Method and apparatus for providing distributed control of a home automation and control system

• US 20050055108A1
• Filed: 10/19/2004
• Published: 03/10/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/1999
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: C-Smart Corporation
• Inventors: Baker, Brian D., Gonzales, Greg, White, Sara
• Application Number:
  US10/969,344
• Publication Number:
  US 20050055108A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/22
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 11/01 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/042 using digital processors G05B19/05 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/42 Recording and playback systems, i.e. in which the programme is recorded from a cycle of operations, e.g. the cycle of operations being manually controlled, after which this record is played back on the same machine
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25218 Broadcast mode, originator, destinator address, command, check data
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25232 DCS, distributed control system, decentralised control unit
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2803 Home automation networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2814 Exchanging control software or macros for controlling appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving configuration of the network and network elements H04L41/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2823 Reporting information sensed by appliance or service execution status of appliance services in a home automation network device-related reporting H04L43/065; arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom H04Q9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/285 Generic home appliances, e.g. refrigerators

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing distributed control of a home automation and control system is provided. Each device participating in a home automation and control system is equipped with control logic for providing distributed control. Through the control logic, each device maintains scene definitions describing the state of the device for each scene in which it participates. When any device in the system receives a request to launch a scene, such as a button press on one of the devices, the device broadcasts a scene state change message to all devices within the home automation and control system. The scene state change message identifies to each device that a particular scene that should be launched. Each device in the system receives the message and determines whether the device is a participant in the scene. If the device is a participant in the scene, the device adjusts its state according to a scene definition stored in the device associated with the scene. The device may adjust a controlled electrical load, such as a light, according to the scene definition by turning the load on, off, or setting the load to some intermediate value. If the device is a not participant in the scene, the device remains unaffected.

Claims

1. A distributed control system for automatically controlling the load status of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene comprising a plurality of programmable devices, each of said programmable devices:

capable of controlling the load status of an associated product or appliance;

in response to the programmable device receiving an indication to learn a scene, locally storing the programmable device'"'"'s membership status in the scene and the load status of the associated product or appliance when the scene is launched; and

in response to the programmable device receiving a launch command associated with the learned scene, adjusting the load status of the associated product or appliance to the stored load status associated with the scene.

2. A distributed control system for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said programmable devices includes a setup controller that, when actuated, produces said indication to learn a scene.

3. A distributed control system for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or devices to create a scene as claimed in claim 2, wherein the setup controller is manually controlled by the actuation of a button.

4. A distributed control system for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 2, wherein each of said programmable devices also includes a load controller for controlling the adjustment of the load status of the product or appliance associated with the device.

5. A distributed control system for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 4, wherein said load controller is manually controlled by the actuation of a button.

6. A distributed control system for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 4, wherein at least one of said programmable devices also includes one or more triggers the actuation of which produces a scene launch command.

7. A distributed control system for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or devices to create a scene as claimed in claim 6, wherein said trigger is manually controlled by the actuation of a button.

8. A distributed control system for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 4, wherein each of said programmable devices also includes a plurality of triggers the activation of which produces an individual launch command associated with each trigger.

9. A distributed control system for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or devices to create a scene as claimed in claim 7, wherein said triggers are manually controlled by the actuation of buttons.

10. A distributed control system for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said programmable devices also includes a load controller for controlling the adjustment of the load status of the product or appliance associated with the device.

11. A distributed control system for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 10, wherein said load controller is manually controlled by the actuation of a button.

12. A distributed control system for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said programmable devices also includes a trigger the actuation of which produces a scene launch command.

13. A distributed control system for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or devices to create a scene as claimed in claim 12, wherein said trigger is manually controlled by the actuation of a button.

14. A distributed control system for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said programmable devices also includes a plurality of triggers the activation of which produces an individual launch command associated with each trigger.

15. A distributed control system for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or devices to create a scene as claimed in claim 14, wherein said triggers are manually controlled by the actuation of buttons.

16. A distributed control system for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said programmable devices includes an indicator for indicating the status of the programmable device.

17. A distributed control system for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 1 wherein said indication to learn a scene is a command message.

18. A distributed control system for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 17, wherein said command message includes role information.

19. A distributed control system for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 18 wherein the presence of valid role information implies the command message is requesting a binding action.

20. A distributed control system for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 18 wherein the absence of a valid role implies the command message is requesting an unbinding action.

21. A distributed control system for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 18 wherein said command message also includes a resource instance.

