METHOD OF COMMUNICATING A COMMAND FOR LOAD SHEDDING OF A LOAD CONTROL SYSTEM
First Claim
1. A method of communicating a command for controlling a plurality of electrical loads, the method comprising the steps of:
- transmitting a command request message;
receiving a response message in response to the command request message, the response message including the command; and
controlling the plurality of electrical loads in response to the command of the response message.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides a means for secure communication between an electrical utility company and an electricity customer, such that the customer is able to shed one or more loads in response to a load shed command from the utility company. A system server of the customer periodically connects to a utility server of the utility company using a standard computer protocol, such as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). The system server sends a request message via the Internet to the utility server. The request message provides data on the total possible load, the present power consumption, and the present load shed state of the electricity customer. The utility server receives the request message and responds to the request message by transmitting to the system server a response message, which includes a load shed command.
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Citations
49 Claims
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1. A method of communicating a command for controlling a plurality of electrical loads, the method comprising the steps of:
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transmitting a command request message; receiving a response message in response to the command request message, the response message including the command; and controlling the plurality of electrical loads in response to the command of the response message. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A load control system for controlling a plurality of electrical loads, the load control system adapted to communicate with an external server, the load control system comprising:
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a plurality of load control devices adapted to control the amount of power delivered to the plurality of electrical loads; and an internal system server operatively coupled to the load control devices for controlling the amount of power delivered to the electrical loads, the internal server adapted to transmit a command request message to the external server, and receive a response message from the external server in response to the command request message, the response message including a command, the internal server operable to control the amount of power delivered to the electrical loads in response to the command of the response message. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A server for a load control system for controlling a plurality of electrical loads, the server comprising:
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means for transmitting a command request message; means for receiving a response message in response to the command request message, the response message including the command; and means for controlling the plurality of electrical loads in response to the command of the response message.
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21. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for performing a method of communicating a command to control a plurality of electrical loads, the method comprising the steps of:
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transmitting a command request message; receiving a response message in response to the command request message, the response message including the command; and controlling the plurality of electrical loads in response to the command of the response message.
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22. A method of controlling a plurality of electrical loads comprising the steps of:
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transmitting a load shed request message including a present power consumption of the plurality of electrical loads; determining a load shed command for the plurality of electrical loads in response to the present power consumption of the plurality of electrical loads; transmitting a response message in response to the load shed request message, the response message including the load shed command; and controlling the plurality of electrical loads in response to the load shed command.
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23. A method of controlling a plurality of load control systems, each load control system comprising a system server operable to control a plurality of electrical loads, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving a command request message from a first system server of a first load control system; determining a command to control the plurality of electrical loads in response to the command request message; and transmitting a response message to the first system server in response to the command request message, the response message including the command to control the plurality of electrical loads. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method of controlling a plurality of load control systems, each load control system comprising a system server operable to control a plurality of electrical loads, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving a load shed request message from a first system server of a first load control system, the load shed request message including a total amount of power presently being consumed by the electrical loads of the first load control system; determining a total amount of power presently being consumed by a subset of the load control systems including the first load control system; determining a load shed command for the plurality of electrical loads in response to the total amount of power presently being consumed by the subset of the load control systems; transmitting a response message to the first system server in response to the load shed request message, the response message including the load shed command; and controlling the plurality of electrical loads of the first load control system in response to the load shed command.
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32. A system for controlling the amount of power delivered to a plurality of electrical loads, the system comprising:
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a load control system including a system server and a plurality of load control devices for controlling the amount of power delivered to the electrical loads; and a utility server adapted to communicate with the system server via a network; wherein the system server is adapted to transmit a command request message to the utility server via the network, the utility server adapted to transmit a response message to the system server in response to the command request message, the response message including a command, the system server operable to control the amount of power delivered to the electrical loads in response to the command of the response message. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
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48. A utility server for controlling a plurality of load control systems, each load control system comprising a system server operable to control a plurality of electrical loads, the utility server comprising:
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means for receiving a load shed request message from a first system server of a first load control system, the load shed request message including a total amount of power presently being consumed by the electrical loads of the first load control system; means for determining a total amount of power presently being consumed by a subset of the load control systems including the first load control system; means for determining a load shed command for the plurality of electrical loads in response to the total amount of power presently being consumed by the subset of the load control systems; and means for transmitting a response message to the first system server in response to the load shed request message, the response message including the load shed command.
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49. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for performing a method of controlling a plurality of load control systems, each load control system comprising a system server operable to control a plurality of electrical loads, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving a load shed request message from a first system server of a first load control system, the load shed request message including a total amount of power presently being consumed by the electrical loads of the first load control system; determining a total amount of power presently being consumed by a subset of the load control systems including the first load control system; determining a load shed command for the plurality of electrical loads in response to the total amount of power presently being consumed by the subset of the load control systems; and transmitting a response message to the first system server in response to the load shed request message, the response message including the load shed command.
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Specification