Abstract:
A method and apparatus that uses the Internet protocol, TCP/IP, for a home control network. The invention also provides embedded servers, email clients at the electrical boxes. The invention integrates the Internet to the electrical outlet, switch, or appliance boxes using a low cost embedded web server.

Description:
BACKGROUND INFORMATION 
       [0001]    Current home or industrial networking technologies have two separate networks. One network connects the PCs to the Internet via a dial-up phone, cable, xDSL, or Ethernet connection, and another network such as CEBus™, LonWorks™, or X-10™ controls appliances or equipment. CEBus™ was developed by the Electronic Industries Association, LonWorks™ was developed by Echelon Corp. of California, and X-10™ components are manufactured by X-10 Limited of Hong Kong. When one wants to remotely control the appliance via the Internet, one needs a converter, a specialized gateway, or software in a computer to interface between the Internet and the other networks. 
         [0002]    For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,862 shows one popular protocol called X-10™ used in homes to control lights and appliances. It uses dedicated transmitters at various locations in the home to control slave receivers that are designed to plug into the electrical outlets or designed to replace existing switches or outlets. The protocol is very restrictive and cannot handle very much data since it transmits  120  data bits/s over the existing power lines. To communicate on the Internet, a PC or similar device with proprietary software is needed to convert information and control data from the X-10™ system to the Internet. Similarly, LonWorks™ and CEBus™ are two other networks that are being used in the home to control lights and appliances. 
         [0003]    U.S. Patent Application 2001/0034754 A1 defines a specialized gateway between CEBus™, LonWorks™, or X-10™ and the Internet as an attempt to solve the issue of remotely controlling the lights and appliances. 
         [0004]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,949,779 discusses remotely controlling home electrical outlets and appliances by the CEBus™ protocol and proprietary BAN, Broadband Access Network A converter is needed to link the two systems. U.S. Patent Application No. 2002/0002627 A1 describes a scheme to control devices remotely, but uses a home protocol as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,795, and a specialize gateway called emGateWay™. U.S. Patent Application No. 2002/0027504 A1 describes an embodiment that allows devices attached to the Internet to communicate to dedicated sensors via a site controller that translates the wireless sensors information to the Internet. This also is a dedicated proprietary device that requires specialized software. 
         [0005]    U.S. Pat. No. 6,370,448 B1 describes a process device, which is attached to a process communication network and then to the Internet via a process communicator. The process communication network is one of the following types: low-speed Fieldbus protocol (H 1 ), high-speed Fieldbus protocol (H 2 ), or similar types. The process communicator converts the process communication protocol from each node link, which contains Internet address information to Ethernet data network, which connects to the Internet. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,363,057 B1 describes an electronics meter, which incorporates a TCP/IP protocol suite and an HTTP server to provide direct access to the meter data via the Internet. However, it too relies on a specialized gateway to a non-TCP/IP network such as CEBus™. 
         [0006]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,956,487 talks about incorporating a web access in a wide variety of devices including office equipment, home-based equipment, and lab equipment, as well as a variety of other types of devices commonly that provide device specific user interface functions. Office equipment devices typically include printers and copiers. Home-based devices include home entertainment equipment such as televisions, video recorders, and audio players as well as security systems, and appliances. Lab equipment includes measurement devices such as oscilloscopes and spectrum analyzers. Web server functionality embedded in the device allows a web browser to access user interface functions for the device through a web page. These types of devices have the computing power, or can be easily added to the device, to provide web server functionality. U.S. Pat. No. 5,956,487 further describes devices that control the user interface to the device but does not describe control of house lighting and electrical outlets or control of power to the device. In fact, every home appliance or home entertainment equipment must have this web server functionality to control its operation via the Internet. This would limit such control to devices with this web server functionality and would not allow control of existing home appliances or home entertainment equipment. 
         [0007]    U.S. Pat. No. 6,198,479 B1 describes a home network with browser-based command and control for TV or audio equipment that uses a software agent. A software agent is executed on the client device to cause a user interface to be displayed on the client device. The devices described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,198,479 B1 are entertainment equipment, and the home network is the Intranet within the home which connects PCs. The control of home entertainment equipment would be limited to devices with this specialized software agent and would not allow control of existing home appliances or home entertainment equipment. 
