"The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys."
Sir William Preece, chief engineer, British Post Office ; 1878
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7906869 | Outlet apparatus with power classification management An outlet apparatus with power classification management which receives a control signal from a far end remote controller, and comprises at least one socket, a communication module, and a microprocessor. Wherein the sockets may be classified into a plurality of sock... | 03/15/2011 |
| 7821156 | System and methods for scheduling power usage A system for scheduling electric power consumption cycles is provided. A consumption cycle is a time period of human scale, minutes or hours typically, rather than an electrical cycle. The system includes an electric-powered device driven by power supplied by an ele... | 10/26/2010 |
| 7804191 | Method and system for collective control of lights A method for collective control of lights comprises connecting a positive output and a negative output of a main control device (1) by a wire to form a closed output circuit (4); independently connecting each of a plurality of lights (2) to an a... | 09/28/2010 |
| 7675195 | Load control system having a plurality of repeater devices A load control system comprises a plurality of control devices, each coupled to one of a plurality of device communication links. The device communication links are each coupled to a one of a plurality of link power supplies, which provides power for the control dev... | 03/09/2010 |
| 7619322 | Two-wire power and communications for irrigation systems A large number of irrigation system devices connected to a common two-wire cable can be powered and individually controlled from a central location by transmitting over the cable DC pulses of alternating polarity. Control information is conveyed by transmitting a co... | 11/17/2009 |
| 7420459 | Powerline networking device A powerline network device includes both power suppression and networking functions, and passes through power and data signals. The networking functions can include one or more of hub, router, and/or switch function, and therefore can form a subnet of devices plugge... | 09/02/2008 |
| 7370837 | Model railroad switch machine A switch machine for a model railroad layout includes a unidirectional motor, a switch actuator coupled to the motor and movable between two switch positions by rotation of the motor, a sensor coupled to the switch actuator for sensing the position of the switch act... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7368901 | Sequential control circuit A sequential control circuit operates according to an input signal. When the input signal is determined at a first state, the sequential control circuit asserts a plurality of control signals in a predetermined sequence. When the input signal is determined at a seco... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7358626 | Two-wire power and communications for irrigation systems A large number of irrigation system devices connected to a common two-wire cable can be powered and individually controlled from a central location by transmitting over the cable DC pulses of alternating polarity. Control information is conveyed by transmitting a co... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7301361 | Logic circuit for board power-supply evaluation and board power-supply evaluating method A logic circuit for board power-supply evaluation to be incorporated into a logic device loaded on a product board includes a circuit that simulates an operation of the logic device so that utilization rate is variable at an arbitrary frequency by use of a predeterm... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7301440 | Power line communication system and method The present invention provides a device for providing communications through power lines comprised of multiple conductors by transmitting the data signals through a plurality of the conductors. One embodiment of the present invention may be comprised of a transmit c... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7274117 | Radio wall switch A radio wall switch that uses radio signals to control a load through a load circuit is disclosed. The radio wall switch is also configured group or bind electronic devices to operate collectively by responding to the same radio control signals. Preferably, the radi... | 09/25/2007 |
| 7227652 | Switching power supply, method of operation and device-and-power-supply assembly A switching power supply, with or without a secondary side controller, is connectable to a power-supply-using device (such as a printer without a power supply) receiving a voltage from the power-supply's secondary side. The device has a device controller (such as a ... | 06/05/2007 |
| 7210656 | Control, sound, and operating system for model trains A model train operating, sound and control system that provides a user with increased operating realism. A novel remote control communication capability between the user and the model trains. This feature is accomplished by using a handheld remote control on which v... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7183722 | Apparatus and method of driving lamp of liquid crystal display device A lamp driving apparatus of a liquid crystal display device includes m lamp groups in which a plurality of lamps generating light are disposed; n (n | 02/27/2007 |
| 7180412 | Power line communication system having time server A system for bi-directional power distribution line communication. The system is configured for data communication with an endpoint transceiver located at a customer premise. The system comprises a time server in electrical communication with the transceiver, the ti... | 02/20/2007 |
| 7171461 | Network remote power management outlet strip A vertical-mount network remote power management outlet strip embodiment of the present invention comprises a long, thin outlet strip body with several independently controllable power outlet sockets distributed along its length. A power input cord is provided at on... | 01/30/2007 |
| 7139648 | Apparatus for actuating a control element for a heating or air-conditioning system in a motor vehicle The invention relates to an apparatus for actuating a control element, for example, an air flap, for a heating or air-conditioning system (34) in a motor vehicle, having an actuating drive (32), an electrical circuit (1) which controls the actua... | 11/21/2006 |
| 7138732 | Security and energy control system and method A system detects for the presence of an identification (ID) code associated with an object. The detected ID code is communicated to a computer and power is provided to an energy consumption device. In response to detecting that the ID code has been absent for less t... | 11/21/2006 |
| 7138928 | Method and apparatus for positive control of devices with toggle power control An exemplary method of providing positive power control of an electrical device which uses a toggle power command signal, and apparatus perform the method. This exemplary method uses an apparatus that includes a remote control unit and a signal translator. A positiv... | 11/21/2006 |
