Method and apparatus for setting and integrating home automation grid or network with electrical grid

摘要

A method and apparatus for setting and integrating home automation grid with an electrical grid of a residence and commercial unit by structurally connecting intelligent support boxes of electrical wiring devices comprising AC outlet, switch, relay, hybrid switch-relay and hybrid switch of the wiring device attached into the intelligent support box. The box including intelligent control and communication circuits including RF, RFID, optical via plastic optical fiber and IR in line of sight for communicating commands and control including power consumption reporting from every outlet and switch. The power outlets include accesses for introduction of RFID sensor or optical sensor for identifying the appliance or the load powered via the outlet and communicating with the load or appliance by variety of signal used in the home automation grid and protocols including optical via cascading optical cable grid.

主权项

1. A method for setting at least one of home automation grid and network structurally integrated with an electrical grid of one of a residential and a commercial unit via a plurality of intelligent support boxes, each connects to said electrical grid directly and to at least one load via at least one electrical wiring device, said plurality of intelligent support boxes are linked to at least one of a controller and a command converter by one of bidirectional optical signals via one of cascading grid of optical cable and at least one of wireless RF and IR signals bidirectionally propagated in open air; said intelligent support box comprising a CPU, at least one of setting selector and a memory for said setting and for loading particulars data, circuits for operating and for calculating the power consumed by each load via each said wiring device and communication circuits for communicating at least one way of bidirectional signal with said one of controller and command converter via one of said home automation grid and network, said method comprising the steps of: a. loading said particulars data pertaining to each installed intelligent support box as structured including data pertaining to said at least one wiring device into said memory via said communication circuit; b. setting one of identifying numeral and one of a code and address for identifying the installed location within said unit of each of said intelligent support boxes by one of said setting selectors and via said controller or wirelessly via one of an hand held loader and a pad; c. recording into said memory and via said communication circuit and said the at least one of home automation grid and network into at least one of a memory included in said one of controller and command converter the stored particulars and the identified installed location within said unit; and d. identifying each load powered by each said wiring device via one of said setting selectors and a given load identifier stored in the memory of said one of controller and command converter or via one of said hand held loader and a power plug with one of an optical port and an RFID tag mated with a reciprocal optical port and RFID reader respectively accessed via a power outlet of said wiring device attached to said intelligent support box.