Load control system having independently-controlled units responsive to a broadcast controller
First Claim
1. A load control system for controlling a plurality of electrical loads, the load control system comprising:
- a plurality of independent units, each independent unit comprising at least one commander and at least one energy controller configured to control at least one of the electrical loads in response to a control signal received from the at least one commander, the independent units configured and operating independent of each other; and
a broadcast controller configured to enter an association mode and to receive a first digital message including a serial number of a first energy controller while in the association mode, the broadcast controller configured to subsequently receive a second digital message from the first energy controller while in the association mode, the second digital message including a serial number of a first commander to which the first energy controller is responsive, the broadcast controller configured to associate the first energy controller with the broadcast controller, the broadcast controller configured to transmit wireless signals to the energy controllers of the independent units;
wherein the energy controllers are configured to ignore control signals received from the commanders of other independent units, and the energy controllers of each of the plurality of independent units are configured to respond to the wireless signals transmitted by the broadcast controller.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A load control system for controlling the amount of power delivered from an AC power source to a plurality of electrical load includes a plurality of independent units responsive to a broadcast controller. Each independent unit includes at least one commander and at least one energy controller for controlling at least one of the electrical loads in response to a control signal received from the commander. The independent units are configured and operate independent of each other. The broadcast controller transmits wireless signals to the energy controllers of the independent units. The energy controllers do not respond to control signals received from the commanders of other independent units, but the energy controllers of both independent units respond to the wireless signals transmitted by broadcast controller. The energy controller may operate in different operating modes in response to the wireless signals transmitted by the broadcast controller.
166 Citations
117 Claims
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1. A load control system for controlling a plurality of electrical loads, the load control system comprising:
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a plurality of independent units, each independent unit comprising at least one commander and at least one energy controller configured to control at least one of the electrical loads in response to a control signal received from the at least one commander, the independent units configured and operating independent of each other; and a broadcast controller configured to enter an association mode and to receive a first digital message including a serial number of a first energy controller while in the association mode, the broadcast controller configured to subsequently receive a second digital message from the first energy controller while in the association mode, the second digital message including a serial number of a first commander to which the first energy controller is responsive, the broadcast controller configured to associate the first energy controller with the broadcast controller, the broadcast controller configured to transmit wireless signals to the energy controllers of the independent units; wherein the energy controllers are configured to ignore control signals received from the commanders of other independent units, and the energy controllers of each of the plurality of independent units are configured to respond to the wireless signals transmitted by the broadcast controller. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60)
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61. A load control system for controlling a plurality of electrical loads, the load control system comprising:
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a plurality of independent units, each independent unit comprising at least one commander and at least one energy controller configured to control at least one of the electrical loads in response to a wireless control signal received from the at least one commander, the independent units configured and operating independent of each other; and a broadcast controller configured to enter an association mode and to receive a first digital message including a serial number of a first energy controller while in the association mode, the broadcast controller configured to subsequently receive a second digital message from the first energy controller while in the association mode, the second digital message including a serial number of a first commander to which the first energy controller is responsive, the broadcast controller configured to associate the first energy controller with the broadcast controller, the broadcast controller configured to transmit wireless signals to the energy controllers of the independent units; wherein the energy controllers are configured to respond only to the wireless control signals received from their respective commanders and wherein all energy controllers of both independent units are configured to respond to the wireless signals transmitted by broadcast controller. - View Dependent Claims (62, 63, 64, 65)
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66. A load control system for controlling a plurality of electrical loads, the load control system comprising:
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a plurality of independent units, each independent unit comprising at least one commander and at least one energy controller configured to control at least one of the electrical loads in response to a wireless signal received from the at least one commander, the independent units configured and operating independent of each other, such that the energy controllers are not responsive to the wireless signals received from the commanders of other independent units; and a broadcast controller configured to enter an association mode and to receive a first digital message including a serial number of a first energy controller while in the association mode, the broadcast controller configured to subsequently receive a second digital message from the first energy controller while in the association mode, the second digital message including a serial number of a first commander to which the first energy controller is responsive, the broadcast controller configured to associate the first energy controller with the broadcast controller, the broadcast controller configured to transmit wireless signals to the energy controllers of the independent units, the energy controllers responsive to the wireless signals transmitted by the broadcast controller; wherein the broadcast controller is further configured to receive wireless signals from the commanders and the energy controllers, the wireless signals including data regarding the operation of the independent units. - View Dependent Claims (67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78)
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79. A load control system for controlling an electrical load, the load control system comprising:
