Re: HA Object Model or Taxonomy?

[Tom Lawrence <tom@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I agree with that you are saying about the "Check Status" method.
At its core you need to stop thinking about devices and start thinking
objects, a object may be a device or it may be something else.

Once you do this you can then look to class the objects in groups, when you
have done this I think you need to set that group a set of standard
methods. Doing this will allow the main system to implement new types of
objects very quickly..

Just saying devices should implement the method "Check Status"
doesn't really work for everything moreover you need to define status. Is
this the state of the object or if the object is accessible?

Not really sure if this makes sense or is even useful for this thread.

Tom

On 13 Mar 2012, at 14:46, Gavin Sallery wrote:



Hi Jim,

Thanks - sorry about the error, Drupal 7's wiki support is at best painful.
I've limited input to filtered HTML now, and it seems to be working a
little more smoothly now - do please try again, and let me know if you have
any further problems (I have admin access to that site, so should be able
to sort out any issues).

"Check Status" is an interesting idea, but I'm not sure how it
could be implemented for all devices - it's trivial for an on/off light
(return a boolean indicating whether the light is on), but for other
vivants the status could incorporate lots of structured pieces of
information, i.e. an object. Thus whatever wanted to query every single
device would have to know about the status structure of every single one of
them. How were you imagining that this would be used?

I have expanded the illumination section, and am now working on broadening
the types of vivants.

http://hometechnologyintegration.org/node/119

Cheers,

Gavin

On 13 Mar 2012, at 00:41, Jim Franklin wrote:

