AUTOMATED CONTROL FOR CERTAIN FUNCTIONS OF REFRIGERATORS AND OTHER DOMESTIC FACILITIES

Abstract

Smart home controller working with a household appliance, or a household appliance with the controller installed, and in particular refrigeration apparatus with a controller. The appliance has an auxiliary operation initiated automatically based on user activity, and the controller provides an auxiliary operation suppression unit configured to prevent said user activity from automatically triggering said auxiliary operation. The controller may be connected to operate the auxiliary operation suppression unit based on a calendar and locally calculated daylight times. The controller is useful for preventing refrigerator lights and the like from turning on when not wanted.

Claims

1. Hot water apparatus initiated based on user activity, the apparatus further comprising: a hot water action suppression unit configured to prevent said user activity from automatically triggering a hot water heating operation, and a controller connected to operate said hot water action suppression unit based on a calendar, wherein said hot water action is governed by a controller command based on output of a sensor, the sensor sensing said user activity, said hot water action suppression unit configured to suppress said controller command, said suppressing being carried out while said sensor continues to operate, the hot water action suppression unit being implemented using software, thereby being applied without manufacturing changes to said hot water apparatus.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the calendar is the Hebrew calendar.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising obtaining local daylight times, wherein the local daylight times provide a Sabbath onset time and a Sabbath end time correct for a current location.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising an interface for entering location coordinates to said controller.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said hot water action suppression unit comprises an actuator, the actuator located over a physical switch governing said hot water operation.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the hot water apparatus is stand-alone, said controller is an internal controller and said hot water heating operation is carried out internally to said apparatus.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said controller is part of a smart home controller.

8. Method for hot water heating suppression for household hot water, a hot water heating action being initiated automatically based on sensing by a sensor of user activity, the method comprising: obtaining a calendar, and carrying out a suppression of said hot water heating action by preventing said user activity from automatically triggering said hot water heating, said prevention being according to days based on said calendar, wherein said hot water heating action is governed by a controller command based on output of said sensor, said hot water heating action suppression comprising suppressing said controller command, said suppressing being applied while said sensor continues to operate, said suppression unit being implemented using software, thereby being applied without manufacturing changes to said household hot water apparatus.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the calendar is the Hebrew calendar.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising providing local daylight times, wherein the local daylight times provide a Sabbath onset time and a Sabbath end time correct according to a current location.

11. The method of claim 8, comprising using an interface for entering location coordinates.

12. The method of claim 8, comprising: locating an actuator over a physical hot water switch, said physical switch governing said hot water heating action; carrying out hot water heating suppression by operating said actuator.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0040] Some embodiments of the invention are herein described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings. With specific reference now to the drawings in detail, it is stressed that the particulars shown are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of embodiments of the invention. In this regard, the description taken with the drawings makes apparent to those skilled in the art how embodiments of the invention may be practiced.

[0041] In the drawings:

[0042] FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram showing an appliance such as a refrigerator with a suppression mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0043] FIG. 2 is a simplified diagram showing an appliance such as a refrigerator, or a smart home, with a suppression mechanism according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

[0044] FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing steps in calculating dates of festivals using the Hebrew calendar; and

[0045] FIG. 4 is a simplified diagram showing how to obtain Sabbath onset and ending times.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

[0046] The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to automated control for certain functions of refrigerators and other domestic appliances and facilities and for smart homes, and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to automated suppression of certain functions according to a timetable.

[0047] A smart home controller may work with a household appliance, or a household appliance may have such a controller installed, and in particular a refrigeration apparatus may have a controller. The appliance has an auxiliary operation initiated automatically based on user activity, and the controller provides an auxiliary operation suppression unit configured to prevent the user activity from automatically triggering the auxiliary operation. The controller may be connected to operate the auxiliary operation suppression unit based on a calendar and locally calculated daylight times. The controller is useful for preventing refrigerator lights and the like from turning on when not wanted.

