Patent ID: 8402150

Claim:
A method for radio frequency communication between electrically operated devices of at least two domains in a LonWorks® protocol of a management network, the method comprising the steps of: connecting the at least one first device of the first domain to a first bus of the first domain such that the at least one first device communicates with the first bus in the LonWorks® protocol; positioning the second domain remotely from the first domain such that communication between the first and second domains must be by radio frequency communication and connecting the at least one second device of the second domain to a second bus of the second domain such that the at least one second device communicates with the second bus in the LonWorks® protocol and such that the second bus is remotely positioned relative to the first bus; connecting each of the first and second buses to inputs of first and second bridge devices of the first and second domains, respectively, where each bridge device converts LonWorks® protocol received from the respective first and second buses into a different communication protocol at outputs thereof without conversion software; communicating the different communication protocol from the outputs of the first and second bridge devices to first and second radio frequency transceivers of the first and second domains, respectively; transmitting the different communication protocols between the first and second radio frequency transceivers of the first and second domains; communicating received different communication protocols from the first and second transceivers to the first and second bridge devices and converting the received different communication protocols to LonWorks® protocols; and communicating the converted LonWorks® protocols to the at least one first and second devices through the first and second buses, respectively; wherein at least one device of the first domain is controlled by signals transmitted from at least one controller of the second domain.