         [0008]    All previous art describes systems that require a specialized converter or gateway to translate the home control network such as CEBus™, X-10™, and LonWorks™ to the TCP/IP protocol of the home Intranet network or requires that the TCP/IP protocol be incorporated in the appliance or home device. The major disadvantage of the current approaches is that there are too many different types of home networks. Each type of network has specialized controllers to control the electrical load. The proprietary converters or gateways require specialized software for the different networks, and this specialized software needs to be updated with new software when new devices are added to these home control networks. The consumer may be overwhelmed with what equipment to purchase, and in many cases a specialist would be required to install and verify the proper operation. Also, with TCP/IP embedded in the home appliance or equipment, the existing home appliances and equipment could not be controlled over the home Intranet. Therefore, there exists a need for an apparatus that incorporates the TCP/IP protocol into the home electrical boxes so as to have the same home Intranet that connects PCs, printer, and other web appliances to be used for control over existing home appliances, entertainment equipment, and electrical loads. Using a standardized TCP/IP protocol for the home control network would allow the use of standardized web browsers such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Communicator to view the electrical load status or to control the AC electrical load without using a dedicated controller or a web-based home appliance or equipment. 
       SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE 
       [0009]    Certain embodiments described herein are capable of solving the problems cited above. One example embodiment is an apparatus that uses a common communication standard for information, such as the TCP/UDP/IP protocol, to control electrical loads and/or sensors, to monitor a house or other dwelling or structure using sensors, and to provide numerous other capabilities when attached to the Internet or Intranet. The apparatus is mountable within an electrical box, in particularly, a standard AC electrical box. 
         [0010]    Certain embodiments may integrate the TCP/UDP/IP protocol in the electrical outlets, switches, and other electrical boxes. With this capability, the home Intranet used to connect Internet appliances such as PCs, printers, and others can be used also for controlling and monitoring the electrical connections in the electrical boxes. 
         [0011]    Certain embodiments may incorporate a web server in the electrical box to monitor and control items attached or connected to the electrical box via a web browser. This web browser can be executing on, for examples, a local PC connected to the home Intranet or a remote PC connected to the World Wide Web, the Internet. The web browser can request information from the apparatus called AC power circuit using the HTTP protocol. The apparatus within the electrical box can respond with an HTML or XML formatted web page. The web page may contain CGI or other server-controlled capabilities to allow control of an attached electrical load, to change information on the web page, or to alter the monitoring sensor characteristics. 
         [0012]    Certain embodiments may provide an e-mail capability in the electrical box to send e-mail upon activation of a light switch, a motion sensor, or any other attached sensors, or programmed conditions. One can monitor the electrical power status of the light, HVAC system, or attached appliance, and send e-mail if the attached device is not working or consuming too much electrical power. In addition, one can send e-mail to the electrical box to turn an electrical load ON or OFF, to update stored information such as a software program attached to the e-mail, or to accomplish a number of other tasks associated with e-mail capability. With a camera sensor designed within the AC power circuit, one can send e-mail with attached picture to indicate the presence of school children, for example. 
         [0013]    Certain embodiments can control lights, outlets, and electrical boxes via a connection to the Internet or Intranet whether the connection is within the home or remote. An application program on a device such as the PDA, PC, laptop, or web-enabled phone may communicate directly to the electrical box via a protocol such as TCP/IP or UDP/IP. Each AC power circuit within each electrical box may have a unique IP number by which any device using an instant messaging protocol can control the electrical box&#39;s AC power to its electrical load, can check the sensor incorporated within or attached to the electrical box, or can transmit a voice message. In one embodiment, the electrical box is controlled using the Internet protocol and instant messaging capability. Any Internet-connected devices with an instant messaging protocol such as AOL instant messaging, Microsoft instant messaging protocol, or some other instant messaging scheme can control the attached appliance to the electrical box. A web browser is not needed to display a web page in this particular configuration. The AC power circuit within the electrical box can send status information upon an instant messaging request from the Internet-connected device. This allows Internet-controlled devices with small screens such a web-enable phones, PDAs, or web-enabled pagers to control the lights and appliances in the home. 
         [0014]    Certain embodiments can collect information on an attached sensor or electrical load and store it within its memory until a pre-programmed time interval, pre-programmed amount of data, or some other event that indicates the AC power circuit to transmit the information to some server for data collection or requested to do so by a web client or Internet-connected device. With this capability, the AC power circuit can monitor such things as the amount of electrical power consumed by the attached device, the number of activations of a switch, the number of times a room is occupied, the number of times an electrical outlet is used, the temperature of the room, the number of times an appliance is being used and at what times. With this information, people can determine the amount of electrical power consumed by the household and what appliances are the major users. Homeowners or occupants can determine which rooms are being heated or cooled, and which rooms are occupied. By examining this information, one can determine the efficiency of the HVAC system. Other information can be collected W help the home occupants live a better life. 
