POWER PLUG, POWER OUTLET, POWER SUPPLY DEVICE AND POWER SUPPLY SYSTEM

• US 20090263999A1
• Filed: 12/30/2008
• Published: 10/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: ISD Corp. (ACI Worldwide Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: ISD Corp. (ACI Worldwide Incorporated)
• Inventors: Onoue, Koji
• Application Number:
  US12/346,478
• Publication Number:
  US 20090263999A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 439/215
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/665 with built-in electronic circuit H01R13/70, H01R13/719 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01R 13/713 the switch being a safety switch

Abstract

A power plug, power outlet, power supply device and power supply system for preventing electricity theft with relatively simple configuration are provided. A power outlet unit supplies power to a power plug unit to establish communication over a power line between a PLC block of the power outlet unit and a PLC block of the power plug unit. Upon transmission of an ID number from the power plug unit, the transmitted ID number is compared with an ID number stored in a memory. If the ID number matches the ID number in the memory, power is continuously supplied to the power plug unit. If the ID number does not match, the power supply is shut down to prevent electricity theft.

Claims

1. A power outlet for supplying electric power to a power plug, comprising:

outlet-side power-line communication unit that establishes communication over a power line between said power outlet and said power plug; and

outlet-side control unit that supplies power to said power plug to establish communication over the power line through said outlet-side power-line communication unit, and starts and stops supplying power to said power plug based on identification data indicating that said power plug is permitted to be supplied with power and previously assigned identification data, said identification data indicating that said power plug is permitted to be supplied with power being transmitted from said power plug over the power line.

2. The power outlet according to claim 1, further comprising:

detection unit that detects that said power plug has been inserted;

wherein

said outlet-side control unit includes communication establishing unit that causes said outlet-side power-line communication unit to establish said communication over the power line with said power plug when said detection unit detects that the power plug has been inserted.

3. The power outlet according to claim 2, wherein

said outlet-side control unit includes:

supply/shutdown control unit that supplies and shuts down power to said power plug; and

power-supply control unit that controls said supply/shutdown control unit to start supplying power to said power plug when said detection unit detects that the power plug has been inserted, and after the establishment of said communication over the power line by said communication establishing unit, controls said supply/shutdown control unit to stop supplying power to said power plug when said detection unit detects that the power plug has been pulled out.

4. The power outlet according to claim 1, further comprising:

outlet-side storage unit that stores identification data indicating that said power plug is permitted to be supplied with power, wherein

said outlet-side control unit determines whether identification data transmitted from said power plug matches identification data stored in said outlet-side storage unit.

5. A power plug that is supplied with electric power by inserting itself into a power outlet, comprising:

plug-side power-line communication unit that establishes communication over a power line with said power outlet; and

plug-side control unit that receives power supplied from said power outlet upon inserting said power plug into said power outlet and causes said plug-side power-line communication unit to transmit identification data indicating that said power plug is permitted to be supplied with power to said power outlet over the power line.

6. A power supply device including a power outlet and a power plug, wherein

said power outlet supplies electric power to said power plug and comprises:

outlet-side power-line communication unit that establishes communication over a power line with said power plug; and

outlet-side control unit that supplies power to said power plug to establish communication over the power line through said outlet-side power-line communication unit, and starts and stops supplying power to said power plug based on identification data indicating that said power plug is permitted to be supplied with power and previously assigned identification data, said identification data indicating that said power plug is permitted to be supplied with power being transmitted from said power plug over the power line, and

said power plug is supplied with power by inserting itself into said power outlet and comprises;

plug-side power-line communication unit that establishes communication over the power line with said power outlet; and

plug-side control unit that receives power supplied from said power outlet upon inserting said power plug into said power outlet and causes said plug-side power-line communication unit to transmit identification data indicating that said power plug is permitted to be supplied with power to said power outlet over the power line.

7. The power supply device according to claim 6, wherein

said power outlet comprises outlet-side storage unit that stores identification data indicating that said power plug is permitted to be supplied with power,

said power plug comprises plug-side storage unit that stores identification data indicating that said power plug is permitted to be supplied with power, and

said power supply device further comprises setting unit for assigning the identification data to be stored in said outlet-side storage unit and said plug-side storage unit, the identification data indicating that said power plug is permitted to be supplied with power.

8. A power supply system comprising the power supply device cited in claim 6 and a computer, wherein

said power outlet comprises:

an outlet-side network interface section used to connect said power outlet to a network; and

transmission unit that transmits identification data through said outlet-side network interface section to said computer, said identification data indicating that said power plug is permitted to be supplied with power, and

said computer comprises;

a computer-side network interface section used to connect said computer to said network;

computer-side storage unit that stores specific information associated with said identification data indicating that said power plug is permitted to be supplied with power;

determination unit that determines whether said identification data transmitted by said transmission unit matches said specific information stored in said computer-side storage unit, said identification data indicating that said power plug is permitted to be supplied with power; and

execution unit that executes predetermined operations according to the result determined by said determination unit.