Temperature control method and system configured with multi-gear sendible temperature marks

Abstract

The invention discloses a temperature control method and system configured with multi-gear sensible temperature marks. The core innovation of the method comprises the steps that (1) a refrigeration / heating mode key is canceled, gear configuration is flexible, dynamic setting of 5-7 gears is supported, and manufacturers can select the number of the gears and define the names of the gears in a personalized mode; (2) diversified visual expressions directly associated with the sensible temperature of people: snowflake and sun icons support multi-dimensional design of size, quantity and color, and a half-snowflake and half-sun pattern is innovatively adopted for a comfortable grade; and (3) full-scene adaptation: automatically resetting in a hotel mode, and carrying out personalized setting on gear icons in a school mode. Visualization and individuation of temperature setting are achieved, the method is suitable for an air conditioner panel, intelligent home equipment and a mobile terminal application program, the operability and comfortable use experience of a user in using the air conditioner are improved, energy conservation and carbon reduction of the air conditioner are facilitated, and technical support is provided for digitization and virtualization of the space environment.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention belongs to the field of HVAC control technology, specifically relating to an intelligent temperature control system with multiple levels of perceived temperature indicators. Through flexible level configuration (5-7 levels), Chinese perceived temperature naming, and diverse icon design, it realizes intuitive and personalized temperature setting, and is applicable to air conditioning panels, smart home devices, and mobile terminal applications. Background Technology

[0002] The existing temperature control system has the following problems: (1) Inflexible and complex interaction: Traditional thermostats use fixed temperature levels and emphasize precise temperature adjustment. The operation of adjusting the temperature in increments of 1℃ is complicated, and there are many steps to adjust to the target temperature (for example, with the plus and minus buttons, setting the target temperature of 20 degrees from the current temperature of 28 degrees requires pressing the minus button 8 times). It cannot adapt to the sensory needs of different user groups; (2) The separation of the cooling and heating buttons from the temperature adjustment buttons causes confusion for users when adjusting the temperature, leading to a large number of misoperations. Currently, the commonly used thermostats have two temperature modes: cooling and heating. However, these two modes are not bound to or logically associated with the temperature setting button, which often leads to invalid operations by users. For example, they press the cooling button first, but then set the temperature to 28℃. At this time, it is difficult for the system to determine the user's true intention: whether they want to obtain a higher temperature of 28℃ (in which case the cooling operation is a misoperation) or they want the indoor air to cool down (in which case setting 28℃ is a misoperation). (3) Visual monotony: The icon design lacks diversity and fails to meet the brand differentiation needs; (4) Poor scalability: Manufacturers cannot flexibly adjust the number of gears and naming rules according to market feedback. Summary of the Invention

[0003] This invention provides a temperature control system with configurable multi-level perceived temperature indicators. By flexibly setting the level, associating it with human perception (for example, a larger snowflake in the icon represents a lower temperature), and using corresponding naming rules and diverse icon designs, it solves the problems of complex operation, rigid interaction, and poor adaptability of traditional temperature controllers.

[0004] The core features of this temperature control system are as follows: (1) The existing thermostat's cooling / heating mode is eliminated, and a more intuitive multi-level temperature control mode with body-sensory mapping is adopted. Figure 1 ); (2) Gear range: 5-7 gears, temperature range 16℃-30℃, temperature difference between adjacent gears is given by the system, which is 2℃ to 6℃ respectively.

[0005] There are seven Chinese names for perceived temperature, each corresponding to a specific temperature: Coldest 16℃, Coolest 19℃, Slightly Cool 22℃, Suitable 24℃, Comfortable 26℃, Warmest 28℃, and Hottest 30℃. All perceived temperature ranges are composed of these seven names. This standardized naming and correspondence ensures that any perceived temperature can be converted into a unique and accurate temperature value. The seven-level perceived temperature scale consists of all seven standard names. The six-level scale subtracts the "Suitable 24℃" value, and the five-level scale subtracts both "Suitable 24℃" and "Coolest 19℃". The specific descriptions for the five to seven levels of perceived temperature are as follows: (1) Five-level perceived temperature representation: Level 1 is the coldest at 16℃, Level 2 is slightly cool at 22℃, Level 3 is comfortable at 26℃, Level 4 is warm at 28℃, and Level 5 is the hottest at 30℃. (2) Six-level perceived temperature representation: Level 1 is the coldest at 16℃, Level 2 is cool at 19℃, Level 3 is slightly cool at 22℃, Level 4 is comfortable at 26℃, Level 5 is warm at 28℃, and Level 6 is the hottest at 30℃. (3) Seven levels of perceived temperature: Level 1 is the coldest at 16℃, Level 2 is cool at 19℃, Level 3 is slightly cool at 22℃, Level 4 is suitable at 24℃, Level 5 is comfortable at 26℃, Level 6 is warm at 28℃, and Level 7 is the hottest at 30℃.

