U.S. patent application number 11/329821 was filed with the patent office on 2006-06-08 for pc-programmed irrigation control system.
Invention is credited to Allan Morris Goldberg, Michael James Grundy, Larry Hawkes, Larry Kent Hopkins, Randall Pearson.
Application Number | 20060122735 11/329821 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 35966351 |
Filed Date | 2006-06-08 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060122735 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Goldberg; Allan Morris ; et
al. |
June 8, 2006 |
PC-programmed irrigation control system
Abstract
A free-standing field irrigation controller is selectively
programmed by a personal computer over a radio link. The computer
is equipped with software that displays a screen with seven
horizontal time bands representing one day each, arranged
vertically to display one week's time. Box icons representing
watering settings for a plurality of zones can be dragged and
dropped onto the time bands, copied and modified thereon as
desired, to form a freely selectable watering schedule. Other
selectable screens allow odd-days or even-days watering,
sophisticated interval watering, global watering time adjustment,
and a variety of manual functions. Selectable portions of the main
screen can be enlarged as desired. Based on the selected schedule,
the computer calculates and displays the monthly cost of water.
Selected zones can be temporarily disabled to deal with weather or
maintenance issues. A handheld global shut-off and manual watering
remote and/or a separate radio-linked computer may be used in field
maintenance.
Inventors: |
Goldberg; Allan Morris;
(Laguna Niguel, CA) ; Hopkins; Larry Kent;
(Escondido, CA) ; Pearson; Randall; (Chino Hills,
CA) ; Hawkes; Larry; (San Diego, CA) ; Grundy;
Michael James; (Phelan, CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
INSKEEP INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY GROUP, INC
2281 W. 190TH STREET
SUITE 200
TORRANCE
CA
90504
US
|
Family ID: |
35966351 |
Appl. No.: |
11/329821 |
Filed: |
January 10, 2006 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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10748445 |
Dec 30, 2003 |
7010395 |
|
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11329821 |
Jan 10, 2006 |
|
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60438275 |
Jan 6, 2003 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
700/284 ; 700/15;
700/16 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A01G 25/16 20130101;
Y10T 137/0318 20150401; Y10S 715/965 20130101; Y02A 40/238
20180101; Y02A 40/22 20180101 |
Class at
Publication: |
700/284 ;
700/015; 700/016 |
International
Class: |
G05D 7/00 20060101
G05D007/00 |
Claims
1. An irrigation control system, comprising: a) a computer; b) a
field controller linked to said computer for transfer of data
therebetween; and c) a set of water valves arranged to be
selectively turned on and off by said field controller; d) said
field controller including a clock, a microprocessor and a memory,
said memory being connected to store scheduling data and run time
setting data for the operation of said water valves, and said
microprocessor being arranged to operate said water valves in
accordance with said clock and said data; e) said computer being
programmed to receive from an operator data representing desired
watering schedules and run time settings for each water valve of
said set, and to selectively transfer said data to said field
controller; and f) said computer being further programmed to
present to said operator a graphic of the time of day for a
plurality of days, said computer receiving said data from said
operator by placing water valve identifying indicia into selected
positions on said graphic.
2. The system of claim 1, in which said memory is non-volatile.
3. The system of claim 1, in which said graphic includes: i) a
plurality of time bands extending in a first direction, each time
band representing hours of a day, said time bands being juxtaposed
in a second direction to represent a series of days.
4. The system of claim 3, in which the current time is indicated by
a line extending in said second direction across said time
bands.
5. The system of claim 3, in which said graphic further incudes:
ii) a selectably displayable list of indicia representing the water
valves of said set, watering schedules of said water valves being
placed on said time bands by dragging and dropping indicia from
said list onto said time bands in the form of schedule boxes having
an edge representative of the start of watering and a width
representative of run time.
6. The system of claim 5, in which said graphic includes
directional arrows, and said displayed days are selected by
clicking said arrows.
7. The system of claim 6, in which said schedule box can be
expanded along its time band by dragging a trailing edge of said
schedule box.
8. The system of claim 5, in which sets of schedule boxes in one
time band can be copied to other time bands.
9. The system of claim 5, in which said graphic is arranged to
display, whenever the cursor is placed over a scheduling box, a
label showing the identity of the valve involved and its start and
run time.
10. The system of claim 5, in which clicking on a schedule box
displays a dialog box which allows the parameters of the schedule
box to be changed.
