Patent ID: 7477950

Claim:
An appliance control system for controlling a plurality of sets of appliances in a network, the system comprising: a) a control station having a control unit for controlling the plurality of sets of appliances and a switch unit for routing control signals in the network, the control station being remotely located from the plurality of sets of appliances; b) a plurality of actuators connected to the control station for receiving the control signals therefrom, the plurality of actuators being connected to and controlling the plurality of sets of appliances; c) a plurality of sensors connected to the sets of appliances and the control station for recording information therefrom, the plurality of sensors connected to the control station for providing the recorded information to the control station; and d) a plurality of client stations, each client station located with one of the plurality of sets of appliances, each client station being connected to the switch unit and adapted to allow a user to make requests to the control station for using the at least one appliance of the set of appliances located with the client station; wherein the plurality of sets of appliances comprise water appliances, and for a given set of appliances, the system includes a multi-port valve having one input connected to the actuators corresponding with the given set of appliances and multiple output ports for connecting to more than one water appliance associated with the given set of appliances.