HTINews Editorial

Home Plug & Play /
Home Controller Programming
Bob Hetherington, Editor HTI News

If you haven't yet read the article from Ken Wacks (INTRODUCTION TO THE CEBUS^® COMMUNICATIONS PROTOCOL and Brian Baker's CEBus Column about the Home Plug and Play Plugfest then I would suggest that you do so. I think it will help you understand the significance of HomePnP as it relates to the future of Home Automation. If all goes as planned, the appliances and electronic equipment and devices of the future (and not too distant a future either) will be configured for CEBus HomePnP. Any appliance or device that you buy that complies (and judging by the list of manufacturers there will be plenty available) need just be plugged in and it will communicate with all other devices on the Bus (IR, Power Line, RF, Twisted Pair, Coaxial, Fiber etc.). Not only that, but you'll be able to control the new device from any other device interface or controller. So, the next TV that you buy may be able to turn the dishwasher off when it gets too noisy or turn on the kitchen lights at commercial time so you don't trip on the cat while running to the fridge etc. etc. I think we're going to see some fancy stuff introduced to the marketplace in the next year so be ready.

STRUCTURING YOUR LOGIC

While I was reviewing HomeVision this month it occurred to me that perhaps we need to start a dialog about Home Controller Programming. I don't mean the nitty gritty of line by line coding but instead, some of the basic principals or structure to use in setting up a schedule (or program) to control the home. I'll start it off here by describing how I approach the task. I'm far from an expert but my experience with my Enerlogic system (requiring line by line programming) taught me a few things that have been valuable to me.

The first thing to decide is what "modes or scenes" do you want or need to occur. Let's say you want to set up an "Evening Mode" that sets the lighting levels throughout the house at dusk (could be activated by a sundowner for example). This mode calls for some outdoor lights to come on, living area lights to come on and dim to preset levels etc. Make a list of all the "modes" you can think of. Now, set up each mode as a macro and give it a name "Evening Mode". Program all the actions that are required to take place and include a "Flag" that is set (telling the system that the house is in "Evening Mode"). Now you set up some triggers to activate the mode or macro. This is where you'll see that advantage of using a Macro rather than separately coding each trigger. For example, you can tell the system to do the Evening Mode Macro in response to a sundowner X10 command AND you can have a manual trigger from a remote controller (in case it's not quite dark enough for the sundowner to respond but you need the lights on ... i.e. on a cloudy winter day) etc. In other words you program the Macro once and use it wherever you like. If you want to change the look and feel of the mode, you simply change the Macro. You don't have to try and remember each trigger event and change them all. The use of a Flag is handy because it can be used in other Macros and scheduled events to alter Modes depending on for example IF it evening (Evening Flag Set) THEN do one thing ELSE do another thing).

Have you got any advice on Programming or Scheduling Home Controllers? Please send them to me and I'll start up a new Column in the next issue to display and discuss this topic. Just send email to bobh@hometoys.com .

NEW LOOK FOR HTI

If all goes according to plan, the October issue will have a completely new look and feel. I can't tell you the details (because I don't know them yet) but I hope you'll like it. Emphasis will be on easy navigation of the site and a little more visual pizzaz. Please take a moment and fill out our survey so we'll know what you find important and want to see in the future.

Enjoy!!!

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