Abstract:
A home environment managing method and system to manage home environment values from a plurality of locations is disclosed. The method allows in an acquisition mode to acquire through a Universal Remote Console a plurality of reference sets of home environment values from the plurality of locations. Each of the plurality of reference sets of home environment values are converted into a normalized set using a respective translation algorithm. Each normalized set is stored with a link to the translation algorithm used during the conversion. Furthermore, in a restore mode, a normalized set of home environment values is converted into a reference set using the translation algorithm linked to it, and then the reference set is restore to the appropriate location through a Universal Remote Console.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
   The present invention relates in general to a system, method and program product for home environment management. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system, method and program product for improving the management of user profiles with related settings for home environment management. 
   BACKGROUND ART 
   Computer automation has proliferated to peoples&#39; houses, with house automation, or home environment management. 
   One gathers under the name house automation, the whole of electronic technologies, data processing and telecommunication used in the houses. 
   House automation aims at ensuring the functions of safety, comfort, and monitoring of energy and communications, which one can find in the house. 
   The various apparatuses of a house are integrated within the home environment management systems which communicate between themselves in order to manage the automation. Some electronic devices make measurements of environment variables, such as temperature, wind speed, and so on. These measurements are used by the home environment management system in order to manage the same or other electronic devices in order to match a user command. 
   These systems can store one user setting in a user profile and then manage electronic devices for a user that selects this specific profile. 
   While this technology benefits a user of a specific system, it becomes useless in the situation where the user is traveling, thereby using several different home environment management systems. 
   Even if attempts have been made to provide a means to carry user profiles for other home environment management systems, a limitation is that a user profile is specific for a home environment management system company or model, and cannot be used for another one. 
   The following patents illustrate methods and systems for managing measurements in an environment utilizing a portable data processing system. 
   U.S. Pat. No. 6,604,023 to Brown discloses a method, system and program for managing an environment utilizing a portable data processing system. The portable data processing system can retrieve environmental indicators for a particular environment, and analyze each indicator according to an environment sensitivity profile. 
   While this technology helps a user to store collected values and helps the user to perform analysis on data collected by specific systems, it becomes useless in those situations where the user is traveling. 
   U.S. Pat. No. 6,622,115 to Brown discloses a method, system and program for managing a particular environment according to preferences stored on personal storage. This technology introduces the personal storage in the complete environment management system, but it becomes useless when the environment system is preexisting and is limited in the situation where the user is traveling, using several different home environment management systems. 
   Given the ever-increasing complexity of these ubiquitous environments, and the number of devices and services involved, new standards are arriving to enable this graceful integration. The V2 standard is one of these standards proposed by the technical committee of the International Committee for Information Technology Standards (www.incits.org) which is developing standards for Information Technology Access Interfaces. As part of this endeavor, V2 (www.v2access.org) is about to issue the Universal Remote Console (URC) architecture. The international standard for a Universal Remote Console (URC) is based on AIAP-URC (Alternative Interface Access Protocol—Universal Remote Console) which is a standard interconnection protocol that allows users to control mass-market devices/services (termed “targets”). 
   In view of the foregoing, it appears desirable to offer a method, system and program product to automatically manage a set of normalized settings to be transferred to a home environment management system using a Universal Remote Console. The present invention offers such a solution. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   It is an object of the invention to achieve a method and to provide a system for automatically adjusting user settings in any type of home environment management system, thereby allowing a user to travel from one location to another more easily. 
   Accordingly, the main object of the invention is a system implemented as a management module in a Universal Remote Console for acquiring normalized settings for a user of a home environment management system. 
   Another object of the invention is a system to retrieve reference values from the management module, translate the reference values to normalized settings using a translation module and store the reference values in a user profile on a mobile storage. 
   Yet another object of the invention is a system to retrieve on a mobile storage the normalized settings of a user profile and translate the normalized settings to reference values for use by a home environment management system. 
   Finally, another object of the invention is a system to store in a user profile a plurality of translation algorithms to convert normalized settings into reference values according to the home environment management system. 
   All objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description as well as in the appended claims. 
   According to an aspect of the present invention, a method is proposed for house automation. Particularly, a home environment managing method and system to manage home environment values from a plurality of locations is disclosed. The method allows in an acquisition mode to acquire through a Universal Remote Console a plurality of reference sets of home environment values from a plurality of locations. Each of the plurality of reference sets of home environment values are converted into a normalized set using a respective translation algorithm. Each normalized set is stored with a link to the translation algorithm used to convert a respective set of home environment values into the normalized set. Furthermore, in a restore mode, a normalized set of home environment values is converted into a reference set using the translation algorithm linked to it, and then the reference set is restored to the appropriate location through the Universal Remote Console. 
