Patent Publication Number: US-2022224596-A1

Title: Distributed system of home device controllers

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/191,525, filed on Mar. 3, 2021; which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/517,551 (now U.S. Pat. No. 10,985,972), filed on Jul. 20, 2019; which claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/701,422, filed on Jul. 20, 2018, the aforementioned applications being hereby incorporated by reference in their respective entireties. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     Home control systems, such as lighting control systems used for lighting fixtures, include binary analog switches and analog dimmer switches that enable users to control one or more lights wired to an electrical box upon which such switches are connected. Faults can occur with smart home systems that leave certain smart home functionality ineffective until the fault is resolved. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The disclosure herein is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements, and in which: 
         FIG. 1A  illustrates an example of a home device controller including a touch control panel comprising multiple touch control grooves, according to various embodiments; 
         FIG. 1B  illustrates an example of a home device controller utilizing a communication hub, according to various embodiments; 
         FIGS. 2A-2D  illustrate examples of a distributed system of home device controllers executing distributed communications and fault control, according to various embodiments; 
         FIGS. 3 and 4  are flow charts describing example methods of acquiring and managing connection leases to home devices in a distributed system of home device controllers, according to various implementations; and 
         FIG. 5  is a hardware diagram illustrating a computing device upon which example home device controllers described herein may be implemented. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     A distributed communication system of home device controllers is described herein. The distributed system can comprise a plurality of home device controllers, each being connected to a local network of home devices. For example, a home device controller can be wirelessly connected to one or more smart home devices or systems (e.g., a smart light, temperature control system, audio or entertainment system, etc.). In certain implementations, the home device controller can be wired to a home device (e.g., a light) using existing home wiring (e.g., light switch wiring) of a household. A user can interact with the home device controller via voice and/or touch gesture input to remotely operate the local network of home devices connected to the home device controller. 
     In various embodiments, the home device controller can include at least one touch control groove formed on a control panel of the home device controller. The touch control groove can comprise an elongated (e.g., vertically elongated) indentation within the control panel, and can be coupled to or otherwise influence a set of touch sensors (e.g., a capacitive slider sensor) provided underneath or behind the touch control groove. The user can perform one or more gestures on the touch control groove, which can be detect by a touch controller or microcontroller that generates a set of signals based on the gesture. The signals can be transmitted to processing resources (e.g., a microprocessor) of the home device controller, which can interpret the performed gesture(s) as control commands for a respective home device. For example, the touch control groove can be configured to control an adjustable parameter of a home device, such as a dim level of a light, volume of an audio system, temperature of a climate control system, and the like. 
     In certain implementations, the home device controller can include a touch screen, upon which the user can select from a set of home devices in the local network of the home device controller. In selecting a home device on the touch screen, the home device controller can remap the touch control groove to operate the selected home device. Accordingly, subsequent touch gestures performed on the touch control groove may be interpreted by the microprocessor of the home device controller as control commands specific to the selected home device. In certain aspects, the home device controller can be configured such that touch gestures performed on the touch screen can also be interpreted to control the selected home device. In certain aspects, the preselected home device can be controlled via touch gestures on the touch screen regardless of the current content being displayed on the touch screen (e.g., a preconfigured set of digital photographs). 
     A given home, business, or other space, can comprise any number of home device controllers each being operable to directly control a set of home devices within that home device controller&#39;s local network of home devices. Additionally, any home device within the space (e.g., a temperature control system) can be operated via any home device controller. For example, the user can control an audio system within the local network of a first home device controller through interaction with a second home device controller by selecting the audio system from a selectable menu of operable home devices on the touch screen of the second home device controller, and performing a set of touch gestures (e.g., tap gestures to select a radio channel or slide, swipe, tap-hold, and/or scroll gestures to make audio selections and/or change the volume). Upon receiving each set of gesture inputs, the second home device controller can interpret the gestures as a request to change the state of the audio system. The second home control device will generate a set of named values that represent the change and transmit them to the first home device controller, which can generate corresponding control commands for execution by the audio system. 
     According to embodiments described herein, each home device controller can publish any observed state changes to home devices within its local network of home devices to a message bus of the distributed system of home device controllers. State changes may be made through direct interaction with the home device (e.g., a user turning a dial on an audio device to change the volume), or via the home device controller. In either case, the state change may be detected and published to the message bus. In certain implementations, the message bus can comprise a distributed data store comprising a list of home device identifiers, state identifiers and values for each home device (e.g., indicating dim level of a light, audio level of a sound system, temperature of a climate control system, etc.), and a time stamp indicating the time of the last stage change. In some aspects, each home device controller can also publish a periodic update of the respective states of its local network of home devices to the message bus. 