[0048] Time switches that operate on a weekly plan are available. However, simply using a time switch on the auxiliary functions is not a solution for several reasons. The Sabbath starts and ends at different times each week as its hours are determined by sunset times. Tables of sunset times are often available but tend to be constructed for the region in general or based on a particular location in the time zone, thus failing to take into account local time and therefore actual sunset at the location. Furthermore, while Sabbath onset times are based on the local sunset, they are not identical to the sunset times. A further difficulty is that there are, in addition to the weekly Sabbath, eight or fifteen festival days on which the same issues apply, their dates being determined according to the Hebrew calendar.

[0049] The present invention provides microprocessor control to the auxiliary functions in question, which switches them off separately from the remaining functions in accordance with the days prescribed by the Hebrew calendar and times according to sunset at the location on local time.

[0050] Before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not necessarily limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of the components and/or methods set forth in the following description and/or illustrated in the drawings and/or the Examples. The invention is capable of other embodiments or of being practiced or carried out in various ways.

[0051] Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates apparatus 10 such as a refrigerator. The refrigerator typically has microcontroller 12 which operates the appliance's main functions 14 such as refrigeration. An auxiliary operation 16 is initiated automatically based on user activity, for example a lamp is lit in the refrigerator based on opening of the door by the user. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 the lamp is lit by sensing the opening of the door. The lamp is controlled by switch 18. In one case the switch is a physical switch which is pressed closed or allowed to open by the door itself. In another case the opening and closing of the door is based on a sensor and switch 18 is an override switch.

[0052] An auxiliary operation suppression unit 20 prevents user activity, such as opening the door, from automatically triggering the auxiliary operation. In the case of physical switch 18 the suppression unit 20 would be an actuator.

[0053] A controller 22 is connected to operate the auxiliary operation suppression unit 20 based on a calendar and locally calculated daylight times. The calendar may be the Hebrew calendar, and the times may be Sabbath onset and ending times, as will be discussed in greater detail below. The Sabbath onset and ending times are local times requiring knowledge of the current location, and interface 24 allows users to enter current locations into the controller.

[0054] Reference is now made to FIG. 2, which is an alternative embodiment for an appliance 30 such as a refrigerator that does not have a physical switch for the auxiliary operation. Again the appliance has a main function 32 and an auxiliary function 34. A sensor 36 senses the specific user activity, such as opening the door and sends a signal to a controller 38. In normal operation the controller then sends a command to cause the auxiliary function to take place. The auxiliary operation suppression unit and calendar time controller are combined as an addition 40 to control program 42 that operates controller 38, and either suppresses the controller command operate the function or alternatively may suppress the output from the sensor.

[0055] The auxiliary operations may include modifications of the operation of the refrigerator motor. For example opening the door of the refrigerator may directly cause an increase in the level of operation of the refrigerator motor. Software suppression of the control signals may likewise prevent such increase.

[0056] In other cases the change in operation of the refrigerator motor may be due to a thermostat, which is affected by the opening of the door. In this case, most authorities do not see a problem but if required then the software can also suppress any change in operation due to output from the thermostat.

[0057] More particularly, there are refrigerators that have a physical switch for the auxiliary functions and those that have no physical switch or at least the switch is not accessible for separate actuation. In many refrigerators the auxiliary function is operated by software in response to sensor outputs.

[0058] In the case of a physical switch, an actuator is placed over the physical switch and microprocessor operation can operate the actuator to keep it switched off on the days and times required. This applies whether the physical switch is the primary operator of the auxiliary function or whether it is a backup operator. For example, lamp illumination may be door operated, but there may be a separate switch to shut down the lamp circuit say for changing the lamp.

[0059] In the case of a refrigerator having a separate switch for Sabbath operation, the actuator may be placed over the Sabbath operation switch.

[0060] In the case of a refrigerator that does not have a physical switch for auxiliary operations, the operations are all controlled in software. In this case, the calendar and time control is incorporated into the software.

