PC-Programmed Irrigation Control System
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.
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 INVENTIONIrrigation 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 INVENTIONThe 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
As shown in
The face plate of a typical field controller 14 in accordance with the invention is shown in
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.
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.
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.
Referring now to
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
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.
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.
In order to set up a watering schedule, the Zone Display icon 108 is clicked. This brings up the Zones box 130 (
Repeated dragging and dropping produces the screen of
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 (
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.
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
The effect of a global adjustment to 150% of the original settings is shown in
A water cost calculator, shown in
Clicking the Manual icon 112 (
Clicking the “Stations Enable/Disable” tab 200 brings up the screen of
The “Cycle and System” tab 202 brings up the screen of
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.
Claims
1-18. (canceled)
19. A method of operating an irrigation system comprising:
- providing a computer at a first location;
- providing an irrigation controller at a second location; said irrigation controller coupled to at least one water valve for controlling passage of water to at least one sprinkler; said irrigation controller further configured to wirelessly receive, store and execute an irrigation schedule transmitted from said computer; said irrigation controller further configured to execute an irrigation schedule regardless of whether said irrigation controller is linked to said computer;
- wirelessly transmitting a polling message from said computer to said irrigation controller;
- wirelessly transmitting a status message in response to said polling message from said irrigation controller to said computer; and,
- determining a status of said irrigation controller.
20. The method of claim 19, further comprising displaying a status of said irrigation controller with irrigation software stored on and executed by said computer.
21. The method of claim 20, further comprising displaying an icon with said computer; said icon communicating a status of said irrigation controller.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein said icon is displayed within a graphical display directed to modifying an irrigation schedule.
23. The method of claim 22, further comprising a communications status indicator on said irrigation controller; said communications status indicator indicating a status of a communication link between said irrigation controller and said computer.
24. The method of claim 23, further comprising wirelessly transmitting a clock synchronization message from said computer to said irrigation controller.
25. The method of claim 19, further comprising wirelessly transmitting a clock synchronization message from said computer to said irrigation controller.
26. A method of operating an irrigation system comprising:
- executing irrigation software on a computer;
- initiating a wireless connection with said irrigation software between said computer and an irrigation controller;
- wirelessly transmitting a polling message with said irrigation software between said computer and said irrigation controller;
- wirelessly transmitting a status message with said irrigation controller between said irrigation controller and said computer;
- determining a status of said irrigation controller by said irrigation software;
- determining an irrigation schedule with said irrigation software;
- wirelessly transmitting said irrigation schedule to said irrigation controller; and,
- executing said irrigation schedule with said irrigation controller.
27. The method of claim 26, further comprising displaying a status of said irrigation controller with said irrigation software.
28. The method of claim 27, wherein said icon is displayed within a graphical display directed to modifying an irrigation schedule.
29. The method of claim 28, wherein said status of said irrigation controller is a communications status of said irrigation controller.
30. The method of claim 28, further comprising wirelessly transmitting a clock synchronization message from said computer to said irrigation controller.
31. The method of claim 26, further comprising providing a user interface for said irrigation software.
32. The method of claim 31, wherein said user interface comprises a user-selectable control for globally adjusting said irrigation schedule.
33. The method of claim 31, wherein said user interface comprises a user-selectable control for calculating the cost of water used by said irrigation controller.
34. A method of operating an irrigation system comprising:
- executing irrigation software on a computer;
- initiating a wireless connection with said irrigation software between said computer and an irrigation controller;
- wirelessly transmitting a polling message with said irrigation software between said computer and said irrigation controller;
- wirelessly transmitting a time synchronization message from said computer to said irrigation controller;
- updating a clock circuit within said irrigation controller;
- determining an irrigation schedule with said irrigation software;
- wirelessly transmitting said irrigation schedule to said irrigation controller; and,
- executing said irrigation schedule with said irrigation controller; said irrigation schedule being executed according to a time of said clock circuit.
35. The method of claim 34, further comprising wirelessly transmitting a status message with said irrigation controller between said irrigation controller and said computer; and determining a status of said irrigation controller by said irrigation software.
36. The method of claim 35, further comprising displaying a status of said irrigation controller with said irrigation software.
37. The method of claim 36, wherein said displaying a status of said irrigation controller further comprises displaying an icon.
38. The method of claim 37, wherein said displaying an icon further comprises changing an appearance of said icon.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 29, 2008
Publication Date: Mar 19, 2009
Inventors: Allan Morris Goldberg (Laguna Niguel, CA), Larry Kent Hopkins (Escondido, CA), Randall Pearson (Chino Hills, CA), Larry Hawkes (San Diego, CA), Michael James Grundy (Phelan, CA)
Application Number: 12/240,859
International Classification: G05D 7/00 (20060101);