"The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys."
Sir William Preece, chief engineer, British Post Office ; 1878
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8180490 | Video-based sensing for daylighting controls A video imager may be used to measure the natural and/or artificial light levels in a space. The lighting estimates may be passed to a controller via a communication network. The lighting estimates may be in the form of actual radiance values, brightness, or other f... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8175752 | Control system methods for networked water heaters Disclosed is a control system for controlling a plurality of fluidly and operably connected water heaters to meet a hot water demand such that overall efficiency is maximized and usage disparity between water heaters is minimized. There is further disclosed a method... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8165719 | System and method for an electrical insulating shutter system A system, and a method for manufacturing that system, for electrically and automatically opening, closing and otherwise controlling window shutters on a building, for the purposes of limiting radiant, conductive, and convective thermal losses from the inside of the ... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8140190 | Universal controller for a domestic appliance A domestic appliance, shown in the form of a refrigerator, includes a cabinet within which is defined at least one compartment. A controller is mounted to the appliance for controlling various operating parameters of the appliance. The controller also includes a mem... | 03/20/2012 |
| 8073569 | Method of configuring a system for driving a screen for closure, sun protection, or projection purposes The method of switching an electronic unit of a movable screen for closures, sun protection devices and the like to a training mode on the basis of a predetermined series of control signals received from a control member, the series of signals being the result of ex... | 12/06/2011 |
| 8068936 | Method and system for managing multiple model variants According to one aspect, the present invention provides a method of controlling operation of a plurality of different model variants of a refrigeration appliance using a commonly-configured control board for the plurality of different model variants. The method incl... | 11/29/2011 |
| 8050800 | Method and system for meeting end conditions in a motion control system One embodiment of a system and method for meeting end conditions of a path plan utilizing a path generator that continuously generates commands for a path plan while tracking the total time expired in the path plan. The path generator computes the time remaining in ... | 11/01/2011 |
| 8046107 | Method and apparatus for optimizing refrigeration systems A refrigeration system comprising a compressor for compressing a refrigerant, a condenser for condensing refrigerant to a liquid, an evaporator for evaporating liquid refrigerant from the condenser to a gas, an inner control loop for optimizing a supply of liquid re... | 10/25/2011 |
| 8046106 | Controlling method and system for saving energy of building A controlling method and a controlling system for saving energy of a building are provided. In the present method, a user environment requirement is obtained first. Then, a plurality of cover ratios of a sunshade device on an opening of a building is defined, and ac... | 10/25/2011 |
| 8046105 | Vibrating plate system A vibrating plate system comprises at least two vibrating plates are mechanically coupled to one another via a coupling device and a controlling transmitter for outputting control data to the vibrating plates. Each of the vibrating plates comprises a receiving devic... | 10/25/2011 |
| 8036777 | Room lighting atmosphere creating system The present invention relates to a room atmosphere creating system having a microprocessor electrically connected to a sensing circuit, a storage memory, and a distributing unit. The distributing unit is connected to an atmosphere circuit. The microprocessor transmi... | 10/11/2011 |
| 8019476 | Control device, control method, recording medium, program, and building The present invention relates to a control device, control method, recording medium, and program, and building, wherein intelligent and active integration of electronic apparatuses and dwelling-places can be realized. A receiving unit 21 receives broadcasting... | 09/13/2011 |
| 8014902 | Method and apparatus for energy-efficient temperature-based systems management A system for load control in an electrical power system is described, wherein one or more temperature-monitoring devices are provided to control operation of a pool pump. When ambient temperatures are relatively high, and thus, electrical power demands from air cond... | 09/06/2011 |
| 7941245 | State-based system for automated shading An automated shading system defines an environmental state as a discrete variable representing a history of values of a second discrete variable representing the ambient environment. The system executes a state-specific automated shading command upon occurrence of e... | 05/10/2011 |
| 7894942 | Intelligent device control system A device for controlling devices in a monitored space. A sensor senses an event in an initial state indicating an occupant may be present in the monitored space. A switch activates the controlled device in response to the sensed event. A processor enables the device... | 02/22/2011 |
| 7869903 | Interactive adjustable media bed providing sleep diagnostics An bedding apparatus is provided that allows a user the ability to control a bedroom environment using one selectable control. The apparatus includes an adjustable bedding unit and a computing unit coupled to the adjustable bedding unit. A number of controllable ele... | 01/11/2011 |
| 7865270 | System, method, and apparatus for managing wastewater treatment installation Apparatus for managing a residential wastewater treatment system includes an in situ control unit that monitors an individual system. The control unit provides local control and alarms, and also sends status reports and/or alarms to a remote monitoring center via a ... | 01/04/2011 |
| 7853360 | Method and device for determining a PWM signal on which a dither frequency is superimposed in order to control a solenoid valve A PWM signal on which a dither signal is superimposed is used for adjusting a central position when controlling a solenoid valve. To improve this type of control process in which the amplitude of the dither signal depends on the current of the solenoid valve and thu... | 12/14/2010 |
| 7840310 | Architectural dynamic control: intelligent environmental control and feedback system for architectural settings including offices A smart, adaptive control system that monitors and influences physical conditions of an architectural setting. The architectural setting in which the system is deployed typically includes a plurality of private spaces and at least one community space. The individual... | 11/23/2010 |
| 7783388 | Actuator with memory part for building management system A building management system (1) for the control of plural actuators (10) arranged in a distributed manner, comprised of a central control unit (2) and at least one actuator (10) controlled by the central control unit (2), wherein ... | 08/24/2010 |