         [0015]    Certain embodiments can use wired and wireless home Intranet technologies as the network interfaces of the AC power circuit Wired technologies such as phone lines, Ethernet (CAT 5 cable), and powerline communication technology are a few of the current types. Phone line technology utilizes the existing telephone networks to transmit data. Ethernet wired technology uses a dedicated cable such as CATS. Newer homes are being built with CATS cabling throughout the homes. PCs, printers, and the electrical boxes described herein may be connected via a hub. Powerline technology uses the existing electrical wires to transmit data. 
         [0016]    Wireless technologies such as WEE 802.11 (known as wireless Ethernet), HomeRF™ (developed by HomeRF Working Group), and Bluetooth™ (Bluetooth Signal, Inc.) are some of the current types that can also be used. 
         [0017]    Some embodiments may utilize single-wire connection or dual-wire connection to the AC power circuit. Using single-wire AC power circuit allows for incorporating the TCP/IP capability in older homes using wireless or powerline communication technologies. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0018]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of the AC power circuit of one example embodiment showing the basic circuit blocks. 
           [0019]      FIG. 2  is a simplified perspective view showing an installation of the AC power circuit of  FIG. 1  in the electrical box attached to the AC power lines and the Intranet/Internet. 
           [0020]      FIG. 3  is an overall diagram of electrical boxes and loads connected wirelessly via the home Intranet and the AC electrical power, according to one embodiment. 
           [0021]      FIG. 4  is an overall diagram of electrical boxes and loads connected with the AC electrical power and the wired home Intranet  FIG. 5  is a block diagram of the AC power circuit controlling electrical loads. 
           [0022]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram of the AC power circuit controlling an electrical load in a series AC configuration. 
           [0023]      FIG. 7  is a diagram of the Internet Stack using UDP and TCP as the transport protocols, the IP as the network protocol, and illustrating the data link layer protocol such as Ethernet, PPP, and the application layer such as HTTP server, or SMTP e-mail. 
           [0024]      FIG. 8  is a block diagram of the AC power circuit showing some possible application programs run on the microcontroller that control some electrical loads and/or receive information from sensors. 
           [0025]      FIG. 9  is a block diagram of the AC power circuit showing that the TCP/IP stack in the network interface block and attached to the home Intranet via phone lines. 
           [0026]      FIG. 10  is a block diagram of the AC power circuit connected to the home Intranet via power lines. 
           [0027]      FIG. 11  is a block diagram of the AC power circuit connected to the home Intranet using a wired Ethernet connection. 
           [0028]      FIG. 12  is a block diagram of the AC power circuit connected to phone lines and controlling an electrical load. 
           [0029]      FIG. 13  is a block diagram of the AC power circuit connected wirelessly to the home Intranet using Bluetooth™. 
           [0030]      FIG. 14  is a block diagram of the AC power circuit connected wirelessly to the home Intranet using wireless Ethernet, IEEE 802.11. 
           [0031]      FIG. 15  is a schematic of one implementation of the AC power circuit that is connected to the home Intranet via a wired Ethernet connection. 
           [0032]      FIG. 16  is a schematic of an implementation of the AC power circuit that is connected to the phone lines and controls an electrical load in series with the circuit. 
           [0033]      FIG. 17A  is an installation of the integrated AC power circuit with an electrical switch within an electrical box with a wireless connection to the home Intranet. 
           [0034]      FIG. 17B  is an installation of the AC power circuit and an electrical switch within an electrical box with a wireless connection to the home Intranet. 
           [0035]      FIG. 18A  is an installation of the integrated AC power circuit with an electrical switch within an electrical box with a wired connection to the phone or Ethernet. 
           [0036]      FIG. 18B  is an installation of the AC power circuit with an electrical switch within an electrical box with a wired connection to the phone or Ethernet cable. 
           [0037]      FIG. 19A  is an installation of the integrated AC power circuit with an electrical receptacle within an electrical box and is connected with a wired connection to a home Intranet. 
           [0038]      FIG. 19B  is an installation of the AC power circuit and an electrical receptacle within an electrical box and is connected with a wired connection to a home Intranet. 