11. The system of claim 5, in which said time bands each represent
the 24 hours of a day, and said graphic shows seven time bands
representing a repeating week.
12. The system of claim 5, in which said time bands are arranged in
a series beginning with the current day and ending with the last
day of a selectable repetition cycle, the displayed days of said
repetition cycle being selectable.
13. The system of claim 12, in which said computer is adapted to
send to said field controller scheduling data representing turn-on
of a water valve at the time corresponding to a leading edge of a
corresponding schedule box, and a turn-off of said water valve at
the time corresponding to a trailing edge of said schedule box.
14. The system of claim 5, in which alternate ones of said time
bands can be selectively blocked to allow watering only on odd or
even days.
15. The system of claim 5, in which said graphic further includes:
iii) watering inhibition indicia which, when clicked, inhibit
watering on a specific day with which they are associated.
16. The system of claim 1, in which selectable portions of said
graphic can be repeatedly enlarged without affecting the effect of
said indicia.
17. The system of claim 1, in which said graphic contains an icon
which, if clicked, causes the watering schedule defined by said
water valve indicia to be suspended.
18. The system of claim 1, in which said graphic contains an icon
which monitors the data link between said computer and said field
controller, and signals a failure to receive from said field
controller a response to a polling or data transmission by said
computer.
19. The system of claim 1, in which said data representing desired
watering schedules and run time settings is selectably transmitted
to said field controller by clicking a transmit icon on said
graphic.
20. An irrigation control system, comprising: a) a computer; b) a
field controller linked to said computer for transfer of data
therebetween; and c) a set of water valves arranged to be
selectively turned on and off by said field controller; d) said
field controller including a clock, a microprocessor and a memory,
said memory being connected to store scheduling data and run time
setting data for the operation of said water valves, and said
microprocessor being arranged to operate said water valves in
accordance with said clock and said data; e) said computer being
programmed to receive from an operator data representing desired
watering schedules and run time settings for each water valve of
said set, and to selectively transfer said data to said field
controller; and f) said computer being further programmed to
selectably present to said operator a graphic having a time band
representing time in a day, any watering schedule established on
said time band being repeated at a selectable interval of days
beginning on a selectable day.
21. The system of claim 20, in wich said graphic further includes a
calendar for a selectable month, with interval-selected watering
days being marked by a watering icon.
22. The system of claim 21, in which watering days can be
selectively inhibited, and in which a no-watering icon is
substituted for said watering icon on inhibited days.
23. An irrigation control system, comprising: a) a computer; b) a
field controller linked to said computer for transfer of data
therebetween; and c) a set of water valves arranged to be
selectively turned on and off by said field controller; d) said
field controller including a clock, a microprocessor and a memory,
said memory being connected to store scheduling data and run time
setting data for the operation of said water valves, and said
microprocessor being arranged to operate said water valves in
accordance with said clock and said data; e) said computer being
programmed to receive from an operator data representing desired
watering schedules and run time settings for each water valve of
said set, and to selectively transfer said data to said field
controller; and f) said computer being further programmed to
selectably present to said operator a graphic representing a
selectable global adjustment of the run times of all said water
valves programmed into said computer.
24. An irrigation control system, comprising: a) a computer; b) a
field controller linked to said computer for transfer of data
therebetween; and c) a set of water valves arranged to be
selectively turned on and off by said field controller; d) said
field controller including a clock, a microprocessor and a memory,
said memory being connected to store scheduling data and run time
setting data for the operation of said water valves, and said
microprocessor being arranged to operate said water valves in
accordance with said clock and said data; e) said computer being
programmed to receive from an operator data representing desired
watering schedules and run time settings for each water valve of
said set, and to selectively transfer said data to said field
controller; and f) said computer being further programmed to
present to said operator a graphic in the form of a dedicated
spreadsheet which, upon entry of the flow rate of each said water
valve and the cost data of a known water consumption, calculates
and displays the water use and cost of the irrigation schedule
using said desired watering schedules.
25. An irrigation control system, comprising: a) a computer; b) a
field controller linked to said computer for transfer of data
therebetween; and c) a set of water valves arranged to be
selectively turned on and off by said field controller; d) said
field controller including a clock, a microprocessor and a memory,
said memory being connected to store scheduling data and run time
setting data for the operation of said water valves, and said
microprocessor being arranged to operate said water valves in
accordance with said clock and said data; e) said computer being
programmed to selectively transfer run time data to said field
controller; and f) said computer being further programmed to
present to said operator a selectable set of graphics presenting
indicia which, when clicked, manually disable or run selectable
ones of said water valves.
