Patent Publication Number: US-2022229480-A1

Title: Operational Coordination of Load Control Devices For Control of Electrical Loads

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/030,310 filed Jul. 9, 2018; which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/793,870 filed Mar. 11, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,019,047 issued Oct. 2, 2018; all of which claim the benefit of commonly assigned U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/745,378, filed on Dec. 21, 2012, and titled “Operational Coordination of Load Control Devices,” the entire contents of which being hereby incorporated by reference herein, for all purposes. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     A load control device may control the amount of power delivered to an electrical load. Load control devices include, for example, lighting control devices (such as wall-mounted dimmer switches and plug-in lamp dimmers), motor control devices (for motor loads), temperature control devices, motorized window treatments, and remote controls.  FIG. 1A  is an exemplary environment  10  that may utilize a number of load control devices. In  FIG. 1A , the illustrated load control devices may control lighting loads  12 , smart thermostats  14 , and/or motorized window treatments  16  in a typical (household) environment. Typically, a load control device, such as a dimmer switch, may be coupled in a series electrical connection between an alternating-current (AC) power source and the electrical load, such as one of the lighting loads  12 , to control the power delivered from the AC power source to the electrical load. 
     Some load control devices are operable to transmit and receive wireless signals, such as radio-frequency (RF) or infrared (IR) signals, to thus provide for wireless control of the corresponding loads. One example of an RF lighting control system is disclosed in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,905,442, issued May 18, 1999, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING AND DETERMINING THE STATUS OF ELECTRICAL DEVICES FROM REMOTE LOCATIONS, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
     Wi-Fi technology (e.g., the 802.11 family of wireless technologies) is an example technology that may be used with RF wireless communication systems, such as load control systems for controlling load control devices and electrical loads. Examples of Wi-Fi-enabled load control devices include those described in commonly-assigned U.S. application Ser. No. 13/538,555, filed Jun. 29, 2012, titled LOAD CONTROL DEVICE HAVING INTERNET CONNECTIVITY, the contents of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, for all purposes. 
     Wi-Fi technology may be used in a contention-based shared network in which the wireless resources are shared among the users—each vying for the opportunity to transmit and receive information on a common channel. This competition can cause variation in communication latency, where certain transmissions are made with relatively low latency and other transmissions may have to wait much longer before the channel is available for transmission. This variation in latency is particularly problematic when communicating commands to load control devices. 
     To illustrate, as shown in  FIGS. 1B and 1C , a room in a house may have four different lighting loads, e.g., a floor lamp  20 , a table lamp  22 , a sconce  24 , and recessed ceiling lights  26 . Each lighting load may be controlled by a different load control device. When wireless commands are sent to each device with varying latency, each device may execute those commands at different times. And, rather than all of the lights pleasantly coming on or off together, as shown in  FIG. 1B , there is an unpleasant randomness to the lights coming on or off at different times, as shown in  FIG. 1C . Here, the recessed ceiling lights  26  are the first to respond, then the sconce  24  and table lamp  22 , followed by the floor lamp  20 . This unfortunate problem may be known as the “pop-corn” effect, and it is an undesirable aesthetic for the operation of the system. 
     Wi-Fi-enabled devices may communicate using a carrier-service multiple access (CSMA) communication protocol. CSMA protocols often experience multi-path issues, propagation delays, and the burdens of a shared protocol (e.g., having to accommodate IP packets for a large number of devices, including transient devices, that introduce IP packets at various and unpredictable times). For example, devices that may use CSMA protocols verify the absence of other traffic before transmitting on the shared transmission medium. Because of such issues that may be encountered with Wi-Fi technology, among other reasons, when a user commands a dimming action of the floor lamp  20 , the table lamp  22 , the sconce  24 , and the ceiling lights  26  (e.g. via Wi-Fi transmitted commands to respective dimmer switches that may control those lighting loads)—the user may observe the popcorn effect. For example, a dimmer switch for the floor lamp  20  may turn on the floor lamp  20  one or more seconds before a dimmer switch for the floor lamp  22  may turn on the floor lamp  22 —which may occur one or more seconds before a dimmer switch for the sconce  24  may turn on the sconce  24 . 
     The wireless system would have an increased benefit from the ability to leverage wireless networks with varying latency (such as contention-based shared wireless technologies, like Wi-Fi technology for example) if the pop-corn effect could be mitigated and/or eliminated. 
     SUMMARY 
     A device configured to control an electrical load may comprise a controller and a first wireless communication circuit that may be operable to communicate on a first wireless communication network via a first protocol. The first communication circuit may be in communication with the controller. The controller may receive a first signal via the first wireless communication circuit and via the first protocol. The first signal may include a power control command that may include a power control adjustment for the device and a synchronization condition. The synchronization condition may be such that the power adjustment of the device maybe coordinated with other devices configured to control electrical loads, or the like. The controller may also determine that a synchronization condition status is either satisfied or unsatisfied. And the controller may implement the power control adjustment upon determining that the synchronization condition status is satisfied. 
     One or more techniques for controlling power delivered from an AC power source to one or more electrical loads are contemplated. Techniques may include identifying a first command to adjust more than one electrical load and determining a respective network address of one or more load control devices capable of respectively adjusting the more than one electrical load according to the command. Techniques may also include determining a synchronization condition for the one or more load control devices. The synchronization condition coordinating the respective one or more load control devices may be such that each of the respective adjustments of the more than one electrical load may be made within a predetermined period of time. Techniques may also include transmitting a second command via the respective network addresses to each of the one or more load control devices, where the second command may cause the respective one or more load control devices to implement the respective load control adjustments upon the synchronization condition being satisfied. 
     An apparatus that may be in communication with a plurality of load control devices is contemplated. Each of the plurality of load control devices may respectively control the power delivered to a plurality of electrical loads. The apparatus may comprise a controller and a first wireless communication interface (e.g. circuit) that may be operable to communicate on a first wireless communication network via a first protocol. The first communication interface may be in communication with the controller. The apparatus may also comprise a second communication interface that may be operable to communicate on a second communication network via a second protocol. The second communication interface may be in communication with the controller. The controller may be operable to receive a first signal via the first wireless communication interface and via the first protocol and the first signal may include a power control command. The power control command may include a respective power control adjustment for one or more of the plurality of load control devices. The controller may also be operable to identify the respective one or more of the plurality of load control devices for which the power control command includes the respective power control adjustment. The controller may also be operable to transmit a respective second signal to the identified one or more of the plurality of load control devices via the second communication interface and via the second protocol. Each respective second signal may include the respective power control adjustment for the respective one or more of the plurality of load control devices. 
     A load control device that may comprise a controller is contemplated. The controller may be configured, at least in part, to receive a first command to perform an adjustment of a connected electrical load. The controller may also be configured to receive a second command to perform an adjustment of the connected electrical load. The second command may be at least one of a same adjustment of the connected electrical load as the first command, or a different adjustment of the connected electrical load as the first command. The controller may be configured to implement the first command and to determine a difference in time between the receipt of the second command and the implementation of the first command. The controller may also be configured to disregard the second command upon at least one of the second command being received before the implementation of first command, or the receipt of the second command being before the expiration of a predetermined period of time following the implementation of the first command. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1A  is an exemplary environment that may utilize a number of load control devices. 
         FIGS. 1B and 1C  are exemplary environments illustrating the popcorn effect in home automation loads. 
         FIG. 2  is a simple diagram of a radio-frequency (RF) lighting control system comprising a dimmer switch and a wireless control device, such as a smart phone. 
         FIG. 3A  is a diagram of a first example network in which one or more contemplated techniques and/or devices may be employed. 
         FIG. 3B  is a diagram of a second example network in which one or more contemplated techniques and/or devices may be employed. 
         FIG. 3C  is a diagram of a third example network in which one or more contemplated techniques and/or devices may be employed. 
         FIG. 3D  is a diagram of a fourth example network in which one or more contemplated techniques and/or devices may be employed. 
         FIG. 4A  is a first simplified example block diagram of the dimmer switch of the RF lighting control system of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 4B  is a second simplified example block diagram of the dimmer switch of the RF lighting control system of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 4C  is a third simplified example block diagram of the dimmer switch of the RF lighting control system of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 4D  is a fourth simplified example block diagram of the dimmer switch of the RF lighting control system of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 5  is an example timing scheme for one or more load control device coordination techniques. 
         FIG. 6  is a flow chart of an example technique to provide operational coordination to a load control device. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 2  is a simple diagram of a radio-frequency (RF) lighting control system  100  that includes a dimmer switch  110  and a wireless control device  120 . The wireless control device  120  may be any device capable of performing wireless communications, such as, a smart phone (e.g., an iPhone® smart phone, an Android® smart phone, or a Blackberry® smart phone), a personal computer, a laptop, a wireless-capable media device (e.g., an MP3 player, a gaming device, or a television), or a tablet device, (e.g., an iPad® hand-held computing device), a Wi-Fi or wireless-communication-capable television, or any other suitable Internet-Protocol-enabled device. 
     The wireless control device  120  may be operable to transmit digital messages to the dimmer switch  110  in one or more Internet Protocol (IP) packets. The Internet Protocol layer is responsible for addressing hosts and routing datagrams (i.e., packets) from a source host to a destination host across one or more IP networks. For this purpose, the Internet Protocol layer defines an addressing system that has two functions: identifying hosts and providing a logical location service. This is accomplished by defining standard datagrams and a standard addressing system. 
     Each datagram has two components: a header and a payload. The IP header includes the source IP address, destination IP address, and other meta-data needed to route and deliver the datagram. The payload is the data that is transported. 
