Automated System Feature Explanations - Continued

This explains the completely automated features of your Home Automation Control System.

Water Sensor
This allows us to detect water leakage in an area.

Motorized Windows
Your system can control windows to provide ventilation as well as additional natural lighting, in the event of rain they would be closed automatically to prevent water damage to rooms and furnishings.

Under Carpet Mat
This allows us to monitor the presence of a person in a particular area. We can then act upon that information to turn on lights or change the systems status of an area to occupied.

Motorized Doors
Your system can open and close doors automatically to provide access for the physically challenged as well as a convenience feature when you have two arms full of groceries.

Door Lock Status
This allows us to tell if an electronic lock is secured.

HLAN Features
While most people tend to think of a local area network as being used for computers, we design networks with home applications in mind. This system allows us to distribute all the video signals throughout your home, distribute up to four telephone lines or a digital telephone system, run an infrared control network, and high speed data connection or computer network on one wall plate. As a bonus it allows you to make very rapid and easy changes to the configuration of your system if you should move a piece of equipment.

Our HLAN's consist of three main components. The first component is a decorator wall plate with connectors for twisted pair wiring, dual coaxial cable connectors, and provision for fiber optic connections. This wall plate is located in every room and location where you would want to put a television, computer, or any audio/video equipment.

The second component is a termination and patch panel that is located in the control room of the residence. The termination portion of the panel allows us to distribute the many signals and services coming into your home. Your video distribution amplifiers and satellite receivers would be located adjacent to this panel. The patch portion of this panel allows us to make quick changes to the configuration of your system and provide troubleshooting services with disrupting your entire household. It also allows the quick disconnection of a single faulty piece of equipment while still providing service to the rest of the system.

The third component is the hybrid cable that connects the wall plates to the termination panel. This cable consists of two category five 4-twisted pair cables, two quad shield RG-6 coaxial cables, and two 62.5/125 micron fiber optic cables inside one jacket. The fiber optic cables are presently held in reserve for future applications.

One-Touch Theater Controls
Your control system can interface with your home theater to provide "one touch" control of the entire theater. The system controller can greatly simplify the control of today's complex THX and AC-3 home theater systems. These systems provide incredible realism, but can sometimes seem to require an engineer to operate them.

For instance, pressing a button or touch screen icon labeled "Laser Disc Show" could do the following: Start to dim the lights, lower the video projector from the ceiling and turn it on, lower the viewing screen, close the motorized draperies, lower the air conditioning set point, turn on the laser disc player, turn on the surround sound processor, turn on the amplifiers, select the laser disc input on the projector, and finally start the laser disc in play. The only requirement on your part is to be sure that a laser disc is in the player.

Theater Features
These are features that are typically found in a theater system such as one button laser disc show, etc.

Spoken Responses
With this feature your building can "talk" to you, typically through a distributed audio video system, to give you information about the building status, or actions that are happening in or around the building.

CD Library
Should you have a CD library changer, your system can provide touch screen pop-up controls to make it easy to operate. You may select any disc or disc track from lists displayed on the touch screen. You may choose to play selected or random CDs from your favorite CD category (such as jazz, show tunes, rock & roll, classical, or easy listening).

Multizone A/V Control
A control point that allows for control of the audio zone by selecting a source and then controlling the transport, frequency control, and volume of the source.

Aux. Motorized Lift
A motorized lift to lift a piece of furniture or audio video equipment.

Lighting Features
The architectural lighting & dimming system allows you to control your lights in ways that you never thought possible. Through this system you can dramatically change the look of your home with a single press of a button. Your system can provide multiple points of control, virtually unlimited scenes, and can even be used to gently "nudge" guests from room to room during a party.

The system accomplishes these feats by having it's own controller that is programmed to turn on different lights at different levels for each scene. The system uses touch pads located throughout the house that have multiple buttons on them.

Each button is programmed to control a different light, scene, or function. The lighting system can also provide timed functions (run exhaust fan for ten minutes then turn off), and control high voltage equipment such as motorized draperies and furniture lifts.

We will work with your lighting designer and contractor to provide you with the proper interface to the control system. By interfacing with the control system we can automatically control lighting in different areas of the residence, turn lights on or off based on time or your actions, change lighting scenes in conjunction with audio/video entertainment options, and provide a "lived in" look when you are on vacation.

In addition to all the above we can "read" the signals from the lighting system touch pads, so that we can eliminate the addition of extra touch pads on your walls. Very often, the additional subsystems on these projects have their own keypads that don't match or flat out clash with the interior design of the residence. By using our system controller, all the touch pads on your walls will match the lighting system controls and your home will retain the aesthetics designed into it from the start.

Standby Generator
Should your residence have a standby generator, the system can monitor the status of the residence and shut down unnecessary systems when the generator is in use. In remote areas it can monitor the residence and cycle the generator as needed to prevent a building freeze up and associated damage. This will allow a longer standby time before refueling the generator. The system will also notify the proper authorities of the status of the residence.

Energy Conservation Mode
A housewide mode that conserves energy by monitoring occupied rooms and setting back Climate Control settings, turning off lights and closing window treatments in unoccupied areas.

Vacation Mode
Before leaving on vacation, you may place your home in "vacation mode" with a single command. Vacation mode will set back your comfort control subsystem to predefined energy-saving temperatures for each room, and randomly turn on and turn off lights in rooms visible from the outside of your home to give it a "lived-in" look. It will also turn on entryway lights after dark if anyone approaches for a timed period.

Lighting & Living Moods
Your system interfaces with the lighting subsystem to orchestrate dozens of lights and create lighting and living moods. Moods may include turning on, dimming, and turning off lights, controlling skylights, controlling the Climate Control system, motorized window treatments and furniture, and turning on music in preselected rooms (Good Morning, Good Night, Normal Day, Normal Evening, Romantic Evening, Evening Party, Day Party). We will work with you and your designer to fine tune each mood.

Housewide Features
These are scenes that include almost every subsystem in a home, such as a party scene that would turn on lights, music, open drapes, turn up the air conditioning, and make announcements as guests approach the front entry.

Temperature Sensor
This device tells the Climate control system what the temperature is in a given area.

Computer Networking
This feature is enabled by using our HLAN system in your building. It allows multiple computers to share data and peripherals without having to carry files on disk from machine to machine.