     As provided herein, a current “state” of a home device can comprise one or more named values corresponding to any adjustable parameter of the home device or a sub-device of that home device. In one example, a light bulb can have a current state corresponding to its current dim level (e.g., between zero and a maximum n, with zero being an off state, n being a maximum brightness state, and any value therebetween being a respective dim level of the light). As another example, the current state of an audio system can include a volume level, a current radio channel, a current file selection (e.g., a song), and the like. In this example, the home device controller having the audio system within its local network can publish a set of named values, corresponding to the current state of the audio system to the message bus (e.g., either periodically or triggered by every state change of the audio system). 
     In various implementations, the distributed data store comprising the current state values for each home device of the distributed system of home controller devices can be included in the memory of a communication hub (e.g., a third-party hub), distributed redundantly in local memory of the home device controllers, or in a backend memory device (e.g., accessible over a network). In some aspects, each state change of a specified home device published to the message bus can overwrite previous state for that specified home device in order to maintain an up-to-date state for the message bus. Additionally or alternatively, the named values or published state from a particular home device controller can become stale after a predetermine period of time. 
     At any given time, a fault condition can arise in the distributed system of home device controllers. For example, a tripped circuit breaker can cause a home device controller to deactivate, resulting in the home devices within its local network to lose connectivity with or operability through the distributed system of home device controllers. According to examples provided herein, the distributed system of home device controllers can leverage the message bus to perform a leasing arbitration, based on a set of lease acquisition rules, so that one or more other home device controllers can acquire and directly connect with the home devices previously within the local network of the downed home device controller. 
     In various examples, each home device controller can monitor the message bus for state changes or fault conditions. A fault condition can be detected by a home device controller if a downed home device controller fails to update state information of its home devices (e.g., misses one or more periodic updates mandated by the distributed system). In some implementations, the downed home device controller can transmit a failure message to the message bus, which can trigger the lease acquisition phase for its local network of home devices. In accordance with various implementations described, once the downed home device controller is back online (e.g., a power failure is resolved), the home device controller can publish a state update to the message bus to acquire home devices automatically (e.g., as the leaseholder of those home devices). 
     The set of lease acquisition rules can determine which of the remaining home device controllers acquire which home device(s) of the downed home device controller. The lease acquisition rules can set forth requirements and preferences corresponding to each home device to be acquired. In this manner the lease acquisition rules may fluctuate based on the home devices being acquired. For example, a home device requiring a Bluetooth LE connection can comprise a hard rule that only home device controllers within Bluetooth LE range of that home device can be candidates for acquiring the lease to that home device. As another example, a home device controller must have the load capability (e.g., available bandwidth) of acquiring the lease to a home device. Thus, if a home device controller is already connected to several home devices, acquisition of the lease has the potential to cause load thresholds to be crossed (e.g., causing transmission latency to one or more home devices within the local network). In this example, the home device controller would be deprioritized as a candidate for acquiring the home devices of the downed controller. 
     In certain aspects, the lease acquisition arbitration process performed by the home device controllers can be resolved near-instantaneously such that the home devices of the downed home device controllers can be acquired by any home device controller (except for the downed controller). Once a lease to a home device is acquired, the acquiring home device controller becomes the lease holder of that home device for a predetermined period of time (e.g., each lease comprises an expiration time), or until an alternative triggering condition causes the acquiring home device controller to free the lease (e.g. if bandwidth becomes too constrained). While the acquiring home device controller is the lease holder, any state changes to the acquired device can be published by the acquiring controller to the message bus. In certain examples, when the lease to the home device expires, the current leaseholder can have first priority to renew the lease, and/or the lease arbitration process can recommence to ensure that the home controller device with the greatest “fitness” or current capability to acquire the lease becomes the new leaseholder. As provided herein, the “fitness” criteria of a home device controller in acquiring a lease to a home device can comprise multiple factors, including proximity to the home device, bandwidth requirements, current load on the home device controller, required communication protocol(s), and the like. In this manner, the distributed system of home device controllers can dynamically minimize lease contention and optimally spread load throughout the system, whether the entire system is functioning nominally or whether one or more fault conditions exist. 
     Acquisition of a lease of a home device can trigger the acquiring home device controller to establish a network connection to the acquired home device (e.g., using Bluetooth, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, etc.). In certain examples, the acquisition of a lease can cause the acquiring home device controller to secure a connection to the acquired device via multiple communication protocols (e.g., via a communications hub). Thereafter, any gestures or inputs a user performs to control the acquired home device can be processed into requested state changes that are relayed to and/or processed by the acquiring home device controller such that control commands corresponding to the user&#39;s gestures and/or inputs can be generated and transmitted to the acquired home device by the home device controller. Thus, all of the controllable home devices can continue to be operable via the distributed system of home device controllers even when one or more home device controllers experience a fault. 
     Described herein are examples of “home device” controllers. However, such “home devices” are not limited to controllable or smart home devices within a household, but may be any remotely operable smart device in any setting (e.g., outdoors, in a business environment, etc.). Thus, the term “home” is termed in relation to any system environment where the distributed system of home device controllers is installed, and can include households, office spaces, other indoor spaces of businesses or other entities, outdoor spaces, and the like. For example, a smart device described herein as a home device can comprise a remotely operable sprinkler system, computing device, television or entertainment system, kitchen devices (e.g., a stove, oven, refrigerator, coffeemaker, tea kettle, toaster, etc.), security system, garage door, gate, mailbox, doors, window shade actuators, fans, etc. A home device can also comprise a device wired to the home device controller (e.g., via standard light wiring) and traditionally operable by an analog light switch or dimmer switch. Such wired devices can include lights, fans, etc. 
