Patent ID: 8355805
Filing Date: 2013-01-15
Classification: G05B,G06F,G06Q,H02J,H04L

Abstract:
1. An autonomously powered appliance control system, comprising: a plurality of appliances; a battery for supplying power to the appliances; an energy capture device for charging the battery, wherein the energy capture device and the battery are not connected to an outside electrical grid; a master processor, the master processor being configured to place each of the appliances in an enabled state or a disabled state individually by transmitting an enable or disable signal to a slave processor associated with that appliance, the master processor being configured to track usage of each of the appliances, the master processor being configured to determine when an appliance is to be in a disabled state based on the usage of that appliance exceeding a threshold amount, the threshold amount being a period of time during which the appliance is to be in the enabled state or an amount of time for which the appliance is usable in the enabled state; wherein each of the plurality of appliances is responsive to a slave processor, wherein a slave processor transmits a usage signal to the master processor based on usage of the appliance associated with the slave processor, wherein the slave processor enables and disables the associated appliance based on enable or disable signal received from the master processor; a data receiving device configured to receive a code, wherein upon receipt of a valid code, the master processor being configured to adjust the threshold amount to allow additional usage of the appliance, wherein the code includes a signature, wherein the master processor verifies the signature to determine whether the code is valid, wherein the signature authenticates a source of the code and that the code has not been tampered, wherein the master processor is configured to prevent reuse of the code.