Patent ID: 7661603

Claim:
A central control system for controlling air conditioners, comprising: a plurality of air conditioners installed indoors that perform air conditioning operations; and a central controller that receives a control command to control the plurality of air conditioners, that monitors operating states of the controlled air conditioners, that automatically schedules control signals corresponding to the control command so that start times for operation of individual ones of the plurality of air conditioners can be adjusted to manage electric power consumption due to simultaneously operating the plurality of air conditioners, and that outputs the scheduled control signals to the plurality of air conditioners; wherein the central controller estimates a total amount of instant electric power consumption of the plurality of air conditioners; and based upon whether the total amount of estimated instant electric power exceeds an allowable range, the central controller adjusts an operation schedule of each of the plurality of air conditioners enabling the start times of each of the plurality of air conditioners to differ according to delay times, the central controller comprising: a touch screen-based monitor configured to input the control command through a screen touch operation, wherein the central controller displays a control program for controlling operations of the air conditioners, the control program being executed so that a timetable in which an operation schedule for the plurality of air conditioners corresponding to a specified period can be displayed on the monitor, and the timetable can be input and edited from the monitor, the timetable having a number of cells, the control program converting colors of cells selected to input the operation schedule for the plurality of air conditioners can be distinguished from non-selected cells, and the selected cells distinguished by the colors can be displayed, the control program being further configured to receive the operation schedule of the designated air conditioners by dragging and selecting the cells on the monitor.