> Not a bad start Gavin.
>
> I did try to post a comment, but had a page error.
>
> One thing I would add for ALL devices is to have a "Check
Status" method
> that returns the current status of the device/object.
> Useful if perhaps more than one controller is present, or following a
power
> failure.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx<mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>
[mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx<mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>]
On Behalf Of
> Gavin Sallery
> Sent: 12 March 2012 00:10
> To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx<mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: Re: [ukha_d] HA Object Model or Taxonomy?
>
> Hi Alan (and everyone),
>
> This discussion of openly-available home automation object models has
really
> struck a chord with me. I have been working on such a thing, on and
off, for
> some time - just like you, I found a lack of truly "open"
standards on the
> Web, and needed a well-thought-through object model for some home
automation
> projects I've been working on. I spent quite some time thinking
through the
> best way of representing all the various devices and concepts which
would be
> needed in a home automation system, and captured quite a lot of it in
the
> code I am using for one of the projects (which is Scala-based, and not
quite
> ready for release). However, I never took the time to write out what
I'd
> discovered as a formalised specification.
>
> I am not presumptuous enough to think that the ontology I developed is
the
> ultimate home automation object model. What this discussion has made
me
> realise, though, is that there are probably many of us who have
thought
> about this sort of thing, and this really is one of those areas where
many
> heads are better than one. The best object model is going to be one
which is
> open, collaborative, and flexible. To this end, I have set up a wiki
section
> on the hometechnologyintegration.org<http://hometechnologyintegration.org>
site, for the express purpose of
> sketching out what our idealised home automation model should look
like. I
> invite you all to come along and start fleshing it out; I will be
adding
> documentation for the concepts I can remember, but between us it
should
> become quite comprehensive!
>
> The wiki is here:
> http://hometechnologyintegration.org/wiki/home_automation_taxonomy
>
> Looking forward to hearing from you all!
>
> Gavin
>
> P.S. Wiki-style linking is not working at the moment (you need the
full URL
> in [[url  title]]), I will fix it tomorrow.
>
> On 8 Mar 2012, at 16:52, alan.trevennor@xxxxxxx<mailto:alan.trevennor%40talk21.com>
wrote:
>
> > Thanks for the replies, gents.
> >
> > Rob, I had a look at Harmony and it seems to be an excellent
suite of
> software (love the on-screen design of it), but although I looked at
the
> documentation, I couldn't really see what I was looking for.
> >
> > Sure, you seem to have included lots of classes for different
families and
> genres of devices and fittings, but what I am looking for is really a
> document (or more likely a set of documents) that provides an overall
object
> map that can include all possible home automation entities (or be
capable of
> growing towards that).
> >
> > The kind of thing I am looking for would have "Home" at
the top, under
> that it would have things like "Appliances"
"Fittings" "Services", "Spaces"
> and so on. Then (for example) under "Appliances" it would
things like
> "Heating", "Cooling", "Ventilation",
"Climate Control" and so on.
> >
> > Then, a related document would have individual object
definitions. One
> object might be an "AirConditioners". The air conditioner
object would have
> methods and properties and so on. So, in an implementation of this
generic
> scheme, an HA control system would register a newly discovered Aircon
system
> as an instance of an object with a path of
"Home\Appliances\ClimateControl"
> >
> > Now, I think probably that's the kind of organisation you may
have
> internally within Harmony Server and its companions? But, I can't see
a
> published formalisation of it in the documentation. Perhaps I am
missing
> something or being stupid, but an explicit model doesn't jump out at
me?
> >
> > Why am I seeking this? Because I am creating MicroController
based
> projects aimed at Home Automation, I am keen not to reinvent any
wheels. I
> want the things I create to be able to participate in a well defined -
open
> as possible - HA definition. Obviously, developing a full HA object
model is
> not a trivial task, but it must have been done many times. Problem is,
the
> results never seem to have been made available in a form accessible to
the
> hobbyist. As I said before, there seem to be these schemas out there -
but
> either they are jealously guarded commercial information (which I can
> understand) or they are only available from standards bodies at a
price
> that's too high for hobbyists.
> >
> > Tom, thanks for the OSA pointer. It does seem interesting, but
again there
> is no mention of a formal object specification to go with it and the
> documentation seems limited to installing it and dealing with
interfacing
> issues. It looks like an integration framework, which again is great,
but
> not quite what I am looking for. I have downloaded it to try tomorrow,
so
> perhaps I will be pleasantly surprised when I load it up 8-) I'll let
you
> know.
> >
> > Thanks again for the responses guys.
> >
> > Regards
> > Alan T
> >
> > --- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx<mailto:ukha_d%40yahoogroups.com>,
Tom Lawrence <tom@...> wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi
> >>
> >> This seems to be something that might be of interest.
> >>
> >> http://code.google.com/p/osae/
> >>
> >> thanks,
> >> Tom
> >> On 7 Mar 2012, at 00:48, Rob Iles wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi
> >>
> >> Harmony. (www.domialifestyle.com<http://www.domialifestyle.com><http://www.domialifestyle.com<http://www.domialifestyle.com/>>)
has a
> fully documented API. You'll need
> >> to be running on windows, and have at least a basic
understanding of Dot
> >> Net.
> >>
> >> Info on the website. Feel free to contact me directly if you
want to.
> >>
> >> Disclosure :- I am the author of Harmony.
> >>
> >> Rob
> >>
> >> --
> >> Rob Iles
> >> Proprietor & Chief Automation Architect
> >> Domia Lifestyle
> >> www.domialifestyle.com<http://www.domialifestyle.com><http://www.domialifestyle.com<http://www.domialifestyle.com/>>
> >> On 6 Mar 2012 10:53, <alan.trevennor@...> wrote:
> >>
> >> **
> >>
> >>
> >> Good morning all.
> >>
> >> I just joined, so be gentle if this is a silly question, or
reopening old
> >> wounds! I did a search of this forum and found nothing much
to answer my
> >> question, so here I am asking it!
> >>
> >> I've been looking for a freely available (non proprietary)
object model
> >> for the smart home which is suitable for use by the hobbyist
or home-brew
> >> HA enthusiast. I've found some Java classes that relate to HA
which would
> >> be useful if using Java (I guess) but seem very language
specific. I've
> >> found several useful looking documents issued by standards
bodies (DLNA
> and
> >> others) - but which in fact require you to join them at a fee
of
> thousands
> >> before you can access them. Not at all suitable for the lone
hobbyist on
> >> low low budget.
> >>
> >> I've also found several commercial companies who say their
products all
> >> use their standard object model, but who don't actually
publish that
> object
> >> model, thus ignoring the lessons of recent history that say
that
> publishing
> >> interface standards increases market traction.
> >>
> >> I've found several old stale sites which say they are working
on an open
> >> HA object model, but which seem to long ago have failed to
proceed.
> >>
> >> And so on...
> >>
> >> So my question is: Does such a thing exist? A freely
available and
> >> comprehensive object model for the smart home, suitable for
use by the
> >> great unwashed?
> >>
> >> My Googling would seem to suggest to me that there is no such
thing. Am I
> >> wrong? I hope I am 8-)
> >>
> >> Thanks in advance for your help.
> >> Alan T
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------
> >>
> >>
> >> Yahoo! Groups Links
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >>
> >
> >
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>

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