[0006] Manufacturer customization: Five to seven digits can be selected at the factory to match the corresponding perceived temperature value. In special cases, the coldest and hottest values ​​can be modified. For example, if the lowest temperature achievable by the air conditioner is 18℃ instead of 16℃, the lowest temperature will be set to 18℃.

[0007] This paper introduces icon design schemes using a complete seven-level body temperature representation method as an example.

[0008] Low Temperature Alert Icons: Snowflake Grading: Size (large → small) or quantity (5 snowflakes → 1 snowflake) indicates the intensity of the low temperature (from 16℃ to 26℃). When designing the low temperature alert icons by size, the initial size of the snowflakes for the fourth level (suitable, 24℃) is used. The snowflakes for the third level (slightly cool, 22℃) are 1.33 times the initial size. The snowflakes for the second level (cool, 19℃) are 1.67 times the initial size. The snowflakes for the first level (coldest, 16℃) are twice the initial size. The fifth level (comfortable, 26℃) is between the low and high temperature levels, so the icons for the low and high temperature levels are each taken in half. The left half of the snowflake icon and the right half of the sun icon are combined to form a half-snowflake, half-sun icon. When designing icons for low-temperature settings by quantity, the first setting (coldest 16℃) has 5 snowflakes, the second setting (cool 19℃) has 3 snowflakes, the third setting (slightly cool 22℃) has 2 snowflakes, the fourth setting (suitable 24℃) has 1 snowflake, and the fifth setting (comfortable 26℃) also uses a half-snowflake, half-sun pattern.

[0009] Low temperature setting icon: Color grading: Dark blue (lowest temperature) → Light blue (higher temperature).

[0010] High Temperature Level Icon: Solar Radiation Lines: The quantity (none → 8 directions) or color intensity (light yellow → dark orange) indicates the high temperature intensity (from 26℃ to 30℃). When designing the high temperature level icon based on solar radiation lines, the fifth level, Comfortable 26℃, is a half-snowflake, half-sun pattern; the sixth level, Warm 28℃, is a complete sun pattern without solar radiation lines; and the seventh level, Hottest 30℃, is a complete sun pattern with solar radiation lines in 8 directions. When designing the high temperature level icon based on color intensity, the fifth level, Comfortable 26℃, is a half-snowflake, half-light yellow sun pattern; the sixth level, Warm 28℃, is a complete light yellow sun pattern; and the seventh level, Hottest 30℃, is a complete dark orange sun pattern.

[0011] Dynamic effects: High temperature settings can be overlaid with halo animations (e.g., a slight halo is displayed at 28℃, and a strong halo is displayed at 30℃).

[0012] The fifth setting, Comfort 26℃, marks the boundary between the low and high temperature settings. At this setting, a combination of half a snowflake and half a sun with no radiation is used to represent that this setting is in the middle of the low and high temperature states, allowing users to understand the temperature meaning even without seeing the setting name and temperature.

[0013] Multimodal interaction design: (1) Physical buttons: knob (adjustable angle for each gear), sliding paddle (scale adapts to the number of gears), plus / minus buttons (supports short press / long press precision switching); (2) Touch interface: Semi-circular dial pointer layout, gear icons are dynamically arranged according to a set number ( Figure 3 ); (3) Voice control: Supports Chinese sensory keywords (such as “set to the lowest temperature”, “adjust the temperature to the warm state”). Manufacturer-defined names need to be bound to the system’s standard sensory temperature names before they can be used, to avoid confusion caused by different sensory temperature names.

[0014] Contextualized memory and synchronization: (1) Hotel mode: Reset to the default setting (e.g., comfortable 26℃) after check-out, supports batch configuration; (2) Home / Office Mode: Remembers user preferences, synchronizes status across multiple terminals (physical panel, APP, smart home system), and provides a link between the manufacturer's configuration backend and the multi-terminal interaction. Figure 4 Data flow: The manufacturer's backend configures parameters via HTTP / API, synchronizes them to the air conditioner host, and distributes them to multiple terminals; Interactive feedback: When the user operates the physical panel or gives voice commands, the data is transmitted back to the host in real time.

