Patent ID: 8615332

Claim:
A power reducing system comprising: a smart coupler having a processor, a memory, a power source to energize the processor and the memory, and a software component in one of the memory and processor, wherein the software component has a routing table and a protocol converter; at least one appliance configured to perform a cycle of operation on a physical article, wherein the at least one appliance uses electric current in performing the cycle of operation, the at least one appliance in network communication with the smart coupler using a first protocol, a source of electric current to the at least one appliance in network communication with the smart coupler, a source of information about the electric current in network communication with the smart coupler using a second protocol, and a smart circuit attenuator having a power input connected to the source of electric current, a power output connected to the at least one appliance, a software controlled component configured to attenuate the electric current to a level other than zero, a communication module coupling the software controlled component to the network using the first protocol, a processor, and software in the attenuator's processor configured to cause the software controlled component to respond to a network request to reduce electric current, wherein the smart coupler is configured to convert network messages between the first and second protocols, propagate discovery queries over the network from the source of information, populate the routing table from responses to discovery queries from the source of information, and facilitate communication with the communication module in the smart circuit attenuator including a network request from the source of information to reduce electric current, and wherein the software controlled component attenuates the electric current to the at least one appliance in response to the network request.