Energy management system
First Claim
1. An energy management system for managing the energy usage of an appliance in accordance with a user selected one of a plurality of different predefined schedule entries, each predefined schedule entry defining different times periods and amounts of management within said defined period, said system comprising:
- a central signal transmitting unit for providing encoded signals, one after another, each encoded signal manifesting the code of a schedule entry that energy management is to then occur according to that defined schedule entry; and
a responder unit coupled in circuit with said appliance, said responder unit including user settable encoding means and having said transmitting unit signals applied thereto, said responder unit managing the energy usage of said appliance by responding to only those encoded transmitting unit signals having the same code as the code set on said user settable encoding means;
said central unit signals being generated without designating said responder unit.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Described herein is an energy management system in which a central unit provides a series of energy managing signals over a medium, such as TV cables, power lines, telephone lines or free space radio frequency transmissions, to a plurality of subscriber units. Within each unit is a transponder which responds to the transmitted central unit signals and provides corresponding signals onto an electric grid, such as the power lines, within the subscribing unit. The appliances to be managed each have associated therewith a responder unit, which is coupled to the electric grid to receive the transponder provided signals. Each of the central unit transmitted signals is encoded to manifest the energy managing dictates of a particular one of a plurality of diffferent schedules and is only provided in conformance with the dictates of the schedule is manifests. Typically, where an appliance is to be turned off as part of the energy management scheme, the encoded signals are provided only when the schedule manifested thereby indicate that a particular appliance is to be turned off. The responder units each have subscriber settable encoding devices associated therewith and the subscriber sets the code of a particular schedule for each responder after referring to series of schedules which is supplied to each user of the energy management system. The responder then responds to only the codes applied thereto conforming to the code set on the settable encoding devices and the appliance with which that responder is associated is then managed in accordance with the selected schedule.
234 Citations
25 Claims
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1. An energy management system for managing the energy usage of an appliance in accordance with a user selected one of a plurality of different predefined schedule entries, each predefined schedule entry defining different times periods and amounts of management within said defined period, said system comprising:
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a central signal transmitting unit for providing encoded signals, one after another, each encoded signal manifesting the code of a schedule entry that energy management is to then occur according to that defined schedule entry; and a responder unit coupled in circuit with said appliance, said responder unit including user settable encoding means and having said transmitting unit signals applied thereto, said responder unit managing the energy usage of said appliance by responding to only those encoded transmitting unit signals having the same code as the code set on said user settable encoding means; said central unit signals being generated without designating said responder unit. - 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)
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Specification