22. A distributed control system for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 21 wherein the presence of a specific resource instance implies that action requested by the command message is to apply only to the specific resource instance.

23. A distributed control system for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 21 wherein the absence of a resource instance implies that action requested by the command message applies to any resource instance capable of carrying out the action.

24. A programmable device suitable for use in a distributed control system for automatically controlling the load status of an associated product and/or appliance to create a scene, said programmable device including:

(a) a storage medium;

(b) a controller for;

(i) in response to manual input, adjusting the load status of said associated product or appliance;

(ii) receiving an indication that the programmable device is to become a member of a house scene; and

(iii) in response to receiving said indication that the programmable device is to become a member of a house scene, storing in said storage medium information regarding the membership status of said programmable device in said house scene and the current load status of said associated product or appliance.

25. A programmable device as claimed in claim 24, including a setup button that when actuated places said controller in a state suitable for receiving said indication that said programmable device is to become a member of a house scene.

26. A programmable device as claimed in claim 24, including a load button for adjusting the load status of said associated product or appliance.

27. A programmable controller as claimed in claim 24, wherein said programmable device also includes at least one trigger button that, when actuated, causes said controller to generate a scene launch command that causes programmable devices to adjust the load status of their associated product or appliance to the load status stored in said storage medium of the devices or members of the scene associated with the scene launch command.

28. A programmable device as claimed in claim 27, wherein said programmable device includes a plurality of trigger buttons each of which, when actuated, causes said controller to generate a separate and distinct scene launch command for each unique scene.

29. A programmable device as claimed in claim 24, including an indicator for indicating the status of said programmable device.

30. A programmable device as claimed in claim 29, wherein said status includes whether said set up button has placed said controller in a state suitable for receiving said indication that said programmable device is to become a member of a scene.

40. A method for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 24 wherein said indication to learn a scene is a command message.

41. A method for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 40, wherein said command message includes role information.

42. A method for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 41 wherein the presence of valid role information implies the command message is requesting a binding action.

43. A method for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 41 wherein the absence of a valid role implies the command message is requesting an unbinding action.

44. A method for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 41 wherein said command message also includes a resource instance.

45. A method for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 44 wherein in the presence of a specific resource instance implies that action requested by the command message is to apply only to the specific resource instance.

46. A method for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 44 wherein the absence of a resource instance implies that action requested by the command message applies to any resource instance capable of carrying out the action.

31. A method for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene comprising:

distributing a plurality of programmable devices, each of said programmable devices associated with a product and/or appliance and capable of adjusting the load status of said product or appliance;

in response to said programmable device receiving an indication to learn a scene, said programmable device locally storing the membership status of the programmable device in the scene and the load status of the product or appliance with which said programmable device is associated; and

in response to said programmable device receiving a launch command associated with a learned scene, adjusting the load status of the product or appliance with which the device is associated to the stored load status.

32. A method for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 31 wherein each of said programmable devices includes a setup controller and wherein said method includes, in response to the actuation of said setup controller, producing said indication to learn a scene.

33. A method of automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or devices to create a scene as claimed in claim 32 wherein at least one of said devices includes a load controller and wherein said method includes adjusting the load status of said product or appliance in response to the operation of said load controller.

34. A method for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or devices to create a scene as claimed in claim 33 wherein at least one of said programmable devices also includes a at least one trigger and wherein said method includes generating a launch command in response to the actuation of said trigger.

35. A method for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 34 wherein at least one of said devices includes a plurality of triggers and wherein said method includes generating a separate and distinct launch command in response to the actuation of each unique scene associated with each one of said plurality of triggers.

36. A method of automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or devices to create a scene as claimed in claim 31 wherein at least one of said devices includes at least one load controller and wherein said method includes adjusting the load status of said product or appliance in response to the operation of said load controller.

37. A method for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or devices to create a scene as claimed in claim 31 wherein at least one of said programmable devices also includes a at least one trigger and wherein said method includes generating a launch command in response to the actuation of said trigger.

38. A method for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products or appliances to create a scene as claimed in claim 31 wherein at least one of said devices includes a plurality of triggers and wherein said method includes generating a separate and distinct launch command in response to the actuation of each of said plurality of triggers.

39. A method for automatically controlling the operation of a plurality of products and/or devices to create a scene as claimed in claim 31 wherein each of said programmable devices includes an indicator for indicating the status of said programmable device and wherein said method includes causing said indicator to produce a predetermined indication in response to the operational status of said programmable device.