Patent ID: 8650333

Claim:
A device control system comprising a plurality of operation terminals connected to a network and a plurality of control devices connected to the network, each operation terminal transmitting a control command to the plurality of control devices, each control device being controlled by executing the received control command and transmitting a state change notification to the plurality of operation terminals when a control state is changed by the execution of the control command, wherein each operation terminal is configured so as to transmit, as the control command, an individual control command that is transmitted individually to a specific control device of the plurality of control devices, or a collective control command that is broadcasted collectively to two or more control devices of the plurality of control devices, and wherein each control device comprise: a command determination unit for determining whether the received control command is the individual control command or the collective control command; and an information processing unit which, if the received control command is the individual control command, responds by collectively broad-casting to the plurality of operation terminals a state change notification corresponding to the execution of the individual control command, and, if the received control command is the collective control command, responds by collectively broadcasting to the plurality of operation terminals, with a timing different from the other control devices, a state change notification corresponding to the execution of the collective control command.