Patent ID: 8086757

Claim:
A method comprising: at a network device configured to support a plurality of home automation technologies, determining a presence of one or more home automation control devices (HACDs) in one or more peer-to-peer networks communicatively coupled to the network device, each of the HACDs configured as a peer device in one of the peer-to-peer networks, each of the HACDs further configured to negotiate with other HACDs to agree to a task to deliver an optimized performance based at least in part on a first energy savings goal of a HACD configured to control a first electrical appliance and a second energy savings goal of a second HACD configured to control a second electrical appliance, the optimized performance comprising an optimization in energy usage of the first electrical appliance or the second electrical appliance; and determining a presence of one or more other network devices configured to support a plurality of home automation technologies; and when the one or more other network devices are determined to be present, exchanging information with the one or more other network devices, the information comprising: an identification of the one or more other network devices; an identification of one or more home automation networks supported by the one or more other network devices; and an identification of one or more HACDs in the one or more home automation networks supported by the one or more other network devices.