     Among other benefits, the examples described herein achieve a technical effect of dynamically resolving fault conditions for distributed home control systems through the use of a distributed data store comprising a message bus to which each home device controller can publish state data and timestamps corresponding to the current states of the home devices within their direct local control. When a home device controller experiences a fault condition, the distributed system can perform lease acquisition processes for each home device of the downed controller, and maintain system control of those home devices. 
     As used herein, a home device controller can comprise a computing device and can provide network connectivity and processing resources for communicating with a local network of home devices and a distributed system of home device controllers over one or more networks. The home device controller can also comprise custom hardware, and in certain examples, can also operate a designated application configured to communicate with the network of home device controllers. 
     One or more examples described herein provide that methods, techniques, and actions performed by a computing device are performed programmatically, or as a computer-implemented method. Programmatically, as used herein, means through the use of code or computer-executable instructions. These instructions can be stored in one or more memory resources of the computing device. A programmatically performed step may or may not be automatic. 
     One or more examples described herein can be implemented using programmatic modules, engines, or components. A programmatic module, engine, or component can include a program, a sub-routine, a portion of a program, or a software component or a hardware component capable of performing one or more stated tasks or functions. As used herein, a module or component can exist on a hardware component independently of other modules or components. Alternatively, a module or component can be a shared element or process of other modules, programs or machines. 
     Some examples described herein can generally require the use of computing devices, including processing and memory resources. Memory, processing, and network resources may all be used in connection with the establishment, use, or performance of any example described herein, including with the performance of any method or with the implementation of any system. 
     Furthermore, one or more examples described herein may be implemented through the use of instructions that are executable by one or more processors. These instructions may be carried on a non-transitory computer-readable medium. Machines shown or described with figures below provide examples of processing resources and computer-readable mediums on which instructions for implementing examples disclosed herein can be carried and/or executed. In particular, the numerous machines shown with examples of the invention include processors and various forms of memory for holding data and instructions. Examples of non-transitory computer-readable mediums include permanent memory storage devices, such as hard drives on computing devices, such as the home device controllers described herein. Other examples of computer storage mediums include portable storage units, such as flash drives or flash memory (such as those included in smartphones, multifunctional devices or tablet computers). Computers, terminals, network-enabled devices (e.g., mobile devices or home device controllers described herein) are all examples of machines and devices that utilize processors, memory, and instructions that may be stored on computer-readable mediums. Additionally, examples may be implemented in the form of computer-programs, or a computer usable carrier medium capable of carrying such a program. 
     Home Device Controller 
       FIG. 1A  illustrates an example of a home device controller including a touch control panel comprising multiple touch control grooves, according to various embodiments. The example shown in  FIG. 1A  is a frontal view of the home device controller  100  that includes touch control panel  101 . According to one or more examples, the home device controller  100  may provide the capability for a user to control lighting levels of one or more connected lights  133 ,  134 ,  135 . The touch control panel  101  can comprise a mounting plate for a wall, and may be a component of the home device controller  100 , which can include AC electronics and may be mounted in a wall (e.g., of a building such as a home or business). In some embodiments, the touch control panel  101  may include a removable bezel, e.g. a plastic bezel, that may be snapped on and off of the unit, thereby providing a capability for cosmetic changes, e.g. color changes, without necessitating replacement of the entire touch control panel  101 . 
     In the example shown in  FIG. 1A , the home device controller  100  can be mounted to replace an existing light switch panel, and can further utilize the existing load and line wires of the gang-box mounted within the wall behind the light switch panel. The home device controller  100  can include processing and memory resources as well as network communication modules implementing one or more network communications protocols. In certain aspects, one or more of the touch control grooves (e.g., control groove  105 ) can be associated with a wired connection  115  to a home device, such as a light element  135  (e.g., via a direct wiring from a load wire attached to the home device controller). For such wired connections, the home device need not be a smart home device (e.g., including a controller and/or wireless communication module). 
     In various examples, the home device controller  100  can include lighting control capability that may be integrated into the same module. For example, a home device controller  100  can function as an AC dimmer, which commonly dims a light by chopping up or otherwise manipulating the output AC waveform on the load wire going to a light by eliminating some portion of the output, relative to the input line AC (e.g., of the line wire), during a phase of the duty cycle (e.g., a leading edge or trailing edge dimmer which may chop out a part of the waveform either before or after zero crossings), resulting in a duty cycle that indicates the desired amount of dimming. In various embodiments, the home device controller  100  can perform such dimming using a triac or a field-effect transistor (FET), such as a MOSFET (e.g., a pair of FETs and/or MOSFETs), which may be under the control of a microcontroller or touch controller (e.g., an Atmel ATTiny or ATMega) that receives instructions on a desired on/off/dimming level state and adjusts its outputs accordingly. 
