Method of Operating a Home-Automation Installation

• US 20130289751A1
• Filed: 10/25/2011
• Published: 10/31/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Somfy Activites SA (Somfy SA)
• Original Assignee: Somfy Sas (Somfy SA)
• Inventors: Mignot, Pierre, Duchene, Isabelle, Lapierre, Stphane
• Granted Patent: US 10,416,622 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/90
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2642 Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51

Abstract

Method of operating a home-automation installation comprising elements including items of equipment fixed in a building and including a mobile unit for controlling the items of equipment, the elements communicating over a home-automation network, each element being furnished with an identifier which is specific to it and with an authentication key specific to the home-automation network, termed “common key”, identical for all the elements and authenticating an element'"'"'s membership of the home-automation network, characterized in that it comprises: a step of locating the mobile control unit with the aid of a locating means included at least partially in the mobile control unit and delivering an item of position information, then a step of pinpointing using at least the item of position information to pinpoint a particular item of equipment, the pinpointing step allowing the identification of the particular item of equipment, the pinpointing step use of the home-automation installation and allowing the locating of the particular item of equipment in a mode of configuration of the home-automation installation.

Claims

1. A method of operating a home-automation installation comprising elements including appliances fixed in a building and including a mobile unit for control of the appliances, the elements communicating on a home-automation network, each element being furnished with its own specific identifier and with an authentication key specific to the home-automation network, termed “

common key”

, identical for all the elements and authenticating an element'"'"'s membership of the home-automation network,

wherein the method comprises;

a step of locating the mobile control unit with the aid of a localization means included at least partially in the mobile control unit and delivering a position information, and then

a step of spotting using at least the position information to spot a particular appliance,

the spotting step allowing the identification of the particular appliance in a usage mode of the home-automation installation and allowing the localization of the particular appliance in a configuration mode of the home-automation installation.

2. The operating method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the position information is expressed in a spatial mesh able to differentiate the respective positions of two appliances of the home-automation installation.

3. The operating method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the particular appliance is the appliance nearest to the mobile control unit during the step of locating the mobile control unit.

4. The operating method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method comprises a step of aiming the particular appliance, using a means of aiming of the mobile control unit, able to provide an aiming information and wherein the position information comprises the aiming information.

5. The operating method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the aiming information comprises an information of orientation of the mobile control unit during the aiming step and/or an information regarding the distance between the mobile control unit and the particular appliance, especially a telemetric information coming from the mobile control unit aiming means.

6. The operating method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method comprises, subsequent to the spotting step, a step of transmitting to the mobile control unit an identifier of the particular appliance and/or of transmitting to the particular appliance a selection instruction.

7. The operating method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the position information is transmitted on the home-automation network to all of the appliances or at least to a specific appliance.

8. The operating method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the position information is transmitted to a remote server by using a communication means of GSM type and/or a shared network of Internet type.

9. The operating method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the spotting step uses appliances localization data, situated in a cartographic memory.

10. The operating method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method comprises a step of displaying, on a display means of the mobile control unit, a control interface of the particular appliance.

11. The operating method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method comprises a control step in which the mobile control unit transmits a command message on the home-automation network to the particular appliance, this command message comprising the identifier of the particular home-automation appliance or having been preceded by a selection message comprising the identifier of the particular home-automation appliance, and wherein the method comprises a step of execution of the command by the particular appliance.

12. The method of operating a home-automation installation as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method comprises a configuration step in which the position of the particular appliance, determined during the spotting step on the basis of the localization of the mobile control unit, is recorded in a cartographic memory.

13. The method of operating a home-automation installation as claimed in claim 12, wherein the data of the cartographic memory are incorporated in a three-dimensional modeling of the building.

14. A home-automation installation comprising appliances and a mobile control unit, wherein the appliances and the mobile control unit comprise hardware and software means for implementing the operating method as claimed in claim 1.

15. A mobile control unit), wherein the unit comprises hardware and software means for implementing the operating method as claimed in claim 1.