| 7774101 | System and method for managing buildings A method for managing buildings comprises providing a computer database 10 operative to store information relating to at least one building 30, said information comprising building characteristics; Each said building having associated therewith a facil... | 08/10/2010 |
| 7765033 | Intelligent device control system A device for controlling devices in a monitored space. A sensor senses an event in an initial state indicating an occupant may be present in the monitored space. A switch activates the controlled device in response to the sensed event. A processor enables the device... | 07/27/2010 |
| 7751942 | Method and system for managing and operating a plurality of farm houses A system for monitoring, managing, and/or operating a plurality of farm houses on a plurality of farms. The system includes a controller and/or a monitor box in the farm house and a computer in communication with the controller for controlling and adjusting various ... | 07/06/2010 |
| 7734379 | System, method, and apparatus for managing wastewater treatment installation Apparatus for managing a residential wastewater treatment system includes an in situ control unit that monitors an individual system. The control unit provides local control and alarms, and also sends status reports and/or alarms to a remote monitoring center via a ... | 06/08/2010 |
| 7729806 | Elevator controller In an elevator control apparatus, a control apparatus main body includes a program storage portion for storing a program concerning operational control of an elevator and a processing portion for performing a plurality of calculation processings based on the program... | 06/01/2010 |
| 7729807 | Security sensor-transmitter for detecting wind in a home automation installation A sensor-transmitter (20) intended to be fastened to a mobile structure (11, 13, 14) and to transmit a security signal in a home automation installation (10), comprising, in a casing (22, 23): an autonomous power source (36), a vib... | 06/01/2010 |
| 7668623 | Steam temperature control using integrated function block The disclosure is directed to a saturated water spraying system configured to rapidly respond to rapid load changes by implementing a single integrated DCS control block. The integrate DCS control block may include a plurality of process control routines that are ne... | 02/23/2010 |
| 7630793 | Method of altering operation of work machine based on work tool performance footprint to maintain desired relationship between operational characteristics of work tool and work machine A method of operating a work machine includes sensing at least one operational characteristic of a work tool indicative of current work tool performance. The method also includes altering the operation of the work machine in response to the sensing to maintain a des... | 12/08/2009 |
| 7599759 | Method and apparatus for optimizing refrigeration systems A refrigeration system comprising a compressor for compressing a refrigerant, a condenser for condensing refrigerant to a liquid, an evaporator for evaporating liquid refrigerant from the condenser to a gas, an inner control loop for optimizing a supply of liquid re... | 10/06/2009 |
| 7593789 | Water flow detection system for a bathing unit The present invention provides a control system for a bathing unit that comprises a heating module, a temperature sensing entity and a heating module controller. The heating module includes a body that defines a passage through which water can flow, that has an inne... | 09/22/2009 |
| 7526364 | Virtual field controller An arrangement includes a control station for use in a building control system, the building control system having a plurality of field panels operable to communicate with the control station. The control station has a memory and processing circuit that is configure... | 04/28/2009 |
| 7493193 | Monitoring and real-time heat load control based upon server and environmental parameters A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided for monitoring and real-time heat load control based upon server and environmental parameters. Multiple types of information technology equipment (ITE) and environmental data are monitored and collected. ... | 02/17/2009 |
| 7440820 | Water flow detection system for a bathing unit The present invention provides a control system for a bathing unit that comprises a heating module, a thermal element and a heating module controller. The heating module includes a body that defines a passage through which water can flow, that has an inner surface a... | 10/21/2008 |
| 7409269 | Methods of analyzing the vibro-acoustic optimization potential and optimizing the vibro-acoustic behavior of a structure A method of analyzing the vibro-acoustic optimization potential of a structure of vibro-acoustically coupled subsystems having internal and coupling loss factors by means of statistical energy analysis (SEA). The method optimizes the vibro-acoustic behavior of the s... | 08/05/2008 |
| 7398700 | Bolt tightening method and bolt tightening apparatus After it is tightened with a snug torque TA, a bolt is tuned by a total turning angle θS equivalent to the sum of an initial-set turning angle θA and a corrective additional-turning angle (θB+θC). The correc... | 07/15/2008 |
| 7398137 | System and method for remotely controlling machine operations using mapping information Systems and methods are disclosed that enable one or more work machines to control operations of one or more remote work machines. In one embodiment, the systems and methods perform a process including determining a first type of first work machine performing first ... | 07/08/2008 |
| 7383790 | Method and apparatus for controlling soot blowing using statistical process control A statistical process control system employs a consistent soot blowing operation for a heat exchange section of, for example, a fuel burning boiler, collects heat absorption data for the heat exchange section and analyzes the distribution of the heat absorption data... | 06/10/2008 |
| 7379390 | Distance measurement for wireless building automation devices In a building environment, a distance associated with a building automation device is determined as a function of an inserted time delay between a wireless transmission of a signal and wireless reception of another signal. For example, a two-way communication is pro... | 05/27/2008 |
| 7375035 | Host and ancillary tool interface methodology for distributed processing A host and ancillary tool interface methodology for distributed processing is described. The host tool manages a process, except for the generation of a product used in the process. To generate the product, the host tool provides an indication to an ancillary tool t... | 05/20/2008 |
| 7371041 | Assembly station with rotatable turret which forms and unloads a completed stack of articles Method and apparatus for forming and unloading a completed stack of articles. An assembly station includes a rotatable turret from which at least one stacker arm projects. The turret rotates to each of a number of article loading positions to sequentially load artic... | 05/13/2008 |