     The wireless control device  120  may transmit the digital messages (e.g., the IP packets) via RF signals  106  either directly or via a wireless network that includes a standard wireless router  130 . For example, the wireless control device  120  may transmit the RF signals  106  directly to the dimmer switch  110  via a point-to-point communication link, e.g., a Wi-Fi communication link, such as an 802.11 wireless local area network (LAN), or other direct wireless communication link, such as a Wi-MAX communication link or a Bluetooth® communication link. This point-to-point communication may be performed using a standardized communication, e.g., Wi-Fi Direct communication, or any non-standardized communication that allows a wireless device to connect to another wireless device without the use of a wireless access point. For example, the wireless control device  120  and/or the dimmer switch  110  may download a software access point (AP) that provides a protected wireless communication between the devices. 
     The wireless control device  120  may also transmit RF signals  106  to the dimmer switch  110  via the wireless network (i.e., via the wireless router  130 ). The wireless network may enable wireless communications via one or more wireless communications links, e.g., a Wi-Fi communications link, a Wi-MAX communications link, a Bluetooth® communications link, a cellular communications link, a television white space (TVWS) communication link, or any combination thereof. For example, the wireless control device  120  may communicate with a network server via a first wireless communications link (e.g., a cellular communications link), while the dimmer switch  110  communicates with the network server via a second communications link (e.g., a Wi-Fi communications link). Alternatively or additionally, the wireless control device  120  and the dimmer switch  110  may communicate with the network via the same type of communication link. The lighting control system  100  may also include a femtocell, a Home Node B, and/or other network entity for facilitating the configuration and operation of the lighting control system and for allowing wireless communications and connection to the Internet. 
     The dimmer switch  110  may be coupled in series electrical connection between an AC power source  102  and a lighting load  104  for controlling the amount of power delivered to the lighting load. The dimmer switch  110  may be wall-mounted in a standard electrical wallbox, or alternatively implemented as a table-top load control device. The dimmer switch  110  comprises a faceplate  112  and a bezel  113  received in an opening of the faceplate. The dimmer switch  110  further comprises a toggle actuator  114  and an intensity adjustment actuator  116 . Actuations of the toggle actuator  114  toggle, e.g., alternatingly turn off and on, the lighting load  104 . Actuations of an upper portion  116 A or a lower portion  116 B of the intensity adjustment actuator  116  may respectively increase or decrease the amount of power delivered to the lighting load  104  and thus increase or decrease the intensity of the lighting load  104  from a minimum (i.e., low-end) intensity (e.g., approximately 1-10%) to a maximum (i.e., high-end) intensity (e.g., approximately 100%). A plurality of visual indicators  118 , e.g., light-emitting diodes (LEDs), may be arranged in a linear array on the left side of the bezel  113 . The visual indicators  118  are illuminated to provide visual feedback of the intensity of the lighting load  104 . An example of a dimmer switch having a toggle actuator and an intensity adjustment actuator is described in greater detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,248,919 (“the 919 patent”), issued Sep. 28, 1993, entitled LIGHTING CONTROL DEVICE, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. Alternatively, the dimmer switch  110  could be replaced by an electronic switch for simply turning the lighting load  104  on and off. The electronic switch may include a single visual indicator, e.g., the middle indicator of the visual indicators  118  of the dimmer switch  110 . 
     The dimmer switch  110  may include an optical receiver  119 . The optical receiver  119  may be used to receive optical signals from the wireless control device  120 . Optical signals may be free-space optical communications or communications via physical connections. For example, free space optical communications may include communications via air, while physical optical communications may include communications via optical fiber cable or an optical transmission pipe. The optical signals may also be included in visible light, e.g., a flashing light, or non-visible light, e.g., infrared, spectrums. 
     The optical signals may provide instructions for programming and/or adjusting the operating parameters (e.g., the low-end intensity and the high-end intensity) of the dimmer switch  110 . For example, the optical signals may be used to configure the dimmer switch such that the dimmer switch  110  is operable to receive the RF signals  106  from the wireless control device  120  as will be described in greater detail below. The optical signals may also be used to control or program the lighting configurations of the dimmer switch  110 . And, though what is described herein may be described with respect to using optical signals or other signals to program or control a dimmer switch from a wireless control device, such signals may be used to program or control any device that is capable of receiving instructions via such optical or other signals, such as shades, thermostats, plug-in devices, or the like. Examples of methods of communicating optical signals between the dimmer switch  110  and the wireless control device  120  are described in greater detail in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/538,665, filed on Jun. 29, 2012, titled METHOD OF OPTICALLY TRANSMITTING DIGITAL INFORMATION FROM A SMART PHONE TO A CONTROL DEVICE, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
     Wireless load control devices are described in greater detail in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,838,226, issued Nov. 17, 1998, entitled COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL FOR TRANSMISSION SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING AND DETERMINING THE STATUS OF ELECTRICAL DEVICES FROM REMOTE LOCATIONS; U.S. Pat. No. 6,803,728, issued Oct. 12, 2004, entitled SYSTEM FOR CONTROL OF DEVICES; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/033,223, filed Feb. 19, 2008, entitled COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL FOR A RADIO-FREQUENCY LOAD CONTROL SYSTEM; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/234,573, filed Sep. 16, 2011, entitled DYNAMIC KEYPAD FOR CONTROLLING ENERGY-SAVINGS SETTINGS OF A LOAD CONTROL SYSTEM; the entire disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
     The wireless control device  120  has a visual display  122 , which may comprise a touch screen having, for example, a capacitive touch pad displaced overtop the visual display, such that the visual display may display soft buttons that may be actuated by a user. Alternatively, the wireless control device  120  may comprise a plurality of hard buttons (e.g., physical buttons) in addition to the visual display  122 . The wireless control device  120  may download a product control application for allowing the user to control the lighting load  104 . In response to actuations of the displayed soft buttons or hard buttons, the wireless control device  120  transmits digital messages to the dimmer switch  110  directly or through other wireless communications described herein. For example, the digital messages may be transmitted via Wi-Fi communication using the wireless router  130 . The dimmer switch  110  may adjust the intensity of the lighting load  104  in response to commands included in the digital messages, such that the dimmer switch controls the lighting load in response to actuations of the soft buttons or hard buttons of the wireless control device  120 . 
     In addition, the wireless control device  120  may be controlled to transmit optical signals, near field communication (NFC) signals, or RF signals according to a proprietary RF communication protocol (such as, for example, the Clear Connect™ protocol) as described herein. For example, the visual display  122  may be controlled to transmit optical signals to the optical receiver  119  of the dimmer switch  110  (as will be described in greater detail below). 
     The dimmer switch  110  and the wireless control device  120  may both be assigned a unique address for wireless communications via the wireless network (i.e., via the wireless router  130 ) as described herein. For example, where wireless communications are performed using a Wi-Fi communication link, a Media Access Control (MAC) address may be assigned (e.g., during manufacture). The wireless control device  120  may connect to the wireless LAN via the wireless router  130  using standard procedures. The wireless control device  120  is assigned an Internet Protocol (IP) address upon connecting to the wireless LAN. The wireless control device  120  may store the service set identifier (SSID) and the SSID password of the wireless LAN. After obtaining the IP address, the wireless control device  120  is able to assign an IP address (e.g., different from the IP address of the wireless control device  120 ) to the dimmer switch  110 . Alternatively, the dimmer switch  110  may be operable to obtain the IP address from the wireless router  130  using, for example, procedures defined by the Wi-Fi Protected Setup standard. 
     The dimmer switch  110  may be associated with (e.g., assigned to) the wireless control device  120 , such that the wireless control device may transmit commands for controlling the intensity of the lighting load  104  or programming the dimmer switch  110 . Such commands may be transmitted to the dimmer switch  110  via the RF signals  106 . Digital messages transmitted to and from the dimmer switch  110  may include, for example, the MAC address and the IP address of the dimmer switch  110 . The dimmer switch  110  is operable to turn the lighting load  104  on and off. The dimmer switch  110  is also operable to adjust the intensity of the lighting load in response to received digital messages, including the MAC address and the IP address of the dimmer switch, for example. In addition, the wireless router  130  may be operable to receive commands for controlling the lighting load  104  from the Internet, and may wirelessly transmit corresponding digital messages to the dimmer switch  110 . 
     The dimmer switch  110  may be assigned an IP address, an SSID, an SSID password, and/or a software access point (AP) at manufacture, such that the dimmer switch  110  may act as an AP for other communication devices in a LAN. The wireless control device  120  may recognize the dimmer switch  110  as an AP and may connect to the LAN via the dimmer switch  110 . For example, the dimmer switch  110  may connect to router  130  or may perform the functions of the router  130  itself. 
     The dimmer switch  110  may also connect to the wireless LAN to discover other dimmer switches (not shown). The dimmer switch  110  may discover the other dimmer switches using any discovery protocol, sucgh as Bonjour, Simple Service Discovery Protocol (SSDP), Bluetooth® Service Discovery Protocol (SDP), DNS service discovery (DNS-SD), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS), Jini for Java objects, Service Location Protocol (SLP), Session Announcement Protocol (SAP) for RTP sessions, Simple Service Discovery Protocol (SSDP) for Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), Universal Description Discovery and Integration (UDDI) for web services, Web Proxy Autodiscovery protocol (WPAD), Web Services Dynamic Discovery (WS-Discovery), XMPP Service Discovery (XEP-0030), and/or XRDS for XRI, OpenID, OAuth, etc. Upon the dimmer switch  110  discovering one or more other dimmer switches, the dimmer switch may create a peer-to-peer network of dimmer switches capable of communicating with one another. For example, the dimmer switches may communicate programming and/or control instructions received from the wireless control device  120 . 