     In some embodiments, the home device controller  100  may utilize DC power for lighting (e.g., 10V, 12V, or 24V) in which the output voltage may be varied. In some embodiments, the home device controller can utilize a Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI) for controlling a light. In some embodiments, the home device controller can transmit lighting control commands, corresponding to a specified on/off/dimming state, based on touch gestures on the control groove  103 ,  104 ,  105  using a wireless network such as WiFi, Zigbee, Z-Wave, or Bluetooth (including BLE). 
     The control panel  101  can include one or more touch control grooves  103 ,  104 ,  105 , each of which can be formed on the touch control panel  101  of the home device controller  100  and may provide the capability to adjust lighting or control functions other home devices. A touch sensor, such as a capacitive touch sensor or a combination of a plurality of capacitive touch sensors, may be placed underneath or otherwise coupled to each control groove  103 ,  104 ,  105 . For example, the touch sensor may be embedded in a printed circuit board (e.g., made of glass-reinforced epoxy laminate sheets, such as FR4) or in polyimide film such as Kapton, which in some embodiments may be integrated with a flex connector. 
     In various implementations, the control panel  101  can further include a touch screen  102 . In an illustrative embodiment, software may provide a user interface on the screen  102 , or via a mobile application on a smartphone or a website provided by a server, which provides the user with an option to map a particular touch control groove to a particular output, such as a physical lighting circuit connected to the home device controller  100 , a physical lighting circuit connected to a different home device controller, or a third party device such as a smart bulb, an audio system, smart blinds or curtains, a thermostat, or a fan. When a home device is selected to be mapped to a touch control groove  104 , the home device controller  100  may be notified and may store a mapping in its memory (e.g., in non-volatile memory such as flash memory) that associates the home device with an identifier associated with the touch control groove  104 . Subsequently, when a gesture is detected in the touch control groove  104 , the mapping may be consulted, or a state resulting from an earlier consultation of the mapping may be in place, and consequently the home device may be controlled accordingly by the gesture in the touch control groove  104 . 
     Connected to otherwise coupled to each touch control groove  103 ,  104 ,  105  may be a corresponding touch sensor or set of touch sensors (e.g., a capacitive touch slider). The touch sensor may be configured to perform in a slider configuration, and/or may be implemented utilizing any combination of capacitive touch sensors, such as CapTIvate™ capacitive touch sensor technology developed by Texas Instruments. In certain embodiments, the touch slider can comprise such as a planar or non-planar, self-capacitance or mutual capacitance, interdigitated X and Y electrodes, or flooded-X capacitive slider, and may be implemented behind the control grooves  103 ,  104 ,  105 . The touch sensor can be connected to a touch controller, such as a microcontroller. The touch controller can analyze the capacitance of the touch sensor and generate digital or analog signals. Signals from the touch controller may be transmitted to a microprocessor, for example, using a Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART), Inter-Integrated Circuit (I 2 C), or Serial Peripheral Interface bus (SPI). 
     Each touch slider may be associated with a particular light circuit (e.g., the home device controller  100  may have multiple outputs, each of which can be assigned to a particular touch slider and therefore a particular corresponding touch control groove). Therefore, when the touch controller detects a gesture at a particular touch slider corresponding to a particular touch control groove, the touch controller can transmit a set of signals corresponding to the touch gesture to a microprocessor of the home device controller  100 , which can generate a corresponding control command for the circuit corresponding to the touch slider and control groove combination. In some embodiments, such circuits may be physical circuits (e.g., AC or DC circuits as described above). In some embodiments, such circuits may be virtual circuits, wired or unwired, and the microprocessor can transmit the control instructions corresponding to the detected gesture, as described above using the applicable network (e.g., WiFi, Zigbee, Z-Wave, DALI, Bluetooth, etc.). 
     Touch gestures may be performed by a user in any of the touch control grooves  103 ,  104 ,  105  and interpreted by the microprocessor of the home device controller  100  to generate the control commands for any of the lights  133 ,  134 ,  135  or smart home systems  120  connected to the home device controller  100 . In particular, the microprocessor can detect one-dimensional touch gestures such as taps, flicks, and slides. For example, the microprocessor can detect touch gestures by analyzing the signals corresponding to gestures performed on the touch control grooves  103 ,  104 ,  105 . The signals can be received by the microprocessor over a specific interface (e.g., UART, I 2 C, SPI, etc.) used for communication between the touch controller(s) and the microprocessor. At the microprocessor, the signals may be interpreted to determine positions and times at which a finger is detected (or ceases to be detected), and from which the microprocessor can calculate touch velocities, accelerations, touch pressure, and touch position on the respective control groove  103 ,  104 ,  105 . The microprocessor can combine the touch positions, times, velocities, etc. to derive gestures can generate corresponding control commands for connected lighting devices  133 ,  134 ,  135  or other home device systems  120 . In some embodiments, machine learning techniques may be applied to create gesture recognizer models using training data of touch gestures and corresponding classifications (e.g., from a plurality of people). 
