Automatically Adjusting Irrigation Controller

Abstract

Methods and devices are provided to automatically determine plant water requirements and adjust irrigation in order to make efficient use of water. In one implementation, the invention may be characterized as a method comprising: receiving, user entered historical values of one or more environmental variables, wherein the historical values correspond to a geographic region and storing the historical values in a memory; receiving current values of one or more environmental variables useful in determining the plant water requirements from one or more sensors, the values corresponding to a geographic region and the other environment variables being different from the one or more environmental variables and storing the current values in the memory; and determining the plant water requirements based at least in part on the user entered historical values and the current values of the one or more other environmental variables.

1 . A method for use in irrigation control comprising:
 receiving, via a user interface of an irrigation control unit, user entered historical values of one or more environmental variables useful in determining plant water requirements, the user entered historical values corresponding to the geographic region;   storing the user entered historical values in a memory;   receiving current values of one or more other environmental variables useful in determining the plant water requirements from one or more sensors coupled to the irrigation control unit, the current values corresponding to the geographic region, the one or more other environment variables being different from the one or more environmental variables;   storing the current values in the memory;   receiving one or more of the user entered historical values of the one or more environmental variables from the memory;   receiving one or more of the current values of the one or more other environmental variables from the memory; and   determining the plant water requirements based at least in part using the one or more of the user entered historical values of the one or more environmental variables and the one or more of the current values of the one or more other environmental variables.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the receiving the current values of the one or more other environmental variables comprises receiving current values of a temperature from a temperature sensor and an amount of rainfall from a rainfall sensor, the current values corresponding to the geographic location, wherein the determining step comprises:
 determining the plant water requirements based at least in part using the current values of the temperature and the amount of rainfall and the one or more of the user entered historical values of the one or more environmental variables. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the memory stores pre-stored historical values of the one or more environmental variables, the pre-stored historical values corresponding to the geographic region, the pre-stored historical values stored in the memory prior to the irrigation control unit being sold. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  further comprising replacing the pre-stored historical values with the user entered historical values. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the memory stores pre-stored historical values of the one or more environmental variables for each of a plurality of other geographic regions and does not store pre-stored historical values of the one or more environmental variables for the geographic region, the pre-stored historical values stored in the memory prior to the irrigation control unit being sold. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the memory does not store pre-stored historical values of the one or more environmental variables for the geographic region prior to the irrigation control unit being sold. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the determining step comprises determining the plant water requirements at least in part by determining an evapotranspiration (ET) value based at least in part on the one or more of the user entered historical values of the one or more environmental variables and the current value of the temperature and making an adjustment according to the current value of the rainfall. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  wherein the one or more environmental variables comprise a humidity and/or wind speed. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the one or more environmental variables consists of humidity and/or wind speed. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the user entered historical values stored in the memory are used in the determining step as the primary values for the one or more environmental variables, not as a backup to another source of values for the one or more environmental variables. 
     
     
         11 . An irrigation control unit comprising:
 a user interface adapted to receive inputs from a user;   a memory adapted to store environmental variables;   at least one input adapted to be coupled to and receive signals from one or more sensors; and   a processor coupled to the memory and the user interface and adapted to:
 receive, via the user interface, user entered historical values of one or more environmental variables useful in determining plant water requirements, the user entered historical values corresponding to the geographic region; 
 store, in the memory, the user entered historical values received from the user interface; 
 receive, via the at least one input, current values of one or more other environmental variables useful in determining the plant water requirements from the one or more sensors, the current values corresponding to the geographic region, the one or more other environment variables being different from the one or more environmental variables; 
 store, in the memory, the current values received from the at least one input; and 
 determine plant water requirements at least in part using one or more of the user entered historical values of the one or more environmental variables and one or more of the current values of the one or more other environmental variables. 
   
     
     
         12 . The irrigation control unit of  claim 11  wherein the at least one input is adapted to be coupled to and receive signals from a temperature sensor and a rainfall sensor, the signals corresponding to current values of a temperature and an amount of temperature;
 wherein the processor is adapted to determine the plant water requirements based at least in part using the current values of the temperature and the amount of rainfall and the one or more of the user entered historical values of the one or more environmental variables. 
 
     
     
         13 . The irrigation control unit of  claim 12  wherein the processor is adapted to determine the plant water requirements at least in part by determining an evapotranspiration (ET) value based at least in part on the one or more of the user entered historical values of the one or more environmental variables and the current value of the temperature and making an adjustment according to the current value of the rainfall 
     
     
         14 . A method for use in irrigation control comprising:
 obtaining an irrigation control unit configured and manufactured to determine plant water requirements based at least in part on values of a plurality of environmental variables, the irrigation control unit configured and manufactured to receive current values of a first set of one or more of the plurality of environmental variables, the current values corresponding to a geographic region;   determining a historical value of each of a second set of one or more of the plurality of environmental variables, the historical values corresponding to the geographic region, wherein the first set of the one or more of the plurality of environmental variables are different environmental variables that the second set of the one or more of the plurality of environmental variables; and   entering, via a user interface of an irrigation control unit, the historical values of each of the second set of the one or more of the plurality of environmental variables to be stored in an irrigation control unit for later use together with the current values of the first set of the one or more of the plurality of environmental variables by the irrigation control unit in determining the plant water requirements.