     The wireless control device  120  may control the lighting load  104  by communicating instructions to the dimmer switch  110  via the RF signals  106  that cause the dimmer switch  110  to execute control instructions that have been pre-programmed on the dimmer switch  110 . For example, the dimmer switch  110  may be pre-programmed at manufacture or via an update to execute the control instructions. The control instructions may include pre-configured settings (e.g., protected or locked lighting presets), instructions for raising/lowering lighting level, instructions for fading, instructions for scheduling, instructions for turning lights on/off, or any other pre-programmed instruction, for example. 
     The wireless control device  120  may also program the settings (i.e., the operating parameters) of the dimmer switch  110  (e.g., when the dimmer switch is in a programming mode). For example, the dimmer switch  110  may be a dimmer switch that may have a limited user interface (UI) or may not have any user interface. As such, the user interface of the wireless control device  120  may be used to program the dimmer switch  110 . For example, various wireless communication links described herein, e.g., Wi-Fi signals, optical signals, near field communication (NFC) signals, or proprietary-protocol RF signals, may be used to program any of a number of programmable features provided by the dimmer switch  110 . Such features may be selected via the wireless control device  120 . For example, the wireless control device  120  may program the dimmer switch  110  with such features as protected or locked presets, high-end trim, low-end trim, adjustable delay, fade time, load type, performing communications via wireless communication modes (e.g., as described herein), or being compatible with different lamps. In addition, the wireless control device  120  may be operable to program the dimmer switch  110  to change between modes of operation, for example, between a switching mode, a dimming mode, and/or an electronic timer mode (i.e., a countdown timer mode). The programming signal may be a one-way or two-way serial communication with the dimmer switch  110 . Examples of methods of programming the dimmer switch  110  using the wireless control device  120  are described in greater detail in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/538,615, filed Jun. 29, 2012, titled METHOD OF PROGRAMMING A LOAD CONTROL DEVICE USING A SMART PHONE, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
       FIG. 3A  is a diagram of an exemplary network environment  300 A. In  FIG. 3A , the router  130  may communicate with one or more servers  304 ,  306  via the Internet  308 , perhaps as accessed through the “cloud.” For example, router  130  may establish at least one Internet Protocol (IP) connection with either server  304  and/or  306 . The at least one IP connection between the router  130  and either server  304  and/or  306  may be made via a router&#39;s  130  public IP address (and the respective public IP addresses of server  304  and/or server  306 ). Any number of devices in  FIG. 3A , such as, for example, the router  130 , laptop  314 , dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C, among other devices, may be connected to the AC power supply  102 , perhaps via a hardwired connection or via electrical outlets  316  and  316 A, for example. Dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C may operate lighting load  104 A lighting load  104 B, and/or lighting load  104 C, respectively, as described previously herein. 
     The router  130  may establish a non-public (or private) IP address for the router  130  and may establish an IP connection and corresponding respective private IP addresses with the dimmer switch  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C, and the laptops  312  and/or  314 . The router  130  may coordinate one or more of the respective private IP addresses with one or more IP connections (e.g., multimedia or data streams) that are received via the router&#39;s  130  public IP address (e.g., from the server  304  and/or  306 ). The router  130  may coordinate one or more of the respective public IP addresses (e.g., of the server  304  and/or server  306 ) with one or more IP connections (e.g., multimedia or data) that are sent to the router&#39;s  130  private IP address (e.g., from the laptop  312  and/or laptop  314 ). The router  130  may perform such coordination via a Network Address Table (NAT) (not shown), or the like, for example. 
     The wireless control device  120  (among other devices with private IP addresses) may be operable to transmit and receive RF signals  106  including Internet Protocol packets directly to and from the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C, or to and from the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C via the wireless router  130 . The router  130  may be operable to transmit one or more digital messages via RF signals  106  that may correspond to the RF signals  106  received from the wireless control device  120 . For example, the wireless control device  120 , the router  130 , the laptop  312 , and/or the laptop  314  may transmit and receive the RF signals  106  directly with the dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C via a point-to-point communication, such as a Wi-Fi communication link, e.g., an 802.11 wireless local area network (LAN), or other direct wireless communication link, e.g., a Wi-MAX communication link or a Bluetooth® communication link. 
       FIG. 4A  is a simplified block diagram of a first example of a dimmer switch  400 A (e.g., one of the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B,  110 B shown in  FIG. 3A ). The example dimmer switch  400 A comprises a controllably conductive device  410  coupled in series electrical connection between an AC power source  402  and a lighting load  404  for control of the power delivered to the lighting load. The controllably conductive device  410  may comprise a relay or other switching device, or any suitable type of bidirectional semiconductor switch, such as, for example, a triac, a field-effect transistor (FET) in a rectifier bridge, or two FETs in anti-series connection. The controllably conductive device  410  includes a control input coupled to a drive circuit  412 . 
     The dimmer switch  400 A further comprises a control circuit, e.g., a controller  414 , coupled to the drive circuit  412  for rendering the controllably conductive device  410  conductive or non-conductive to thus control the power delivered to the lighting load  404 . The controller  414  may comprise a microcontroller, a programmable logic device (PLD), a microprocessor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or any suitable processing device or control circuit. A zero-crossing detector  415  determines the zero-crossings of the input AC waveform from the AC power supply  402 . A zero-crossing may be the time at which the AC supply voltage transitions from positive to negative polarity, or from negative to positive polarity, at the beginning of each half-cycle. The controller  414  receives the zero-crossing information from the zero-crossing detector  415  and provides the control inputs to the drive circuit  412  to render the controllably conductive device  410  conductive and non-conductive at predetermined times relative to the zero-crossing points of the AC waveform. 
     The controller  414  receives inputs from mechanical switches  416  that are mounted on a printed circuit board (not shown) of the dimmer switch  400 A, and are arranged to be actuated by actuators (e.g., the toggle actuator  114  and the intensity adjustment actuator  116 ). The controller  414  also controls light-emitting diodes  418 , which are also mounted on the printed circuit board. For example, the light emitting diodes  418  may be arranged to illuminate the visual indicators (e.g., visual indicators  118 ) on the front surface of the dimmer switch  400 A, for example, through a light pipe structure (not shown). The controller  414  is also coupled to a memory  420  for storage of unique identifiers (e.g., the MAC address and the IP address) of the dimmer switch  400 A, the SSID and the SSID password of the wireless LAN, instructions for controlling the lighting load  404 , programming instructions for communicating via a wireless communication link, or the like. The memory  420  may be implemented as an external integrated circuit (IC) or as an internal circuit of the controller  414 . A power supply  422  generates a direct-current (DC) voltage V CC  for powering the controller  414 , the memory  420 , and other low-voltage circuitry of the dimmer switch  400 A. 
     The dimmer switch  400 A further includes a wireless communication module  430  for transmitting and receiving RF signals to and from a wireless device (e.g., the wireless control device  120  and/or the wireless router  130 ). For example, the wireless communication module  430  may be configured to communicate via a Wi-Fi communication link, a Wi-MAX communication link, a Clear Connect™ communication link, and/or a Bluetooth® communication link. When the wireless communication module  430  comprises a Wi-Fi module, the controller  414  is operable to control the lighting load  404  in response to received digital messages in Wi-Fi packets (i.e., Internet Protocol packets received via the Wi-Fi signals). The wireless communication module  430  may comprise one or more RF transceivers and one or more antennas. Examples of antennas for wall-mounted dimmer switches are described in greater detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,736,965, issued Apr. 7, 1998, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,362,285, issued Apr. 22, 2008, both entitled COMPACT RADIO FREQUENCY TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING ANTENNA AND CONTROL DEVICE EMPLOYING SAME, the entire disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
     The dimmer switch  400 A further comprises an optical module  440 , such as an optical signal receiving circuit for example. The optical module  440  may be optically coupled to an optical receiver (e.g., the optical receiver  119 ). The optical module  440  may be coupled to the optical receiver  119  on the front surface of the dimmer switch  400 A, for example, through a light pipe (not shown), such that the optical module  440  may receive the optical signals from the wireless control device  120  via the light pipe. For example, the optical module  440  may comprise a photodiode (not shown) that is responsive to the optical signals transmitted by a wireless device (e.g., the wireless control device  120 ). In addition, the photodiode of the optical module  440  may be controlled by the controller  414 , so as to transmit optical signals to the wireless control device  120  (as will be described in greater detail below), for example. 
     The controller  414  may control the controllably conductive device  410  in response to the digital messages received via the optical signals and/or the RF signals. For example, the controller  414  may determine the module from which the signals are received, e.g., from the wireless communication module  430  and/or  432  or the optical module  440 , and the controllably conductive device  410  may be controlled based on those signals. The controller  414  may also transmit digital messages to a wireless device (e.g., the wireless control device  120 ) via optical signals or the RF signals. For example, the controller  414  of the dimmer switch  400 A may be used to transmit digital messages to the wireless control device  120  via wireless communication. The digital messages may include alerts and/or feedback and status information regarding the lighting load  404 . The digital messages may also include error messages or indications as to whether the dimmer switch  400 A is able to communicate via a wireless communication link or RF signal, for example. 
