Patent ID: 8296587

Claim:
A legacy adapter for use with a legacy electrical device, the legacy adapter comprising: a multi-purpose power connector of the legacy adapter configured to couple to a power adapter external to the legacy electrical device, wherein the power adapter is configured to receive power from at least one power source from a group consisting of an AC source, a power outlet, a motor, a generator, and a battery, and wherein the power adapter includes a digital logic component, at least one regulator, and a multi-purpose power connector of the power adapter configured to connect to the multi-purpose power connector of the legacy adapter; a legacy connector configured to connect to the legacy electrical device; memory, configured to store power requirements of the legacy electrical device; and a microprocessor configured to communicate digitally with the digital logic of the power adapter, wherein the digital communications include power requirements of the legacy electrical device, and the communication is packet-based protocol including a 1 byte transmission start segment, a 4 byte vendor/manufacturer identifier segment, a 1 byte message type segment, a payload segment, a 2 byte checksum segment and a 1 byte transmission end segment.