           [0039]      FIG. 20A  is an installation of the integrated AC power circuit with an electrical receptacle within an electrical box with a wireless connection to a home Intranet. 
           [0040]      FIG. 20B  is an installation of the AC power circuit with an electrical receptacle within an electrical box with a wireless connection to a home Intranet. 
           [0041]      FIG. 21  is an installation of the AC power circuit with a camera sensor installed in the electrical box and is connected wirelessly to a home Intranet. 
           [0042]      FIG. 22  is an overall diagram showing the home network attached to the electrical boxes with a wired connection and also connected to the world wide Internet. 
           [0043]      FIG. 23  is an overall diagram showing the home network attached to the electrical boxes with a wireless connection and also connected to the world wide Internet. 
           [0044]      FIG. 24  is an overall diagram showing a wireless home network attached to electrical boxes. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
       [0045]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram schematic of an AC power circuit  40  in which AC power from AC source leads  118   a  and  118   b  is applied to the AC power circuit  40 , which is connected to the Internet/Intranet  50  via a communication connection  114 . The AC power circuit  40  includes a power network  80 , a microcontroller  30 , and a network interface  34 . The power network  80  provides low voltage through line  82  to operate the microcontroller  30  and network interface circuitry  34 . The microcontroller  30  contains an Internet protocol stack  31  and an application program  33 . The microcontroller  30  is connected to the network interface  34  via a connection  84 . The microcontroller  30  runs one or more application programs  33  that can respond to a web browser request or an internet request, send e-mail, collect data, control an attached appliance via the Internet/Intranet, receive sensor information from attached sensors, or accomplish a number of different tasks. 
         [0046]    The AC power circuit  40  is installed in an electrical box  48  as shown in  FIG. 2 . The AC power is provided via lines  118   a  and  118   b . The communication connection  114  to the Internet/Intranet can be wired or wireless as shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 . 
         [0047]      FIG. 3  shows a wireless attachment to the Internet via a modem/router/hub  150 . The wireless Intranet communication connections are via antennas  152 ,  153 ,  155 ,  156 ,  157 , and  158 . Electrical boxes  100 ,  102 ,  104 , and  106  are connected via the AC electrical wires  118 . The electrical boxes  100 ,  102 ,  104 , and  106  contain the AC power circuit  40 , which can control the lights  160 ,  161 , and any attached appliances such as a TV  162  or a Personal Computer  164 . Each AC power circuit  40  can be controlled via local control such as a switch, or the PC  164  via the home Intranet, or by remote control via the Internet connection  115 . The wireless communication can be HomeRF™, IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth™, or any other wireless Internet technology. 
         [0048]      FIG. 4  shows a wired attachment to the Internet via the modem/router/hub  154 . The wired Intranet communication connection  117  may be via phone lines, fiber, coax, or Ethernet cable. The electrical boxes  122 ,  124 , and  126  contain the AC power circuit  40 , which can control the light  160 , and any attached appliances such as the TV  162  or PC  164  via local control such as a switch or local intranet PC  164  or by remote control via the Internet connection  115 . The wired communication technology can be Ethernet, HomePNA™ (HomePNA Working Group) or any other wired Internet/Intranet technology. Also, the wired attachment to the Intranet can use the same wires as the electrical power. This communication technology is known as powerline communication. 
         [0049]      FIG. 5  is a block diagram schematic of an AC power circuit  41  in which AC power from AC source  118   a ,  118   b ,  118   c , and  118   d  is applied to the AC power circuit  41  and electrical loads  60  and  61 . The AC power circuit  41  is connected to the Internet/Intranet  50  via a communication connection  114 . In addition to the power network  80 , the microcontroller  30 , and network interface  34 , the microcontroller  30  via lines  58  and  59  controls relays  56  and  57 , which supply AC power to an electrical load  60  via a line  116   c  and to an electrical load  61  via a line  116   d . In this embodiment, the AC power circuit  41  can control the electrical loads  60  and  61  by the Internet/Intranet  50 . The AC power circuit  41  could be incorporated in an electrical box that uses parallel connections to the AC power source lines  118   a  and  118   b  which connects to lines  116   a  and  116   b , respectively, of the AC power circuit  41 . Typical applications for the AC power circuit  41  are a switch box with both power lines available or an electrical outlet box. 