26. An irrigation control system, comprising: a) a computer; b) a
field controller linked to said computer for transfer of data
therebetween; c) a set of water valves arranged to be selectively
turned on and off by said field controller; d) said field
controller including a clock, a microprocessor and a memory, said
memory being connected to store scheduling data and run time
setting data for the operation of said water valves, and said
microprocessor being arranged to operate said water valves in
accordance with said clock and said data; e) said computer being
programmed to receive from an operator data representing desired
watering schedules and run time settings for each water valve of
said set, and to selectively transfer said data to said field
controller; and f) said computer being further programmed to
present to said operator a graphic of the time of day for a
plurality of days, said computer receiving said data from said
operator by placing water valve identifying indicia into selected
positions on said graphic; and g) a remote linked to said field
controller for transmitting commands thereto; h) said remote
including means for transmitting to said field controller only
manual operation and disabling commands.
27. An irrigation control system, comprising: a) a computer; b) a
field controller releasably linkable to said computer for transfer
of data therebetween; and c) a set of water valves arranged to be
selectively turned on and off by said field controller; d) said
field controller being a free-standing unit including a clock, a
microprocessor and a memory, said memory being connected to store
scheduling data and run time setting data for the operation of said
water valves, and said microprocessor being arranged to operate
said water valves in accordance with said clock and said data
regardless of whether said field controller is linked to said
computer; e) said computer being programmed to receive from an
operator data representing desired watering schedules and run time
settings for each water valve of said set, and to selectively
transfer said data to said field controller memory when said field
controller and computer are linked.
28. The system of claim 27, wherein said computer is linked to said
field controller by a radio link.
29. The system of claim 28, wherein said data being transferred to
said field controller includes an access code for allowing said
field controller to accept said transferred data from any computer
cognizant of said access code.
30. The system of claim 27, wherein said field controller is polled
continually by said computer while linked thereto to inform said
computer of the status of said field controller, and said clock is
synchronized with the clock of said computer only as part of a
schedule data transmission to or from said field controller.
31. The system of claim 30, wherein said computer displays said
status of said field controller unless said data has been modified
on said computer but has not yet been transmitted to said field
controller.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] This invention relates to irrigation control systems, and
more particularly to a system using a free-standing field
controller programmed by a conventional personal computer with the
aid of a novel interactive graphic interface.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Irrigation controllers are used in irrigation systems to
electrically operate valves that deliver water under pressure to
sprinklers or other distribution devices for watering turf or
plants. Controllers are normally installed and programmed after the
irrigation system has been designed. Technical skills and
experience relating to such installations vary greatly from
first-time do-it-yourselfers to professional landscaping crews.
Furthermore, once the watering schedules are set on initial
installation, they need to be changed or adjusted from time to time
to adapt the system to climate or seasonal changes, growth of
plants, or unanticipated conditions of soil or topography that
result in inadequate or excessive watering in some areas of the
system.
[0003] During the design and installation of the irrigation system,
the system is divided into zones, each of which irrigates an area
of turf or plants having similar growth characteristics and
consequently similar water needs. Thus, the amount and frequency of
watering can be controlled uniformly and individually for any given
grouping of vegetation in the system. The number and frequency of
the periodic adjustments that need to be made to the system depends
on the complexity of the landscaping and the changes in the
variable water requirements.
[0004] Many of the controllers currently available on the market
offer a wide array of features and options. These are typically
accessed by dials, knobs, buttons and switches, while information
is primarily displayed by alphanumeric displays and/or indicator
lights. Thus, altering the watering schedule of a controller can be
a bewildering, frustrating experience for users, such as
homeowners, who seldom find it necessary to make schedule changes.
The typical lack of intuitive controls, the often obscure
instructions in manuals, and an installer's reluctance to spend
time training the user exacerbate that problem.
[0005] Worse yet is the not uncommon situation where the 24V AC
power fails when the back-up battery that retains data in memory
during power failures has been allowed to wear out. In that case,
all program information may be lost, and the user has to reprogram
the whole system without the original installer's guidance.
