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| EMagazine Volume 5 Issue 3 June / July 2000 |
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Toys Article - June 2000 - [HTI Home Page] |
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The Internet Home "Making your home controllable over the web is no mean feat, it's quite a complex and daunting engineering challenge, but it has now been made 'simple' with the Comfort Security/Home Automation System and ACE Home Automation Software" |
For more information on the
‘Comfort Home System’ you can contact Dan
Hoehnen at |
'Home Control' over the web using your browser
You may be familiar with security systems and their remote control capabilities over the phone, and even their more recent 'home control' functions with the integration of X10 for lights and appliance control. Have you ever thought just how great it would be if you could control your Home Automation System over the web? In today's 'information age' many of us spend around 10 to 20 hours a week or more online. I can bank online, access office files, shop and do business, so why shouldn't I be able to access and control my Home Automation System over the web?
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 System Hook-up Schematic The diagram shows the comfort system connnected locally to the Personal Web Server via the UCM01 RS232 Module. The PWS is running InterfACE Server software and is accessible via the intranet or internet over an IP connection. |
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Now all these things I can already do with my Comfort System. Following the voice guided menu on my telephone, I can speak to a visitor at my door, collect the voice mail messages, control the security and operate the lights and appliances. Often that's what I do most of the time, but I really want to be able to do it over the web from my browser! Well ok, I know some of those things aren't yet practical over the web, such as the voice stuff, but the rest is!
It's now possible with Comfort
Making your home controllable over the web is no mean feat, it's quite a complex
and daunting engineering task, but Hone Software have now made it possible and
'simple' by integrating their ACE Home Automation software with
the Comfort Intelligent Home System. To think too deeply about it is
mind boggling, so I'd like to try and make it easier to understand. We've called
this the Comfort Web InterfACE. What you are doing in effect is controlling
your Home System, in this case Comfort, from a remote location (a workplace,
car or vacation home) using a web browser to view a local Web Server at your
home. The Web Server is connected to the Comfort System via an RS232 module
(UCM) and has it's own unique IP address (Internet Protocol) which looks a little
like this: http://212.121.10.151/index.html.
Of course the server may need to be available for access 24 hours a day and
also password protection is needed to keep out undesirable elements. You enter
this IP into the address line in your browser, hit enter and you're there! Simple!
You can see a feed from up to eight video cameras around your home (one at a
time), see the status of the zones such as caused by activity, see any 'active'
alarm events, view the event log and operate your home lighting and appliances,
just as if you were there! Remote control heaven if you ask me.
Nothing like the 'first time'
The first time I connected Comfort over the web was a very exciting moment
(maybe I should get out more) but really it was, and it will be for you too.
Isn't that why you're reading this article? I'm sure it is. We all want this
degree of control, it's what Home Automation is all about, security, convenience,
peace of mind and something to tell our friends about (or make them sick). Either
way it's here and it works and it's a revelation! Try this on-line
demo
Away from Home, and my server is not on-line,
no problem!
Not everyone is going to have their Web Server PC on line all of the time. It
may be that you only have a single phone line or it may be too costly to stay
on-line waiting for the moment you need to contact your system over the internet,
so what do you do? You'll be glad to know you can now have the best of both
worlds. Comfort and ACE Home Automation software work together to solve this
problem by allowing you to phone in to Comfort and force your PC 'online' (more
on InterfACE below).
By using Comfort's dial-in ability, you can phone into your system, sign-in and select '4 for home control', then * 9 for 'Dial-Up'. After selecting this, press # to exit out of the menu. You will hear Comfort say 'Thankyou Goodbye'. Now InterfACE receives a Comfort 'response' via the UCM Module and initiates the dial-up on the local PC to your Internet service Provider (ISP). This is according to how it has been set in the Comfort actions screen within the InterfACE Server using an API command. What actually happens is the Home Control Menu option 4 * 9 is set up to operate a Comfort output such as OP64. Then InterfACE is configured to run the API command "aces:acems:dial:" whenever it sees Comfort's output 64 change state. It's that easy. By adding a link to the web page, the browser can send a hang-up command to InterfACE using "aces:acems:hangup:" which promptly closes down the ISP connection. InterfACE's dial-up capability also allows InterfACE to initiate a dial-up internet connection in response to any Comfort event. This could, for example, be used to send an e-mail when there is an intruder alarm or any other event you wish to monitor.
