Patent ID: 9577389
Date: 2017-02-21
CPC Classifications: H01R

Claim:
1. An electrical outlet for providing high voltage power to a device, comprising: power input terminals for connection to a high voltage power source; at least one power output socket configured to receive a plug configured to receive high voltage power; a shock-proof circuit connected to the at least one power output socket, the shock-proof circuit comprising a capacitance sensor configured to sense a presence of a person within a proximity distance threshold of the electrical outlet; at least one optical sensor configured to detect the insertion of plug prongs into a neutral line socket and a hot line socket of the at least one power output socket; a communication circuit configured to communicate over a communication network; and a processor coupled to the communication circuit, the capacitance sensor, the at least one optical sensor and the shock-proof circuit, the processor and the shock-proof circuit collectively configured to determine when to provide high voltage power to the at least one power output socket based on information received from the capacitance sensor, the shock-proof circuit, and the optical sensor, and wherein the processor is configured to control the shock-proof circuit to not provide high voltage power to the at least one power output socket when proximity information the processor receives from the capacitance sensor indicates a person is within a proximity distance threshold of the at least one power output socket unless the processor detects a plug is already in the at least one power output socket and power is being supplied to the plug in which case the high voltage power is allowed to be provided to the at least one power output socket, wherein the processor and the communication circuit are further collectively configured to communicate information relating to an operation aspect of the electrical outlet with a remote computing device via the communication network.