Lately, I have been playing with many ideas on how to control my HVAC system through home automation (I am sure you have encountered my threads), and came up with some cool (no pun intended!) ideas. So I started searching the patent database to see if I was the first one to think of this, and while searching, I found a rather disturbing patent which might affect many of us:
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7047092.html
Abstract:
Doesn't this even cover a PDA running MainLobby, CQC or NetRemote?
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7047092.html
Abstract:
A user interface having a plurality of user interface elements including: background, passive elements such as frames and borders, information display elements that present information from application software operating on the control unit, and control elements that cause application software operating on the control unit to initiate programmed behaviors. The user interface as a whole is contextually sensitive in that the appearance of user interface elements (e.g., color, size, font, contrast, order, grouping, arrangement, etc.) and/or the behavior of user interface elements are varied in a manner that is dependent on the context of the control unit. The context of the control unit is represented by state information known to the control unit, which includes context-specific state information known to a particular control unit as well as global context information known to multiple or all control units in a system.
Doesn't this even cover a PDA running MainLobby, CQC or NetRemote?