[0061] The present embodiments are by no means limited to refrigerators, and may be applied to any other home appliance that includes auxiliary automatic functions that may require suppression.

[0062] Likewise the embodiments may be applied to smart homes and smart home controllers. The embodiment may be understood from FIG. 2, except that the appliance is the home as a whole and the smart home functions are divided into those which are problematic for the Sabbath observer and for which suppression is applied and those which are left to carry on. Smart home technology involves the use of computer and information technology to control home appliances and features such as heating, air conditioning, windows, lighting, home entertainment and information systems etc. Smart home technology can range from simple remote control of lighting through to complex computer/micro-controller based networks with varying degrees of intelligence and automation. Home automation is adopted for reasons of ease, security and energy efficiency.

[0063] In modern construction in industrialized nations, most homes have been wired for electrical power, telephones, TV outlets, such as cable or antenna, and a doorbell. Many household tasks were automated by the development of specialized automated appliances. For instance, automatic washing machines were developed to reduce the manual labor of cleaning clothes, and water heaters reduced the labor necessary for obtaining hot water.

[0064] The use of gaseous or liquid fuels, and later the use of electricity enabled increased automation in heating, reducing the labor necessary to manually refuel heaters and stoves. Development of thermostats allowed more automated control of heating, and later cooling.

[0065] As the number of controllable devices in the home rises, interconnection and communication becomes a useful and desirable feature. For example, a furnace can send an alert message when it needs cleaning, or a refrigerator when it needs service. If no one is supposed to be home and the alarm system is set, the home automation system could call the owner, or the neighbors, or an emergency number if an intruder is detected.

[0066] In simple installations, automation may be as straightforward as turning on the lights when a person enters the room. In advanced installations, rooms can sense not only the presence of a person inside but know who that person is and perhaps set appropriate lighting, temperature, music levels or television channels, taking into account the day of the week, the time of day, and other factors.

[0067] Other automated tasks may include reduced setting of the heating or air conditioning when the house is unoccupied, and restoring the normal setting when an occupant is about to return. More sophisticated systems can maintain an inventory of products, recording their usage through bar codes, or an RFID tag, and prepare a shopping list or even automatically order replacements.

[0068] Home automation can also provide a remote interface to home appliances or the automation system itself, to provide control and monitoring on a smartphone or web browser.

[0069] Some of the functions provided by home automation are problematic for the Sabbath observer while others are not. Suppression of the problematic functions at the correct time may be provided by the present embodiments.

[0070] The following discusses the calculation of the times and the dates.

[0071] The Hebrew calendar is neither a solar calendar like the Gregorian calendar, nor a lunar calendar like the Moslem calendar, but is a hybrid lunar-solar calendar, which makes its calculation far from trivial.

[0072] The following is a discussion about how to calculate the Hebrew calendar.

[0073] The Jewish calendar combines three unconnected astronomical phenomena: the rotation of the Earth about its axis, the day; the revolution of the moon about the Earth, the month; and the revolution of the Earth about the sun, the year. These three phenomena are independent of each other, and there is no correlation between them. The moon revolves around the Earth in about 29 days. The Earth revolves around the sun in about 365 days, that is, about 12 lunar months and 11 days.

[0074] To coordinate between the above three phenomena, the Jewish calendar consists of 12 or 13 months of 29 or 30 days, and can be 353, 354, 355, 383, 384 or 385 days long. The centerpiece of the calendar is the new moon, referred to in Hebrew as the Molad.

[0075] A new month on the Jewish calendar begins with the Molad. The Molad for the month of Tishri is the most important one for calendar calculations, and is referred to as Molad Tishri.

[0076] Note that the calculated Molad does not correspond precisely to the astronomical new moon. The length of time from one astronomical new moon to the next varies somewhat because of the eccentric orbits of the Earth and Moon; however, the calendar Molad is set using a fixed average length of time: 29 days, 12 hours, and 793 parts, commonly written in an abbreviated form: 29 d 12 h 793 p, where the part, or chelek, is a unit of time equal to 3 seconds. There are 18 parts in a minute and 1,080 parts in an hour.

