Control and monitoring unit for a circuit interrupter electronic trip unit and system including same

A circuit interrupter system (2, 2') includes a circuit interrupter (4, 4') including a processing unit (16), a serial port interface (26) operatively coupled to the processing unit for enabling communication with the processing unit, and a USB processing unit (28, 82) configured to run a USB stack and operatively coupled to the serial port interface for enabling communication with the processing unit through the serial port interface, and a portable computing device (10) selectively connectable to the USB processing unit of the circuit interrupter through a USB connection, the portable computing device being structured to function as a USB host and to implement a graphical user interface (42) for enabling communication between the portable computing device and the processing unit of the circuit interrupter through the serial port interface and the USB processing unit when the portable computing device is connected to the USB processing unit of the circuit interrupter.