       FIG. 3B  is a diagram of an exemplary network environment  300 B. In  FIG. 3B , the router  130  may communicate with one or more servers  304 ,  306  via the Internet  308 , perhaps as accessed through the “cloud.” For example, router  130  may establish at least one Internet Protocol (IP) connection with either server  304  and/or  306 . The at least one IP connection between the router  130  and either server  304  and/or  306  may be made via a router&#39;s  130  public IP address (and the respective public IP addresses of server  304  and/or server  306 ). A gateway device  310  may communicate with the router  130  via a wired or wireless connection. Any number of devices in  FIG. 3B , such as, for example, the router  130 , the gateway device  310 , laptop  314 , dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C, among other devices, may be connected to the AC power supply  102 , perhaps via a hardwired connection or via electrical outlets  316  and  316 A, for example. Dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C may operate lighting load  104 A lighting load  104 B, and/or lighting load  104 C as described previously herein. 
     The router  130  may establish a non-public (or private) IP address for the router  130  and may establish an IP connection and corresponding respective private IP addresses with the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C, the gateway device  310 , and the laptops  312  and/or  314 . The router  130  may coordinate one or more of the respective private IP addresses with one or more IP connections (e.g., multimedia or data streams) that are received via the router&#39;s  130  public IP address (e.g., from the server  304  and/or  306 ). The router  130  may coordinate one or more of the respective public IP addresses (e.g., of the server  304  and/or server  306 ) with one or more IP connections (e.g., multimedia or data) that are sent to the router&#39;s  130  private IP address (e.g., from the gateway device  310 , laptop  312 , and/or laptop  314 ). The router  130  may perform such coordination via a Network Address Table (NAT) (not shown), or the like, for example. 
     The wireless control device  120  may be operable to transmit and receive RF signals  106  including Internet Protocol packets directly to and from the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C, or to and from the dimmer switches  110 A,  110   b , and/or  110 C via the wireless router  130  (and perhaps also via the gateway device  310 ). The router  130  (and perhaps the gateway device  310 ) may be operable to transmit one or more digital messages via RF signals  106  that may correspond to the RF signals  106  received from the wireless control device  120 . For example, the wireless control device  120 , the router  130 , the laptop  312 , and/or the laptop  314  may transmit the RF signals  106  directly to the dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C via a point-to-point communication, such as a Wi-Fi communication link, e.g., an 802.11 wireless local area network (LAN), or other direct wireless communication link, e.g., a Wi-MAX communication link or a Bluetooth® communication link. 
     The wireless control device  120 , the wireless router  130 , and the gateway device  310  may communicate with the dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C via one or more devices that have a private IP address and are connected to the AC powers source  102  via an Ethernet IP based protocol (e.g., TCP/IP and/or “HomePlug” protocols) that may be carried via the conductors that deliver electrical energy from the AC power source  102  to the various devices (e.g., router  130 , gateway device  310 , laptop  312 , laptop  314 , dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C). The gateway device  310  and the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C may also transmit, receive, and/or interpret energy pulses that may be used to convey signals and/or information via the conductors may deliver electrical energy from the AC power source  102  to the gateway device  310  and the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C. 
       FIG. 4B  is a simplified block diagram of a second example of a dimmer switch  440 B (e.g., one of the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B,  110 C of  FIG. 3B ). The example dimmer switch  400 B comprises a controllably conductive device  410 , a drive circuit  412 , a controller  414 , a zero-crossing detector  415 , mechanical switches  416 , light-emitting diodes  418 , a memory  420 , a power supply  422 , and an optical module  440 . The elements within these devices, the functions of these devices, and/or interactions of and among these devices may be the same or similar as described with respect to  FIG. 4A . 
     The dimmer switch  400 B further includes a wireless communication module  430  for transmitting and receiving RF signals (e.g., the RF signals  106 ) to and from a wireless device (e.g., the wireless control device  120 , the gateway device  310 , and/or the wireless router  130 ). For example, the wireless communication module  430  may be configured to communicate via a Wi-Fi communication link, a Wi-MAX communication link, a Clear Connect™ communication link, and/or a Bluetooth® communication link. The wireless communication module  430  may also include one or more other radio protocol modules (e.g. radios) that may be operable to communicate via a number of other protocols including Wi-Fi and/or a proprietary RF protocol such as the Clear Connect™ protocol. 
     The dimmer switch  400 B may further include a power line interface module  434  for transmitting and receiving signals carried on the conductors connected to the AC power source  402  via an Ethernet IP based protocol (e.g. TCP/IP, and/or a power line communication protocol such as the “HomePlug” protocol) where the conductors may deliver electrical energy from the AC power source  402  to the dimmer switch  400 B. The power line interface module  434  may also transmit, receive, and/or interpret energy pulses that may be used to convey signals and/or information via the conductors may deliver electrical energy from the AC power source  402  to the dimmer switch  400 B. 
     When the wireless communication module  430  comprises a Wi-Fi module, the controller  414  is operable to control the lighting load  404  in response to received digital messages in Wi-Fi packets (i.e., Internet Protocol packets received via the Wi-Fi signals). The wireless communication module  430  may comprise one or more RF transceivers and one or more antennas. 
     The wireless control device  120  may control the controllably conductive device  410  using the optical signals, the digital messages received via the RF signals  106  and/or digital messages received via the Ethernet IP based powerline protocol (e.g., TCP/IP and/or “HomePlug” protocols). For example, the controller  414  may determine the module from which the signals are received, e.g., from the wireless communication module  430 , the power line interface module  434 , or the optical module  440 , and the controllably conductive device  410  may be controlled based on those signals. The controller  414  may also transmit messages to the wireless control device  120  via optical signals, digital messages transmitted via the RF signals  106 , and/or digital messages transmitted via the Ethernet IP based powerline protocol. For example, the controller  414  of the dimmer switch  110  ( 400 B) may be used to transmit digital messages to the wireless control device  120  via wireless communication. The digital messages may include alerts and/or feedback and status information regarding the lighting load  404 . The digital messages may also include error messages or indications as to whether the dimmer switch  400 B is able to communicate via a wireless communication link or RF signals  106 , for example. 
       FIG. 3C  is a diagram of an exemplary network environment  300 C. In  FIG. 3C , the router  130  may communicate with one or more servers  304 ,  306  via the Internet  308 , perhaps as accessed through the “cloud.” For example, router  130  may establish at least one Internet Protocol (IP) connection with either server  304  and/or  306 . The at least one IP connection between the router  130  and either server  304  and/or  306  may be made via a router&#39;s  130  public IP address (and the respective public IP addresses of server  304  and/or server  306 ). In some configurations, a gateway device  310  may communicate with the router  130  via a wired or wireless connection. Any number of devices in  FIG. 3C , such as, for example, the router  130 , the gateway device  310 , laptop  314 , dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C, among other devices, may be connected to the AC power supply  102 , perhaps via a hardwired connection or via electrical outlets  316  and  316 A, for example. Dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C may operate lighting load  104 A lighting load  104 B, and/or lighting load  104 C as described previously herein. 
     The router  130  may establish a non-public (or private) IP address for the router  130  and may establish an IP connection and corresponding respective private IP addresses with the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C, gateway device  310 , the laptop  312 , and/or the laptop  314 . The router  130  may coordinate one or more of the respective private IP addresses with one or more IP connections (e.g., multimedia or data streams) that are received via the router&#39;s  130  public IP address (e.g., from the server  304  and/or  306 ). The router  130  may coordinate one or more of the respective public IP addresses (e.g., of the server  304  and/or server  306 ) with one or more IP connections (e.g., multimedia or data) that are sent to the router&#39;s  130  private IP address (e.g., from the gateway device  310 , laptop  312 , and/or laptop  314 ). The router  130  may perform such coordination via a Network Address Table (NAT) (not shown), or the like, for example. 
     The wireless control device  120  may be operable to transmit and receive RF signals  106  including Internet Protocol packets directly to the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C, or to dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C via the wireless router  130  (and perhaps also via the gateway device  310 ). The router  130  (and perhaps the gateway device  310 ) may be operable to transmit one or more digital messages via RF signals  106  that may correspond to the RF signals  106  received from the wireless control device  120 . In some configurations, the one or more digital messages may be transmitted according to a proprietary RF communication protocol (such as, for example, the Clear Connect™ protocol) to the dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C via RF signals  108 . The dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B and/or dimmer switch  110 C may include a wireless communication module operable to receive digital messages according to the proprietary RF communication protocol via the RF signals  108 . 
     For example, the wireless control device  120 , the router  130 , the laptop  312 , and/or the laptop  314 , (and perhaps the gateway device  310 ) may transmit the RF signals  106  directly to the dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C via a point-to-point communication, such as a Wi-Fi communication link, e.g., an 802.11 wireless local area network (LAN), or other direct wireless communication link, e.g., a Wi-MAX communication link or a Bluetooth® communication link. The wireless control device  120  may communicate with the laptop  314  via one or more devices that have a private IP address and are connected to the AC powers source  102  via an Ethernet IP based protocol (e.g., TCP/IP and/or “HomePlug” protocols) that may be carried via the conductors that deliver electrical energy from the AC power source  102  to the various devices (e.g., router  130 , the gateway device  310 , and/or laptop  314 ). 
     In  FIG. 3C , a communication dongle (not shown) could be connected to the wireless control device  120  that may allow for direct communication between the wireless control device  120  and the dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C using the proprietary RF communication protocol via RF signals  108 . For example, the communication dongle could be plugged into a headphone jack on the wireless control device  120 , or a USB port on wireless control device  120 . 
