Patent ID: 7813842

Claim:
A local power line communication network, comprising: a central controller communicationally coupled with a local power line communication (PLC) power line; a sensor adaptor coupled between the local PLC power line and a consumer product, the sensor adaptor comprising: a current detector that detects a current usage level passed through the sensor adaptor to the consumer product; a PLC interface communicationally coupled with the local PLC power line, wherein the current usage level is communicated through the PLC interface and over the local PLC power line to the central controller; and an adaptor switch that is opened interrupting current flow to the consumer product in response to an interrupt command received over the local PLC power line from the central controller when current usage through the sensor adaptor has a predetermined relationship to a first threshold and is closed resuming current flow to the consumer product in response to a reconnect command received over the local PLC power line from the central controller while the switch is open; wherein the central controller generates a warning message when the central controller determines that the current usage through the sensor adaptor has a predetermined relationship to a second threshold that is less than the first threshold.