[0006] As personal computers (PCs) have become more and more
commonplace in homes, fairly complex irrigation control systems
have been sold to homeowners and other users who are not very
sophisticated in manually programming complex controllers, but who
do own a PC. Such users are likely to be quite familiar with
standard methods of interactively manipulating graphics. For
example, most PC users intuitively know how to drag and drop icons
by moving and clicking a mouse.
[0007] For such users, it is highly desirable to provide a
user-friendly graphic interface which allows an operator to
manipulate the settings of the field controller with a mouse, and
visually observe the effect of his manipulations. In addition, it
would be advantageous for users to have a means of allowing repair
personnel in the field to perform diagnostic downloads and/or basic
control functions, such as turning the water on and off at desired
locations, without having to physically access the field controller
or the PC. Also, it would be advantageous for users to see how
different selections of watering settings would affect the cost of
operating the irrigation system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] The present invention provides a centrally operated
irrigation control system with an intuitive, interactive graphic
operator interface by presenting to the operator a two-dimensional
time-date chart on a PC screen. Color-coded icons representing the
different zones of the system can be placed on the chart and
manipulated so as to present to the operator a graphic picture of
which zone will be watering how long, at what time and on which
days. Clicking on other icons can shut off watering on selected
days, start a manual watering cycle, or cause a selected setting to
repeat at selected intervals or on selected days of the week or
month.
[0009] Other screens, dialog boxes or icons provide more detailed
information about individual zones, calculate the anticipated
monthly or yearly cost of the water expended by the system as a
result of the chosen settings, or selectively temporarily disable
one or more malfunctioning zones.
[0010] The schedule and run time settings created by the operator
on the PC screen are transmitted to a field controller when
desired, and the PC polls the field controller to assure reliable
communications by radio or other electronic means at frequent
intervals, e.g. once per second, as long as the control program of
this invention is running on the PC. The field controller's clock
is synchronized with the PC's clock whenever a schedule is uploaded
from, or downloaded to, the field controller. This prevents
unintentional resetting of the field controller's clock e.g.
between daylight saving and standard time. The field controller's
transceiver acknowledges each transmission back to the PC. The
transmitted schedules and settings for the field controller are
stored in that controller and remain in effect until altered by the
PC, even if the PC goes off line.
[0011] Thus, a significant aspect of the invention is that the
field controller is a free-standing unit; i.e. it does not depend
on the PC for its operation. Once it has been programmed by the PC,
it continues to function on its own, with or without the PC, until
its operation is purposely disabled or modified. This is important
for several reasons. Firstly, the system of this invention does not
tie up the PC unnecessarily. Secondly, a PC or radio link failure
does not impede the scheduled functioning of the system. Thirdly, a
landscape maintenance technician can (with an appropriate radio
access code) download and/or modify the field controller's schedule
and settings from his truck. This is useful for diagnostic purposes
and for correcting inappropriately selected watering parameters
without the homeowner having to be present. The homeowner receives
the new schedule when he activates the inventive program or
chooses, within the program, the menu option to upload the schedule
from the field controller.
[0012] In one aspect of the invention, a handheld remote is
provided to send water-off, manual-watering, and resume-operation
radio signals to the field controller without changing its stored
parameters. This is useful for maintenance personnel when checking
the proper operation of the sprinkler heads.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0013] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the system of this
invention;
[0014] FIG. 2a is a front view of a typical field controller in the
system of the invention;
[0015] FIG. 2b is a block diagram of the field controller of FIG.
2a;
[0016] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a handheld remote optionally
used with the system of the invention;
[0017] FIG. 4 shows the start-up screen of the control program;
[0018] FIG. 5 shows the zones selection box;
[0019] FIG. 6a shows the screen of FIG. 5 with zone schedules
inserted;
[0020] FIG. 6b shows the label produced by positioning the cursor
over a schedule box;
[0021] FIG. 7 shows the schedule dialog box;
[0022] FIG. 8 shows the screen of FIG. 4 with alternate-days
watering schedules entered thereon;
[0023] FIG. 9 shows a magnifying box on the screen of FIG. 8;
[0024] FIG. 10 shows a magnified section of the screen of FIG. 4
with a new-lawn schedule inserted;
[0025] FIG. 11 shows an odd-days watering schedule;
[0026] FIG. 12 shows an interval schedule screen;
[0027] FIG. 13 shows an enlarged section of the screen of FIG. 8
with a global adjustment of 100%;
[0028] FIG. 14 shows the screen section of FIG. 13 with a global
adjustment of 150%;
[0029] FIG. 15 shows the water cost calculator of the
invention;
[0030] FIG. 16 shows the Station On-Off subscreen of the manual
operations screen;
[0031] FIG. 17 shows the screen of FIG. 16 with manual operations
entered;
[0032] FIG. 18 shows the Stations Enabled/Disabled subscreen of the
manual operations screen; and
[0033] FIG. 19 shows the Cycle and System subscreen of the manual
operations screen.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0034] As shown in FIG. 1, the system 10 of this invention is
composed of a PC 12, a field controller 14, zone valves or stations
16a through 16h (collectively referred to herein as stations 16),
and optionally a handheld remote 18. Radio transceiver 20 connected
to an appropriate USB or modem port of the PC 12, and transceiver
22 at the field controller 14, exchange schedule, setting and clock
data between the PC 12 and the field controller 14. A transceiver
24 in the remote 18 allows the remote 18 to access the field
controller 14 for limited purposes. Each of the stations 16 turns
the water from a main 26 on or off, under the control of the field
controller 14, to a set of sprinklers 28.