   In a commercial form, computer readable program means allowing a computer machine to perform the method according to the present invention are embodied on a program storage device that is readable by the computer machine. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be better understood by reading the following more particular description of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein: 
     FIG.  1 - a  illustrates the Universal Remote Control specification&#39;s structure and components; 
     FIG.  1 - b  is a general view of a house automation system; 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a plurality of components being adjusted to specific settings; 
     FIG.  3 - a  is a general conceptual view of the system of the present invention; 
     FIG.  3 - b  is a diagram of a user carrying the external storage to different house automation systems; 
       FIG. 4  is a diagram of a user profile as defined in the present invention; 
       FIG. 5  is a flow chart of a user profile acquisition; 
       FIG. 6  is a flow chart of user profile normalized setting measurements; and 
       FIG. 7  is a pictorial representation of the user interface main window in a preferred embodiment. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   The Universal Remote Control specification&#39;s structure and components are illustrated in FIG.  1 - a . As shown, the URC architecture is made up of four major components and two networks. The components include: 
   A target  100 ; 
   A URC  102 ; 
   A User Interface Implementation Description (UIID)  104 ; and 
   resources  106 . 
   The networks include a Target-URC Network (TUN)  108  and a Resource-URC Network (RUN)  110 . The URC  102  is coupled to the target  100  via the TUN  108  to access available functions. A detailed view of target  100  is illustrated in FIG.  1 - b . Target  100  is a house automation system and comprises a management unit  1002 , connected via a control bus  1004  to a keyboard  1006  and to a remote management satellite  1008 . The management unit  1002  is connected via a detection bus  1010  to a plurality of sensors and detectors ( 1012 - 1  to  1012 - n ). 
   The remote management satellite  1008 , which in a preferred embodiment is implemented in the same box as the management unit  1002 , is linked to house equipment ( 1016 - 1  to  1016 - n ) via a command bus  1014 . 
   One skilled in the art will easily appreciate that the house equipment ( 1016 - 1  to  1016 - n ) could include heating systems, hot water systems, electronic equipment, shutters, lights, fans, etc. 
   One skilled in the art will also easily appreciate that the control bus  1004 , the detection bus  1010  and the command bus  1014  could be implemented on a plurality of media (i.e., wire, wireless connection, infra-red connection, etc.). 
   An optional remote control unit  1018  could be implemented as part of the target  100 . 
   Referring now to  FIG. 2 , a plurality of sample components are shown being adjusted to specific settings. Referring to the temperature management subsystem  202 , for example, the management unit  1002  is connected via the detection bus  1010  to the temperature sensor  208  (part of the plurality of sensors and detectors ( 1012 - 1  to  1012 - n )). A reference temperature was previously recorded on the management unit  1002 , via its specific user interface. The temperature sensor  208  performs the measurement and reports the corresponding value to the management unit  1002 . The command and actions to meet the reference temperature are calculated by the management unit  1002 , transmitted via the control bus  1004  to the remote management satellite  1008 , and the specific commands are sent to heating system  210  or the climatisation system  212  (part of the house equipment ( 1016 - 1  to  1016 - n )). 
   Referring to the luminosity management subsystem  204 , the management unit  1002  is connected via the detection bus  1010  to the luminosity sensor  214  (part of the plurality of sensors and detectors ( 1012 - 1  to  1012 - n )). A reference light value was previously recorded on the management unit  1002 , via its specific user interface. The luminosity sensor  214  performs the measurement and reports the corresponding value to the management unit  1002 . The command and actions to meet the reference light value are calculated by the management unit  1002 , transmitted via the control bus  1004  to the remote management satellite  1008  and the specific commands are send to the shutter system  215  or to light system  216  (part of the house equipment ( 1016 - 1  to  1016 - n )). 
   Referring to the time managed management subsystem  206 , the management unit  1002  is connected via the detection bus  1010  to the time unit  218  (part of the plurality of sensors and detectors ( 1012 - 1  to  1012 - n )). The time unit  218  could also be integrated directly into the management unit  1002 . A reference value was previously recorded on the management unit  1002 , via its specific user interface, for each element of the plurality of house equipment to be managed by time. On clock detection by the management unit  1002 , the command (Yes or No) is calculated by the management unit  1002 , transmitted via the control bus  1004  to the remote management satellite  1008  and the specific electric command is sent to the related house equipment ( 1016 - 1  to  1016 - n ). 
   One skilled in the art will easily appreciate that a plurality of management subsystems as defined hereinbefore could be implemented as well. 
   Referring now to  FIG. 3   a , a general view of the system of the present invention is now described. The system includes as previously introduced a target  100  coupled to a URC  102  via a network  108 . An operational module  302  is connected directly to the URC  102  or alternatively (not shown) via a RUN  110 . The operational module  302  allows in one mode the acquisition of reference values from target  100 , then the translation of the reference values to normalized settings and the storage of the normalized settings into a user profile  310 . The user profile may be part of an external storage  306  accessible via an external storage plugin module  304 . In another mode, the operational module  302  allows the retrieval of normalized settings from a user profile of an external storage  306 , and the translation of the normalized settings to reference values. 
     FIG. 3   b  is a diagram of a user carrying the external storage  306  from a first target house automation system  100 - a  (for example in a home) to a different model and type of target house automation system  100 - b  (for example in a hotel). The user may carry the external storage  306  to any of the house automation systems  100 - x , in order to operate it to install the house with the user&#39;s user profile. 