     In various examples, the microcontroller or touch controller can assign numerical values to the dimming level of lights in a predetermined range 0 . . . n, where 0 represents “off” and n represents a maximum value. On/off lights such as lights that are not dimmable or are otherwise configured not to be dimmed may have n=1 in some embodiments, or may use the same maximum value as an unrestricted dimmable light in some embodiments. The microcontroller can transmit the assigned numerical value to a module (e.g., a microprocessor of the home device controller  100  or a processing resource of a smart bulb) that sets the output level of the light. 
     In some embodiments, lights may be calibrated to have a minimum and/or maximum dim value. The maximum dim value can correspond to a maximum brightness to which the light may be interactively dimmed. The minimum dim value can correspond to a minimum brightness “on” value to which the light can be dimmed (e.g., any increase in the dim level from a 0 “off” value may incur immediately setting the dim level to the minimum dim level, which may be adjusted upward therefrom, and any decrease in the dim level from the minimum level may incur immediately setting the dim level to a 0 “off” value). 
     According to various examples, the screen  102  can comprise a touch screen and can enable the user to operate any number of connected smart home systems  120 , such as smart light devices  133 ,  134 , a temperature control system  122 , a fan controller  124 , a window controller  126 , an audio controller  128 , or any other smart home device  130  (e.g., a smart kitchen appliance, sprinkler system, security system, an electrical outlet, a door lock, a garage door, a doorbell, a video camera, a cooking appliance, etc.). In certain implementations, the user can select a particular smart home device on the touch screen  102  and can utilize a touch control groove  103 ,  104  to turn on/off or adjust a particular adjustable parameter of the selected smart home device. 
     In variations, the screen  102  itself can behave as a touch control groove, and the user can input gestures thereon to control a selected smart home device in accordance with the description provided herein (e.g., using the Y-axis reported by the touch screen as the position within a touch control groove for touch gesture recognition as described herein). In such embodiments, gesture recognition may be performed in the presence of other user interface elements being displayed on the screen, such as picture display, motion art display, selectable items such as scenes or devices, etc. In such embodiments, when a touch on the screen is detected, the microprocessor may determine whether the touch comprises a touch control gesture, as discussed herein. If so, then the microprocess can cause the functionality for that gesture to be executed by the selected home device. If not, then the touch information may be relayed to other processing components for interpretation, such as interactions with an on-screen user interface. 
     In one example, if the user selects the temperature control system  122  on a displayed selectable menu on the touch screen  102 , the microprocessor can be triggered to interpret gestures performed on the touch screen  102  as control commands for adjusting the room temperature. Thus, a touch-scroll gesture upwards on the touch screen  102  can cause the microprocessor to generate commands to increase the temperature of the room, and transmit those temperature control commands to the temperature control system  122 . 
     In certain implementations, a touch control groove (e.g., control groove  103 ) can act as a dedicated control groove for a particular smart home device (e.g., light element  133 ). In such implementations, the user can perform gestures on the control groove  103 , and the microprocessor of the home device controller  100  therein can interpret the gesture, generate control commands for the light element  133  in accordance with the gesture, and transmit the control commands to the light element  133  over a wireless connection  113  using a specified communication protocol (e.g., Zigbee). 
     In variations, a touch control groove (e.g., control groove  104 ) can comprise a universal control groove  104  that can dynamically change connectivity between the various smart home systems  120  and/or light elements  133 ,  134  based on user selections from a displayed selectable menu on the screen. Furthermore, based on a user selection of a particular smart home device, the microprocessor therein can adaptively alter or remap gesture interpretations for gestures performed on the control groove  104 . For example, if the user selects the window controller  126  on the touch screen, the microprocessor can be triggered to interpret gestures performed on the control groove  104  as control commands for an actuator or servo operable to open or close window shades or blinds, and transmit the control commands to the window controller  126  over a wireless connection  112 . 
     In further implementations, the touch screen  102  can graphically display dynamic content corresponding to the gestures being performed by the user on the touch screen  102  or a particular control groove  103 ,  104 ,  105 , such as displaying a dynamic temperature setting, dim value, fan speed, window-shade setting, or volume. The utilization of three touch control grooves  103 ,  104 ,  105  shown in  FIG. 2  is purely illustrative, and it is contemplated that the same techniques described herein may be implemented for one, two, four, five, six or more touch control grooves (and corresponding touch sliders). 
       FIG. 1B  illustrates an example of a home device controller utilizing a communication hub, according to various embodiments. The home device controller  150  shown in  FIG. 1B  can correspond to the home device controller  100  shown and described with respect to  FIG. 1A , and can comprise a local network of controllable home devices. In the example shown, the home device controller  150  can be used to control a light element  154  via a load or line wire  153  of existing wiring of a previous light switch. Additionally or alternatively, the home device controller  150  can be used to control a smart light element  152  using a direct wireless connection  151  with the smart light  152 . 
