CONTROL OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITION MANIPULATING APPLIANCE

1 . An apparatus for controlling an appliance, said apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a machine-readable storage medium on which is stored instructions that are to cause the processor to:

track an environmental condition;

generate air quality data from the tracked environmental condition;

communicate the generated air quality data to a server;

receive a command for the appliance from the server, wherein the command corresponds to the generated air quality data; and

cause the appliance to operate according to the received command.

2 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a sensor to detect the tracked environmental condition;

an appliance interface, wherein the processor is to interface with the appliance through the appliance interface; and

a network interface, wherein the processor is to communicate with the server via a network through the network interface.

3 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to:

access information related to detected motion in a structure; and

compute occupancy in the structure based upon the accessed detected motion information and the tracked environmental condition.

4 . The apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to:

communicate the computed occupancy to the server; and

wherein the command received from the server also corresponds to the computed occupancy.

5 . The apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to:

determine whether an occupancy in the structure has changed; and

in response to a determined change in occupancy, communicate the determined change in occupancy to the server.

6 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to:

monitor energy consumption of the appliance; and

communicate the monitored energy consumption of the appliance to the server, wherein the command received from the server also corresponds to the monitored energy consumption.

7 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to:

track a user's interactions with the appliance; and

generate a usage pattern of the appliance from the tracked user's interactions.

8 . The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the instructions are further to cause the processor to:

communicate the generated usage pattern to the server, wherein the command received from the server also corresponds to the generated usage pattern.

9 . A method for controlling an appliance, said method comprising:

tracking an environmental condition of an interior of a structure;

generating air quality data from the tracked environmental condition;

communicating the generated air quality data to a server via a network;

receiving a command for the appliance from the server via the network, wherein the command corresponds to the generated air quality data; and

causing, by a processor, the appliance to operate according to the received command.

10 . The method according to claim 9 , wherein causing the appliance to operate according to the received command further comprises communicating an instruction signal to the appliance, wherein the instruction signal causes the appliance to operate according to the received command.

11 . The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:

accessing information related to detected motion in the structure; and

computing occupancy in the structure based upon the accessed detected motion information and the tracked environmental condition.

12 . The method according to claim 11 , further comprising:

communicating the computed occupancy to the server, wherein the command received from the server also corresponds to the computed occupancy.

13 . The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:

monitoring energy consumption of the appliance;

communicating the monitored energy consumption of the appliance to the server; and

wherein the command received from the server also corresponds to the monitored energy consumption.

14 . The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:

tracking a user's interactions with the appliance;

generating a usage pattern of the appliance from the tracked user's interactions;

communicating the generated usage pattern to the server; and

wherein the command received from the server also corresponds to the generated usage pattern.

15 . An apparatus for controlling an appliance, said apparatus comprising:

a sensor to detect an ambient environmental condition in a structure;

a processor to generate air quality data from the detected ambient environmental condition;

an interface to communicate the generated air quality data to a server over a network; and

wherein the processor is to receive a command for the appliance from the server, the command corresponding to the generated air quality data.

16 . The apparatus according to claim 15 , further comprising:

a motion sensor to detect motion in the structure; and

an occupancy processor to compute an occupancy of the structure based upon motion detected by the motion sensor and the tracked environmental condition.

17 . The apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein the processor is to determine whether an occupancy in the structure has changed and, in response to the occupancy being changed, to communicate the determined change in occupancy to the server.

18 . The apparatus according to claim 15 , further comprising:

an energy consumption monitor to monitor energy consumption of the application, wherein the monitored energy consumption of the application is to be communicated through the interface to the server and the received command also corresponds to the monitored energy consumption.

19 . The apparatus according to claim 15 , further comprising:

a user interaction monitor to monitor a user's interactions with the appliance;

a usage pattern generator to generate a usage pattern of the appliance from the monitored user's interactions; and

wherein the generated usage pattern is to be communicated through the interface to the server and the received command also corresponds to the generated usage pattern.

20 . The apparatus according to claim 15 , the processor is to communicate an instruction signal corresponding to the received command to the appliance, the instruction signal to modify an operation of the appliance.