Patent ID: 7831702

Claim:
A method of automatically uploading data indicative of a characteristic of a utility measured by a plurality of intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) in a utility system to a central server via the Internet, comprising: prior to commissioning of a first of the IEDs in the utility system, configuring the first IED to automatically push first data indicative of the characteristic of the utility measured by the first IED to the central server via the Internet; and configuring the first IED with a unique identifier that is distinct from all other identifiers associated with every other one of the IEDs in the utility system and storing the unique identifier in a memory of the first IED; responsive to installing the first IED in the utility system, automatically pushing the first data by the first IED to the central server and storing the first data on the central server, wherein the automatically pushing includes requesting, via the first IED, whether a configuration update exists for the first IED, and, if so, requesting of the central server by the first IED the configuration update via the Internet, communicating the configuration update from the central server to the first IED responsive to the request by the first IED, updating in the first IED a configuration corresponding to the configuration update, and automatically pushing the first data according to the updated configuration; and hosting a website on the central server, the website including a webpage for displaying information based on the first data; and requesting, via the website, a change in the amount or type of data automatically pushed by the first IED, and, responsive thereto, causing the first IED to change the amount or the type of the data automatically pushed to the central server.