An air conditioning system includes a plurality of air conditioners installed on a wall or a ceiling, and an air conditioning assisting device installed at a position at an equal distance from each of the air conditioners on the wall or the ceiling. The air conditioning assisting device includes a thermal image sensor, an assisting side communication unit that receives information relating to operating states of some or all of the air conditioners from some or all of the air conditioners, and transmits commands for air conditioning to some or all of the air conditioners, a storage unit that stores information obtained by the thermal image sensor and information received by the assisting side communication unit, and a processing unit that analyzes the information obtained by the thermal image sensor and the information received by the assisting side communication unit, and generates the commands.

Apparatus, systems and methods for ascertaining the occupancy of a building are presented. The building is divided into one or more control zones which correspond to physical areas of the building associated with controllable modules, such as HVAC units, lighting, irrigation, or other environmental features such as fountains, music, video, and the like. Zone parameters define how zone devices shall react to the number of occupants located in the particular zone. A building control system detects individual mobile devices in and around the building, and determines the locations of each device by using trilateration and/or location services. The identified mobile devices act as proxies for building occupants. The locations of these devices are correlated with the locations of the zones in the building, and the building control system then adjusts the operating parameters of the zone based on the number of devices present in the zone.

A climate control system in a vehicle comprises a first vent unit adjacent to a driver seat; a second vent unit adjacent to a passenger seat; a climate control device configured to provide conditioned air to an occupant compartment; and a user input device to enable selection of a first climate control mode or a second climate control mode by a user. The conditioned air passes through the first vent unit at the first climate control mode and the conditioned air passes through the first and second vent units at the second climate control mode.

A visible light sensor may be configured to sense environmental characteristics of a space using an image of the space. The visible light sensor may be controlled in one or more modes, including a daylight glare sensor mode, a daylighting sensor mode, a color sensor mode, and/or an occupancy/vacancy sensor mode. In the daylight glare sensor mode, the visible light sensor may be configured to decrease or eliminate glare within a space. In the daylighting sensor mode and the color sensor mode, the visible light sensor may be configured to provide a preferred amount of light and color temperature, respectively, within the space. In the occupancy/vacancy sensor mode, the visible light sensor may be configured to detect an occupancy/vacancy condition within the space and adjust one or more control devices according to the occupation or vacancy of the space. The visible light sensor may be configured to protect the privacy of users within the space via software, a removable module, and/or a special sensor.

Methods, controllers, and the like are disclosed that can include determining an occurrence of an event (where the occurrence of the event is determined by a controller of a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, and the HVAC system controls a temperature of air in an environment by controlling a setpoint temperature of conditioned air provided by the HVAC system to the environment). Such methods, controllers, and the like can further include, in response to a determination that the event has occurred, altering the temperature of the air in the environment by executing a sleep profile, where the sleep profile is executed by the controller and execution of the sleep profile adjusts the setpoint temperature as a function of time over a time period, such that the temperature of the air in the environment leads an occupant in the environment into a sleep state or a wakeful state.

A controller device for a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system may output, while in a first state, a first user interface for display at a display device, where the first user interface includes first information at a first output size. The controller device may determine, while in the first state and based at least in part on whether an elapsed time since a most recent indication of user input received at a user input device exceeds a timeout period, that no users are physically proximate to the controller device. The controller device may, in response: transition the controller device from the first state to a second state and output a second user interface at the display device, where the second user interface comprises second information at a second output size that is larger than the first output size.

A method and system for measuring satisfaction for a smart building is disclosed. A method includes detecting a presence of a user at the smart building; monitoring actions of the user in the smart building with respect to each of a plurality of aspects; receiving feedback via a human machine interface from the user regarding one or more of the plurality of aspects; and building the profile for the user based on the actions and feedback; wherein: monitoring actions comprises using one or more sensors to detect movement of the user through the smart building; receiving feedback includes determining a satisfaction level of the user with respect to thermal comfort; and adjusting the one or more of the plurality of aspects based on the profile.

An integrated method for assessing metabolic rate and maintaining indoor air quality and efficient ventilation energy use. A physical sensor assesses room occupancy. An actuated ventilation system is set to a constant CO.sub.2 level in a predetermined healthy range, where the actuated ventilation system includes a CO.sub.2 sensor. The actuated ventilation system sets a first air ventilation rate and the sensor measures a first CO.sub.2 level. The system determines whether CO.sub.2 level is in a healthy range, if not then the CO.sub.2 level is adjusted by setting a subsequent air ventilation rate. A subsequent CO.sub.2 level is measured. If the CO.sub.2 level is determined to meet a predetermined healthy range, then an assessment of change of air ventilation rate (Δ ACH) is determined. The determination of air change rate can be further augmented by a physical pressure based measurement. The overall metabolic rate is generated.

Occupant thermal comfort may be inferred and improved using body shape information. Height, weight, and shoulder circumference of an occupant of a room may be obtained using a depth sensor. A model may be utilized that is trained on a dataset including information reflecting of occupant comfort within the room versus temperature, the model receiving, as inputs, the height, the weight, and the shoulder circumference of the occupant and environmental information and outputting a comfort class. A temperature set-point for is identified which the room occupant is identified by the model as having the comfort class being indicative of user comfort. Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) controls are adjusted for the room to the identified temperature set-point.

An air-conditioning system includes an air-conditioning unit for supplying conditioned aft to an activity space defined by a compartment and having an air-conditioning duct for guiding the conditioned aft to the activity space, and at least one auxiliary air duct mechanism including an auxiliary air duct communicatingly connected to the air-conditioning duct for communicating the activity space with the outside, and a fan mounted in the auxiliary air duct. The auxiliary air duct has an auxiliary air inlet for guiding therein the outside air, an inner air inlet opening for guiding therein the conditioned air, and an auxiliary air outlet for discharging the outside air and the conditioned air into the activity space.