Streaming Video
The Internet Home would not be complete without being able to 'see' as well.
Thankfully, this is not such a technical impossibility. Comfort can already
switch cameras intelligently based upon movement and show the view from the
doorphone camera when a visitor presses the doorbell, so why not feed that single
video output into a pc card? The browser-based approach makes this integration
easier than you would expect. Embedding a webcam feed into your Comfort Web
InterfACE pages is just a simple matter of editing some html code in the pre-defined
video windows. Another feature we expect InterfACE to do, is to capture a
selection snapshot of jpeg images at the point of the doorbell being pressed or
alarm activation so they can sent to you as an email attachment or compiled
within the Active Server Web Pages for viewing with your web browser. ATI do
a great range of PC video cards. At $25, Webcam32 takes some
beating, it can achieve a refresh rate of 3-5 seconds on an ISDN connection,
which is not bad at all (See a streaming webcam32 demo here).
Installation
So how do we get our home PC or laptop to act as a web server? Quite easy, Custom
Automation Technologies have written the Comfort 'InterfACE' to work with
Microsoft's Personal Web Server (PWS) to help us mortals achieve our
wonderful 'Internet Home' dream by turning our home PC into a web server. InterfACE is the software interface between
Comfort and the web server pages. Both InterfACE and PWS are installed onto
the PC or Laptop which is to be connected (locally) to the Comfort System. InterfACE
installs it's Web Pages into the PWS directory on your PC saved as .asp pages
(Active Server Pages) and populates them with information taken from the Comfort
(.csx) configuration file (your custom designed setup of the Comfort System).
This simplifies the task of setting up the web pages with
the functions you need for controlling your system, by only requiring inputting
main data into the one program (CS-Xpress).
The PC that you are using remotely to access the
webserver at your home doesn't need any special software installation, just
a web browser is all that's needed. The great thing about PWS is that it is
able to display ever changing data taken from the Comfort system into a web
page allowing you to see up-to-date status such as alarm events, zone activity
and anything else which the system protocol can feed it with.
How to get it
The Comfort Web InterfACE includes the software, UCM, leads and replacement
firmware for your Comfort panel. It may be purchased from Comfort dealers as a
kit for $247, or as just the software for $90 if you already have CSXpress with
UCM module. The e-mail and text-to-speech features are available as
separate InterfACE modules for $10 each. PWS is a free download available for Windows 95 - 2000 from Microsoft.
The PWS software is a rather hefty download at 21mB for a minimum installation,
but thankfully it's free! You can get Microsoft's Personal Web Server from their
site. Comfort is available from Comfort
Distributors and can be purchased retail or trade.
Who is behind it
Hone Software - ACE Development (USA), ISCaM Systems Ltd - Web Design, Consultancy
and Comfort Support (UK) and Cytech Technology - Comfort Manufacturer (Singapore)
have combined together to develop the Comfort Web InterfACE. The InterfACE
is designed to enhance the Comfort system by extending monitoring capabilities
to any TCP/IP network; locally or remotely over the Internet. With the addition
of add-on modules you can also get text-to-speech, caller id, e-mail and many
other features that will provide added functionality to your Comfort system.
Each module is a separate program that can run independently of one-another.