[0035] The face plate of a typical field controller 14 in
accordance with the invention is shown in FIG. 2a. A communications
monitor LED 36 indicates operation of the radio link between the
field controller 14 and the PC 12 and/or the remote 18. Zone Status
LEDs 40a through 40h indicate the current status of the valves 16a
through 16h, respectively, which control water flow to the
sprinklers 28 in zones 1 through 8, respectively. Manual Start
pushbutton 42 is provided to start a manual watering sequence and
to switch from one zone to the next. Enable/Disable button 44
toggles between inhibiting and restoring all watering. Water-Off
LED 56 is connected to the power supply 46 (FIG. 2b) in such a
manner as to light steadily when watering is disabled, and to flash
at intervals of e.g. four seconds under the power of a backup
battery (not shown) in the power supply 46 to indicate an AC line
power failure.
[0036] FIG. 2b shows the details of the free-standing field
controller 14. Irrigation parameter and clock synchronization
signals from the PC 12 of FIG. 1 are received by the transceiver 22
and decoded by the encoder/decoder 30. An access code may be
embodied in the signals to assure that the field controller 14
responds only to its owner's PC. The received irrigation settings
and schedules are stored in the non-volatile memory 32 by the
microprocessor 34. The microprocessor 34 acknowledges receipt and
execution of the transmission from the PC 12 by transmitting a
status signal back to the PC 12. A status signal is also
transmitted back to the PC 12 when the field controller 14 is
polled by the PC 12 (typically about once per second while the PC
program is running. The communications monitor LED 36 blinks
whenever a good signal is received so that the proper operation of
the communications link can be observed.
[0037] Under the control of its clock 38, and solely in response to
the scheduling and setting data stored in memory 32, the
microprocessor 34 turns power to the water valves or stations 16a
through 16h on and off as the watering schedule stored in memory 32
dictates. Whenever power is on to one of the stations 16, the
microprocessor 34 illuminates the corresponding one of the station
LEDs 40a through 40h. When no watering is in progress, the
microprocessor 34 scrolls the station LEDs 40a through 40h to
indicate that the system is functional and standing by. No
intervention by the PC 12 is required for the free-standing field
controller 14 to perform these operations.
[0038] The controller 14 has two controls which may be in the form
of the Manual Start pushbutton 42 and the Enable/Disable pushbutton
44. The Manual Start button 42 triggers the microprocessor 34 to
energize station 16a for its run time as stored in the memory 32. A
second push turns off station 16a and starts station 16b. A third
push turns station 16b off and starts station 16c. Finally, the
ninth push turns off station 16h and returns the microprocessor 34
to its automatic operation. If button 42 is pushed only once, each
station will water in numerical sequence for its designated run
time, and then return to automatic operation.
[0039] The Enable/Disable button 44 shuts all watering off by
removing the operating power from the stations 16, while keeping
the microprocessor 34 and radio transceiver 22 in operation. The
Enable/Disable button can be physically pushed by an operator in
the field, or actuated by a radio command signal from the PC 12 or
the handheld remote 18.
[0040] Referring now to FIG. 3, the optional remote 18 has a Manual
Start button 70 and an Enable/Disable button 72. An encoder 78
translates a button actuation into an appropriate code for
transmission. The transceiver 24 is equipped with an LED 80 that
lights when a signal is being transmitted or received. The LED 80
is programmed to blink twice if the addressed controller 14 is
operational and acknowledges the transmission, once if the
controller 14 is disabled, and not at all if the controller 14 is
out of service and does not respond, or if a bad transmission is
received.
