wires between the furnace and the thermostat. A Wi-Fi enabled furnace adapter can allow the use of a Wi-Fi thermostat while supplying only furnace power (two wires) to the thermostat. A Wi-Fi enabled furnace can use only a remote temperature sensor instead of a remote thermostat.

 

 

 

 

Patent    (PDF)      (html)

 

 

Appendix to the Specification (PDF)

 

 

Drawings Only (PDF)

 

 

 

 

File Wrapper 2017_0418

 

 

 

My IDS References

 

The listed links are the original links. In some cases they may be broken. The PDF version was made from the original link.

 

 

IDS Cite 1:   U.S. Patent No. 281,884 Electric Tele-Thermoscope issued July 24, 1883 to Warren S. Johnson.

 

 

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IDS Cite 2:  U.S. Patent 1,822,605 Mercury switch thermostat issued September 8, 1931 to Teeple.

 

 

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IDS Cite 3:  U.S. Patent 2,129,477 Adjustable metallic thermostat issued September 6, 1938 to Parks.

 

 

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IDS Cite 4:   U.S. Patent  3,942,718 Electronic thermostat issued March 9, 1976 to Palmieri.

 

 

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IDS Cite 5:   U.S. Patent 4,442,972 Electrically controlled programmable digital thermostat and method for regulating the operation of multistage heating and cooling systems issued April 17, 1984 Sahay, et al.

 

 

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IDS Cite 6:  U.S. Patent 4,211,362 Smoke detecting timer controlled thermostat issued July 8, 1980 to Johnson.

 

 

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IDS Cite 7:   Manual for Honeywell RTH6500WF Wi-Fi Thermostat.

 

 

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IDS Cite 8:   U.S. Patent 3,815,668 Comfort control system and components thereof issued June 11, 1974 to Carlson

 

 

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IDS Cite 9:  U.S. Patent 4,083,397 Heating-Cooling control system  issued April 11, 1978 to Kimpel et al.

 

 

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IDS Cite 10:  U.S. Patent 5,452,762 Environmental control system using poled diodes to allow additional controlled devices in existing four wire systems issued September 26, 1995 to Zillner

 

 

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IDS Cite 11:   Rheem/Ruud Technical Service Bulletin 1610.

 

 

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IDS Cite 12:   Rheem Dealer Installation and Startup Instructions for 500 Series Thermostat; Amazon price for Rheem 500-Series Touchscreen Communicating Programmable Thermostat (March 9, 2016).

 

 

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IDS Cite 13:  U.S. Patent 6,535,838 Furnace diagnostic system issued March 18, 2003 to Abraham, et al.

 

 

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IDS Cite 14:  Instruction Manual for White Rodgers P200 thermostat.

 

 

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IDS Cite 15:  Wi-Fi Direct https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi_Direct

 

 

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IDS Cite 16: Texas Instruments MSP430 G2 Launchpad. http://www.ti.com/tool/msp-exp430g2

 

 

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IDS Cite 17:  Raspberry Pi Computer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi Downloaded 3/19/2016

 

 

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References cited by Examiner in FOAM

 

 

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 A

 

U.S. Patent 4,083,397 Heating-cooling control system issued April 11, 1978 to Kimpel et al. (Borg-Warner Corporation)  [I cited it first]

 

 

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B

U.S. Patent 4,776,514 Two wire line voltage thermostat issued October 11, 1988 to Johnstone et al. (Honeywell)

 

 

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C

 

U.S. Patent 5,272,427 Furnace control apparatus and method issued December 21, 1993 to Nold et al. (Texas Instruments)

 

 

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D

US-2012/0130547 Thermostat User Interface; Fadell et al. (Nest Labs); 

published May 24, 2012

 

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E

 

US-2013/0173064  User-Friendly, Network Connected Learning Thermostat and Related Systems and Methods; Fadell et al. (Nest Labs); published

July 4, 2013

 

 

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F

 

US-2014/0312694  Dual-Mode Power Stealing for a Climate Control System Controller; Lihui et al. (Emerson Electric); October 23, 2014

 

 

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G

 

US-2014/0316581 Systems and Methods for Energy-Efficient Control of an Energy-Consuming System; Fadell et al. (Nest Labs); October 23, 2014

 

 

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If you look for the published application in Public Pair you won’t find it. Several months after I filed the application I called up to find out when it would be published. I was told that the Patent Office has 18 months to publish an application. I told her that my previous applications had been published much sooner than that. She responded that the Patent Office has 18 months to publish an application. That’s what bureaucrats do. They simply repeat what they said and refuse to have a conversation. Meanwhile, this patent application by Boeing was filed on August 11, 2016 and published December 1, 2016. (Click Here)  This is a Divisional Application of a patent application that I have written about. Boeing’s Examiner gave them a free pass. (Click Here)