Patent attributes
An energy management system having a centralized site controller includes thermostats in multiple zones, each thermostat acting as a remote terminal to the controller. Each thermostat provides an interface to the site controller while acting as the thermostat for each zone. The thermostat displays the state of the building's systems for any zone and allows the local user to override set points. The central site controller determines how many thermostats are enabled with a terminal mode, including their read and write permissions on other zones. Override requests received by the central controller are merged with settings for current control algorithms. After a preconfigured time, the central controller reinstates the current control algorithm. The system can be shut down using a thermostat in remote terminal mode with appropriate permission. System status changes are sent to remote thermostats for display and remote thermostat terminals are polled for change requests.