[0041] FIGS. 4 through 19 illustrate the establishment and
manipulation of watering schedules and settings in the system of
the invention. When the inventive control program is first opened
on the PC 12, the start-up or main graphic or screen 100 (FIG. 4)
is initially presented to the user. The first two lines 102a and
102b of the menu bar 102 contain the standard operational icons of
the Windows.RTM. operating system, adding only the Communications
menu 104 and the Irrigation Tools menu 106. The Communications menu
104 allows the selection of ports for the connection of the
transceiver 20 and the initiation of a data transfer to or from the
field controller 14. The Irrigation Tools menu 106 allows the
selection of the various types of screens discussed below.
[0042] The third line 102c of the menu bar 102 contains the special
icons that activate the features of the inventive system. As
described in more detail below, the Zone Display icon 108 brings up
a Zones box or list 130 of all separately controllable zones. The
No-Watering icon 109 toggles the field controller 14 of FIG. 2a
on/off in the same manner as the enable/disable buttons 44 and 72
described above. The Communications icon 110 monitors the
functioning of the radio link by showing radiating green circles
when transmissions to the field controller 14 are being
acknowledged, and red ones when they are not. The Percent icon 111
brings up the global adjustment bar of FIGS. 13 and 14 for globally
increasing or decreasing all the watering times of all the zones in
response to climatic changes or water conservation requirements.
The Manual icon 112 brings up a set of screens which handle a
variety of manual operations. The Plus and Minus icons 113, 115
enlarge and reduce, respectively, selected portions of the screen
as described below. Undo and Redo icons 114 and 116 carry out
standard editing functions of the Windows.RTM. operating system.
The "100%" notation 119 indicates that the global adjustment
(discussed below in conjunction with FIGS. 13 and 14) is set to
100%.
[0043] The Send icon 118 is normally grayed out. When the program
of this invention is opened on the PC 12, the current schedule and
settings stored in the field controller 14 are immediately uploaded
for display on the PC 12. When any change is made to the uploaded
information, the Send icon 118 becomes active. When it is then
clicked, the PC 12 begins sending the selected or modified watering
schedule and settings to the field controller 14. When the modified
parameters have been successfully transmitted to the field
controller 14, the Send icon 118 will momentarily change to "OK",
after which the Send icon 118 grays out, the PC 12 resumes its
continual polling of the field controller 14, and the screen again
displays the status of the field controller 14. Pop-up reminder
boxes (not shown) warn the operator if a modification has been made
but not sent to the field controller 14 within a reasonable
time.
[0044] The body of the start-up screen 100 displays horizontal time
bands 120 arranged in a vertical series of days. The first day 122
of the series is always the current day as determined by the
computer's internal clock. The screen 100 preferably displays seven
time bands to form a repeating one-week setup. Two-week or
four-week setups (i.e. setups that repeat every two or four weeks)
can be chosen from the Irrigation Tools menu 106, in which case
weeks preceding or following the displayed week can be accessed by
clicking the up arrow 124 or the down arrow 126. A vertical line
128 shows the current time, in accordance with the computer's
clock, on the midnight-to-midnight scale of the time bands 120.
[0045] In order to set up a watering schedule, the Zone Display
icon 108 is clicked. This brings up the Zones box 130 (FIG. 5)
which displays a valve icon 132 and an editable description box 134
for each of the separately programmable zones. A watering schedule
is begun by dragging and dropping, in accordance with standard
Windows.RTM. practice, a selected valve icon 132 onto a selected
time band 120 at approximately the time position at which a
watering cycle is selected to begin. (Note that in FIG. 5, the down
arrow 126 has been clicked until the time bands 120 on the screen
represent the sixth through twelfth days of a two-week setup).
[0046] Repeated dragging and dropping produces the screen of FIG. 6
(the up arrow 124 having been clicked to go back to a display of
the first seven days of the two-week setup). Preferably, the valve
or zone icons 132 are color-coded, and the schedule boxes 135 are
correspondingly color-coded in addition to being numbered. It will
thus be seen in FIG. 6 that the flower beds and parkway lawn get
watered on Tuesday at about 7:15 am and 8:15 am, respectively; the
rear lawn, front lawn and front shrubs get watered on Wednesday at
about 5:55 am, 7:05 am and 7:55, respectively; and the rose garden
gets watered at 8:00 am on Thursday. The side yard and rear shrubs
get watered, one immediately after the other, beginning at 9:00 am
on Thursday.