       FIG. 4C  is a simplified block diagram of a third example of a dimmer switch  400 C (e.g., one of the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B,  110 C of  FIG. 3C ). The example dimmer switch  400 C comprises a controllably conductive device  410 , a drive circuit  412 , a controller  414 , a zero-crossing detector  415 , mechanical switches  416 , light-emitting diodes  418 , a memory  420 , a power supply  422 , and an optical module  440 . The elements within these devices, the functions of these devices, and/or interactions of and among these devices may be the same or similar as described with respect to  FIG. 4A . 
     The dimmer switch  400 C further includes a wireless communication module  430  for transmitting and receiving RF signals (e.g., the RF signals  106  and/or  108 ) to and from a wireless device (e.g., the wireless control device  120 , the gateway device  310 , and/or the wireless router  130 ). For example, the wireless communication module  430  may be configured to communicate via a Wi-Fi communication link, a Wi-MAX communication link, a Clear Connect™ communication link, and/or a Bluetooth® communication link. The wireless communication module  430  may also include one or more other radio protocol modules (e.g. radios) that may be operable to communicate via a number of other protocols including Wi-Fi and/or a proprietary RF protocol such as the Clear Connect™ protocol. The dimmer switch  400 C may further include a second wireless communication module  432  that may be configured to communicate via a Wi-Fi communication link, a Wi-MAX communication link, a Clear Connect™ communication link, and/or a Bluetooth® communication link. The wireless communication module  432  may also include one or more other radio protocol modules (e.g. radios) that may be operable to communicate via a number of other protocols including the Wi-Fi protocol and/or a proprietary RF protocol such as the Clear Connect™ protocol. 
     When the wireless communication modules  430  and/or  432  comprise a Wi-Fi module, the controller  414  is operable to control the lighting load  404  in response to received digital messages in Wi-Fi packets (i.e., Internet Protocol packets received via the Wi-Fi signals). The wireless communication module  430  and/or  432  may comprise one or more RF transceivers and one or more antennas. 
     The wireless control device  120  may control the controllably conductive device  410  using the optical signals and/or the digital messages received via the RF signals  106  and/or RF signals  108 . For example, the controller  414  may determine the module from which the signals are received, e.g., from the wireless communication module  430  and/or  432  or the optical module  440 , and the controllably conductive device  410  may be controlled based on those signals. The controller  414  may also transmit messages to the wireless control device  120  via optical signals or digital messages transmitted via the RF signals  106  and/or RF signals  108 . For example, the controller  414  of the dimmer switch  400 C may be used to transmit digital messages to the wireless control device  120  via wireless communication. The digital messages may include alerts and/or feedback and status information regarding the lighting load  404 . The digital messages may also include error messages or indications as to whether the dimmer switch  400 C is able to communicate via a wireless communication link or RF signals  106  and/or RF signals  108 , for example. 
       FIG. 3D  is a diagram of an exemplary network environment  300 D. In  FIG. 3D , the router  130  may communicate with one or more servers  304 ,  306  via the Internet  308 , perhaps as accessed through the “cloud.” For example, router  130  may establish at least one Internet Protocol (IP) connection with either server  304  and/or  306 . The at least one IP connection between the router  130  and either server  304  and/or  306  may be made via a router&#39;s  130  public IP address (and the respective public IP addresses of server  304  and/or server  306 ). A gateway device  310  may communicate with the router  130  via a wired or wireless connection. Any number of devices in  FIG. 3D , such as, for example, the router  130 , the gateway device  310 , laptop  314 , dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C, among other devices, may be connected to the AC power supply  102 , perhaps via a hardwired connection or via electrical outlets  316  and  316 A, for example. Dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C may operate lighting load  104 A lighting load  104 B, and/or lighting load  104 C as described previously herein. 
     The router  130  may establish a non-public (or private) IP address for the router  130  and may establish an IP connection and corresponding respective private IP addresses with the gateway device  310 , the laptop  312 , and/or the laptop  314 . The router  130  may coordinate one or more of the respective private IP addresses with one or more IP connections (e.g., multimedia or data streams) that are received via the router&#39;s  130  public IP address (e.g., from the server  304  and/or  306 ). The router  130  may coordinate one or more of the respective public IP addresses (e.g., of the server  304  and/or server  306 ) with one or more IP connections (e.g., multimedia or data) that are sent to the router&#39;s  130  private IP address (e.g., from the gateway device  310 , laptop  312 , and/or laptop  314 ). The router  130  may perform such coordination via a Network Address Table (NAT) (not shown), or the like, for example. 
     The wireless control device  120  may be operable to transmit and receive RF signals  106  including Internet Protocol packets directly to dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C, or to dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C via the gateway device  310  (and perhaps via the wireless router  130 ). The gateway device  310  may be operable to transmit one or more digital messages that may correspond to the RF signals  106  received from the wireless control device  120  (perhaps via the router  130 ). The one or more digital messages may be transmitted according to a proprietary RF communication protocol (such as, for example, the Clear Connect™ protocol) to the dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C via RF signals  108 . The dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B and/or dimmer switch  110 C may include a wireless communication module operable to receive digital messages according to the proprietary RF communication protocol via the RF signals  108 . The gateway device  310  may communicate with the dimmer switch  110 A,  110 B and/or dimmer switch  110 C via an Ethernet based IP protocol (e.g., TCP/IP and/or “HomePlug” protocols) that may be carried via the conductors that deliver electrical energy from the AC power source  102  to the various devices such as the gateway device  310 , dimmer switch  110 A, and/or dimmer switch  110 B, among other devices illustrated in  FIG. 3D . 
     In  FIG. 3D , a communication dongle (not shown) could be connected to the wireless control device  120  that may allow for direct communication between the wireless control device  120  and the dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C using the proprietary RF communication protocol via RF signals  108 . For example, the communication dongle could be plugged into a headphone jack on the wireless control device  120 , or a USB port on  120 . 
     The router  130  may further establish IP connections and corresponding respective private IP addresses with dimmer switch  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C. In such situations, the router  130  may coordinate one or more of the respective private IP addresses of the dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C with one or more IP connections (e.g., multimedia or data streams) that are received via the router&#39;s  130  public IP address (e.g., from the server  304  and/or  306 ). The router  130  may coordinate one or more of the respective public IP addresses (e.g., of the server  304  and/or server  306 ) with one or more IP connections (e.g., multimedia or data) that are sent to the router&#39;s  130  private IP address (e.g., from the dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C). 
     When dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C may be assigned private IP addresses, the wireless control device  120  (among other devices with private IP addresses) may transmit RF signals  106  including Internet Protocol packets to the dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C. For example, the wireless control device  120 , the router  130 , the laptop  312 , and/or the laptop  314  may transmit the RF signals  106  directly to the dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C via a point-to-point communication, such as a Wi-Fi communication link, e.g., an 802.11 wireless local area network (LAN), or other direct wireless communication link, e.g., a Wi-MAX communication link or a Bluetooth® communication link. The wireless control device  120  may communicate with the dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C via one or more devices that have a private IP address and are connected to the AC powers source  102  via an Ethernet IP based protocol (e.g., TCP/IP and/or “HomePlug” protocols) that may be carried via the conductors that deliver electrical energy from the AC power source  102  to the various devices (e.g., router  130 , gateway device  310 , and/or laptop  314 ). 
       FIG. 4D  is a simplified block diagram of a fourth example of a dimmer switch  400 D (e.g., one of the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B,  110 C of  FIG. 3D ). The example dimmer switch  400 D comprises a controllably conductive device  410 , a drive circuit  412 , a controller  414 , a zero-crossing detector  415 , mechanical switches  416 , light-emitting diodes  418 , a memory  420 , a power supply  422 , and an optical module  440 . The elements within these devices, the functions of these devices, and/or interactions of and among these devices may be the same or similar as described with respect to  FIG. 4A . 
     The dimmer switch  400 D further includes a wireless communication module  430  for transmitting and receiving RF signals (e.g., the RF signals  106  and/or  108 ) to and from a wireless device (e.g., the wireless control device  120 , the gateway device  310 , and/or the wireless router  130 ). For example, the wireless communication module  430  may be configured to communicate via a Wi-Fi communication link, a Wi-MAX communication link, a Clear Connect™ communication link, and/or a Bluetooth® communication link. The wireless communication module  430  may also include one or more other radio protocol modules (e.g. radios) that may be operable to communicate via a number of other protocols including Wi-Fi and/or a proprietary RF protocol such as the Clear Connect™ protocol. The dimmer switch  400 D may further include a second wireless communication module  432  that may be configured to communicate via a Wi-Fi communication link, a Wi-MAX communication link, a Clear Connect™ communication link, and/or a Bluetooth® communication link. The wireless communication module  432  may also include one or more other radio protocol modules (e.g. radios) that may be operable to communicate via a number of other protocols including the Wi-Fi protocol and/or a reliable RF protocol such as the Clear Connect™ protocol. The dimmer switch  400 D may further include a power line interface module  434  for transmitting and receiving signals carried on the conductors connected to the AC power source  402  via an Ethernet IP based protocol (e.g., TCP/IP, and/or a power line communication protocol such as the “HomePlug” protocol) where the conductors may deliver electrical energy from the AC power source  402  to the dimmer switch  400 D. The power line interface module  434  may also transmit, receive, and/or interpret energy pulses that may be used to convey signals and/or information via the conductors may deliver electrical energy from the AC power source  402  to the dimmer switch  400 D. 
     When the wireless communication modules  430  and/or  432  comprise a Wi-Fi module, the controller  414  is operable to control the lighting load  04  in response to received digital messages in Wi-Fi packets (i.e., Internet Protocol packets received via the Wi-Fi signals). The wireless communication module  430  and/or  432  may comprise one or more RF transceivers and one or more antennas. 
