公开(公告)号：US12075734B2

公开(公告)日：2024-09-03

申请号：US17972331

申请日：2022-10-24

Applicant: Rain Bird Corporation

Inventor： Ryan L. Walker ,  Harvey J. Nickerson ,  Blake Snider

IPC: G05B7/00 ,  A01G25/16 ,  G05B13/02

CPC classification number: A01G25/16 ,  G05B13/021

Abstract: The present embodiments provide systems, processes and/or methods of controlling irrigation. In some embodiments, methods are provided that receive (4112) water usage information corresponding to a first volumetric water usage at a site location having an irrigation controller (130), wherein the first volumetric water usage corresponds to volumetric water usage from a beginning of a budget period of time to a first time within the budget period of time; determine (4114) automatically whether a volumetric water budget at the site location will be met for the budget period of time based on at least the first volumetric water usage, the volumetric water budget corresponding to a specified volume of water for use during the budget period of time; determine (4116) automatically, in the event the volumetric water budget will not be met, an adjustment to the irrigation by the irrigation controller; and output (4118) signaling to effect the adjustment.

公开(公告)号：US11630431B2

公开(公告)日：2023-04-18

申请号：US17492478

申请日：2021-10-01

Applicant: Rain Bird Corporation

Inventor： Harvey J. Nickerson ,  Russel Dean Leatherman ,  James R. Musselman ,  Andrew M. Nguyen ,  Nicholas N. Lapshov

IPC: G05B19/042 ,  A01G25/16 ,  G05D7/06

Abstract: Some embodiments provide irrigation controllers comprising: a housing; a control unit including a first microcontroller configured to execute irrigation programs and a first set of code; and a removable plug-in device that removably mates with a portion of the irrigation controller and communicationally couples to the first microcontroller, wherein the plug-in device comprises a memory storing a second set of code to replace at least a portion of the first set of code, wherein the plug-in device is configured to re-flash at least a portion of the first set of code allowing a copy of the second set of code to overwrite at least the portion of the first set of code; wherein the first set of code comprises a bootloader that writes the copy of the second set of code over the first set of code with the exception of the bootloader that is not written over.

公开(公告)号：US11552417B2

公开(公告)日：2023-01-10

申请号：US16944909

申请日：2020-07-31

Applicant: Rain Bird Corporation

Inventor： Ryan L. Walker ,  Harvey J. Nickerson ,  James R. Harris ,  Young Suk Kim ,  Chao-Ming Kang

IPC: H01R12/70 ,  A01G25/02 ,  A01G25/16 ,  H01R9/24

Abstract: In some embodiments, an irrigation control device is provided that includes adjacent terminal connector rows having a ridge portion between the rows, where the ridge portion is configured to support and guide wires to electrical connection pads of one row, and to support these wires above wires retained in another row of electrical connection pads. In some embodiments, the ridge portion offsets the wires from the different rows in the horizontal plane.

公开(公告)号：US20220304263A1

公开(公告)日：2022-09-29

申请号：US17839978

申请日：2022-06-14

Applicant: Rain Bird Corporation

Inventor： Harvey J. Nickerson ,  Bradley H. Dolbin ,  Jonathan I. Marsters ,  Anderson Micu

IPC: A01G25/16 ,  G05B19/042

Abstract: In some embodiments, apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful to providing power and data to an irrigation device. In some embodiments, a decoder unit for an irrigation system that receives power and data from an irrigation control unit over a multi-wire path comprises an input interface configured to couple to the multi-wire path of a decoder-based irrigation control system and to receive an output AC signal modulated with data and transmitted by an encoder of the irrigation control unit over the multi-wire path; a switch coupled to the input interface; a decoder circuit connected to the input interface. In some embodiment, the decoder circuit comprises a control circuit configured to decode the data from the received output AC signal; determine that the irrigation device is to be activated; and output a control signal to the switch.

公开(公告)号：US11357182B2

公开(公告)日：2022-06-14

申请号：US16933182

申请日：2020-07-20

Applicant: Rain Bird Corporation

Inventor： Steven W. Weiler ,  Harvey J. Nickerson

IPC: A01G25/16 ,  G05D7/06 ,  G05B19/048 ,  G05B19/042

Abstract: Some embodiments provide a system and method for interfacing with an irrigation controller based on rainfall, the system comprising: an interface unit including a housing and a control unit within the housing and configured to: cause an interruption of one or more watering schedules executed by the irrigation controller, which is separate from the interface unit, based on signaling received from a rain sensor including hygroscopic material, when a sensed expansion of the hygroscopic material is above a set rainfall accumulation threshold parameter, the rain sensor being separate from the interface unit and the hygroscopic material being configured to expand in response to being contacted by the rainfall and to contract in response to an absence of the rainfall; and remove the interruption after a completion of a predetermined interval of time after a sensed contraction of the hygroscopic material indicative of a rainfall stop.

公开(公告)号：US20220095557A1

公开(公告)日：2022-03-31

申请号：US17549446

申请日：2021-12-13

Applicant: Rain Bird Corporation

Inventor： Anderson Micu ,  Andrew M. Nguyen ,  Jonathan I. Marsters ,  Harvey J. Nickerson ,  Daniel B. Zimet

IPC: A01G25/16 ,  G05B19/042

Abstract: In some embodiments, systems and methods provide an irrigation control system, comprising: an irrigation controller comprising an irrigation control unit; a power source; a microcontroller; and a modulator, wherein the modulator is configured to output modulated power signals; a plurality of switches coupled to an output of the modulator and independently controlled by the microcontroller; and a plurality of two-wire path output connectors each coupled to a corresponding one of the plurality of switches, wherein each of the plurality of two-wire path output connectors is configured to be connected to a corresponding two-wire path of a plurality of two-wire paths to which multiple decoder-based irrigation control units can be connected and controlled, wherein the microcontroller is further configured to operate the plurality of switches to couple and decouple the modulated power signals from the output of the modulator to one or more of the plurality of two-wire path output connectors.

