Claims
- 1. A utility consumption control network system for controlling consumption of units of a resource provided by a utility, comprising:
a communications network accessible by the utility; a gateway connecting to the communications network, including,
an operating system; a user interface; at least one application transmitting and receiving data through the utility consumption control network, processing the data and providing the data to the user interface; a user interface control mechanism selecting portions of the user interface; a device in communication with the utility consumption control network, the device consuming units of the resource provided by the utility; and an adapter in communication with the device, translating data sent to and from the device on the communications network into a protocol for communication with the gateway.
- 2. The utility consumption control network system of claim 1 further comprising:
a utility meter configured for automated reading; and a utility meter adapter in communication with the utility meter, translating a signal containing usage data from the utility meter and transmitting the usage data to the gateway.
- 3. The utility consumption control network system of claim 1, wherein the gateway is connected to a wide area network to provide access by the utility.
- 4. The utility consumption control network system of claim 3, further comprising:
a computing platform operatively connected to the wide area network, the gateway configured to send and receive data through the wide area network from the computing platform.
- 5. The utility consumption control network system of claim 1 wherein the user interface is a graphical user interface.
- 6. The utility consumption control network system of claim 5 wherein the user interface control mechanism is at least one input button selecting menus for the graphical user interface.
- 7. The utility consumption control network system of claim 1 wherein, the device is a thermostat in communication with a climate control unit, and the thermostat is in communication with the communications network, whereby the thermostat transmits temperature data to the gateway and receives command signals from the gateway.
- 8. The utility consumption control network system of claim 1 wherein,
the gateway further includes a thermostat for monitoring an ambient temperature data, and the thermostat is in communication with a climate control unit, whereby the gateway transmits commands to the climate control unit.
- 9. The utility consumption control network system of claim 1 further comprising:
a thermostat reporting and monitoring temperatures; and a climate control unit, in communication with the thermostat, treating an ambient airspace.
- 10. The utility consumption control network system of claim 9 wherein the climate control unit treats the ambient airspace by at least one of heating, cooling and humidifying/dehumidifying.
- 11. The utility consumption control network system of claim 1 wherein the resource provided by the utility is at least one of electric, water and gas.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of co-pending and commonly-assigned U.S. Provisional application serial No. 60/391,453 entitled “Premise Equipment Control System and Method” filed on Jun. 24, 2002, by, which application is incorporated by reference herein.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60391453 |
Jun 2002 |
US |