         [0050]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram schematic of an AC power circuit  42  in which AC power from AC source  118   a  and  118   c  is applied to the AC power circuit  42  and the electrical load  60 . The AC power circuit  42  is connected to the Internet/Intranet  50  via communication connection  114 . The AC power circuit  42  contains the power network  80 , the microcontroller  30 , the network interface  34 , and the relay  56 . The AC power circuit  42  is attached to the AC power lines  118   a  and  118   c  in series with the electrical load  60  via line  116   c . Typical applications for the AC power circuit  42  are in switch boxes that only have series connections to the electrical load. This is common in older homes. 
         [0051]    The microcontroller  30  in the AC power circuits  40 ,  41 , and  42  has the Internet stack (TCP/UDP/IP)  31  and application programs  33 .  FIG. 7  shows the software layers that illustrate the Internet stack  31  and application programs  33  contained in the microcontroller  30 .  FIG. 7  also shows the network interface and some possible communication protocols such as Ethernet PPP (phone line), powerline, IEEE 802.11, HomeRF™, and Bluetooth™. The microcontroller  30  can contain one or more possible applications such as Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) saver, File Transport Protocol(FTP) capability, Simple Mail Transport Protocol(SMTP) capability, and others. The microcontroller  30  can contain the TCP/IP stack or UDP/IP stack, or a combination depending on the application program as illustrated in  FIG. 7 . 
         [0052]      FIG. 8  shows a block diagram schematic of the possible configurations to an AC power circuit  45 . The AC power circuit  45  can control different electrical loads such as a light  62 , a heater  64 , an electrical motor  66 , or any other electrical appliance  60 . 
         [0053]    The microcontroller  30  that is contained in the AC power circuit  45  can run an e-mail application program  37  that sends out information upon some condition. For example, if the motion sensor  72  detects some movement in an area, or if the smoke detector  76  indicates a fire, an e-mail can be sent to alert the proper agency for assistance. 
         [0054]    The microcontroller  30  can run a web server application  139  with a web page  39 . The web server application  139  receives HTTP commands through the network interface  34  that specifies a predetermined Internet Protocol(IP) number for the AC power circuit  45 . Web clients to read information from the AC power circuit  45 , such as the status of the AC power to the electrical load, may use the HTTP command. HTTP commands may also be used to transfer information to the AC power circuit  45  such as information that controls the electrical load or sensors. 
         [0055]    In response to an HTTP request, the AC power circuit web server application  139  generates a web page  39  that specifies interactions to the attached electrical load and sensors. The web page  39  is a Hypertext Markup Language(HTML) formatted page or an eXtensive Markup Language(XML) formatted page. The network interface  34  transfers the web page  39  to the web client that requested the information via the Internet/Intranet  50 . 
         [0056]      FIG. 8  also shows various connected sensors to the microcontroller  30  such as a current sensor  90  for monitoring the electrical power used by the electrical load, a temperature sensor  70  for indicating the indoor or outdoor temperature of a room, a motion sensor  72  to detect movement within the room, a switch  74  for locally activating the AC power to the load, a smoke detector  76  to detect the presence of a fire, a camera  92  to provide observations in the room, a microphone  94  to monitor the audio within the room, and many other types of sensors  71 . The microcontroller  30  can be programmed to communicate to other AC power circuits in other electrical boxes to allow multiple actions to occur upon a sensor detecting a condition. For example, the microcontroller  30  can be programmed to detect movement within the room by the motion sensor  72  in one electrical box to activate lights in other electrical boxes within the house via the home Intranet. In addition, the microcontroller  30  can be programmed to send an e-mail to the owner or monitoring company that someone is present in the home. In another embodiment, the network interface  34  contains the TCP/IP and UDP/IP stacks instead of the microcontroller  30 .  FIG. 9  shows an embodiment of an AC power circuit  47  with TCP/IP contained in the network interface  34 . This embodiment uses a commercially available integrated chip  180  that is denoted as S-7600A made by Seiko Instruments, Inc. The power network  80  provides the necessary low voltage power for supplying the various integrated circuits. In this embodiment, the AC power circuit  47  is attached to the home Intranet via phone lines  119   a  and  119   b . The Internet modem chipset  182  and  184  that communicates between the integrated chip  180  to the phone lines are from Silicon Laboratories, and are denoted as Si2400 and Si3015. The modem chipset  182  and  184  provide connect rates of up to 2400 bps, full duplex over the telephone lines  119   a  and  119   b . Other modem chipsets can provide higher data rates. Block  186  provides the necessary circuits to interface to the phone lines according to FCC part  68  specifications. 
