Claims
- 1. An improved garage door opener comprising a motor drive unit for opening and closing a garage door, said motor drive unit having a microcontroller and a wall console, said wall console having a microcontroller, said microcontroller of said motor drive unit being connected to the microcontroller of the wall console by means of a digital data bus.
- 2. The garage door opener according to claim 1 wherein said digital data bus is asynchronous.
- 3. The garage door opener according to claim 1 wherein said microcontroller of the drive unit has a control logic that permits a garage door to open and close rapidly until a preselected distance from an end of the door's travel is reached.
- 4. The garage door opener according to claim 3 wherein at least one microcontroller controls the rate of travel of said door and said controller makes periodic calculations of the door's location during its travel.
- 5. The garage door opener according to claim 1 further comprising a keypad for operating the garage door opener outside of a garage and wherein said keypad is provided with a switch to turn on or off a light in the motor drive unit in the garage.
- 6. The garage door opener according to claim 1 further comprising a keypad for operating the garage door opener outside of a garage and wherein said keypad is able to control two garage door motor drive units connected thereto.
- 7. The garage door opener according to claim 1 comprising apparatus at the wall console for requesting the status of the drive unit via the data bus.
- 8. The garage door opener according to claim 7 comprising apparatus at the drive unit for responding to status requests from the wall console via the data bus.
- 9. The garage door opener according to claim 1 wherein power for the wall console is provided from the drive unit via power conductors of the data bus.
- 10. The garage door opener according to claim 9 wherein the power conductors convey both data.
- 11. An improved garage door opener comprising a motor drive unit for opening and closing a garage door, said motor drive unit having a controller and a wall console, said wall console having a controller, said controller of said motor drive unit being connected to the controller of the wall console by means of a digital data bus.
- 12. The garage door opener according to claim 11 wherein said digital data bus is asynchronous.
- 13. The garage door opener according to claim 11 wherein the controller of the drive unit has a control logic that permits a garage door to open and close rapidly until a preselected distance from an end of the door's travel is reached.
- 14. The garage door opener according to claim 13 wherein at least one controller controls the rate of travel of said door and said controller makes periodic calculations of the door's location during its travel.
- 15. The garage door opener according to claim 11 further comprising a keypad for operating the garage door opener outside of a garage and wherein said keypad is provided with a switch to turn on or off a light in the motor drive unit in the garage.
- 16. The garage door opener according to claim 11 further comprising a keypad for operating the garage door opener outside of a garage and wherein said keypad is able to control two garage door motor drive units connected thereto.
- 17. The garage door opener according to claim 11 comprising apparatus at the wall console for requesting the status of the drive unit via the data bus.
- 18. The garage door opener according to claim 17 comprising apparatus at the drive unit for responding to status requests from the wall console via the data bus.
- 19. The garage door opener according to claim 11 wherein power for the wall console is provided from the drive unit via power conductors of the data bus.
- 20. The garage door opener according to claim 19 wherein the power conductors convey both data and power.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/544,904 filed Apr. 7, 2000 which claims the benefit of provisional application 60/128,209 filed Apr. 7, 1999.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60128209 |
Apr 1999 |
US |
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09544904 |
Apr 2000 |
US |
Child |
10717263 |
Nov 2003 |
US |