Comcast’s new EcoSaver smart thermostat service is powered by Bay Area startup EcoFactor, and that partnership was announced last year. Customers who sign up for the thermostat service get one of the Xfinity connected thermostats — from device makers like Radio Thermostat of America and CentraLite — and the EcoFactor software learns the home’s heating and cooling patterns and incrementally shaves off energy consumption.

The idea is that customers can reduce their energy consumption and energy bill due to heating and cooling in tiny and automated amounts, and without sacrificing comfort in the home. The homeowner can also override the system at any time. It’s like how the Nest learning thermostat works, but without the Nest thermostat.

For startup EcoFactor, the product launch is a big deal. The company, which itself launched in 2009, now has its software available to 23 million customers just through this partnership.

For Comcast’s connected lighting service, the cable company is working with lighting company Osram Sylvania to launch LED light bulbs that can be controlled remotely. Comcast says that the light bulbs could save customers 83 percent on their energy bill and could last 17.5 times longer than the traditional incandescent bulbs.

LEDs from Cree (not the ones being used by Xfinity Home)

Comcast’s Xfinity Home products are using the cable company’s broadband network reach, and home WiFi to connect home devices — like these new light bulbs and thermostats — to the cloud. Customers will probably buy the services because they want the home automation aspect (in addition to connected video security services, and door and window lock monitoring services) and as a byproduct they’ll be reducing their energy consumption, too.

Cable and telecom companies have been moving into offering home energy management, connected thermostats and connected lighting to their products over the past couple of years. AT&T launched their digital home product, which includes the option for a thermostat, earlier this year. See this article back in 2011 to see how long telcos and cable cos have been working on adding a layer of energy management.

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On Thursday Newark, N.J.–startup iSpeech introduced its voice-command-and-control platform for the connected home. It isn’t a product unto itself but rather a library of speech commands and contextual-interpretation technology that home gadget makers can either embed directly or access through iSpeech’s API.

According to iSpeech COO Yaron Oren, the platform works on both the small scale and the large. ISpeech hopes to target appliance makers like Samsung, Nest and GE to speech-enable their TVs, smart thermostats and washing machines. But it eventually wants to support platform makers like Microsoft and Ericsson to create a much richer connected-home experience, linking all of our home appliances together. Instead of telling your TV to power down, ordering the lights to switch off, and commanding your blinds to close all with separate commands, you could just say “I’m ready for bed” and the central controller would perform all of those tasks.

It will take some time before we see that level of interdevice connectivity and centralized intelligence, but for most appliance makers there is a sense of urgency to speech-enable their gadgets before a certain consumer-technology giant in Cupertino treads on their turf, Oren said. “There’s a lot of interest in moving quickly and beating Apple to the punch,” he said.

Apple is bringing Siri to the connected car with the release of iOS 6, and many in the industry suspect its next big move will be into digital televisions, using voice as the primary interface, Oren said. Consequently, most of iSpeech’s initial discussions have been with TV manufacturers. In the next 6 to 12 months, he said, a new batch of speech-controlled boob tubes will emerge, understanding basic voice commands such as “Watch ESPN,” “Record American Idol” and “Find movies starring Tom Hanks.”

Of course, they won’t all be powered by iSpeech. Nuance Communications is the gorilla in the speech-recognition world. If you’re talking to an inanimate object, you’re most likely using technology either sold by or licensed from Nuance. While it hasn’t yet announced a connected-home platform per se, it is definitely pursuing the TV space, having unveiled Dragon TV at CES in January.

“We’re taking a run at Nuance,” Oren said. “Our aim is to provide an alternative — a better alternative — to the technologies that [have] been historically available.”

AT&T also is making big connected-home push, and it will likely use its own speech-recognition technology, Watson (not to be confused with IBM’s artificial intelligence project of the same name), to provide its future interfaces. As for the immediate market opportunity, there are also signs AT&T might be targeting the connected TV or the set-top box. It opened its Watson APIs to general developers, and one of the initial libraries it made available was for TV programming, tapping into its own U-verse programming guide.

ISpeech is miniscule compared to Nuance and AT&T, but the company has enjoyed some early success. A bootstrapped company of 25 employees, iSpeech built a name for itself as a consumer software maker in 2009, when it launched its Drive Safe.ly smartphone app, which converts SMS and email text into speech. Later it started licensing its technology to developers and now powers the voice engines of such apps as iTranslate and Telenav’s navigation software.

Feature photo courtesy of Shutterstock user Vlue; Home image courtesy of Shutterstock user alexmillos

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The Nest thermostat (in cooling mode).

The bare-knuckle boxing match between thermostat giant Honeywell and smart thermostat startup Nest Labs entered round three on Monday, with Honeywell’s official denial of Nest’s counterclaim. Back in February Honeywell slapped Nest with a patent infringement lawsuit over the smart thermostat technology, and in April Nest finally responded with a counterclaim and at the same time brought on Apple’s former Chief Intellectual Property Officer Richard “Chip” Lutton to head up the fight against Honeywell.

