Devices and methods for interacting with an HVAC controller

• Main Authors: Gessner, Thomas, Gilmer, Preston, Peterschmidt, Max, Horky, Libor, Adamek, Martin, Skala, Martin, Nelson, Jay, Kolavennu, Soumitri, Thiruvengada, Hari, Buno, Juraj
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 14.08.2018
• Subjects: ACOUSTICS; AIR-CONDITIONING, AIR-HUMIDIFICATION, VENTILATION, USE OF AIRCURRENTS FOR SCREENING; BLASTING; CALCULATING; COMPUTING; CONTROLLING; COUNTING; DOMESTIC HOT-WATER SUPPLY SYSTEMS; DOMESTIC- OR SPACE-HEATING SYSTEMS, e.g. CENTRAL HEATINGSYSTEMS; ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING; ELEMENTS OR COMPONENTS THEREFOR; HEATING; LIGHTING; MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; PHYSICS; RANGES; REGULATING; SPEECH ANALYSIS OR SYNTHESIS; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SYSTEMS FOR CONTROLLING OR REGULATING NON-ELECTRIC VARIABLES; VENTILATING; WEAPONS

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 and may include a housing that at least partially houses a control module, a microphone, a speaker, a display, and a voice recognition module. The voice recognition module recognizes a predetermined audible trigger from a recorded voice message or streamed voice message, and in response, provide one or more audio clips via the speaker and/or video clips via the display to assist users in operating the thermostat. A user may communicate with the thermostat via the thermostat and/or a remote device.