[0015] The innovative aspects of this invention are: (1) Flexible configuration: Manufacturers can customize the number of gears (5-7 gears) to flexibly configure the human-machine interface of the air conditioner panel; (2) Visual diversity: Snowflake / sun icons support multi-dimensional design in terms of size, quantity, and color, providing materials with realized logical connections for human-computer interaction interface design; (2) Cross-platform consistency: Voice, touch, and physical interactions share the same body temperature identification logic; (3) The non-digital expression of perceived temperature also has a precise value, providing technical support for the digitization and virtualization of the spatial environment. Attached Figure Description

[0016] Figure 1 : Illustration of multiple temperature sensitivity icons (diverse designs of snowflakes and sun).

[0017] Figure 2 Diagram showing the 5-level / 6-level / 7-level body temperature settings.

[0018] Figure 3 : Schematic diagram of physical button adaptive design (knob and toggle scale adaptation).

[0019] Figure 4 System architecture diagram (manufacturer configuration backend and multi-terminal interaction link).

[0020] Figure 5 : Schematic diagram of a custom seven-level temperature control panel for air conditioners.

[0021] Figure 6 : Schematic diagram of a five-level home temperature control panel.

[0022] Figure 7 : Nursing home air conditioner panel (physical buttons and five-speed knob).

[0023] Figure 8 Elementary school classroom touch panel (full-screen, six-level sliding). Detailed Implementation

[0024] Example 1: The air conditioner manufacturer sets a seven-level temperature control panel before shipping ( Figure 5 Configuration process: (1) Manufacturers set seven temperature levels (16℃, 19℃, 22℃, 24℃, 26℃, 28℃, 30℃) and corresponding temperature levels with the following names: coldest, coolest, slightly coolest, suitable, comfortable, warmest, hottest. (2) Select icon scheme: Use the number of snowflakes (5 → 1) for low temperature setting, and the shade of the sun color (light yellow → dark orange) for high temperature setting. Use half a snowflake and half a sun with no radiation for comfort setting; (3) Compile firmware and batch burn it to the air conditioner panel. Figure 5 ); (4) User interaction: The panel temperature touch area dynamically displays seven level icons. Touching the light yellow sun will set the temperature to "slightly warm 26℃". The high temperature area displays a light orange sun.

[0025] Example 2: A five-level home temperature control system, implemented as follows: (1) User five-level temperature control system: The user sets the temperature control scheme of the air conditioner to five levels in the APP. The names of the perceived temperatures and the corresponding temperatures are (coldest 16℃, slightly cool 22℃, comfortable 26℃, warm 28℃, hottest 30℃). (2) Icon scheme ( Figure 6 ): Snowflake size classification (large → small) + number of solar radiation lines (none → 8 directions), comfort mode uses half a snowflake and half a solar radiation line; (3) User interaction: The temperature touch area on the panel adopts a semi-circular dial design, dynamically displaying five level icons. To ensure the consistency of temperature and humidity interactive control, the humidity control also adopts the same dial-style touch control method. The voice command "set to coldest" can be used to switch to 16℃, and a large snowflake icon will be displayed on the panel.

[0026] Example 3: Nursing home air conditioner panel (physical buttons, five-speed knob) Figure 7 Hardware configuration: (1) Knob design: 50mm diameter metal knob with raised scale lines etched on the surface (72° rotation angle per gear), providing a distinct tactile feel; (2) Button layout: An LCD screen (2 inches) is embedded in the center of the knob to display the current temperature and humidity level (font height 8mm, contrast ratio ≥500:1). (3) Temperature control: Independent five-level knob with scale markings “lowest (16℃, large snowflake) → slightly cool (22℃, small snowflake) → comfortable (26℃, half snowflake half sun) → warm (28℃, no radiation lines sun) → hottest (30℃, 8 radiation lines sun)”; (4) Humidity control: Independent five-level knob (symmetrically arranged with temperature knob), scale markings "dry (30% RH, 1 water droplet) → semi-dry (40% RH, 2 water droplets) → comfortable (50% RH, 3 water droplets) → semi-wet (60% RH, 4 water droplets) → humid (70% RH, 5 water droplets)".

