Web server for communicating with one or more electronic devices through a gateway computer

A web server for facilitating communications with a plurality of embedded devices through a gateway, the web server comprising:

• web pages, the web pages being downloadable by web clients and being usable by the web clients;
• an HTTP server for serving the web pages to the web clients;
• a plurality of user interface components, the user interface components being downloadable by the web clients and being usable by the web clients to present user interface elements that relate to the embedded devices, the user interface elements being capable of causing communication with the embedded devices;
• a gateway communications module for communicating with the gateway, wherein the gateway is in electronic communication with the embedded devices, and wherein the gateway is programmed to communicate with the embedded devices, wherein the user interface elements initiate instructions included in the gateway communications module to communicate with the embedded devices;
• and
• the HTTP server operating to send the user interface components to the web clients, the web clients receiving and processing the user interface components to present the user interface elements, wherein communication with the embedded devices is initiated through use of the user interface elements by the user interface elements sending data to the HTTP server, the HTTP server sending the data to the gateway communications module, and the gateway communications module communicating with the gateway that communicates with the embedded device, wherein the HTTP server is further configured to determine whether third party software is necessary to process a data request sent by the web client, wherein the HTTP server is further configured to determine whether it has sufficient information and functionality to service the device request, and if yes, the HTTP server will service the device request without communicating with the gateway.