[0047] Because only one zone can normally be on at any given time,
an attempt to drag schedule box 136 onto schedule box 138 causes
schedule box 136 to jump back to a position immediately adjacent
schedule box 138. Positioning the cursor 135 over a schedule box
such as 133 brings up an information label 137 (FIG. 6b) that
identifies the zone and shows its start time, run time and end
time. Right-clicking a schedule box such as 136 brings up a dialog
box 139 (FIG. 7) in which the user can modify the start time and
run time, or delete the schedule box entirely. Incompatible
selections chosen in the dialog box, such as overlapping run times,
are rejected with an advisory pop-up box (not shown) indicating the
inappropriate choice. Alternatively, a schedule box can be dragged
to a different start time, and its right edge can be dragged to
increase or decrease its run time.
[0048] FIG. 8 (with the Zones box 130 now hidden by clicking Zone
Display icon 108) illustrates a method of building a one-week
schedule that waters alternate sets of zones on alternate weekdays.
In that figure, the Tuesday schedule of zones 3, 7, 4 and 8 and the
Wednesday schedule of zones 6, 5, 1 and 2 are first established in
the manner discussed above in connection with FIG. 5. Next, the
Tuesday time band 140 is selected and highlighted by
double-clicking on it. Positioning the cursor over the thus
selected time band produces a 4-way arrow. The highlighted time
band can now be dragged to the desired day with the left mouse
button. A copy of the time band 140 will thus be produced on the
desired day. In like manner, the Wednesday band 142 is copied to
the Friday band. The Saturday and Sunday bands 144, 146 are left
blank. It will be noted that as the top band rotates to the bottom
of the screen (with next week's date) at the end of the day,
Monday's and Tuesday's schedules will not alternate but be the
same. This can be avoided by setting up a two-week schedule.
[0049] To the right of each time band is a large X 148. Clicking
that X highlights the time band and the X, and disables watering
for that day only. This would be useful if the forecast for that
day calls for rain. If an error is made in scheduling a given day,
the error can be corrected by a conventional Edit-delete or Undo
and reentry operation.
[0050] FIGS. 9 and 10 illustrate the magnification of any desired
area of the screen so that settings may be observed and manipulated
more exactly. Clicking the Plus icon 113 magnifies the whole
screen. Because this may move a desired portion of the screen out
of view, a portion of the screen can alternatively be selected for
magnification by dragging the mouse with the left button. This
places a shaded box 150 over the image on the screen. The box 150
can be moved and sized by its handles 152 in accordance with
standard Windows.RTM. drawing practice. When it has been placed and
sized as desired, clicking the Plus icon 113 enlarges the area
encompassed by the box 150 to fill the screen (FIG. 10). This is
convenient, for example, when it is desired to schedule, by copying
and pasting, a number of short, spaced waterings 151 as would be
beneficial on a new lawn. The process of clicking the Plus icon 113
and/or creating a box 150 can be repeated as desired for increasing
the magnification of the screen image. Clicking the Minus icon 115
reverses the process step by step.
[0051] When local ordinances or other watering restrictions so
provide, watering can be scheduled for odd or even days of the
month by selecting, e.g., "Odd Days" from the Irrigation Tools menu
106. This brings up the screen of FIG. 11, in which all even days
are blocked out, but in which watering on odd days can be scheduled
at will, as described above. It should be noted that if the last
day of the month is odd, it is also blocked out so that watering
cannot occur two days in a row. In the screen of FIG. 11,
double-clicking the arrows 124, 126 moves the display to the first
seven or last seven days of the month, respectively. As in the
other seven-day screens, single-clicking the arrows 124, 126 moves
the display up or down by one day.
[0052] FIG. 12 shows an Interval Schedule screen 154 which can also
be selected from the Irrigation Tools menu 106. The screen 154
contains only one time band 120 for the current day. A schedule set
up for that day will repeat at the intervals selected in the window
156, starting on the day selected in window 158. The selections in
windows 156, 158 cause a water drop icon 160 to appear on the
selected days in the calendar 162. Right-clicking on an icon 160 on
the calendar 162 causes a Cancelled icon 164 to appear in its
place, and watering will not take place on that day unless the
Cancelled icon 164 is removed by right-clicking on it.