   Referring now to  FIG. 4 , a description of a user profile as defined in the present invention is made. The user profile  310  comprises a data set unit  402  made of a plurality of data set components ( 402 - 1  to  402 - n ) and a translation unit  404  made of a plurality of translation components ( 404 - 1  to  404 - m ). The operational module  302  or the external interface (refer to  FIG. 7 ) operates to maintain or not (based on user choice) a link  406  between one data set component and one translation component. 
     FIG. 5  depicts a high level flow chart for a user profile acquisition  500 , enabling settings in different house automation systems. Processing starts when the external storage  306  is inserted into the external storage plugin module  304  (step  502 ). One skilled in the art will easily appreciate that the external storage  306  may be any mobile media capable of storing data, and that the external storage plugin module  304  is adapted to it (such as if the external storage  306  is a USB key, the external storage plugin module  304  is the USB port of the URC). 
   If a user profile  310  exists, process goes to step  518  where the retrieval of the user profile starts. On step  520 , the user profile  310  is read from the external storage  306 . On step  521 , the user is asked to select the correct data set  402 - x  of normalized settings to be applied. On step  522 , the normalized settings are extracted. The translation component to be applied to the normalized settings is retrieved automatically from the translation unit  404  if a link  406  already exists in the user profile  310 , otherwise the user is asked to select a translation component  404 - y  in the user profile  310  on step  524 . Then, on step  526 , the process allows the user to select manually some normalized settings to be transmitted after the translation operation to the management unit  1002 , or to use a preselected bundle of normalized settings already defined in the user profile  310 . 
   Then on step  528 , the process performs the translation of the normalized values to reference values based on information collected during steps  522 ,  524  and  526 . The reference values are next sent to the management unit  1002  on step  530 . The process then ends on step  532 . 
   Going back to step  504 , if the user profile  310  does not exist on the external storage  306 , the process goes to step  506  to start the acquisition operation. 
   On next step  508 , the user defines the elements of his user profile, i.e., a specific translation component or not, the reference values to be stored as normalized settings, and a preselected bundle of normalized settings. 
   On step  510 , the process performs the acquisition of references values from the management module  1002 . Then on step  512 , the process performs the translation of those reference values to normalized settings, and saves on step  514  all preselected elements in the first data set component  402 - 1  of the user profile  310  on the external storage  306 . 
   The process exits the acquisition mode on Step  516  and then ends on step  532 . 
   Going to  FIG. 6 , a flow chart for a user profile normalized setting measurements is provided. On step  600 , the user starts the acquisition mode on the operational module  302 . 
   If the user mentions the retrieval of reference values from the management module  1002 , the process goes to step  604 . On step  604 , the acquisition of reference values from the management module  1002  is performed. On step  606 , the process performs the translation of those reference values to normalized settings. 
   If on step  602 , the user mentions the retrieval of real values, the operational module  302  starts on step  608  the acquisition of real values using the sensors and detectors ( 1012 - 1  to  1012 - n ) through the management module  1002 . The real values are then translated as normalized settings on step  610 . 
   On step  612 , the user is offered to update an existing data set component. If the user decides to update, the process goes to step  614 , where the user selects the chosen data set  402 - x  to be updated, and on step  616  the data set is updated. Then the process ends on step  626 . 
   If on step  612  the user wants to create a new data set component, the process goes to step  618  where the new data set component ( 402 - n+ 1) is created on the external storage  306  as part of the existing user profile  310 . In this latter case, the value of ‘n’ corresponds to the last predefined data set component on the user profile  310 . 
   If the user wants to store also a corresponding translation component on step  620 , then the process goes to step  622  otherwise the process ends on step  626 . 
   On step  622 , a translation component ( 404 - n+ 1) is created on the external storage  306  as part of the existing profile  310 . On next step  624 , a link ( 406 - n+ 1) is created between the newly created translation component ( 404 - n+ 1) and the new data set component ( 402 - n+ 1). The process then ends on step  626 . 
     FIG. 7  illustrates a preferred embodiment of the external interface main window as viewed by a user inserting the external storage  306  into a personal computer drive. The window includes a data set area  702  to display a list of data set components included in the user profile  310  present on the external storage  306 . The user may select one data set  704  in this selection list  702 . 
   The main window also includes a translation area  706  to list all the translation components available in the user profile  310  and to be linked to the data set components of the selection list  702 . A translation component  708  that is selected in the selection list  706  by the user is the one which is linked to the data set component  704  selected by the user. 
   The main window also includes several push buttons. A link button  710  allows the user to create the link  406  between one data set component  402  and one translation component  404 . 
   A cancel button  712  allows the user to cancel all current actions while maintaining the existing links that have been defined before the external interface starts. 
   The main window may also include a help button  714  to start a help process for the external interface. 
   Additionally, the window may include another push button  716  to delete an existing link  406  between a data set component and a translation component. 
   In another configuration where a user may use a ‘create data set’ push button  720  or may directly edit an existing data set  704  by using an ‘edit’ push button  718 , an edit window is opened with a data set basic format with predefined normalized settings. 
   It is to be appreciated that various modifications may be made to the system and method herein described without departing from the spirit of the invention.