Architectural Covering Control Setup Using Broadcast Position Matching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Configuring user devices to remotely control architectural structural coverings, such as blinds and shades, is challenging due to the difficulty in determining which controls are initially connected to which coverings, especially in large buildings with multiple rooms and coverings, often requiring trial and error.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system where user devices provide a user interface that detects nearby coverings through broadcast signals, offering real-time updates with covering IDs and positions, allowing users to easily identify and configure control pairings, and enabling simultaneous changes to multiple covering positions for efficient setup.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If trial and error method is used to configure controls to coverings, then control pairing can be established, but configuration time and complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides real-time visual feedback by displaying covering representations on the user interface that mirror the actual physical positions of coverings. When a control is activated, the corresponding representation updates immediately, allowing users to identify pairings without trial and error. This feedback mechanism directly resolves the contradiction by making configuration intuitive and rapid.
Solution Approach 2:
The coverings autonomously broadcast their position information and identifiers, eliminating the need for manual pairing procedures. The system automatically establishes control associations by detecting which covering responds to which control input, based on the broadcasted position data. This self-service approach dramatically reduces configuration time and complexity.
2Ease of operation
If multiple coverings are controlled individually, then precise control is achieved, but configuration complexity and time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system combines multiple covering representations into a single user interface display, showing all coverings and their positions simultaneously. Users can see and control multiple coverings from one location without physically moving between them. This merging approach maintains precise individual control while reducing configuration complexity by presenting all controls in a unified interface.
3Measurement precision
If users physically move between coverings to identify pairings, then accurate control association is achieved, but time and effort increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates visual copies (representations) of the actual coverings on the user interface display. These representations mirror the physical positions and states of the real coverings, allowing users to identify and configure control pairings remotely without physically moving between coverings. This copying mechanism maintains pairing accuracy while eliminating the time-consuming physical movement requirement.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for configuring a user device to remotely control a plurality of architectural structural coverings are described. A user device receives a plurality of broadcast signals from a plurality of architectural structural coverings. Each individual broadcast signal is associated with an individual architectural structural covering and relays position information for the individual architectural structural covering. Each broadcast signal is also associated with an individual entry in a list of entries displayed on a user interface of the user device. Each entry comprises a representation of an architectural structural covering having a displayed position that matches position information from the broadcast signal and a position control for controlling a physical position of the associated architectural structural covering. When a user adjusts the position via the position control, an adjusted position instruction is sent to the associated architectural structural covering. The displayed position of the representation on the UI is changed to mirror a change in the physical position of the architectural structural covering as the user device observes broadcast position data from the architectural structural covering.