     The wireless control device  120  may control the controllably conductive device  410  using the optical signals and/or the digital messages received via the RF signals  106  and/or RF signals  108 . For example, the controller  414  may determine the module from which the signals are received, e.g., from the wireless communication module  430  and/or  432  or the optical module  440 , and the controllably conductive device  410  may be controlled based on those signals. The controller  414  may also transmit messages to the wireless control device  120  via optical signals or digital messages transmitted via the RF signals  106  and/or RF signals  108 . For example, the controller  414  of the dimmer switch  110  ( 400 D) may be used to transmit digital messages to the wireless control device  120  via wireless communication. The digital messages may include alerts and/or feedback and status information regarding the lighting load  404 . The digital messages may also include error messages or indications as to whether the dimmer switch  110  ( 400 D) is able to communicate via a wireless communication link or RF signals  106  and/or RF signals  108 , for example. 
     Referring once again to  FIGS. 3A-3D ,  FIGS. 3A-3D  illustrate exemplary environments  300 A- 300 D in which one or more coordination techniques may be implemented. In  FIGS. 3A-3D , dimmer switch  110 A may be operatively connected to lighting load  104 A, dimmer switch  110 B may be operatively connected to lighting load  104 B, and dimmer switch  110 C may be operatively connected to lighting load  104 C. Laptop  312  may be in use by a user and may be in wireless communication with router  130  (e.g., for public Internet access). Router  130  may establish private IP addresses with the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B,  110 C, and/or the laptop  312 , as described previously herein. A user may use the wireless control device  120  and/or the laptop  312  to control one or more of the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C. For example, the user may wish to turn off one or more of the lighting loads  104 A,  104 B, and/or  104 C; or to turn on one or more of the lighting loads  104 A,  104 B, and/or  104 C; or to put one or more of the respective lighting loads into respectively different dimmed and/or de-energized conditions (e.g., dim  104 A to 75%, dim  104 B to 50%, and turn off (or dim completely)  104 C—among numerous other contemplated lighting load conditions). The user may wish (and may issue a corresponding command) that the lighting loads  104 A,  104 B, and/or  104 C adjust to new dimming conditions at substantially the same time (e.g., within the scope of human perception). 
     For example, the user may not want to observe a noticeable delay between the dimming adjustments of lighting loads  104 A,  104 B, and/or  104 C—instead the user may wish to perceive that the lighting loads  104 A,  104 B,  104 C adjust to a freshly commanded dimming condition at the same time (e.g., as humans are capable of such perception). Humanly perceivable delays in any the respective dimming adjustments of lighting loads  104 A,  104 B, and/or  104 C may be referred to as “the popcorn effect”—a term that may be used for illustration and explanation and not by way of limitation. One or more contemplated techniques may address the popcorn effect so that, when the user so commands, dimming adjustments commanded by the user of dimmer switch  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C may be made at substantially the same time (e.g., synchronized such that a typical person may not perceive a time difference between the dimming effect of lighting load  104 A,  104 B, and/or  104 C). 
       FIG. 5  depicts an exemplary timing scheme  600  (that may include any of the elements from the network environments  300 A- 300 D and shown or not shown) that illustrates the popcorn effect that a user may experience in the previously described example (where in the example the user sends the command via the wireless control device  120  while the user is streaming music via laptop  312 ). Referring to  FIG. 6 , at  602  the wireless control device  120  may send a message (e.g., one or more IP packets) to command dimmer switch  110 A to adjust the load that dimmer switch  110 A controls (lighting load  104 A). At  604 , the router  130  may send a message (e.g., one or more IP packets) commanding the dimmer switch  110 A to adjust the lighting load  104 A. At  606 , the laptop  312  may send a message (e.g., one or more IP packets) requesting music from a public IP server to the router  130 . At  608 , the wireless control device  120  may send a message (e.g., one or more IP packets) to command dimmer switch  110 B to adjust the load that dimmer switch  110 B controls (lighting load  104 B). At  610 , the router  130  may send a message (e.g., one or more IP packets) commanding the dimmer switch  110 B to adjust the lighting load  104 B as well as sending one or more music IP packets to laptop  312 . At  612 , the wireless control device  120  may send a message (e.g., one or more IP packets) to command dimmer switch  110 C to adjust the load that dimmer switch  110 C controls (lighting load  104 C). At  614 , the router  130  may send a message (e.g., one or more IP packets) commanding the dimmer switch  110 C to adjust the lighting load  104 C as well as sending one or more additional music IP packets to laptop  312 . 
     Any of the devices of the network environments  300 A- 300 D (e.g. wireless control device  120 , dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C, router  130 , gateway device  310 , laptops  312  and/or  314 , among others shown and not shown) for a number of contemplated purposes, may include one or more radios. Any of the devices of the network environments  300 A- 300 D may include at least one radio that may be operable to transmit via multiple protocols (e.g. the Wi-Fi and/or the Clear Connect™ protocols) over multiple communication networks, wired and/or wireless, that may be operable to communicate with the respective protocols. Alternatively or additionally, any of the devices of the network environments  300 A- 300 D may include at least one radio that may be operable to transmit/receive via at least one protocol (e.g. Wi-Fi) and at least a second radio that may be operable to transmit/receive via at least another protocol (e.g. a proprietary RF protocol like the Clear Connect™ protocol) over multiple communication networks, wired and/or wireless, that may be operable to communicate with the respective protocols. 
     One or more, or any, of the devices of the network environments  300 A- 300 D (e.g. wireless control device  120 , dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C, router  130 , gateway device  310 , laptops  312  and/or  314 , among others shown and not shown) may serve as a master gateway node (e.g. may be elected by the other devices to serve as the master gateway node). The master gateway node may serve as a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) node, for example. The master gateway node may provide one or more, or any, of the other devices of the network environments  300 A- 300 D with information that may enable the one or more other devices to connect to the Wi-Fi network (e.g. an IP based protocol). By way of example, and not limitation, the master gateway node may provide the one or more devices of the network environments  300 A- 300 D with an SSID, an SSID password, an IP address, and/or other credentials to enable the respective devices to connect (or register) to the Wi-Fi protocol network (e.g. via the router  130 ). Such Wi-Fi access information may be preconfigured on any of the respective devices of the networks environments  300 A- 300 D. 
     The aforementioned Wi-Fi access information may be provided to the one or more devices of the network environments  300 A- 300 D via a reliable broadcast-capable RF protocol, such as the previously described Clear Connect™ protocol, on a reliable broadcast-capable RF network, either approximately at a time that it may be useful for the one or more devices to join the Wi-Fi communication network, or at some time earlier. For example, the Wi-Fi access information (e.g. even if preconfigured) for the one or more devices may be updated by the master gateway node either periodically or under certain conditions. Also, the master gateway node may provide an indication (e.g. via the Clear Connect™ protocol) to the one or more devices of the network environments  300 A- 300 D that may invite the one or more devices to use the Wi-Fi protocol access information to communicate, at least temporarily (e.g. for a firmware upgrade), with one or more devices of the network environments  300 A- 300 D (e.g. the master gateway node or any other device of the network environments  300 A- 300 D). For example, perhaps after the invited node may have completed the function for which it was invited to join the Wi-Fi network (e.g. a firmware upgrade is fully communicated and/or completed), the master gateway node may signal (via Wi-Fi and/or Clear Connect™ protocols) the invited node to discontinue Wi-Fi communication and/or to leave the Wi-Fi network. By requesting that the invited node discontinue Wi-Fi communication and/or to leave the Wi-Fi network, the burden on the router  130  and/or Wi-Fi communication may be minimized. Alternatively or additionally, the invited node may be configured to discontinue Wi-Fi communication and/or to leave the Wi-Fi network after the completion of the function for which it was invited to communicate via Wi-Fi and/or after the end of a timeout period (e.g. the invited node may leave the Wi-Fi network on its own determination and without being requested to leave the Wi-Fi network). 
     Alternatively or additionally, the one or more devices of the network environments  300 A- 300 D may use the Wi-Fi access information to communicate with one or more other devices of the network environments  300 A- 300 D at a time and/or under a condition determined by the one or more devices of the network environments  300 A- 300 D that may be in possession of Wi-Fi access information. For example, dimmer switch  110 A may use its respective Wi-Fi access information to join the Wi-Fi communication network to communicate its monitoring database information (to one or other devices of the network environments  300 A- 300 D) via the Wi-Fi protocol because its monitoring database may have become full. After the dimmer switch  110 A communicates its monitoring database, the dimmer switch  110 A may discontinue communication via the Wi-Fi protocol until such time as the dimmer switch  110 A may be invited to (or may decide itself to) communicate once again via the Wi-Fi protocol. 
     The Wi-Fi protocol may be useful via which to communicate high bandwidth data (e.g. configuration data such as firmware upgrades and/or data for relatively sophisticated user interfaces, programming data, and/or database data management) among Wi-Fi capable (IP capable) devices. A reliable broadcast-capable RF protocol, such as the previously described Clear Connect™ protocol may be useful via which to communicate relatively low bandwidth data and/or relatively high performance signaling information (e.g. operational data such as operational commands, operational (runtime) error codes, programming error codes, and/or timing synchronization signals, among other relatively high performance data). It may be useful to allocate high bandwidth data signaling (e.g. firmware upgrades, user interface data, and/or database information transfer) more to Wi-Fi protocol communication so that reliable broadcast-capable RF protocol communication, such as via the Clear Connect™ protocol, may be allocated for the relatively high performance data signaling (e.g. time synchronization signaling). 