| 7132819 | Floating power supply and method of using the same A power supply of the present invention comprises a transducer having a transducer and a voltage regulator. The transducer is coupled to an electrically non-conductive medium, which may be a light pipe. The electrically non-conductive medium is coupled to a non-elec... | 11/07/2006 |
| 7127330 | Business management system and method for a deregulated electric power market using consumer site anomaly detection A business management method for remote detection of anomalies with interaction between an electric distribution company and a plurality of customer energy consumers with respective electric metering systems, comprises the steps of: the consumers providing respectiv... | 10/24/2006 |
| 7113134 | Transformer antenna device and method of using the same The invention contemplates an antenna device, system and method of installing the antenna device for receiving a wireless signal at a pad mounted electrical transformer. The novel device includes an antenna capable of communicating the wireless signal and a material... | 09/26/2006 |
| 7110832 | Energy management system for an appliance An energy management system for an appliance comprising an interface to receive a schedule having an off-peak time segment and an on-peak time segment; a control to determine an operation to be performed by the appliance; a mode selecting device to select between an... | 09/19/2006 |
| 7103240 | Method and apparatus for providing inductive coupling and decoupling of high-frequency, high-bandwidth data signals directly on and off of a high voltage power line The present invention is drawn to an electrically “closed” method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving data signals over a high voltage power line. Inductive coupling is employed for coupling and decoupling the data signal directly on to and off of a sin... | 09/05/2006 |
| 7102478 | Power line coupling device and method of using the same The coupling device of the present invention includes a housing, a first fastening member attached to said housing and coupled to the power line, a second fastening member attached to the housing and coupled to the power line, an inductor providing an impedance to d... | 09/05/2006 |
| 7102490 | Endpoint transmitter and power generation system An endpoint in a power distribution system includes a transmitter. The transmitter includes a transformer, a half-bridge driver, a first and second driver, and a resonant circuit. A primary winding from the transformer is coupled to a power distribution line, while ... | 09/05/2006 |
| 7091456 | Aircraft hot water supply system An aircraft hot water supply system (10) comprising a group of water-use stations (14a–14f) each including a hot water line having a heater (40a–40f) which heats water at a heating rate dependent upo... | 08/15/2006 |
| 7075769 | Next connect electrical receptacle assembly An electrical assembly including a plurality of electrical modules, each of the plurality of electrical modules being sequentially electrically connected to at least one other of the plurality of electrical modules. Each of the plurality of electrical modules includ... | 07/11/2006 |
| 7075414 | Device and method for communicating data signals through multiple power line conductors The present invention provides a device for providing communications through power lines comprised of multiple conductors by transmitting the data signals through a plurality of the conductors. One embodiment of the present invention may be comprised of a transmit c... | 07/11/2006 |
| 7064654 | Power line communication system and method of operating the same A system for operating a power line communication system is provided. One embodiment is comprised of a plurality of network elements, which may take the form of repeaters, bypass devices, backhaul devices, wireless backhaul devices, enhanced bypass devices, communic... | 06/20/2006 |
| 7058825 | Electronic apparatus and power supply method that stops power to authenticated partner apparatus when power is branched to another apparatus via the partner apparatus An electronic apparatus as an aspect of this invention includes a power supply unit configured to supply electric power to a partner apparatus, a communication unit configured to communicate with the partner apparatus, an authentication unit configured to authentica... | 06/06/2006 |
| 7053756 | Facilitating communication of data signals on electric power systems The invention includes a method, system, and device for communicating a data signal on an electric power system. The inventive method includes communicating the data signal to the electric power system, and modifying the characteristics of the electric power system ... | 05/30/2006 |
| 7046124 | Power line coupling device and method of using the same The coupler of the present invention couples broadband RF signals to and from a power line conductor. The coupler of one embodiment that is for use with overhead power lines includes a length of URD MV cable with the neutral conductor removed and that is communicati... | 05/16/2006 |
| 7042351 | Data communication over a power line Data signals are communicated between a power line and a computer, wherein the power line provides power to the computer via a distribution transformer and the computer is in communication with a wireless communication path. A first data signal is communicated with ... | 05/09/2006 |
| 7023683 | Electric relay control circuit A circuit and method for controlling two or more electric relays, wherein at least one of the relays are rated to handle a higher voltage level while at least one of the relays are rated to handle a lower voltage level. A controller selectively activates the relays ... | 04/04/2006 |
| 6998962 | Power line communication apparatus and method of using the same A communication device for use with a power line communication system is provided. One embodiment forms a bypass device and comprises a low voltage coupler, a low voltage signal conditioner, a controller, a medium voltage modem, a first medium voltage signal conditi... | 02/14/2006 |
| 6999505 | Power line communication modem capable of simultaneously supplying power and exchanging data A power line communication MODEM includes a rectification circuit for converting an AC power source to a DC power source, a MODEM circuit to which a DC voltage is supplied from the rectification circuit, a USB connector connected to the MODEM circuit, and a signal o... | 02/14/2006 |
| 7000249 | Pre-boot authentication system Systems are provided for the enhancement of the system BIOS for microprocessor-based devices. Before the end of a BIOS start-up procedure, the BIOS operation is diverted to a BIOS security authentication system which may be a portion of an enhanced system BIOS. The ... | 02/14/2006 |
| 6980090 | Device and method for coupling with electrical distribution network infrastructure to provide communications A device for providing communications through power lines that are communicatively coupled to an electrical distribution network infrastructure and to the internal wiring of at least one customer premises having one or more communication devices therein is provided.... | 12/27/2005 |