Re: HA Object Model or Taxonomy?

[alan.trevennor@xxxxxxxxxx]

Following on the general discussion of a "getStatus"
method..

I would suggest "GetState" is a better name for this method,
pretty much anything has a state. For example, a cushion always has a
state, but not really a status, since it doesn't have a formalised set of
statuses, whereas, an aircon unit definitely has a set of formalised
states).

I see the main jobs of an object model as being to codify a subset of
objects in the real world (in this case objects of all kinds found in the
home) and to be able to indicate, in some way, their permanent or dynamic
relationships to one another (the ontology).

Having a separate ontology is essential if dealing with a subject areas
such as published books and music CDs, where there is a dynamic
relationship between writers and artists and the things they create: For
example such an ontology needs to indicate that Brandon Flowers was a
member of The Killers, but is also a songwriter and solo artist and
producer.

However, in the HA case, I think the relationships are more settled and may
be adequately conveyed in the object model structure. For example, an
illuminated house sign is always going to be under something like:

\fittings\illumination\lighting\outdoor

As to the level of detail.....
in theory, an object model should be capable of accommodating any possible
level of detail. For example:

\furnishings\accessories\comfortItems\cushions\footCushions\fillings\hollowFibre\tufts

would allow you to model each tuft of hollow fibre in the aforementioned
cushion, but of course it would be looney for the HA model to go into such
detail, but the possibility should exist. Who knows, one day we may have
intelligent hollow-fibre filling that can be commanded from an HA network
to reshape itself electrically. Ah! Brave new world!

However I think that, to preserve sanity, at some point in any practical
object model you have to resort to allowing "freeform" responses.
So, to continue the looney example, I see no problem with an instance of a
cushion having a "getState" method that returns a collection of
filling object whose state is just a set of self-describing XML objects -
i.e. objects which are not formally described in the model. Further, I
think that in the HA sphere - since it's unfeasible to model every type and
individual variant of - say - TVs. So, at some point TV objects just have
to return a freeform string of data that only some custom piece of code can
interpret.

Anyway, I am probably pre-empting the kinds of discussions we need to have
about the scope and limits of an HA model that we might develop.

Regards
Alan T


--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, Gavin Sallery <gavin@...> 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@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
> > Gavin Sallery
> > Sent: 12 March 2012 00:10
> > To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
> > 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 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@... 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, 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>)
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>
> > >> 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
> >
> >
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>




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