Smart Home is the term commonly used to define a residence that uses a Home Controller to integrate the residence's various home automation systems. The most popular Home Controllers are those that are connected to a Windows based PC during programming only, and are then left to perform the home control duties on a stand-alone basis. Integrating the home systems allows them to communicate with one another through the home controller, thereby enabling single button and voice control of the various home systems simultaneously, in preprogrammed scenarios or operating modes.For example, a scenario such as I'm Home could be triggered by pressing one button on a Keychain Remote from your vehicle as you approach the driveway. The Home Controller receives the Keychain Remote command triggering a scenario, preprogrammed and stored in the home controller. The celestial clock in the controller knows that it is 8 pm and past sunset, in your geographical location, therefore starting the scenario by sequentially turning on the lighting in the driveway, garage entry, walkway, hallway, and kitchen. It then disarms the security system, opens the garage door, unlocks the interior garage entry door, adjusts the thermostat(s) to a preset home position, and turns on the whole-house audio system. The home control processor is essentially the Hub of the home systems network, as shown in the Stargate example below. The Home Control Processor is programmed to customer specific requirements to initiate sequential automatic operation of the home systems, in response to "one button" commands from a system controller, based on the situation and or time.
Other time saving scenarios such as "Party Time", "Away", "Good Night" etc. involving several home systems can be activated by phone, voice, and remotes as desired. A home systems status check is also a convenient feature to add to the "Good Night" scenario. In addition to automatically turning off all lights and adjusting the thermostats, the system will also provide an audio report indicating the status of the security system by zone, the temperature in each zone, the position of the garage doors, and the "wakeup" times selected.
PC Networks PC Networks are quickly becoming an essential element of today's Smart Homes. A Windows 98 release2 PC Network allows all of the family PCs to share resources including one connection, and one account to the Internet, simultaneously. This is also convenient for smart home system upgrades, since much of the home automation and home systems equipment is PC programmable and equipment manufacturers now provide the software upgrades via the Internet. The Internet connection will increasingly play a major role in the operation and monitoring of our homes.