Now Honeywell has issued the third filing, and denies Nest’s accusations that Honeywell is harassing Nest with the IP lawsuit in an attempt to stifle innovation in the marketplace. Nest’s counterclaim sought to stop the initial lawsuit and also sought compensation. The Honeywell statement calls Nest’s counterclaim “self-serving,” “based on unfounded opinions and speculations,” and is “intended to divert attention away from the core issues,” of patent infringement.

Nest makes a connected learning thermostat that can reduce customers’ energy bills and launched the device late last year. The product was designed and created by Tony Fadell, the former chief architect at Apple, who led the development of the iPod and the first three versions of the iPhone. The company is backed by funding from Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures and Al Gore’s investment fund.

Looks like this lawsuit will keep rolling until someone blinks, or just gets really tired of it (or if Nest runs out of money). It took Nest a couple months to respond to the initial IP suit, but it clearly isn’t going to just roll over for the $47 billion-market cap thermostat behemoth Honeywell.

Bringing on Lutton — who was Apple’s Chief Intellectual Property Officer for a decade and left Apple last summer — will likely lead to an offensive-minded approach to the litigation. Lutton was the man in charge of fulfilling the late Steve Jobs’ vow as told to his biographer, Walter Issacson: “I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product.”

Video of Fadell at Road:Map 2011:

And my unboxing of the Nest learning thermostat:

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The Nest thermostat (in cooling mode).

If you were wondering if smart thermostat startup Nest was going to roll over to be squashed by the Honeywell thermostat gorilla, the answer is a resounding no. On Thursday Nest announced that it has officially denied Honeywell’s patent infringement claims in court, and has brought on Apple’s former Chief Intellectual Property Officer Richard “Chip” Lutton as its new vice president and general counsel.

Nest in its court filing says it hasn’t infringed on Honeywell’s handful of patents, says those patents in question are invalid, and says it intends to stop, and seek compensation for, the Honeywell lawsuit. Honeywell filed the lawsuit in February and this is the first time that Nest has fought back.

Honeywell has long dominated the thermostat market and has a $47 billion market cap, compared to Nest’s tens of millions of dollars in venture funding and months in commercial production. But bringing on top legal counsel and defending itself in court, won’t exactly be cheap.

Nest, who’s founding team hails from Apple, only started selling its learning thermostat — which is a connected, smart thermostat with a sleek design — in November. While the company doesn’t disclose sales volumes, a Nest spokesperson told me they’ve done a recent survey of 10,000 customers (so they have at least that amount).

The lawsuit could potentially stifle innovation in the space, as I’ve pointed out. And Nest says in its court filing that:

The lawsuit is a bald effort by Honeywell to inhibit competition from a promising new company and product in a field that Honeywell has dominated for decades. . . Honeywell has a track record of responding to innovation with lawsuits and overextended claims of intellectual property violations.

Nest says the patents in question are “hopelessly invalid.,” and are “retreads—already invented by others years before, and in some cases by other teams at Honeywell that Honeywell hid from the Patent Office when pursuing the patents in this lawsuit.”

Honeywell’s suit is a misuse of intellectual property intended to harass Nest Labs and interfere with its commercial activities and relationships. Consistent with Honeywell’s pattern of past behavior, Honeywell’s motives are clear from a review of the merits and scope of the patents selected by Honeywell. Honeywell wants to use this lawsuit to scare a new competitor—and its customers, retailers and installers—out of what Honeywell believes is its space. But it will not work.

Lutton had been providing counsel to Nest, but has now joined the company full time. Lutton was Apple’s Chief Intellectual Property Officer for a decade, and left Apple last Summer. It’s fair to say that Lutton’s history at Apple indicates that he could bring an offensive-minded approach to litigation. He was the man in charge of fulfilling the late Steve Jobs’ vow as told to his biographer, Walter Issacson: ” I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product.

However, Apple has little to show for that offensive. Despite forcing Android partners like HTC and Samsung to play spirited defense, no significant court ruling has been leveled against those companies. In fact, new Apple CEO Tim Cook has been reportedly willing to entertain settlement talks with Android vendors.

We conducted a survey on what our readers thought would come out of the potentially nasty legal tussle between Nest and Honeywell, and you can find those results here (subscription required). The biggest take aways from that survey were: readers think that Nest could be toast, and Honeywell is the new bully. What do you think now that Nest has responded?

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Nest added new software and features, including a new ways for users to see the past ten days of their energy history on both a mobile app and a website. Another new function is called “Airwave,” which sets a target for heating and cooling, and can shut off the HVAC system just before the target is met, as cooling a room is delivered on sort of rolling basis (for example, when an air conditioning unit is shut off it still continues to cool the room for awhile until it gradually stops).