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at least one energy controller configured to control the electrical load in response to a control signal received from at least one commander; and a broadcast controller configured to enter an association mode and to receive a first digital message including a serial number of a first energy controller while in the association mode, the broadcast controller configured to subsequently receive a second digital message from the first energy controller while in the association mode, the second digital message including a serial number of a first commander to which the first energy controller is responsive, the broadcast controller configured to associate the first energy controller with the broadcast controller, the broadcast controller configured to transmit wireless signals to the at least one energy controller; wherein the at least one energy controller is configured to operate in different operating modes in response to the wireless signals transmitted by the broadcast controller, the energy controller configured to control the electrical load in different manners depending upon the present operating mode of the energy controller. - View Dependent Claims (80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94)
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95. A method for configuring a load control system for controlling a plurality of electrical loads disposed in a plurality of separate rooms in a common building, the method comprising:
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programming at least one commander in each of the rooms for the control of at least one energy controller which controls a respective load in its respective room for normal operation; repetitively transmitting by a broadcast controller a first signal when the broadcast transmitter is in an association mode; transmitting by a first energy controller a second signal while the broadcast controller is in an association mode, the second signal including a serial number of the first energy controller; transmitting by the first energy controller a third signal while the broadcast controller is in the association mode, the third signal including a serial number of a first commander to which the first energy controller is programmed to be responsive; associating the energy controller with the broadcast controller; and programming each of the commanders to receive overriding wireless control signals from the broadcast controller to modify the control of each of the energy controllers in response to a standard demand response wireless signal or an emergency demand response wireless signal produced by the broadcast controller. - View Dependent Claims (96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103)
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104. A broadcast controller for communication with one or more independent units, each of the one or more independent units including at least one commander and at least one energy controller, the at least one energy controller configured to control at least one electrical load in response to a control signal received from the at least one commander, the broadcast controller configured to:
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enter an association mode; receive a first signal from at least one energy controller while in the association mode, the first signal including a serial number of at least one energy controller; receive a second signal from the at least one energy controller while in the association mode, the second signal including a serial number of at least one commander to which the at least one energy controller is responsive; associate the at least one energy controller with the broadcast controller while in the association mode; receive a third signal indicating a first condition corresponding to one or more operations of which the at least one energy controller is configured to perform; and transmit a fourth signal to the at least one energy controller, the fourth signal interpretable by the at least one energy controller to perform at least one of the one or more operations, the at least one energy controller being configured to prioritize the fourth signal over the control signal received from the at least one commander. - View Dependent Claims (105, 106, 107, 108)
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109. A method performed by a broadcast controller, the broadcast controller being in communication with one or more independent units, each of the one or more independent units including one or more commanders and one or more energy controllers, the method comprising:
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entering an association mode; communicating with a first node of a first independent unit, the first node being at least one of a first commander or a first energy controller; obtaining an address of the first node, the address of the first node including a serial number of the first node; obtaining from the first node an address of at least one second node of the first independent unit, the at least one second node being at least one of a second commander or a second energy controller and the at least one second node being in communication with the first node, the address of the at least one second node including a serial number of the at least one second node; determining if at least one of the first node or the at least one second node is an energy controller; identifying at least one of the first node or the at least one second node as an energy controller according to the determination; identifying at least one of the address of the first node or the address of the at least one second node as an energy controller address according to the determination; and associating with at least one of;
the first node or the at least second node as an energy controller. - View Dependent Claims (110, 111, 112)
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113. An energy controller configured to control at least one electrical load in response to a control signal received from at least one commander, the energy controller comprising:
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a wireless communication transceiver, the wireless communication transceiver configured to; receive a first signal from a broadcast controller in an association mode, the first signal including a request for information regarding one or more nodes of an independent unit that includes the energy controller, the energy controller being configured to respond to the one or more nodes of the independent unit as one or more commanders of the energy controller; and transmit a second signal to the broadcast controller in response to the first signal, the second signal including the information regarding the one or more nodes of the independent unit, the information regarding the one or more nodes of the independent unit includes respective serial numbers of the one or more nodes. - View Dependent Claims (114)
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115. A method of associating a broadcast controller with an independent unit having at least one transmit-only commander and at least one energy controller configured to control at least one electrical load in response to the commander, the method comprising:
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entering by the broadcast controller an association mode; receiving by the broadcast controller a first wireless signal including a first identifier of the transmit-only commander; transmitting by the broadcast controller a second wireless signal including a query for the serial numbers of energy controllers that are responsive to the commander having the identifier included in the first wireless signal; transmitting by the energy controller a third wireless signal including a second identifier of the energy controller, the second identifier including a serial number of the energy controller; and associating the energy controller with the broadcast controller in response to the broadcast controller receiving the third wireless signal including the second identifier. - View Dependent Claims (116, 117)
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Specification