Patent ID: 7349761

Claim:
An environmental control system configured for use in connection with a multi-facility enterprise, the system comprising: a microprocessor-based control host; a multiplicity of disparate environmental control devices, each control device operatively responsive to monitoring and control commands delivered in accordance with one of a plurality of disparate communication protocols; a multiplicity of I/O ports coupled between the control host and the multiplicity of control devices, the I/O ports including a plurality of communication bus implementations; a configuration database, including configuration files, each configuration file further comprising an identification of monitoring and control commands corresponding to each of the multiplicity of disparate environmental control devices; and an operational instruction set, the control host operatively responsive thereto, the instruction set controlling monitoring and operation of the multiplicity of disparate environmental control devices by determining an appropriate configuration for each control device and communicating corresponding monitoring and control commands to each device in accordance with its corresponding communication protocol over a selected I/O port.