The new Nest thermostats, which started shipping last week, also have a redesigned back plate, which moved wires out of the way of the center and made the design more simple, said Nest product marketing lead, Maxime Veron, in an interview with me. Another hardware tweak is that Nest is now including its own Nest-designed screws as wall anchors in the box to install the thermostat on the wall. Veron tells me that customers gave Nest feedback that the anchors previously used in the box weren’t doing a good enough job, so Nest decided to make its own.

Nest didn’t give me any new information on its pending lawsuit with Honeywell. Thermostat giant Honeywell filed a lawsuit against Nest in February claiming patent infringement for smart thermostat technology.

And on how many thermostats Nest has sold to date, the company was also somewhat quiet. Though Nest execs said that they did a recent survey of 10,000 of their users to work on customer feedback, so essentially they have at least 10,000 (“many more” they say).

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Here’s the full comment:

We at Nest are proud of creating products that bring true innovation to home efficiency and we are continuing to innovate and bring products to market. The Nest Learning Thermostat is already making a difference, saving customers energy and money. Nest will vigorously defend itself against Honeywell’s patent-attack strategy to stifle thoughtful competition and we have the resources, support and conviction to do so.

If you’re just jumping into this story, Honeywell is a thermostat behemoth, and Nest is a Valley startup that created what it calls the world’s first learning thermostat. Honeywell says that the Nest learning thermostat is infringing on at least seven of Honeywell’s patents, and Honeywell also named retailer Best Buy, which sells the Nest thermostat, in the suit.

Beth Wozniak, president, Honeywell Environmental and Combustion Controls, said in a statement about the lawsuit this week that “Competition is good and we welcome it, but we will not stand by while competitors, large or small, offer products that infringe on our intellectual property.”

Nest is backed by tens of millions of dollars from Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures, and Al Gore’s investment fund.

Here’s some other background on the suit:

• The details behind the Honeywell, Nest lawsuit
• How the Honeywell, Nest lawsuit could stifle innovation
• Honeywell killed off its learning thermostat 20 years ago
• Let the battle for the smart thermostat begin (subscription required)

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• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution

Nest sent me its official response this morning which is: “We have not yet reviewed the actual filing, which we learned about this morning through Honeywell’s press release. We will provide comment once we’ve had the opportunity to review it.”

So what technology is Honeywell talking about specifically? Oh, only the some key features of the Nest device including the outer controlling ring dial, the interview questions to start programming the thermostat, tech around being able to control the thermostat via the Internet, the Nest “Time to Temperature” function, and the way that the Nest thermostat diverts small amounts of power from the house’s electrical load to power itself. Here’s the details:

Natural Language Installer Setup for Controller (504): This is essentially the set of questions that programmable thermostats can ask the owner, like “What temperature do you like when the heat is on?” and “What time do you get up in the morning?” and “What time do you go to sleep at night.” Honeywell says it already offers this type of question set for its Prestige 2.0 smart thermostat line and it owns a patent for this.

Controller Interface with Dynamic Schedule Display (948): This pertains to interface features that make it easier to operate a thermostat and reduce energy like Nest’s “time to temperature” function. The time to temperature function displays how long it will take for the room to heat up or cool down to the desired temperature, so that the user isn’t tempted to set the thermostat too high or low to speed up the time to comfort.

Profile Based Method for Deriving a Temperature Setpoint Using a Delta Based on Cross Indexing a Received Price Point Level Signal (958): This patent includes methods for reducing energy costs by controlling a thermostat with information stored in a remote location. This is essentially about controlling a thermostat remotely through the Internet. This seems like a broad one, so I’ll leave it to the legal buffs to make a call on it.

HVAC Controller (899): Honeywell says it has a patent for technology around the rotatable ring that is used to control the Nest thermostat. That’s Nests highlighted main design point: it’s Nest ring.

Thermostat with mechanical user interface (789) and Thermostat with Offset Drive (790): These ones discuss placing a non-rotating part near or inside a rotating part, while still enabling the rotating part to control the function. Essentially this is another patent that says the Nest Ring violates Honeywell’s IP.

Power Stealing Control Devices (988): This patent covers the way that the Nest thermostat powers itself by “diverting or skimming” small amounts of charge from the heating and cooling power load. This includes a switch and a circuit to divert power from the home’s electrical system to the thermostat.

And finally, while this isn’t a Honeywell patent, Honeywell includes an image of a Kohler temperature controller for the Mira Platinum Wireless Shower product, which it points out looks “strikingly similar” to the Nest design:

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Since I was planning to give it as a present, I didn’t want to configure the device, but I did want to do a lil unboxing for y’all so you can see what it looks like and what you get inside. The packaging does remind me of Apple products (the creators designed the iPod and the iPhone), but the real test will come when we try to install the thermostat. I’m slightly worried about my parents tackling this project, but I’ll let you know how they fare in a couple weeks.

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