[0027] Interaction logic of the air conditioning panel in the nursing home: (1) Temperature adjustment: The elderly rotate the temperature knob to "Comfortable (24℃)" and the knob makes a "click" sound. The LCD screen will brighten to the corresponding gear. Five gears: 16℃, 22℃, 26℃, 28℃, 32℃; (2) Humidity adjustment: Rotate the humidity knob to "moderate (50% RH)" and the LCD screen will display a water droplet icon and percentage; the humidity levels are in 10% RH increments (five levels: 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%). (3) Abnormal handling: If the rotation continues for more than 3 gears without stopping, a buzzer warning (short beep for 0.5 seconds) will be triggered to prevent misoperation; (4) User value: Large knob + tactile feedback solves the problems of blurred vision and hand tremors in the elderly, and increases the operation error tolerance by 50%; symmetrical layout of temperature and humidity avoids functional confusion and reduces learning cost.

[0028] Example 4: Elementary School Classroom Touch Panel (Full-screen, six-level sliding) Figure 8 Hardware configuration: (1) Touch interface: 12-inch IPS LCD screen (resolution 2560×1440), slider length 200mm, supports multi-touch; (2) Interaction design: Temperature slider: six horizontal levels (16℃, 19℃, 22℃, 26℃, 28℃, 30℃), separated by dotted lines; (3) Humidity slider: five vertical levels (30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%), forming a T-shaped layout with the temperature bar; Icon design: animal patterns at both ends of the temperature level (penguin 16℃ → sun 26℃ → scorching sun 30℃), and plant growth status for the humidity level (withered leaves 30% → buds 50% → green leaves 70%).

[0029] Interaction logic of touch screen in elementary school classrooms: (1) Temperature adjustment: When the student slides horizontally to “Sun (26℃)”, the interface plays an animation of the rising sun in the morning, and a voice prompt says “Set to comfort mode”; the slider automatically snaps to the nearest setting to prevent accidental setting of intermediate values; (2) Humidity adjustment: Slide vertically to "Green Leaf (70% RH)" to display plant growth animation and update humidity value in real time; double-click to lock the current setting to avoid accidental touch during class; (3) Abnormal handling: If there is no operation within 5 minutes, it will automatically switch to energy saving mode (26℃+50% RH) and dim the screen by 50%; (4) User value: Intuitive animation feedback: Through the dynamic effects of animals and plants, children can understand the concepts of temperature and humidity; Anti-accidental touch design, sliding adsorption + double-click locking, reduces the accidental operation rate by 70%.

Claims

1. A temperature control method and system with multiple levels of perceived temperature indicators, characterized in that... Include: a. Multiple temperature levels: Supports 5-7 flexible settings, with a temperature range of 16℃-30℃, and the temperature difference between adjacent settings is set by the system (2℃-6℃). b. Naming of perceived temperature: Each setting corresponds to a name with key information about perceived temperature characteristics, such as coldest or warmest. Manufacturers can select the number of settings and personalize the names of the settings. c. Diverse icons: Low temperature settings are distinguished by snowflake size / quantity / color, high temperature settings are distinguished by solar radiation lines / color intensity, and comfort settings are distinguished by half a snowflake and half a sun without radiation lines.

2. The method of naming perceptible temperature according to claim 1, characterized in that: The pairing of the perceived temperature with the temperature is set as follows: coldest (16℃), cool (19℃), slightly cool (22℃), comfortable (26℃), warm (28℃), hottest (30℃).

3. Before use, the manufacturer's custom name must correspond to the perceived temperature name to avoid homophones and confusion. For example, if the manufacturer uses "cool" instead of "coldest", then the "cool" button operation and the "coldest" button operation will be matched in the system, and the two names will be mutually translated.

4. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that: (1) The touch interface supports dynamic arrangement of gear icons, and the spacing and proportion are automatically adjusted when the number of gears changes; (2) The voice interaction keywords are fully matched with the system's perceived temperature name / manufacturer's custom name, and dialect adaptation is supported.

5. The icon design according to claim 1, characterized in that: (1) The snowflake icon supports 5 size gradients and 3 color shades; (2) The sun icon supports dynamic rendering of the number of radiation lines (0-8 directions) and the intensity of the halo (weak to strong); (3) Comfort temperature (e.g., 24℃) is the dividing point between low temperature and high temperature. At this time, the comfort setting is represented by a half snowflake and a half sun without radiation.

6. The configuration logic according to claim 1, characterized in that: (1) Manufacturers can set gear parameters in batches through the cloud backend and support remote firmware upgrades; (2) Family users can merge / split gears and customize motion sensing names and icon styles through the APP.

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