This method divides a home into separate areas or comfort zones which are each independently controlled by their own thermostat. The benefits are that areas not being used can remain set back to a modest temperature to conserve energy, and one single heating/cooling unit can be shared among the separate zones, instead of needing to have many smalle [..]

With regards to thermostats, this term implies compatibility with the vast majority of the most typical systems that exist in the marketplace.  

In the 24V low-voltage wiring for a heating/cooling system, the connections are made at the thermostat and the equipment using LETTERS, not necessarily the wire colors. The ones that are most often used are R (24v power), W (heating signal), Y (cooling signal), and G (fan signal). The "R" may also be separated into "RH" (24v pow [..]

The thermostat is the control unit that instructs the heating or cooling system components to cycle on and off at regular intervals to maintain the desired interior set point temperature that is set by the user.  

See COMMON WIRE.  

This is an advanced feature which can restrict how high the heating set temperature can be set to, or how low the cooling set temperature can be set to. Temperature limits are typically put in place to prevent excessive or wasteful usage of the heating or cooling equipment.   TERMINALS:

This is any type of cooling (and sometimes heating) system that contains a combination of indoor components and outdoor components which are separate from each other. The majority of common central air-conditioning and heat pump heating systems are all considered split systems.

A thermostat works by turning your heating or cooling system on and off whenever the room temperature varies from the set-point temperature. In a LUX thermostat, the amount of this variation is called the swing. A smaller swing number means the room temperature will not be allowed to vary a lot from the target set temperature, so the room temperatu [..]

This refers to a small plastic rectangle sleeve (with metal inside) that shorts two metal pins together. Shorting Caps are typically found on the circuit board of a thermostat for selecting user options or operational setup configurations.

See “multi-stage system”