Low cost and flexible energy management system with a scheduling capability

1. In a home energy management system comprising a central controller for managing a plurality of accessories using a plurality of communication networks, a method of providing an accessory within the system with a schedule to control operation of the accessory, the method comprising:

generating a plurality of schedules employing a user interface on a device separate from the central controller;

communicating the plurality of schedules to the central controller;

storing in a storage of the central controller the plurality of schedules;

selecting a current schedule from the central controller storage;

communicating to one of the communication networks to load the selected schedule to the accessory; and

loading the selected schedule onto the accessory.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the central controller is programmed to vary the response of energy consuming accessories based on user preference defined in the schedules.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the schedules from the user interface are communicated to the central controller using a communication channel which operates at a different bandwidth than the communication channel used to communicate the stored schedules to the accessory.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein a bandwidth of the channel for communicating the schedules from the user interface to the central controller is higher than the channel on which the stored schedules are communicated to the device.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the user interface is an application that resides on at least one of a home computer, a portable computer, an internet enabled phone, a web enabled phone, an internet enabled handheld computing device, or web enabled handheld computing device.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the user interface requests specific data from the central controller including historical electric consumption data and the central controller pushes data to the accessories in the home, including price changes.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the central controller is configured to control operation of the accessories through implementation of the selected schedule.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the central controller is configured to control operation of an accessory by at least one of the schedules built by a user, wherein a user builds a number of schedules which are selectively loaded to the accessory by the central controller.

9. The method according to claim 1 wherein the central controller is configured to change schedules in an accessory without user involvement.

10. A premises data management system for transmitting data comprising:

a first communication network configured to transmit and receive data to and from a user interface;

an other communication network configured to access data from and provide data to accessories within the premise management system; and

a home energy gateway located between the first communication network and the other communication network, including (i) a first interface channel, (ii) an other interface channel, wherein the data from the first communication network is communicated via the first interface channel, and the data from the other communication network is communicated via the other interface channel and (iii) a storage mechanism for storing a plurality of schedules to operate at least some of the accessories, wherein the schedules are communicated to the accessories via the other interface channel and the schedules are received by the storage via the first interface channel.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the home energy gateway is configured to vary the response of accessories based on user preference defined in the schedules.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the first interface channel in which the schedules from the user interface are communicated operates at a different bandwidth than the other interface channel in which the stored schedules are communicated to the energy consuming devices.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the first interface channel in which the schedules from the user interface are communicated operates at a higher bandwidth than an other interface in which the stored schedules are communicated to the accessories that are energy consuming devices.

14. The system of claim 10 wherein the user interface is an application that resides on at least one of a home computer, a portable computer, an internet enabled phone, a web enabled phone, an internet enabled handheld computing device, or web enabled handheld computing device.

15. The system of claim 10 wherein the user interface requests specific data from the home energy gateway including historical electric consumption data and the home energy gateway pushes data to the accessories in the home, including price changes.

16. The system of claim 10 wherein the home energy gateway is configured to control operation of the accessories through implementation of the selected schedule.

17. The system of claim 10 wherein the home energy gateway controls operation of the accessories by at least one of the schedules, wherein the schedules are built by a user, and wherein the user builds a number of schedules which are selectively loaded onto the accessories by the home energy gateway.

18. The system according to claim 10 wherein the home energy gateway is configured to change schedules in an accessory without user involvement.

19. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the loaded selected schedule includes a series of transitions, and set points used to control operation of the accessory over a period of days.

20. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the selected schedule includes a series of transitions, and set points used to control operation of the accessory over a period of days.