Patent ID: 7576963

Claim:
A protection system for a power distribution system with one or more zones comprising: at least one power-switching device connected to a power or current sensing device and a communications device, said power-switching device being communicatively coupled to at least one processing device, said at least one processing device being adapted to execute a plurality of protective functions for a zone based on information of power conditions within said zone and predetermined protective requirements of said zone, wherein said communications device communicates with a communication interface that is communicatively coupleable to at least one secondary power-switching device, wherein said communications device is communicatively coupled to a second communications device to communicate a presence or absence of a fault condition sensed by said at least one secondary power-switching device, and wherein said at least one power-switching device is at a slower setting than said at least one secondary power-switching device in said presence of said fault condition and a setting equal to said at least one second power-switching device in said absence of said fault condition.