     In certain implementations, the home device controller  150  can leverage the resources of a communication hub  160  to relay control commands to a home device  155  within the local network of the home device controller  150 . For example, the home device  155  may require a communication protocol that is unavailable on the home device controller  150 , but available via the communication hub  160 . In variations, the communication hub  160  can act as a relay to transmit state changes on the home device  155  (e.g., a user changing the volume of audio) to the home device controller  150 , which the home device controller  150  can publish as a set of named values to a message bus of a distributed data store corresponding to each home device controller of a distributed system (e.g., within a home or business. 
     Distributed Home Device System 
       FIGS. 2A-2D  illustrate examples of a distributed system of home device controllers  200  executing distributed communications and fault control, according to various embodiments. Each home device controller  202 ,  212 ,  222 ,  232 , shown in  FIGS. 2A through 2D  can comprise an example of a home device controller  100 ,  150  as shown and described with respect to  FIGS. 1A and 1B . Referring to  FIG. 2A , the distributed system  200  can include any number of home device controllers  202 ,  212 ,  222 ,  232  each having a local network of any number of home devices  204 ,  214 ,  224 ,  234 . A user may interact with any individual home device controller (e.g., home device controller  202 ) to operate any home device within the local network  204  of that home device controller  202 , and any home device in the local networks  214 ,  224 ,  234  of the remaining home device controller  212 ,  222 ,  232  in the distributed system  200  via a distributed home device controller network  240  (DHDC Network  240 ) that connects each of the home device controllers  202 ,  212 ,  222 ,  232  with each other. 
     In the example shown in  FIG. 2A , home device controller  202  can comprise the leaseholder of a local network of home devices  204  comprising two light elements and home device  1 . It is to be noted that the light elements shown in  FIG. 2A through 2D  can also be described as home devices, but are not labeled as such for simplicity. Home device controller  212  is the leaseholder of a local network  214  comprising one light element  218  and home device  2 . Home device controller  224  is the leaseholder of a local network  224  comprising home device  3  and home device  4 . And, home device  232  is the leaseholder of a local network  234  comprising two light elements can home device  5 . 
     As a distributed system  200 , when a new home device is installed or otherwise enters the influence of the distributed system  200 , the home device controllers  202  can enter into a lease acquisition arbitration process that determines which home device controller  202 ,  212 ,  222 ,  232  ultimately acquires the lease, as leaseholder, to include the new home device within its local network. It is contemplated that the lease acquisition rules for the arbitration process are minimally contentious or non-contentious based on objective current capabilities of each home device controller  202 ,  212 ,  222 ,  232  to control the new device. As such, the control requirements and location of the device may be revealed to the DHDC network  240  (e.g., during a discovery phase), and such factors as proximity, bandwidth requirements, current load on each individual home device controller, required communication protocol(s), and the like may be determinative regarding which home device controller ultimately become the leaseholder of the new home device. In variations, a new home device may be configured by a user to be established within the local control network of a specified home device controller in the system  200 . 
     In various implementations, any state changes to any adjustable parameter of the home devices under control of the distributed system  200  (e.g., dim level changes, volume changes, temperature adjustments, etc.) can be processed and published to a message bus of the DHDC network  240 . The message bus can enable each home device controller  202 ,  212 ,  222 ,  232  to publish the state changes as named values (e.g., dim level values) appended to a device identifier of the home device, and a time stamp corresponding to a time in which the state change took place. In certain examples, the home device controllers  202 ,  212 ,  222 ,  232  may be required to periodically publish the current state of each home device within its respective local network  204 ,  214 ,  224 ,  234  to the message bus, which can transmit the state change data to a distributed data store via the DHDC network  240 . As provided herein, the distributed data store can be included in local memory of the home controller devices  202 ,  212 ,  222 ,  232  of the distributed system  200 , one or more communication hubs leveraged by one or more of the home device controllers (e.g., such as described with respect to  FIG. 1B ), and/or a local or remote computing device or server accessible via the DHDC Network  240 . 
     According to various examples of  FIG. 2A , as the leaseholder to light element  218  and home device  2 , home device controller  212  can receive relayed control commands from any other home device controller  202 ,  222 ,  232  in the distributed system  200  via the DHDC Network  240  to operate light element  218  and home device  2 . Likewise, a user can operate home device controller  212  to transmit control commands to any home device (and light element) in any local network  204 ,  224 ,  234  of the other home device controllers  202 ,  222 ,  232  via the DHDC Network  240 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 2B , a fault condition can occur with any of the home device controllers (e.g., home device controller  212 ). The fault condition can comprise a component failure of the home device controller  212 , a tripped circuit breaker or other power outage, wireless signal latency, or any other condition causing problems or a disruption between home device controller  212  and its local network of home devices  214  and/or the DHDC Network  240 . Accordingly, the light element  218  and home device  2  can comprise connection leases that are up for grabs by the other home device controllers  202 ,  222 ,  232 , and a lease arbitration process for each of light element  218  and home device  2  can be initiated by the distributed system  200 . 
