1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of consumer devices, and in particular to the field of automated home control systems.
2. Description of Related Art
Home automation is becoming increasingly popular. Standards continue to be developed which will allow devices of varying types and varying vendors to be controlled by a common controller. Such standards include IEEE 1394, X-10, HAVi, HomeAPI, Jini, and the like. IEEE 1394 and X-10 are communication protocols; HAVi is a software architecture using IEEE 1394; Home API is an open industry specification that defines a standard set of software services and application programming interfaces which enable software applications to monitor and control home device. Jini is a distributed software architecture (network) wherein clients see devices and services as objects.
Some home automation systems may include a monitoring and reporting system that maintains a record of selected events. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,644,320, “HOME ENERGY MONITORING AND CONTROL SYSTEM”, issued Feb. 17, 1987 for Carr et al, incorporated by reference herein, presents a system that periodically records the temperature inside and outside the home, and a cumulative energy usage, measured via energy measuring devices that are attached to appliances such as furnaces, air conditioners, and the like. Statistics are also provided and presented as text or graphic displays to facilitate a user's assessment of the energy usage, and potentially effect a change of habit to reduce such usage.
Typical home automation systems are configured to provide a central control station and a number of remote controllers. For example, the central control station may be a home computer, and the remote controllers may be sub-controllers located in particular areas of the home, such as in a master bedroom, entry foyer, and the like. Typical home automation systems may also include remote sensors that are used, for example, to automatically turn lights on or off when motion is detected, or to turn a television set on or off in response to a particular sound or voice command. Some home automation systems allow the desired operations to be preprogrammed, so that, for example, lights or appliances are turned on or off at different preset times, televisions are tuned to different channels at different times, and so on.
As detailed above, most home automation systems are fundamentally “unidirectional”: information flows from the user to the appliance. The user provides commands to appliances, either directly or indirectly, and the appliance is controlled to effect the command. Some appliances are available that contain a degree of “intelligence” to effect a “bidirectional” information flow by communicating information to the user regarding their status, available options, and so on. Such a bidirectional information flow capability, however, is typically available only from fairly sophisticated appliances, such as home-entertainment systems, wherein the additional cost associated with providing the “intelligence” required is insubstantial, or deemed to be worthwhile to effect a product differentiation. Also, even if a majority of future appliances contain sufficient intelligence to communicate their status to a home automation system, the cost of replacing every legacy appliance in one's home to obtain such intelligent appliances will be cost-prohibitive to most users.