Patent ID: 7667616

Claim:
A control system, comprising: one or more master devices; one or more slave devices; and at least one radio frequency communication interface for operably coupling the master and slave devices; wherein one or more of the master devices are adapted to remotely control the operation of one or more of the slave devices; wherein one or more of the master devices are adapted to assign one or more of the slave devices to a panic group associated with a panic mode of operation; wherein one or more of the master devices are adapted to assign a duty cycle for each slave device associated with the panic group; wherein one or more of the master devices are adapted to activate the panic mode of operation; wherein each duty cycle comprises a first time period during which an operational state associated with the slave device is on and a second time period during which an operational state associated with the slave device is off; wherein one or more of the master devices are adapted to assign one or more of the slave devices to a delayed off mode of operation; wherein one or more of the master devices are adapted to define a time delay associated with each slave device assigned to the delayed off mode of operation; wherein one or more of the master devices are adapted to activate the delayed off mode of operation for one or more of the slave devices; and wherein during the delayed mode of operation for a particular slave device, the particular slave device is adapted to delay a transition for a corresponding load operably coupled to the particular slave device from on to off by the time delay associated with the particular slave device.