[0077] The time for the Molad is Jerusalem local time, which is not the same as the time on the clock, even in Jerusalem, since clocks use the time zone time, not the local time.

[0078] Reference is now made to FIG. 3, which shows the stages involved in calculating the date of the New YearRosh Hashanah on the Jewish calendar.

[0079] The calculation begins with box 100, taking a known Molad Tishri, the day of the week and the corresponding date in the Gregorian calendar.

[0080] In box 110, the calculation determines the number of months between the known Molad and Molad Tishri of the year of interest.

[0081] In box 120, the number of months is multiplied by the length of the Molad interval: 29 d 12 h 793 p to give a number of days and fractions of a day.

[0082] The result is then added to the known starting Molad as a number of daysbox 130.

[0083] In box 140, the number of days modulo seven added to the start day of the week gives the day of the week of the Molad Tishri.

[0084] In box 150, the four postponement rules are used to determine the actual date to be used for the New YearRosh Hashanah for the current year.

[0085] In box 160, the secular date is obtained by adding the number of days elapsed, calculated in box 120, to the secular starting date and correcting for intervening leap years.

[0086] Box 110 in greater detail requires to determine how many months are between the starting point used and Tishri of the year of your end point. There are exactly 235 months in every 19-year cycle of leap years (12 12-month years plus 7 13-month years), but if the number of years is not evenly divisible by 19, then it is necessary to determine whether each remaining year is a regular year (12 months) or a leap year (13 months).

[0087] The leap year cycle is calculated as follows. Leap years occur in years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17 and 19 of a 19-year cycle, and the 19-year cycle begins in the year 1, so you can simply divide the year number by 19 and examine the remainder. If the remainder is 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17 or 0 (the 19th year of the cycle) then the year is a leap year. Otherwise, it is not.

[0088] In box 120, we multiply the number of months by the average length of the Molad, which is 29 d 12 h 793 p.

[0089] Box 130 requires adding the elapsed time calculated above to the starting date to get the ending date.

[0090] At this point, we note the number of days elapsed between our starting point and our ending point as a number of days. We note this at this point in the calculation, after the hours are rounded into the days but before the weekday of the starting Molad is added to the number of days. This number of days will be necessary to determine the Gregorian date in box 160.

[0091] Box 150 involves applying what are known as postponements or dechiyot, which are needed to find the correct days on which the festivals occur. There are four rules of postponement which postpone the date of Rosh Hashanah, but do not affect the calculated time of the Molad. One of the postponements is a general rule of rounding to ensure the year has a whole number of days, while the rest are designed to prevent oddities in the length of the year and the date of Rosh Hashanah.

Postponement 1: Molad ZakeinGeneral Rounding Rule

[0092] The first postponement is Molad Zakein, meaning an old Molad. If the Molad occurs at or after noon, the Molad is considered to be old and we round to the next day. This rule is quite commonly applied, affecting a quarter of all years.

[0093] The rule of Molad Zakein simply means that a Molad at or after noon relates to the day that starts at the next sunset, 4-10 hours later, rather than the previous sunset which was 14-20 hours earlier.

[0094] Note that when postponements like this apply, a day must be added to the elapsed time for purposes of calculating the Gregorian equivalent date, but the Molad does not change. The unchanged Molad is used for purposes of calculating subsequent years and for certain religious purposes.

Postponement 2: Lo ADU Rosh

[0095] The second postponement is known as Lo ADU or Lo ADU Rosh. This rule states that Rosh Hashanah cannot occur on a Sunday, a Wednesday or a Friday. If the calculated Molad occurs on one of these days of the week, Rosh Hashanah is postponed by a day to prevent other problems with the calendar.

[0096] This postponement is also commonly applied, as you might imagine. It applies to three out of seven days, so one would expect it to occur almost half of the time.

