Multi-Thermostat Management Using Visual Drag-and-Drop Grouping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current web-based systems for managing multiple thermostats are not user-friendly, making it cumbersome to group, edit, or move thermostats between groups.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that allows users to visually represent thermostats and groups on a display device, enabling drag-and-drop functionality for grouping and scheduling, with a server managing the communication and application of schedules to thermostats.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If web-based systems allow grouping of multiple thermostats, then thermostat management capability is improved, but system complexity and difficulty of operation increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses visual drag-and-drop copying of thermostat icons between group containers, allowing users to create and modify thermostat groups through intuitive graphical interactions rather than complex web forms. Thermostat representations are copied between visual group containers through dragging operations, making group management simple and intuitive
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces visual group containers as intermediary elements between the user and the thermostat system. These containers serve as drop zones that mediate the grouping operation, allowing users to add or remove thermostats by simply dragging icons into or out of container boundaries, rather than navigating complex menus or configuration pages
2Adaptability or versatility
If users can edit thermostat groups and move thermostats between groups, then system flexibility is improved, but operational complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic visual group containers that can be freely created, modified, and reconfigured through drag-and-drop operations. Users can dynamically add or remove thermostats from groups by dragging icons between containers, and containers themselves can be moved or reorganized, providing flexible group management without complex procedures
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the thermostat management interface into distinct visual group containers, each representing a separate controllable group. This segmentation allows users to independently manage each group by dragging thermostats between container boundaries, making complex multi-thermostat management into simple visual operations on individual segments
Data Source
AI summary
A control system for managing operation of a plurality of thermostats includes a server comprising a processor, a memory, and a communication interface. The memory device stores instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to display, on a display device of a computing device, a visual representation for each thermostat of the plurality of thermostats and one or more groups into which each of the plurality of thermostats is grouped, and further to assign an operating schedule to a group, apply the assigned operating schedule to each thermostat of the plurality of thermostats located in the group, and move one thermostat of the plurality of thermostats from a first group to a second group in response to a user dragging and dropping a visual representation of the thermostat on the display device from the first group to the second group.