The “smart home” will be a home system that allows homeowners to establish patterns of use of facilities – lights, security systems, heating and AC, and also to control these both centrally, via remote control, and in a distributed manner. A user could sit in their living room and turn off a light in the upstairs bedroom. Or they could log on via the WWW from across the country and turn down the heat. This will enable 1) more efficient use of resources, 2) better security and 3) convenience for the homeowner.
The primary users would be adults in the household, however, teens might sometimes use it. The initial users are expected to be “tech-savvy”, early adopters of technology, but in the long run, everyday ordinary people (perhaps a little biased toward higher socio-economic background). For many of the features, they may be infrequent users
· Ability to control from central command post, with remote control, or via WWW remotely.
· Security on remote access.
· Ability to control security system
· Ability to set thermostat pattern
· Ability to set patterns for lights
· Ability to override patterns (e.g. turn on a light now, increase the heat etc)
· Ability to have multiple zones for heating and AC settings if the homeowners appliances are set up to handle that.
Tasks (new desired tasks, not currently performed, are marked with an ‘*’):
· Turn Security System On
· Turn Security System Off
· View camera showing area where security alarm has gone off *
· Set Heating Pattern – Sleep, Wake, Leave, Return – time and temperature for each. Plus weekend Sleep or Wake pattern
· Set AC Pattern – Sleep, Wake, Leave, Return – time and temperature for each. Plus weekend Sleep or Wake pattern
· Swap from Heating to AC, and vice versa
· Turn a light on *
· Turn a light off *
· Set a timing pattern for a light – List of On, Off – each with a time *
· Question: Would it ever be useful to turn off all lights? (go to bed)
· Set up lighting configuration – what lights are where
How are tasks learned?
First, all settings come with a default, so user can exist and slowly get up to speed as necessary. E.g. default AC setting is 74 during home periods (Wake, Return) and 78 during down periods (Sleep, Leave).
There are tool tips that appear near “controls” if (on WWW) mouse hovers over a button.
Finally, there is a help system for getting help in carrying out tasks.
Where are the tasks performed?
Each task can be performed from a central console in the living room or by the front door (important for the security part), or from a remote control, or from the WWW. In addition, lights can be turned on and off at the light/switch itself for convenience
What’s the relationship between user and data?
User probably does not desire any detailed reports. Status will be indicated on main console and on WWW page. Current temperature and programmed temperature will be shown in text boxes. Icon for each light will be colored yellow to indicate that the light is on (or plain LCD color if off). Control over temperatures involves the user choosing temperatures desired – using sliders probably.
What other tools does the user have?
Light switches.
How do the users communicate with each other?
N.A.
How often are the tasks performed?
· Turn Security System On – probably 10-15 times a week
· Turn Security System Off -- probably 10-15 times a week
· View camera showing area where security alarm has gone off – less than once a year
· Set Heating Pattern – Probably less than once a year
· Set AC Pattern – Probably less than once a year
· Swap from Heating to AC – maybe six times a year due to some flip flop weather in spring or fall
· Turn a light on – several times a day a light may be turned on overriding its pattern.
· Turn a light off – maybe only a couple of times a week to turn a light off overriding its pattern (assuming that the energy/cost conscious homeowner would set lighting patterns to have low light usage)
· Set a timing pattern for a light – List of On, Off – each with a time – probably each light might have a new pattern a couple times a year. # lights depends on the house
· Set up lighting configuration – once at first, later only if lighting situation changes (e.g. new lamp)
What are the time constraints on the tasks?
Changes should take effect immediately (no human noticeable delay). Security system should be immediate swapped; lights should immediately go on or off. Heater should immediately have new target temperature (not that it will achieve the target immediately; that is not feasible)
What happens when things go wrong?
Data entry – users will not be allowed to set values outside the normal range (e.g. AC setting of 50 degrees will not be possible)
Power failure – settings are stored in persistent storage and will not be lost (of course the lights and appliances cannot function while power is out.
System Failure – again settings are stored in persistent storage so they should not be lost. Lights can still be controlled by light switches. Security system will be off – so homeowners can be at home. Backup temperature control is a real problem. Immediately call customer support.
The central console should use a touch screen with buttons, so that there is no device that must be found to control things. The remote access allows turning off an unused light downstairs without leaving the bedroom. (or even turning one on when one hears a noise). The remote should focus on “here and now” tasks such as turning lights on and off, adjusting current temperature (overriding pattern), rather than setting patterns which is more complicated. I believe that a PDA style device will make a better remote than a TV style remote due to the number of possible lights to be controlled. The WWW access should be mouse oriented.
The most frequent tasks are 1) turning the security system on and off, usually from the front door. Thus this will be a button + keypad for code, on the main screen of the console unit by the front door. 2) Overriding light patterns to turn on a light that is scheduled to be off. This is most frequently done when the person is in the room with the light, and can be done with the light switch (however the system is alerted to the change in status).
Other use involves choosing a task group (lights, temperature, security), then making selections there. From the console or WWW, handling lights involves selecting a light from the floor plan of the house, then clicking to toggle, or clicking a change pattern button to change the pattern. A PDA style remote could be handled the same way.
General,
Related to Problem Statement:
Do we want to handle TV, VCR, stereo?? The visually oriented (TV, VCR) would probably only need to be controlled while in the same room. Do we have a need to combine interface? Perhaps, one benefit would be the ability to program the VCR over the WWW if you forgot to tape something before leaving home. There could be value to controlling a stereo with speakers in multiple rooms remotely.
How about door locks?
How about handling voice mail? Probably not necessary.
How about controlling sprinkler system?
Do we want touch tone phone access? If we go away and forget to turn security on, we don’t want to have to wait until we can get WWW access.
Specific, Related to General Approach:
Should the system know day and date? Probably, so that it knows weekend from weekday. Then should it try to do anything with seasons (for swapping heating and AC) by itself? Should it try to do anything about patterns for lights (e.g. allow turn this light on 10 minutes after sunset – where system would keep known sunrise/ sunset patterns for the location)?