     For example, radios using the Wi-Fi protocol may communicate at a frequency of 2.4 GHz. This frequency may be considered part of the industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) radio band—which may fairly crowded, may be widely available, and may be generally considered to be an unlicensed band. Radios may communicate using the Wi-Fi protocol at a range of 120 to 300 feet (with 802.11n, up to double these ranges may be possible), for example. Radios may also communicate using the Wi-Fi protocol at a rate of up to 54 Mbits/s (802.11g) and/or 300 Mbit/s (802.11n), with an average data rate of approximately 22 Mbit/s, for example. Radios may also communicate via Wi-Fi with an output power of approximately 20-100 mW (13-20 dBm). 
     For example, radios using the Clear Connect™ protocol may communicate at frequencies of 434 MHz and/or 868 MHz (perhaps based on regional factors). For example, 434 MHz and 868 MHz bands may be far less crowded than other bands and may be licensed, and may be subject to a relatively stringent set of regulations, including the United States&#39; Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations that may limit transmit power and/or duty cycle, for example. Radios may communicate using the Clear Connect™ protocol at a range of 30 to 60 feet indoor and/or 300 feet open air (extendable via repeaters), for example. Radios may communicate using the Clear Connect™ protocol at a rate of up to 62.5 Kbit/s, for example. Radios may communicate via Clear Connect™ with an output power of approximately 4 mW (5 dBm). 
     One or more techniques may minimize the popcorn effect that the user may observe. For example, at  616 , dimmer switch  110 A may detect the command from router  130 . At  618 , dimmer switch  110 A may send an acknowledgement (ACK) of the command to the wireless control device  120 . At  620 , dimmer switch  110 B may detect the command from router  130 . At  622 , dimmer switch  110 B may send an acknowledgement (ACK) of the command to the wireless control device  120 . At  624 , dimmer switch  110 C may detect the command from router  130 . At  626 , dimmer switch  110 C may send an acknowledgement (ACK) of the command to the wireless control device  120 . At  628 , at substantially the same time, dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C may receive a trigger signal or message (e.g., one or more IP packets recognized as a predetermined trigger by dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C). Alternatively at  628 , a trigger condition may be determined at substantially the same time at the dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C based on information contained in the received commands. At  630 , dimmer switch  110 A may adjust lighting load  104 A to 75% in response to the trigger. At  632 , dimmer switch  110 B may adjust lighting load  104 B to 50% in response to the trigger. At  634 , dimmer switch  110 C may adjust lighting load  104 C to 0% (or de-energize lighting load  104 C) in response to the trigger. For example, the respective dimmer switch adjustments at  630 ,  632 , and  634  may occur at substantially the same time (e.g., in a manner in which any differences in time are not perceptible by a typical person). 
     The messages from the wireless control device  120  at  602 ,  608 , and/or  612 , as well as the commands to the respective dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C at  604 ,  610 , and/or  614  may be sent using a reliable broadcast-capable RF protocol, such as the previously described proprietary Clear Connect™ protocol (where the one or more music IP packets at  610  and/or  614  may be sent via a Wi-Fi based message). The commands sent at  604 ,  610 , and/or  614  may also include instructions to execute the adjustment when the trigger is detected or determined. In addition, the acknowledgements that may be sent at  618 ,  622 , and/or  626  as well as the trigger at  628  may also be sent using a reliable broadcast-capable RF protocol, such as the previously described proprietary Clear Connect™ protocol. Wi-Fi based messages may be used for monitoring other message and/or firmware upgrades, among other tasks. 
     Alternatively or additionally, the messages from the wireless control device  120  at  602 ,  608 , and/or  612 , as well as the commands to the respective dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C at  604 ,  610 , and/or  614  may be sent using a Wi-Fi based message. The commands sent at  604 ,  610 , and/or  614  may also include instructions to execute the adjustment when the trigger is detected or determined. In addition, the acknowledgements that may be sent at  618 ,  622 , and/or  626  may be sent using a Wi-Fi based message. The trigger at  628  may be sent from the router  130 , for example, via an Ethernet based IP protocol (e.g., TCP/IP and/or “HomePlug” protocols) that may be carried via the conductors that deliver electrical energy from the AC power source  102  to the router  130  and dimmer switches,  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C. Alternatively or additionally, the trigger may be sent from one or more other devices that may also be in connection with the AC power source  102 . 
     Alternatively or additionally, at least one of the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C may be elected as a “master” node by the other dimmer switches. For example, dimmer switches  110 B and  110 C may elect  110 A as the master node (e.g. via a reliable broadcast-capable RF protocol or a power line protocol, and via respective communication networks operable to communicate via such protocols). As the master node, dimmer switch  110 A may determine that the wireless control device  120  sent the commands at  604 ,  610 , and/or  614  (e.g. to itself and to the devices that may have elected dimmer switch  110 A as their master node) that may also include instructions to execute the adjustment when the trigger is detected (via its Wi-Fi radio for example). Alternatively or additionally, the wireless control device  120  may send a command for a particular lighting “scene”, e.g. “reading level”, “theater level”, “mid-day level”, among others. The respective commanded scene may involve preconfigured settings for one or more of the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C. As the master node, dimmer switch  110 A may recognize the commanded scene and may further recognize that the commanded scene involves one or more of the devices that may have elected the dimmer switch  110 A as their master node. For example, dimmer switch  110 B and/or dimmer switch  110 C may be configured to respond to commands (e.g. the trigger) sent from their elected master node, in this example dimmer switch  110 A. The master node dimmer switch  110 A may determine a trigger condition and/or timing. The trigger at  628  may be sent from the master node  110 A, for example, via an Ethernet based IP protocol (e.g., TCP/IP and/or the “HomePlug” protocols) that may be carried via the conductors that deliver electrical energy from the AC power source  102  to the router  130  and dimmer switches,  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C. 
     Alternatively or additionally, the master node  110 A may send the trigger at  628  via a proprietary protocol such as the Clear Connect™ protocol, for example. In such scenarios, the master node dimmer switch  110 A may determine the trigger condition based at least in part on the acknowledgements from dimmer switches  110 B and/or  110 C sent at  622  and  626 —which may be sent via the Ethernet based IP protocol (e.g., TCP/IP and/or “HomePlug” protocols) that may be carried via the conductors that deliver electrical energy from the AC power source  102  to the router  130  and dimmer switches,  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C, and/or via the Clear Connect™ protocol (wired or wireless, via second radio for example). 
     Alternatively or additionally, the master node dimmer switch  110 A may not base the trigger  628  condition on the acknowledgements sent at  622  and  626  (and also may not concern itself with whether the commands  620  and/or  624  were respectively received at dimmer switches  110 B and/or  110 C). As the master node dimmer switch dimmer switch  110 A may be aware that the wireless control device  120  has commanded action of the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C, the master node dimmer switch  110 A may determine the trigger  628  condition regardless of the acknowledgements  622  and/or  626 , for example. 
     Alternatively or additionally, another node of the network environments  300 A- 300 D (either shown or not shown) may be elected as the master node instead of the dimmer switch  110 A. For example, the router  130  and/or the gateway device  310  may be elected as the master node for the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C (and perhaps other nodes shown and not shown). For example, the master node router  130  and/or the master node gateway device  310  may function in a manner similar to the previously described exemplary master node dimmer switch  110 A. 
     Alternatively or additionally, the messages from the wireless control device  120  at  602 ,  608 , and/or  612 , as well as the commands to the respective dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C at  604 ,  610 , and/or  614  may be sent using a Wi-Fi based message. In addition, the acknowledgements that may be sent at  618 ,  622 , and/or  626  may be sent using a Wi-Fi based message. In lieu of sending a trigger at  628 , the commands to the respective dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C at  604 ,  610 , and/or  614  may include an adjustment time or a time-referenced signal (e.g., make the commanded adjustment at 5:30 pm or 4:02:23.34). The adjustment time may serve as the effective trigger. The Wi-Fi capable devices may use network time protocol (NTP) or some other technique of staying in relatively close time synchronization with the other Wi-Fi capable devices (e.g., this could be done locally, as well with some central manager, such as the router  130  for example). Dimmers  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C may receive the commands at  604 ,  610 , and/or  614  may wait until the specified adjustment time to perform the adjustment. For example, if the time may have for some reason already passed, the dimmer switches may perform the adjustments immediately. The router  130  (that may send the commands at  604 ,  610 , and/or  614 ) may be a dedicated Wi-Fi-enabled device that may stay in time-sync with some or all of the devices. Another Wi-Fi node may serve as the time-sync device and may be one of the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C, for example. The adjustment time may be determined based at least in part on how many adjustment commands are to be sent and/or to how many dimmer switches (or other devices) the adjustment commands are to be sent (e.g., if 2 adjustment commands are to be sent, the adjustment time may be sooner in time than if 10 adjustment commands are to be sent). 
     Alternatively or additionally, the messages from the wireless control device  120  at  602 ,  608 , and/or  612 , as well as the commands to the respective dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C at  604 ,  610 , and/or  614  may be sent using a Wi-Fi based message. In addition, the acknowledgements that may be sent at  618 ,  622 , and/or  626  may be sent using a Wi-Fi based Ethernet IP protocol message (an Ethernet based IP protocol (e.g., TCP/IP) that may be carried via Wi-Fi based message). Internet Protocol (IP), which is the basis for wired and wireless Ethernet communications, is built on top of something known as the link layer, which is the lowest layer in the Internet Protocol suite. A component of this link layer is a frame synchronization scheme. Generally speaking, a frame is a series of data bits that may be demarcated by a sequence of synchronization bits or symbols that may make it possible for senders and/or receivers to recognize the beginning and end of a frameset, or segment (chunk) of data. Sender and receiver may agree on the frame synchronization mechanism and symbols that may be used before they can start talking. IP (e.g., 802.11 protocol) may use a framing mechanism at the lower levels. 