公开(公告)号：US20210392830A1

公开(公告)日：2021-12-23

申请号：US17465850

申请日：2021-09-03

Applicant: Rain Bird Corporation

Inventor： Steven W. Weiler ,  David M. Redmond ,  Harvey J. Nickerson ,  Timothy J. Crist ,  Gregory W. Decker

IPC: A01G25/16 ,  G05B19/042 ,  G06Q50/02 ,  H04L29/06

Abstract: Some embodiments provide systems for use in controlling irrigation, comprising: an irrigation controller configured to couple with one or more valves at a site and to control activation and deactivation of the one or more valves in accordance with an irrigation schedule stored in the irrigation controller; a wireless adapter directly communicationally coupled through a direct wired connection with the irrigation controller; and a network adapter wirelessly coupled over a point-to-point wireless communication path with the wireless adapter, wherein the network adapter is configured to further couple through a direct wired connection with a local router configured to provide communication over a distributed network to a remote server; wherein the wireless adapter is configured to poll the irrigation controller to acquire and locally store status information; and the wireless adapter is configured to communicate, over the point-to-point wireless channel, the status information to the server.

公开(公告)号：US11083146B2

公开(公告)日：2021-08-10

申请号：US16857822

申请日：2020-04-24

Applicant: Rain Bird Corporation

Inventor： Jonathan I. Marsters ,  Harvey J. Nickerson ,  Sundarraj Karthikeyan ,  Douglas H. Callison ,  Steven A. Hollington ,  Darin K. Price

IPC: G05B19/02 ,  A01G25/16 ,  G05B19/042 ,  G05B15/02

Abstract: A decoder-based irrigation controller comprising a controller housing; a first microcontroller within the controller housing; a decoder interface coupled to the first microcontroller; and a handheld user device, wherein the handheld user device comprises an optical imaging device configured to read an optically readable pattern from each of the plurality of decoder units, wherein the handheld user device is configured to cause data read from the optically readable pattern of the plurality of decoder units to be transferred to the first microcontroller, and wherein the data read comprises an address of each of the plurality of decoder units.

公开(公告)号：US10188050B2

公开(公告)日：2019-01-29

申请号：US14989771

申请日：2016-01-06

Applicant: Rain Bird Corporation

Inventor： Ryan L. Walker ,  Harvey J. Nickerson ,  Blake Snider

IPC: G05B7/00 ,  A01G25/16 ,  G05B13/02

Abstract: The present embodiments provide systems, processes and/or methods of controlling irrigation. In some embodiments, methods are provided that receive (4112) water usage information corresponding to a first volumetric water usage at a site location having an irrigation controller (130), wherein the first volumetric water usage corresponds to volumetric water usage from a beginning of a budget period of time to a first time within the budget period of time; determine (4114) automatically whether a volumetric water budget at the site location will be met for the budget period of time based on at least the first volumetric water usage, the volumetric water budget corresponding to a specified volume of water for use during the budget period of time; determine (4116) automatically, in the event the volumetric water budget will not be met, an adjustment to the irrigation by the irrigation controller; and output (4118) signaling to effect the adjustment.

公开(公告)号：US08738188B2

公开(公告)日：2014-05-27

申请号：US13794489

申请日：2013-03-11

Applicant: Rain Bird Corporation

Inventor： Harvey J. Nickerson ,  Russel Dean Leatherman ,  James R. Musselman ,  Andrew M. Nguyen ,  Nicholas N. Lapshov

IPC: G05D7/06

CPC classification number: G05B19/0426 ,  A01G25/16 ,  G05B2219/23312 ,  G05B2219/23339 ,  G05B2219/25314 ,  G05B2219/2625 ,  G05D7/0617 ,  G05D7/0676 ,  Y10T137/86389 ,  Y10T307/625 ,  Y10T307/858

Abstract: Some embodiments provide irrigation controllers comprising: a housing; a control unit including a first microcontroller configured to execute irrigation programs and a first set of code; and a removable plug-in device that removably mates with a portion of the irrigation controller and communicationally couples to the first microcontroller, wherein the plug-in device comprises a memory storing a second set of code to replace at least a portion of the first set of code, wherein the plug-in device is configured to re-flash at least a portion of the first set of code allowing a copy of the second set of code to overwrite at least the portion of the first set of code; wherein the first set of code comprises a bootloader that writes the copy of the second set of code over the first set of code with the exception of the bootloader that is not written over.

Abstract translation: 一些实施例提供灌溉控制器，包括：壳体; 控制单元，包括被配置为执行灌溉程序和第一代码集的第一微控制器; 以及可拆卸的插入式设备，其可移除地与所述冲洗控制器的一部分配合并且通信地耦合到所述第一微控制器，其中所述插件设备包括存储第二组代码以代替所述第一组的至少一部分的存储器 其中所述插件设备被配置为重新闪存所述第一代码集合的至少一部分，从而允许所述第二代码集的副本至少覆盖所述第一代码集合的所述部分; 其中所述第一组代码包括引导加载器，所述引导加载程序将第二代码集合的副本写入所述第一代码集合，所述引导加载程序除了未被写入的引导加载程序之外。