Re: Insteon/X10

[Marc_F_Hult <MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 23 Mar 2007 21:54:40 -0400, "Robert L Bass"
<no-sales-spam@bassburglaralarms> wrote in message
<GPmdnfAAD-R6GZnbnZ2dnUVZ_tOmnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxx>:

>> It cites the patent numbers and provides
>> "twenty-seven 8 by 10 colored glossy
>> photographs with circles and arrows and
>> a paragraph on the back of each one".
>
>"You can get anything you want...
>exceptin' Alice!"
>
>> "It could also hurt SmartLabs, whose
>> Insteon RF technology is similar to both
>> Z-Wave and Zigbee, and which also
>> has lighting control as a linchpin of its
>> strategy"
>
>It should be interesting to see how this all
>shakes out.  SmartLabs might not have the
>money to fight it out, especially if users
>and dealers get tired of waiting for the vapor
>to solidify.

Perhaps you didn't read the whole article.

"Lutron is suing Leviton for infringing on patents that have to do
with wall-box dimmers, RF transceivers in a junction box, and lighting
control with two-way status/feedback.

The lawsuit is no surprise, really. It was only a matter of time.
Apparently, that time was when Leviton finally shipped its two-way
Vizia RF lighting control system based on the Z-Wave mesh-networking
wireless protocol. "

" One of the patents in particular I've been told is pretty rock
solid. Number (5,982,103) refers to an RF transmitter and/or receiver
sharing the same wallbox as a switch or dimmer (See links and
illustrations of all patents below). Lutron first employed such
technology in its Radio Ra lighting controls and later HomeWorks
Interactive Wireless. From what I recall, it was the first to deploy
such a technology. "

"Control4 would seem vulnerable--I believe they've shipped more than
100,000 Zigbee products--but, Control4 is different than the others.
The company invented a technique whereby the RF transmitter/receiver
is actually in the paddle of the dimmer--outside of the wallbox, not
inside it as Lutron has patented."

"Another patent, number 5,905,442 has to do with two-way controls,
where the status of certain devices on the network can be transmitted
to the controlling device, and the controllers can respond to those
status reports. "

"Two-way Z-Wave lighting controls have been delayed for quite awhile;
some have speculated that a potential lawsuit was the reason for the
delay. "


Since I read the hard-copy version of the article, it has been updated
to note: "In fact, Lutron filed a patent-infringement case against
Control4 in May 2006."

Point being that Z-wave and Zigbee are also seen as vulnerable.


... Marc
Marc_F_Hult
www.ECOntrol.org