[0053] FIGS. 13 and 14 illustrate the operation of the Percent icon
111. Clicking that icon brings up the global adjustment screen 166
under the enlarged screen section 168. In order to globally adjust
all the run time settings of the watering schedules entered into
the system (e.g. in order to cope with an unseasonal hot or cold
spell), the user can move the slider 170 or click the bar 171 or
the arrows 172, 174 to vary the percentage of run time from the
normal 100% to anywhere from 0% to 200%. Each click on the bar 171
on either side of the slider 170 increases or decreases the run
time by 10%, while each click on one of the arrows 172, 174
increases or reduces it by 1%.
[0054] The effect of a global adjustment to 150% of the original
settings is shown in FIG. 14. Comparing the schedules of FIG. 14 to
those of FIG. 13, it will be seen that the width (i.e. run time) of
each schedule box has been increased by 50%, but that the intervals
175 between the schedule boxes remain the same. It is conceivable,
therefore, that for late-evening waterings, a 50% run time increase
may push schedule boxes partly or wholly past midnight. If that is
the case, any schedule portion past midnight is deleted. It is,
however, stored in the PC's memory and is restored by the PC when
the global adjustment is returned to 100%.
[0055] A water cost calculator, shown in FIG. 15, can be called up
from the Irrigation Tools menu 106 (FIG. 4). In the screen of FIG.
15, which is essentially a dedicated spreadsheet, the white spaces
such as 176 are selectable (as for example space 178) and
changeable, while the grey spaces such as 180 are automatically
calculated. In using the calculator of FIG. 15, the flow rate in
gallons per minute for each zone (known from the number of
sprinklers in the zone and the manufacturer's specifications for
the type of sprinkler involved) is first entered in the
corresponding spaces 176. Next, the user enters the number of
gallons in a water company billing unit (usually a ccf, which
equals about 750 gallons). Finally, the user consults his latest
water bill and enters the number of billing units used and the
charge for that amount of water. Based on the total run time,
during the current month, of the schedules programmed into the
system for each zone, the spreadsheet of FIG. 15 continuously
calculates the water cost per gallon, the total number of gallons
scheduled to be consumed that month, and the total cost of that
water. This is particularly useful in conjunction with the global
adjustment feature of FIGS. 13 and 14, as it permits an instant
assessment of the cost effectiveness of any particular
adjustment.
[0056] Clicking the Manual icon 112 (FIG. 4) brings up the
three-tab screen of FIG. 16. All of the indicators 182 through 196
are initially dark green. If the "Rose Garden" tag 197 is clicked,
indicator 194 turns bright green, and the system sends out a signal
to field controller 14 to turn zone 7 on for the twenty minutes
currently entered into the Run Time box 198. Subsequent clicking on
"Rear Lawn" and "Front Shrubs" (FIG. 17) causes zones 2 and 5 to be
run immediately following the run of zone 7, in the order in which
they were clicked, and each for the time entered in box 198. The
indicators 184, 190 and 194 will turn bright green whenever their
associated zone is running.
[0057] Clicking the "Stations Enable/Disable" tab 200 brings up the
screen of FIG. 18. In this screen, all of the indicators 182
through 196 are originally bright green. If, for example, sprinkler
heads break off in the rear lawn and the flower beds, those zones
can be selectively shut off, pending repairs, by clicking on the
labels "Flower Beds" and "Rear Lawn", and then clicking the
"Stations Enable/Disable" tab 200. This causes indicators 186 and
190 to turn red, and causes the PC to send out a signal to the
field controller 14 to inhibit operation of zones 3 and 5.
[0058] The "Cycle and System" tab 202 brings up the screen of FIG.
19. Each of the indicators 204 representing zones 1 through 8 is
bright green when its zone is running, dark green when it is not,
or red when it is disabled. A communication failure condition is
indicated in box 205. Clicking button 206 stops any manual cycle
previously programmed in FIG. 16. Button 208 stops the currently
running zone and advances the cycle to the next selected zone.
Button 220 is provided to completely disable the field controller
14 as, e.g., for performing system maintenance. Button 220 has the
same function as the No-Watering icon 109 on the menu bar 102.
[0059] It will be understood that the foregoing description is only
one example of a system according to the invention, and that the
described system may be modified to cover a variety of situations
and requirements within the ambit of the following claims.
* * * * *