     The fault condition on home device controller  212  may be detected in a number of ways. In one example, a time expiration for periodic publication requirements to the message bus may lapse, indicating that home device controller  212  has gone down or otherwise been deactivated. In variations, the home device controller  212  can include a local power supply (e.g., one or more batteries) that enable the home device controller  212  to transmit a fault message to the message bus prior to powering down. The fault condition may be detected by any of the remaining home device controllers  202 ,  222 ,  232  in the distributed system  200 . For example, a home device controller (e.g., home device controller  222 ) may subscribe to the publications of home device controller  212 , and therefore monitor the message bus for updates from home device controller  212 . If home device controller  212  fails to provide an update to the message bus (e.g., a publication time period expires), then home device controller  222 , as subscriber to home device controller  212 , can generate an alert to the DHDC network indicating that home device controller  212  has been deactivated or powered down. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2C , the lease acquisition process for the local network home devices of controller  212  is commenced and promptly resolved by the distributed system  200 . For example, the distributed system  200  can collectively determine that home device controller  222  and home device controller  202  are within appropriate proximity to take over the leases, whereas home device controller  232  may be physically too distant to adequately acquire the lease. As an illustrative example, home device  2  may have additional load requirements (e.g., data streaming) that may impact the current load of the remaining home device controllers  202 ,  222  in the arbitration process. Home device  3  and home device  4  within the local network  224  of home device controller  222  may have minimal load requirements, whereas home device controller  202  may include a load intensive home device  1  within its local network  204  in addition to two light elements. 
     Thus, the lease acquisition process by the distributed system  200  can result in home device controller  202  acquiring the lease to light element  218 , and home device controller  222  acquiring the lease to home device  2 . As current leaseholders to light element  218  and home device  2  respectively, home device controller  202  can add light element  218  to its local network of home devices  204  and home device controller  222  can add home device  2  to its local network of home devices  224 . In various examples, the respective leaseholder status of home device controller  202  to light element  218  and home device controller  222  to home device  2  may be temporary (e.g., for a fixed amount of time). At expiration of the leaseholder time limit, the lease acquisition arbitration process for light element  218  and home device  2  may be repeated given the current, updated load on the home controller devices  202 ,  222 ,  232  in the existing distributed system  200 . In variations, the lease acquirer can maintain the lease to the home device until the downed home device controller  212  reactivates or otherwise comes back online. However, it is further contemplated that the home device controllers  202 ,  212  can maintain the leases to the light element  218  and home device  2  respectively, and/or the distributed system  200  can enter into a new lease arbitration process for any of the home devices shown in  FIG. 2C  given that home device controller  212  has been reintroduced to the system  200  (e.g., to most optimally spread load in the system  200 ). 
     Furthermore, home device controller  202  and  222  can determine the last published states of the light element  218  and home device  2  in order to reestablish or maintain their current states. For example, if light element  218  was on and had a dim value of six (e.g., between one and ten) at the time of the fault condition, when home device controller  202  acquires the lease to light element  218 , it can perform a lookup in the message bus or distributed data store to acknowledge and/or republish named values corresponding to the current dim value of light element  218  to the message bus. Thus, while light element  218  and home device  2  are controlled by controller  202  and  222  respectively, the controllers  202 ,  222  can execute state changes to those devices and can publish the state changes to the message bus accordingly. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2D , home device controller  212  can be reactivated following resolution of the fault condition. In certain examples, home device controller  212  can have priority to these home devices, and therefore automatically acquire the leases to light element  218  and home device  2  upon coming back online. For example, when the fault condition is resolved, home device controller  212  can reestablish a connection to the DHDC network  240  can publish a resolution message on the message bus, and acquisition request for the leases to light element  218  and home device  3 . Upon detecting the acquisition request or resolution message on the message bus, in certain aspects, home device controller  202  and home device controller  222  can relinquish the leases to light element  218  and home device  2  respectively to home device controller  212 . In variations, the resolution of the fault condition can cause the system  200  to initiate a lease arbitration process including home device controller  212 . In the example shown in  FIG. 2D , the lease arbitration process results in home device controller  212  acquiring light element  218  and home device  2 . However, the lease arbitration process triggered by home device controller  212  coming back online can result in a reshuffling of the home devices within the local networks  204 ,  214 ,  224 ,  234  of the home device controllers  202 ,  212 , 222 ,  232  (e.g., based on individual fitness levels of each home device controller  204 ,  214 ,  224 ,  234  in acquiring any given home device). 