         [0057]    In another embodiment, the network interface  34  is connected to the home Intranet via the power lines.  FIG. 10  shows this embodiment where an AC power circuit  49  connects to the home Intranet via electrical power lines  118   a  and  118   b . The network interface  34  contains powerline chipset  200  and  202  from Intellon and is denoted as INT 5130, an integrated powerline transceiver, and INT1000, an analog conversion integrated circuit. The powerline chipset  200  and  202  are connected to the electrical power lines  118   a  and  118   b  via an analog front end  204  and a power line coupler  206 . The Internet stack is in the microcontroller  30 . The microcontroller  30  in  FIG. 10  is a Microchip PIC16F877. 
         [0058]      FIG. 11  shows another embodiment where an AC power circuit  141  is connected to the home Intranet via an Ethernet cable  114 . In this embodiment, the microcontroller  30  is an Atmel 90S815 and has memory  300  that is external to the microcontroller  30  for storing a web page. In addition, the microcontroller  30  controls loads  304  via a driver  302 . Sensors  71  are connected in this embodiment. The network interface  34  uses a Realtek Ethernet Controller  310  and interfaces to the home Intranet cable using 10baseT Interface  312 . 
         [0059]      FIG. 12  shows another embodiment where the AC power circuit  142  is connected to the Intranet via phone lines  119   a  and  119   b  via a modem module  337 . The modem module  337  is a Cermetek CH1786LC. The microcontroller  30  is a Microchip PIC16F877 and has software, which implements the TCP/IP stack. In this embodiment, the microcontroller  30  is programmed to control the relay  56  to supply power to an electrical load attached to line  118   c . A web client or device attached to the Intranet/Internet can control the relay  56  via the Intranet/Internet. 
         [0060]      FIG. 13  shows another embodiment where an AC power circuit  143  is connected to the home Intranet via a wireless connection  400 . A single-chip Bluetooth™ transceiver  339  is the network interface connection to the home Intranet The transceiver  339  in this embodiment is a Broadcom BCM2033 and provides short-range communication with PCs, laptops, PDAs, peripheral devices, and embedded devices. 
         [0061]      FIG. 14  shows another embodiment where an AC power circuit  144  is connected to the home Intranet via a wireless connection  510 . The wireless chipset  500  and  502  uses a Marvell 88W8200 baseband controller and Marvell 88W8000 transceiver to form an IEEE 802.11 wireless connection. 
         [0062]      FIG. 15  shows another embodiment where an AC power circuit  145  is connected to the home Intranet via a wired Ethernet connection  616 .  FIG. 15  is a schematic of the circuitry that implements this embodiment The AC power lines  118   a  and  118   b  provide electrical power to the circuit A capacitor C 1  drops the high voltage AC to low voltage AC. Diodes D 1 -D 4  convert the AC power to DC power. A capacitor C 2  acts as a filter capacitor, and a diode D 5  limits the DC supply. The microcontroller  30  interfaces with an EEPROM  614  and an Ethernet Controller IC  612 . As show in  FIG. 15 , the microcontroller  30  in this schematic is a Microchip PIC16F877 and the Ethernet controller  612  is a Realtek RTL8019. The microcontroller  30  is programmed to act as a web server with the web page stored in the EEPROM  614 . The microcontroller  30  communicates to the borne Intranet and the Internet through the wired Ethernet connection  616 . A coil  610  isolates the home wired Intranet from the Ethernet controller  612 . In this embodiment, the AC power circuit  145  acts a web server. 
         [0063]      FIG. 16  shows another embodiment where an AC power circuit  146  is connected to the home Intranet via wired phone line connections  119   a  and  119   b .  FIG. 16  is a schematic of the circuitry that implements this embodiment In this embodiment, the AC power circuit  146  controls an electrical load such as a light  62 . This is a single wire connection to the electrical load  62 . In this embodiment, a power network, which is made up of capacitor C 1 , resistor R 1 , diodes D 1 -D 4 , capacitor C 2 , and zener diode D 5 , supplies low voltage power to the microcontroller  30  and a modem module  675 . The power network steals a portion of the AC power for powering the circuitry. A triac  656  controls the power to the electrical load  62  when activated by the microcontroller  30  via a triac driver  655 . 
