Originally Posted By: hybrid8
But even keeping to HVAC, the rotating control around a central display for instance goes back a few decades in thermostat design.

I wondered about that too. I guess the key to the argument over that one is in the second half of that patent: "The display shows a change in a setting as the face is moved." We know what they mean for the Nest, but on those old dial thermostats did the "display" change or would they count the needle that pointed at the temperature as part of the outside dial portion?
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Matt