Patent ID: 7208892

Claim:
A power management system for processing an alternating electrical current supplied to an appliance configured to communicate with a communication network, said system comprising: a zero cross detector circuit to generate an output indicating when the alternating current crosses a zero voltage threshold; at least two load devices; a microprocessor maintaining one or more operational parameters for controlling the performance of said at least two load devices, said microprocessor configured to receive the output from the zero cross detector circuit and to generate an output to control the voltage applied to each of said at least two load devices; and a data port coupled to said microprocessor, said data port configured to be associated with the communication network, wherein said operational parameters maintained by said microprocessor may be changed via said data port; wherein said microprocessor controls the voltage applied to each of said at least two load devices such that the total current consumed by said at least two load devices does not exceed a pre-determined level.