         [0064]      FIGS. 17A and 17B  show two alternative installations of an AC power circuit with a electrical switch and both installations use a wireless connection  710  to the home Intranet and are installed in an electrical box  48 . In  FIG. 17A , the switch is integrated with the AC power circuit and forms a standalone switch module  700 . In  FIG. 17B , a switch  720  is not integrated in an AC power circuit  722 .  FIG. 17A  shows the installation of the switch module  700  into the electrical box.  FIG. 17B  shows the installation of the standard electrical switch  720  and the AC power circuit  722  into the electrical box  48 . In both cases the AC electrical power supply is provided by lines  118   a  and  118   c.    
         [0065]      FIGS. 18  A and  18 B show two alternative installations of an AC power circuit with an electrical switch and both installations use a wired connector  730  to home Intranet and are installed in the electrical box  48 . In  FIG. 18A , the switch is integrated with the AC power circuit and forms a standalone switch module  702 . In  FIG. 18B , a switch  720  is not integrated in an AC power circuit  725 .  FIG. 18A  shows the installation of the switch module  702  into the electrical box  48  and how the switch module  702  attaches to the home Intranet via connector socket  706 . The connector socket  706  slides over the electrical box  48 . A home Intranet cable  730  connects to the socket  706 .  FIG. 18B  shows the installation of the standard electrical switch  720  and the AC power circuit  725  into the electrical box  48 . The home Intranet cable  730  connects to AC power circuit  725  via the socket  732 . In both situations, the AC electrical power supply is provided by lines  118   a  and  118   c.    
         [0066]      FIGS. 19A and 19B  show two alternatives installations of an AC power circuit with an electrical receptacle into an electrical box  48 . Both installations use wired connections  758  to the home Intranet In  FIG. 19A , the receptacle is integrated with the AC power circuit and forms a standalone receptacle module  750 . The connector socket  756  slides over the electrical box  48 . The home Intranet cable connects to the socket  756  with a connector  758 .  FIG. 19B  shows a receptacle  760  is not integrated in an AC power circuit  764 .  FIG. 19B  shows the installation of the standard electrical receptacle  760  and the AC power circuit  764  into the electrical box. The connector  758  connects to the AC power circuit  764  via the socket  765 . In both schemes, the AC electrical power is provided by lines  118   a  and  118   b.    
         [0067]      FIGS. 20A and 20B  show two alternatives installations of an AC power circuit with an electrical receptacle into an electrical box  48  and both installations use wireless connections to the home Intranet In  FIG. 20A , the receptacle is integrated with the AC power circuit and forms a standalone receptacle module  770 . The wireless Intranet connection is through an antenna  774 .  FIG. 20B  shows a receptacle  760  is not integrated in an AC power circuit  762 .  FIG. 20B  shows the installation of the standard electrical receptacle  760  and the AC power circuit  762  into the electrical box  48 . The wireless Intranet connection is through an antenna  768 . In both schemes, the AC electrical power is provided by lines  118   a  and  118   b.    
         [0068]      FIG. 21  shows the installation of an AC power circuit  800  into an electrical box  48 . In this configuration, the AC power circuit  800  supports a camera sensor  810  and a wireless Intranet connection via an antenna  814 . This embodiment would allow monitoring a room via the electrical box  48  installed in the home via the home Intranet web browsers or remote web browsers. One can detect an unwanted guest or monitor children after school. 
         [0069]      FIG. 22  shows the connection of many AC power circuits such as AC power circuit  750  via an electrical box  48  in a home control and Intranet network  940 . A computer  902  can browse the Internet  550  and connect to a web server  910  as is typical of today&#39;s networks, but also can control or monitor the electrical outlets and switches contain in electrical boxes. The house wiring  930  is showed connected to a central breaker box or house electrical panel  932 . A modem  920  is connected to the Internet  550  via an ISP provider. The modem  920  may be built inside the AC power circuit in some embodiments. A remote web browser  900  can also monitor and control the electrical loads in the home  950  via the Internet  550 . 
         [0070]      FIG. 23  shows the connections of many AC power circuits such u. AC power circuit  770  via an electrical box  48  in a wireless home control and Intranet network  924 . The computer  902  can browse the Internet  550  and control the home electrical loads in the home  950 . 
         [0071]      FIG. 24  shows an embodiment where the home uses the Internet protocol and is not attached to the World Wide Internet. In this embodiment, the home wireless Intranet  958  communicates to the different electrical boxes and personal computer  902 .  FIG. 24  also shows an electrical box  48  that contains the AC power circuit  770 .