Home Network Control Node for Device Control and Energy Conservation
First Claim
1. A home network control node device that controls the power applied to an attached device under control and that communicates with a system of home network control nodes over a main communications bus and can download instructions to local memory for local execution based on events that occur in the system of home network control nodes where the downloaded instructions comprise:
- an event condition that specifies the event condition that will trigger the invocation of the rule;
a condition part that is a logical test condition that when satisfied will trigger the invocation of the rule action;
and a rule action part that performs a specified action.
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Abstract
It may be desirable to reduce the energy consumption of a home or commercial building to control energy costs or to ensure that the energy consumption does not exceed what is available in non-conventional energy systems such as solar power systems. The present invention relates to a system of network control nodes that can be used to monitor and control devices such as appliances and lights to ensure that the power consumption of the entire network is within the established target levels.
26 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A home network control node device that controls the power applied to an attached device under control and that communicates with a system of home network control nodes over a main communications bus and can download instructions to local memory for local execution based on events that occur in the system of home network control nodes where the downloaded instructions comprise:
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an event condition that specifies the event condition that will trigger the invocation of the rule; a condition part that is a logical test condition that when satisfied will trigger the invocation of the rule action; and a rule action part that performs a specified action. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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- 7. A home network control node device that communicates with a system of home network control nodes over a main communications bus and where the home network control node device controls the operation of an attached device under control based on the energy consumption of the network of attached devices under control.
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13. A method of using a system of home network control devices that communicate over a main communications bus to monitor and control attached devices under control to ensure that the power consumption of the entire network of devices under control is within the established target levels or within the power available to the network comprising the steps of:
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determining the current power consumption of all attached devices under control in the network; determining, when a device under control is to be turned on, the power consumption of the device under control from a stored value of the device under controls power consumption or from a current or previous actual measurement of the device under control power consumption; determining, based on the current power consumption of the network of devices under control and the power consumption of the device under control that is to be turned on, whether the network can accommodate the additional power consumption of the device under control that is to be turned on; wherein, if the network can accommodate the additional power consumption of the device under control that is to be turned on then the network control node device will update the network with the power consumption level of the device under control that is to be turned on and will then turn on the device under control that is to be turned on; wherein, if the network can not accommodate the additional power consumption of the device under control that is to be turned on then the network control node device will monitor the power consumption of the network of devices under control and will turn on the device under control when the network can accommodate the additional power consumption of the device under control that is to be turned on.
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Specification