Intelligent Distribution Of Thermostat Profiles For Energy Management

Abstract

A system for addressing logical groupings of thermostats of one or more manufacturers capable of sending programing templates based on smart command syntax regardless of the manufacturer or API used.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for distributing commands to multiple energy control devices comprising:
 a computer having software executing thereon, said computer in communication with a plurality of energy control devices via a network connection, at least two of said plurality of energy control devices are located in different physical buildings and different geographical locations;   said software configured to receive an indication of a grouping of a set of multiple energy control devices which include said at least two of said plurality of energy control devices;   said software further configured to receive at least one command input for said set of multiple energy control devices;   said software further configured to provide control instructions to each of the multiple energy control devices which modify a control setting of each of the multiple energy control devices to modify energy usage of a plurality of energy usage devices, each energy usage device associated with one of said multiple energy control devices.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  said software includes a normalizing feature which translates the at least one command input into a control instruction for each of the multiple energy control devices, said control instruction is formatted based on a type indication associated with each of the multiple energy control devices such that the control instructions provided to each of the multiple energy control devices are formatted to be compatible with the corresponding one of the multiple energy control devices to which said control instruction is sent. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1  wherein said at least one command input is indicative of a state for an HVAC unit. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1  wherein said at least one command input is indicative of a temperature set point for said set of multiple energy control devices. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1  wherein said software is configured to present one or more filter options which are user selectable to generate said indication of a grouping. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1  wherein said at least one command input is indicative of a desired temperature at a desired time and said software generates said control instructions for each of the multiple energy control devices such that control instructions for at least two of the multiple energy control devices are different. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1  wherein said software has access to history data indicative of historical environmental conditions for each of the different physical buildings and further indicative of one or more rates of change of temperature within each of the different physical buildings correlated to heating, ventilation and/or cooling inputs. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7  wherein said software is configured to receive response data indicative of an actual change in temperature within each of the different physical buildings associated with one or more of the control instructions associated with that physical building. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8  wherein said software updates the history data based on the response data. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9  wherein said at least one command input is indicative of a desired temperature at a desired time and said software generates said control instructions for each of the multiple energy control devices based on the history data such that control instructions for at least two of the multiple energy control devices are different. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the software provides one or more filters for indication of the grouping, the filters selected from the group consisting of: owner, manager, city, state, town, zip code, geographical region, county, type of location, building type, location name or brand, window count, window area, exposed wall count, exposed wall area, presence of drive through, solarium seating presence, opening hours, plan subscription, category of device and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the at least one command input is indicative of the group consisting of: temperature, period of time, on/off status and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         13 . A method for distributing commands to multiple energy control devices comprising:
 providing communications with a plurality of energy control devices via a network connection, at least two of said plurality of energy control devices are located in different physical buildings and different geographical locations;   receiving an indication of a grouping of a set of multiple energy control devices which include said at least two of said plurality of energy control devices;   receiving at least one command input for said set of multiple energy control devices;   providing control instructions via said network to each of the multiple energy control devices which modify a control setting of each of the multiple energy control devices to modify energy usage of a plurality of energy usage devices, each energy usage device associated with one of said multiple energy control devices.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13  further comprising: translating the at least one command input into a control instruction for each of the multiple energy control devices, said control instruction is formatted based on a type indication associated with each of the multiple energy control devices such that the control instructions provided to each of the multiple energy control devices are formatted to be compatible with the corresponding one of the multiple energy control devices to which said control instruction is sent. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13  wherein said at least one command input is indicative of a desired temperature at a desired time and further comprising generating said control instructions for each of the multiple energy control devices such that control instructions for at least two of the multiple energy control devices are different. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13  further accessing history data indicative of historical environmental conditions for each of the different physical buildings and further indicative of one or more rates of change of temperature within each of the different physical buildings correlated to heating, ventilation and/or cooling inputs. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  further comprising: receiving response data indicative of an actual change in temperature within each of the different physical buildings associated with one or more of the control instructions associated with that physical building. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17  further comprising: updating the history data based on the response data. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18  wherein said at least one command input is indicative of a desired temperature at a desired time and said software generates said control instructions for each of the multiple energy control devices based on the history data such that control instructions for at least two of the multiple energy control devices are different. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 16  wherein said at least one command input is indicative of a desired temperature at a desired time and further comprising generating said control instructions for each of the multiple energy control devices based on the history data such that control instructions for at least two of the multiple energy control devices are different. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 17  wherein the response data is received from one or more of the multiple energy control devices.