Patent ID: 7280931

Claim:
A method for calibrating an electrical device, comprising: connecting the electrical device to a power delivery network through a power socket via a power cord; receiving on a remote server from the electrical device, via the power delivery network powering the electrical device, the following information: identifying information that identifies the electrical device and provides a physical location of the electrical device, the providing of the physical location based on location information selected from the group consisting of: information from a global positioning device, information from triangulation methods based on known radio locations of the electrical device, and a user supplied location inputted on the electrical device; activation information that indicates that the electrical device has been activated and determines a length of time that the device has been in use; information indicative of an elapsed time since a last calibration of the electrical device; and deactivation information that indicates that the electrical device has been deactivated; storing the received information in a devices information database; determining whether the electrical device needs to be calibrated based on the information in the devices information database, including: using the elapsed time since the last calibration of the electrical device to determine whether a predetermined amount of time has elapsed since a previous calibration of the electrical device, and using the activation information and deactivation information to calculate a cumulative usage of the electrical device and determining whether the cumulative usage exceeds a predetermined usage threshold; in response to a determination that the electrical device should be calibrated, sending a request for calibration, the request for calibration including the identifying information and the physical location of the electrical device.