[0097] Note that the postponements of Molad Zakein and Lo ADU Rosh can work in combination. Thus, the rule of Molad Zakein must be checked before the rule of Lo ADU Rosh.

Postponement 3: Gatarad

[0098] The remaining two dechiyot are much less commonly applied.

[0099] Postponement Gatarad holds that if Molad Tishri in a simple 12-month, non-leap, year occurs on a Tuesday at 9 h 204 p or later, Rosh Hashanah is postponed to the next day, a Wednesday, which by the effect of Lo ADU Rosh would then be postponed to Thursday.

[0100] Why does such a complicated rule exist? This rule prevents the possibility that a year might be 356 days, an invalid length. Consider: a Molad Tishri at 3 d 9 h 204 p would not be postponed by Molad Zakein or Lo ADU Rosh. Add 12 lunar cycles (354 d 8 h 876 p) to the next year's Rosh Hashanah and you get 7 d 18 h 0 p with 354 days elapsed. Molad Zakein applies to the following year, postponing Rosh Hashanah to the next day, a Sunday, with 355 days elapsed. Lo ADU Rosh is then triggered, postponing Rosh Hashanah and leaving 356 days elapsed and making the current year an invalid length. Gatarad takes days away from the following year and adds them to the preceding year, so both years are a valid length.

[0101] Note that Gatarad invariably triggers Lo ADU Rosh. Gatarad only applies when Rosh Hashanah is Tuesday and Gatarad postpones Rosh Hashanah to Wednesday. Lo ADU Rosh then postpones Rosh Hashanah to Thursday.

[0102] Note also that this rule is not combined with Molad Zakein. If Molad Zakein applies to the current year, Gatarad is unnecessary; thus Gatarad applies only to Molads between 9 h 204 p and 17 h 1079 p.

Postponement 4: Betutkafot

[0103] Like Postponement Gatarad, this rule is not very commonly applied and is also designed to prevent a year from having an invalid length. Postponement Betutkafot prevents a leap-year from having 382 days, too few days, by postponing Rosh Hashanah of the non-leap year following the leap year.

[0104] If Molad Tishri in a year following a leap year occurs on Monday after the 15th hour and 589 parts, then it is postponed to the next day. The rule is applied only if the actual Molad occurs on Monday, not if it is postponed to Monday. Like Gatarad, the rule really only applies to Molads before noon, because Molad Zakein handles the postponements for Molads at or after noon. Unlike Gatarad, Betutkafot does not trigger Lo ADU Rosh, because Betutkafot postpones Rosh Hashanah from a Monday to a Tuesday and Tuesday is an acceptable day for Rosh Hashanah.

[0105] Microprocessors are typically programmed with the Gregorian date, so a final stage is to determine the Gregorian date, at least for a starting point. Typically, one would calculate the Gregorian date for Rosh Hashanah and work from there. One may take the elapsed days calculated in Step 4, add any additional days triggered by the postponements in Step 5, and add this number of days to the date of Rosh Hashanah for the known Molad.

[0106] The principles above are sufficient to convert Rosh Hashanah to a Gregorian date for any year. However, for the remaining festivals, one may calculate either that year's Rosh Hashanah, the following year's Rosh Hashanah or both and use this information to work out the date based on the lengths of months. Additional information relates to the month of the festival being considered.

[0107] The following contains information for all of the months, irrespective of whether festivals are involved.

Tishri

[0108] Tishri is the month of Rosh Hashanah, so you simply add the date of the month to Rosh Hashanah and subtract 1 (because Rosh Hashanah is Day 1).

Cheshvan

[0109] Cheshvan is the second month of the calendar year, and the preceding month of Tishri is always 30 days, so you simply take the current Rosh Hashanah, add 29 days (301 for Rosh Hashanah) and add the date of the month.

