Patent ID: 7123993

Claim:
In combination with an irrigation system having system components including a water supply and at least one valve for selectively directing water to at least one irrigation device in at least one irrigation zone, an irrigation controller comprising: (a) a microprocessor and a memory for storing irrigation program data and schedule data corresponding to the time and duration of the flow of water to said at least one irrigation zone, said microprocessor for producing control signals, said microprocessor and said memory including an embedded Web server for communicating said irrigation program data and schedule data to and from HTML formats, (b) at least one relay in communication with said microprocessor, said relay adapted for receiving said control signals from said microprocessor and for switching electrical currents to said at least one valve in response to said control signals for activation of said at least one valve, whereby said water supply and said at least one valve for selectively directing water to said at least one irrigation device may be selectively activated or deactivated, (c) an on-board Ethernet chipset for connecting said microprocessor to a LAN, whereby a network accessing device having a Web browser connected to said LAN may be used to interactively access said embedded Web server of said irrigation controller for viewing and changing of said irrigation program and schedule data, and, (d) at least one weather sensor connected to said microprocessor and said memory storing weather data from said at least one weather sensor so that said network accessing device may be used to view said weather data said at least one weather sensor including a rain detector which produces a stop signal when rain is detected and wherein said microprocessor is programmed to stop the operation of said irrigation system when receiving said stop signal.