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UCM Command
List
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RS232 (PC) to UCM
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From UCM to PC
(reports or replies) |
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· Get Analog Input Value · Do Actions (DA) · Set Date and Time · Download to Comfort · Download to UCM EEPROM · Event Log Request · Input Status Request · IR - IR activation · Virtual Input Report · Security Mode Change Command · Security Mode Status Request · Output Activation · Output status request · Pulse Output · Reset Command · Do Response · Trouble Alarm · Trouble Alarm Restore · Upload from Comfort · Upload from UCM COPY EEPROM · X10 Command/Report |
· Alarm Type Activated Report · Alarm Restored Report · Doorbell Pressed · Event Log Report · Input Activation report · IR Activation Report · NA - Command Not Available (Invalid command or parameter) · OK - Message Acknowledged · Output Activation Report · Virtual Output Command · Virtual Output Status Request · Mode Change Report · Pulse Activation Report · Return Value from (DA) · Phone Ring · X10 Received Report · X10 Transmitted Report · Checksum Error or Error is message format. |
The Universal Communication Module (UCM) allows communication between the Comfort System and the Personal Web Server via InterfACE software by connecting to a second serial RS232 port on your PC. Up to 8 UCMs can be connected to the Comfort system, each with its own RS232 domain, allowing different devices such as Touchscreens, HVAC Controllers and PC's etc. to share and communicate via Comfort's Data BUS. UCMs should be sited locally to the PC or Touchscreen they are connecting to and to make this more convenient we are soon to release a metal box which can house two UCMs at a time. Typical functions available on the port are Zone status, Virtual Zones, Do Response, Do X10, switch output, send Infrared Code, Alarm Type Status and Doorbell pressed. For a complete list see the below UCM Command List.
What else can InterfACE do?
InterfACE can be connected
in three ways.
1. As a Client piece of software to control a Comfort system connected over the same INTRANET, in conjunction with InterfACE server software.
2. As a client piece of software to control a Comfort system connected over the 'INTERNET', in conjunction with InterfACE server software
3. As a browser-based platform of control, available by the client over intranet or internet connection by employment of Microsoft's Personal Web Server and InterfACE Server software (without the need for special software on the client PC, just a browser is required).
InterfACE allows any Comfort action codes or custom responses to be linked to multiple 'named' buttons on customizable screens for providing manual control options, or similar buttons designed as part of a web page using html. Typical requirements may be to provide the whole Home Control Menu on-screen so you can switch lights via X10, arm to certain modes, bypass zones or disarm the system and switch cameras, doors, gates and curtains via outputs.
You could also set-up a button to adjust Comfort's clock to the current date and time on the PC or for adjustment of heating controls. You can download the InterfACE software from the Hone Site as a shareware application which runs for a few hours at a time. We feel that InterfACE will open-up many exciting new areas of business for Comfort dealers and installers. For further details about what else InterfACE can do, visit Custom Automation Technologies.
Developers Love it
If you are a programmer, you can also use the ACE Application
Programming Interface (API) along with your own software to further enhance
your system's capabilities. InterfACE can accept commands from a serial port,
DDE, COM, network connection or ASCII file.
| InterfACE
Features Summary. In this summary, 'server' refers to the PC connected to Comfort and 'client' refers to a PC connected to the 'server' via a TCP/IP network. |
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Caller ID support:
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Allows Comfort to play WAV file or for friend, local stranger, long distance stranger, unavailable and blocked callers | |
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Speak the caller's name and/or number if you also have ACE-TTS (text-to-speech) | |
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Create a log file of all calls -View log file from any client, including a web browser | |
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Send different commands to Comfort based on each caller |
and more...
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Play a sound file (wav, midi, aiff, au, voc) | |
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Change the volume of the WAV output device | |
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Send an e-mail to report a Comfort event | |
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Support for full time and dial-up Internet connections | |
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Can be used to establish a dial-up Internet connection | |
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Can e-mail someone your dynamic IP address after establishing a dial-up connection. | |
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Can be used to launch a program that first requires a dial-up connection to be established | |
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Control WinAMP from the server or any client Launch another Windows program | |
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Send keys to another Windows program Support for serial LCD keypads |
Visit the ACE website for more information and fully functional downloads.
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