     In an IP protocol, frames may be divided into specific and/or standardized sections. IP frames may include management frames that may allow for the maintenance of communication. IP frames may include authentication frames, association request frames, association response frames, beacon frames, de-authentication frames, disassociation frames, probe request frames, probe response frames, re-association request frames, and/or re-association response frames. Frames may include a MAC header. The first two bytes of the MAC header may form a frame control field that may specify the form and function of the frame. In an IP protocol, data streams may be segmented into a series of frames. For example, beacon frames may be sent periodically from an access point to announce its presence and provide the SSID, among other information. Frames like the beacon frames, for example, may be counted and the counted frames may be used as a synchronization or trigger mechanism. 
     In lieu of sending a trigger at  628 , the commands to the respective dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C at  604 ,  610 , and/or  614  may include an adjustment queue. For example, the message at  604  may include an instruction such as dimmer switch  110 A, adjust to 75% after 67 beacon frames have gone by. The message at  610  may include an instruction to dimmer switch  110 B to adjust to 50% after 34 beacon frames have gone by. The message at  614  may include an instruction to dimmer switch  110 C to adjust to 0% after 15 beacon frames have gone by. The messages  604 ,  610 , and/or  614  may not include the beacon frame based adjustment references and instead a trigger may be sent at  628  that may be received by the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C that may include the respective beacon frame adjustment references. 
     Alternatively or additionally, the messages from the wireless control device  120  at  602 ,  608 , and/or  612 , as well as the commands to the respective dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C at  604 ,  610 , and/or  614  may be sent using a Wi-Fi based message. In addition, the acknowledgements that may be sent at  618 ,  622 , and/or  626  may be sent using a Wi-Fi based Ethernet IP protocol message. In lieu of sending a trigger at  628 , the adjustment command messages sent at  604 ,  610 , and/or  614  may include an indication of the IP address of which dimmer switch  110 A,  110 B, or  110 C may be the last dimmer switch to receive an adjustment command. With such an indication, dimmer switches  110 A and  110 B may execute their respective adjustments at the time that dimmer switches  110 A and  110 B detect the acknowledgement sent by dimmer switch  110 C at  622 —which dimmer switches  110 A and  110 B may be monitoring for (or “sniffing” for) due to the indication that was received in the adjustment command messages  604  and  610 . In other words, the acknowledgement message sent at  622  by dimmer switch  110 C may effectively serve as the trigger for dimmer switches  110 A and  110 B to execute their respective adjustments. Dimmer switch  110 C may execute its commanded adjustment at the same time that dimmer switch  110 C sends the acknowledgement at  622 . 
     Alternatively or additionally, the messages from the wireless control device  120  at  602 ,  608 , and/or  612 , as well as the commands to the respective dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C at  604 ,  610 , and/or  614  may be sent using a reliable broadcast-capable RF protocol, such as the previously described proprietary Clear Connect™ protocol (where the one or more music IP packets at  610  and/or  614  may be sent via a Wi-Fi based message). The commands sent at  604 ,  610 , and/or  614  may also include instructions to execute the adjustment when the trigger is detected. In addition, the acknowledgements that may be sent at  618 ,  622 , and/or  626  may also be sent using a reliable broadcast-capable RF protocol, such as the previously described proprietary Clear Connect™ protocol. The trigger at  628  may be sent via a User Datagram Protocol (UDP). UDP is part of the Internet protocol suite. With UDP, messages may be sent as datagrams to other devices on an Internet Protocol (IP) network without requiring prior communications to set up special transmission channels or data paths. For example, a short but multi-message UDP broadcast stream may be used to synchronize the activity. 
     As UDP based messages may not be acknowledged and may be overridden by other network traffic, in order to ensure that the trigger message reaches the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C, a 12 to 15 message (for example) UDP multicast burst to a multicast address (e.g., a MAC address) subscribed to by dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C. Upon receipt of at least one UDP message, the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C may execute their respective commanded adjustments in a synchronous manner. The dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C may be configured to ignore more than a first UDP trigger message so that undesired adjustments may be avoided. For example, the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C may ignore more than a first UDP trigger message and may not act on any further UDP trigger messages until after a fresh or updated adjustment command is received at some future time. 
       FIG. 6  is a flow chart of an example technique to provide operational coordination to a load control device. A user may select a load control device as one of a number of devices among which to coordinate respective adjustments of power supplied to connected electrical loads (e.g. lighting loads) in order to avoid the popcorn effect. At  13002 , a user may send a command via a wireless communication network for adjusting power, where the command impacts a number of load control devices, including an example load control device used to describe this example technique. At  13004 , the load control device may receive a first signal from the wireless communication network via a first wireless communication circuit and via a first protocol. The first signal may include a power control command. At  13006 , the load control device may interpret a power control adjustment for the device from the power control command. At  13008 , the load control device may interpret a synchronization condition from the power control command. At  13010 , the load control device may determine a synchronization condition status is at least one of satisfied or unsatisfied. At  13012 , the load control device may continue to determine that the synchronization condition status is at least one of satisfied or unsatisfied. At  13014 , the load control device may implement the power control adjustment after determining that the synchronization condition status is satisfied. At  13016 , the user may view the adjustment of a number of lighting loads without perceiving the popcorn effect. 
     A user may notice a delay in time from when an adjustment of one or more of lighting loads  104 A,  104 B, and/or  104 C may be initiated from the wireless control device  120 . It may take approximately 50 milliseconds for an average person to perceive a change in lighting conditions, among other things. The delay in time may cause the user, perhaps due to impatience, frustration, or uncertainty, among other reasons, to attempt to repeat the initiation of the adjustment of lighting loads  104 A,  104 B, or  104 C. The repeated initiation of the adjustment of lighting loads of  104 A,  104 B, and/or  104 C may cancel out or negate the user&#39;s first initiation of the adjustment of the lighting loads  104 A,  104 B, and/or  104 C. For example, referring to  FIG. 6 , by the time at  630 ,  632 , and/or  634  when the adjustment commands are executed by the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C, the user may have already initiated another adjustment of one or more of the lighting loads  104 A,  104 , and/or  104 C. And the second (or later) adjustment initiation may interfere with (e.g., negate or counteract) the first initiated adjustment of one or more of the lighting loads  104 A,  104 B, and/or  104 C. 
     Dimmer switch  110 A, dimmer switch  110 B, and/or dimmer switch  110 C may be configured to ignore a command to execute an adjustment of its respective lighting load until a predetermined amount of time as elapsed after the respective dimmer switch  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C has executed the last adjustment that it was commanded to make. In the example referred to earlier in regard to  FIG. 6 , if a user initiates an adjustment of lighting load  104 A to 75%, lighting load  104 B to 50%, and/or lighting load  110 C to 0% (or off), the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C may be configured to ignore any further adjustment commands received prior to the expiration of a period of time (e.g., configured in the controller  414  of the dimmer switch) after the dimmer switches  110 A,  110 B, and/or  110 C execute the first received adjustment command. By way of further example, and not limitation, should a user change their mind and wish lighting load  104 A to adjust to 100% and not 75% (and issues a corresponding updated adjustment command), such an updated adjustment command may be ignored by dimmer switch  110 A if the updated adjusted command is received less than 1.5 seconds after dimmer switch  110 A adjusts lighting load  104 A to 75% (e.g., 1.5 seconds after 630). A range of delay times, for example from 0.5 milliseconds to 5 seconds, among other ranges are contemplated. 
     While the present application has been described with reference to the dimmer switches  110 , and the wireless control devices  120 , the concepts described herein could be applied to any control devices that are operable to communicate with each other, such as, for example, dimming ballasts for driving gas-discharge lamps; light-emitting diode (LED) drivers for driving LED light sources; screw-in luminaires including integral dimmer circuits and incandescent or halogen lamps; screw-in luminaires including integral ballast circuits and compact fluorescent lamps; screw-in luminaires including integral LED drivers and LED light sources; electronic switches, controllable circuit breakers, or other switching devices for turning appliances on and off; plug-in load control devices, controllable electrical receptacles, or controllable power strips for each controlling one or more plug-in loads; motor control units for controlling motor loads, such as ceiling fans or exhaust fans; drive units for controlling motorized window treatments or projection screens; motorized interior or exterior shutters; thermostats for a heating and/or cooling systems; temperature control devices for controlling setpoint temperatures of HVAC systems; air conditioners; compressors; electric baseboard heater controllers; controllable dampers; humidity control units; dehumidifiers; water heaters; pool pumps; televisions; computer monitors; audio systems or amplifiers; generators; electric chargers, such as electric vehicle chargers; an alternative energy controllers; occupancy sensors, vacancy sensors, daylight sensors, temperature sensors, humidity sensors, security sensors, proximity sensors, keypads, battery-powered remote controls, key fobs, cell phones, smart phones, tablets, personal digital assistants, personal computers, timeclocks, audio-visual controls, safety devices, and central control transmitters. 
     Additionally, the techniques described herein may be implemented as a set of computer-executable instructions stored on a tangible computer-readable medium, such as a random-access or read-only memory for example. Such computer-executable instructions may be executed by a processor or microcontroller, such as a microprocessor, within the dimmer switch  110  or the wireless control device  120 , for example.