Re: Remote Phone Control

["Timothy Morris" <timmorris@xxxxxxx>]

While it is not quite as flexible as using a phone, Homeseer allows remote
control by email. If you get hold of one of the new Nokia mobiles which
have
built in internet access, you can achieve the same aim.

Tim.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brown, Andy [Infrastructure] [mailto:AndyB@xxxxxxx]
> Sent: 12 January 2000 15:12
> To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
> Subject: [ukha_d] Remote Phone Control
>
>
> Just thought I'd bring this to the group's attention (in fact it's a
> mini-review!).
>
> I've been looking for a product to allow PC control over a modem using
> regular DTMF from a remote phone.  I understand Comfort can do this
and I
> don't want to take anything away from them as it looks like a
> great product.
>
> But - I've recently found a chap in New Zealand who has developed some
> software called WinIVR that will answer the phone, play wav
> files, interpret
> DTMF codes and branch conditionally (playing more wav files,
> shelling out to
> external programs amongst other things).
>
> You use a script builder to create "projects" that
determines
> what wav files
> are played and what to do next when a number or sequence of numbers is
> pressed.
>
> A really simple home automation project would entail a script of about
3
> lines
> - one to play a wav greeting and explain a menu (e.g. "Press 1 to
turn all
> lights on, 2 to turn all lights off")
> - one line to trigger an event when the user presses '1' and shell out
to
> "xcomm32.exe All Lights On" (I forget the exact syntax)
> - one line to trigger an event when the user presses '1' and shell out
to
> "xcomm32.exe All Lights Off"
>
> The program will also communicate with other apps by DDE, Sockets
> or reading
> output files. Other apps can use an ActiveX component to communicate
with
> WinIVR.
>
> The success of the setup appears to depend mostly on the modem you
have
> attached to your pc.  I started off with an internal US Robotics
> Voice modem
> which was, to put it mildly, cak!  The wav files would break up and
you
> couldn't understand a word (sounded like a conversation with Stan
> Boardman!).  However, after mailing Keith at Cecam, he recommended
using a
> Modem Blaster as this had good playback quality and detected DTMF
well.  I
> went to PC World last night (ouch!) and bought one (gotta have it
NOW!),
> installed it and got a basic project up and running in half an hour.
>
> I tested it on three different phones, two different ones in my
> house and my
> mobile.  One of the home phones caused the project to hang-up the
> phone when
> you pressed a key, but the other two worked fine.
>
> My initial project with this will be to allow me to set up the video
> remotely.  I'm always forgetting to set the vid when I go out, so
> this will
> let me dial home and program in time / duration etc.  The PC will
> use an old
> RedRat (see http://www.dodgies.demon.co.uk/)
which I've had for a while
> (learning RS232 IR device).  I may extend this to include some HA
stuff as
> well.
>
> Unregistered, WinIVR plays a message stating it is unregistered before
> moving onto your first wav file.
>
> Registration costs $40 (New Zealand dollars £12?) per line (it
> will multiple
> lines on a mini PABX).
>
> Go to http://www.cecam.co.nz for
more info.  The software is 14Mb
> in size so
> it's a whopping download on a 28.8 but I used my company's fat
> internet pipe
> to get it.  As I've already got it, AND with the author's consent, I
could
> cut a cd for any one that asks nicely (I'm NOT going to become a
> distributor
> for this!).
>
> Cheers
>
> Andy
>
>
>
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