Kislev

[0110] Kislev is the hardest month to calculate. You cannot simply work forward from the current year's Rosh Hashanah, because the preceding month of Cheshvan can be 29 or 30 days, nor can you work backward from the next year's Rosh Hashanah, because Kislev itself can also be 29 or 30 days. To calculate the length of Kislev, you need to know the date of Rosh Hashanah of both the current year and the next year, then calculate the difference between them to determine the length of the current year. If the year is 353, 354, 383 or 384 days, then Cheshvan is 29 days and you can determine a date in Kislev taking the current Rosh Hashanah, adding 58 days, then adding the date of the month. If the year is 355 or 385 days, then Cheshvan is 30 days and you can determine a date in Kislev by taking the current Rosh Hashanah, adding 59 days, then adding the date of the month.

Tevet, Shevat

[0111] The remaining months of the year are of unchanging length, but the number of months varies depending on whether the year is a leap year! Tevet and Shevat are best calculated by working backwards from the following year's Rosh Hashanah and subtracting an additional 30 days in a leap year. Tevet's offset in a non-leap year is 266; Shevat's is 237.

Adar, Adar I and Adar II

[0112] Adar is always offset 207 from the following Rosh Hashanah; however, in regular years, Adar is the 12th month of the year (starting from Nissan), and in leap years, is known as Adar II and is the 13th month of the year. Adar I, the extra month inserted as the 12th month in leap years, is always offset 237 days from Rosh Hashanah.

Nissan, Iyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Av, Elul

[0113] The remaining months of the year are all of unchanging length and not affected by leap years. Simply subtract the appropriate number of days from the following year's Rosh Hashanah and add the date of the month.

[0114] Reference is now made to FIG. 4, which illustrates calculation of Shabbat onset times requires longitude and latitude at the location in question. Local time at any given location is an offset of the time zone time being observed which can be obtained using the longitude and latitude, provided in box 200. Published sunset times are not likely to be for either the given location or based on the local time and so cannot be used. Instead, an offset is calculated between clock time and actual local time, box 210, and actual sunset times for the given location are calculated in terms of local timebox 220and then may be converted into the clock time using the offset. The Sabbath onset time is for most locations 18 minutes prior to the local sunset time. In Jerusalem, the Sabbath onset time is 40 minutes prior to the local sunset timebox 230.

[0115] The Sabbath ending time is based on a definition of nightfall that depends on the depression angle of the sun below the horizon. Some authorities use a solar depression angle of seven degrees and five minutes, and then add three minutes to the resulting time. Other authorities use a solar depression angle of eight and a half degrees with no time addedbox 240.

[0116] In practice tables are available of the calendar and of Sabbath times, and numerous programs are available for calculating either. The microprocessor however needs to know the local coordinates and the time according to the local time zone in order to obtain the correct answers.

[0117] It is expected that during the life of a patent maturing from this application many relevant actuators and control techniques for refrigeration will be developed and the scope of the corresponding terms are intended to include all such new technologies a priori.

[0118] The terms comprises, comprising, includes, including, having and their conjugates mean including but not limited to.

[0119] The term consisting of means including and limited to.

[0120] As used herein, the singular form a, an and the include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

[0121] It is appreciated that certain features of the invention, which are, for clarity, described in the context of separate embodiments, may also be provided in combination in a single embodiment, and the above description is to be construed as if this combination were explicitly written. Conversely, various features of the invention, which are, for brevity, described in the context of a single embodiment, may also be provided separately or in any suitable subcombination or as suitable in any other described embodiment of the invention, and the above description is to be construed as if these separate embodiments were explicitly written. Certain features described in the context of various embodiments are not to be considered essential features of those embodiments, unless the embodiment is inoperative without those elements.

[0122] Although the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims.

[0123] All publications, patents and patent applications mentioned in this specification are herein incorporated in their entirety by reference into the specification, to the same extent as if each individual publication, patent or patent application was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated herein by reference. In addition, citation or identification of any reference in this application shall not be construed as an admission that such reference is available as prior art to the present invention. To the extent that section headings are used, they should not be construed as necessarily limiting. In addition, any priority document(s) of this application is/are hereby incorporated herein by reference in its/their entirety.