     Methodology 
       FIGS. 3 and 4  are flow charts describing methods of acquiring and managing connection leases to home devices in a distributed system of home device controllers, according to various implementations. In the below description of  FIGS. 3 and 4 , reference may be made to reference characters representing like features as shown and described with respect to  FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 2A through 2D . Furthermore, the processes described in connection with  FIGS. 3 and 4  may be performed by controllers or processing resources of one or more home device controllers  100 ,  200  as shown and described with respect to  FIGS. 1A through 2D . 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , a home device controller  100  in a distributed system of home device controllers  200  can receive gesture inputs to control a particular home device ( 300 ). For example, the gesture inputs may be received on a touch control groove ( 302 ), or on the touch screen of the home control device  100  ( 304 ). Based on the gesture inputs, the home device controller  100  can generate control commands for the home device ( 305 ), and transmit the control commands to the home device for execution ( 310 ). The home device controller  100  can generate named values corresponding to the state change of the home device ( 320 ), and publish the named values to the message bus of the distributed system  200  to record the state change ( 320 ). The named values can comprise state values indicating the adjusted parameter levels of the home device (e.g., dim level, temperature setting, fan speed, volume level, etc.) ( 321 ). The named values can further comprise a device identifier for the home device being controlled ( 322 ). The named values may also include a timestamp indicating the time of the state change on the home device ( 323 ). 
     At any given time, the home device controller  100  can detect a fault condition of a particular home device controller in the distributed system  200  ( 325 ). For example, the fault condition can be detected due to a periodic update time expiration lapsing with a state update from the home device controller, or a fault message being published to the message bus from the downed home device controller. Upon detecting the fault condition, the home device controller  100  can commence or initiate a lease acquisition arbitration process with the remaining home device controllers in the distributed system  200  ( 330 ). In various examples, the lease arbitration process can comprise determinations regarding the home device load requirements ( 331 ), the proximity of the home device controller  100  to the acquirable home devices ( 332 ), and the current and/or expected network load(s) on the home device controller  100  ( 333 ), all of which can indicate whether the home device controller  100  can comprise a candidate to acquire a lease for a home device of the downed home device controller. 
     Additional acquisition rules may be considered by the distributed system  200  based on the requirements of the acquirable device and the capabilities of the home device controller  100 . In certain examples, leases of each home device of the downed home device controller can be arbitrated upon by the remaining controllers, such that the cumulative effect of the acquisitions result in, collectively, (i) the most capable home device controllers acquiring the home devices, and (ii) an optimal spreading of load amongst the remaining home device controllers. Further, the arbitration process can comprise an objective process such that contention between the home control devices is minimized or eliminated. 
     According to certain embodiments, the home device controller can acquire a lease to one or more qualified home devices that the home device controller  100  is optimally situated and/or configured to acquire based on the arbitration process ( 335 ). In acquiring the lease, the home device controller  100  can establish a local connection with the home device to acquire the home device within the local network of the home device controller  100 . Additionally or alternatively, the home device controller can map or remap gesture input interpretations on the touch screen and/or a control groove for the acquire home device such that touch gestures performed on the screen or control groove can control the acquired device. 
     In various examples, the home device controller  100 , as temporary leaseholder, can execute commands to control the acquired home device ( 340 ). Such commands can be generated at the touch mechanisms of the home device controller  100  ( 344 ), or can originate from any other home device controller in the distributed system  200  and be relayed to the home device controller ( 342 ). While the home device controller  100  remains leaseholder, it can publish any state changes and/or periodic state updates corresponding to the acquired home device to the message bus of the distributed system  200  ( 345 ). 
       FIG. 4  is a flow chart describing an example method of resolving a fault conditions within a distributed system of home device controllers, according to various embodiments. In certain examples, a home device controller  100  can subscribe to a home device controller&#39;s publications on the message bus of the distributed system  200 . As provided herein, a subscription architecture may provide at least one level of redundancy for the recorded states of each home device controller and the home devices within that controller&#39;s local network. In certain implementations, each home device controller can have at least one subscriber home device controller to any state updates published to the message bus and distributed data store of the system  200 . In variations, the message bus and distributed data store can be monitored by each home device controller in the system  200 . In such variations, every home device controller can monitor the message bus for fault conditions occurring on any other home device controller in the system  200 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , the home device controller  100  can monitor the data store and/or message bus for fault conditions of other home device controllers in the distributed system ( 405 ). At any given time, the home device controller  100  can determine whether a fault condition exists with respect to any home device controller ( 410 ). If not ( 412 ), the home device controller  100  can continue operating nominally and monitor the message bus ( 405 ). However, if a fault condition is detected ( 414 ), the home device controller  100  can commence or initiate a lease acquisition process with the remaining home device controllers  100  in the distributed system  200  for the acquirable home device of the downed home device controller ( 415 ). 
     In performing the lease acquisition process, for each acquirable home device, the home device controller  100  can objectively determine whether it is an optimal controller as compared to the other remaining home device controllers in the system  200  ( 420 ). If not ( 422 ), the home device controller  100  can defer acquisition of the home device(s) to the other home device controllers in the system  200  ( 425 ). For example, the home device controller  100  and/or the system  200  can compute a wait time for the controller  100  acquiring the lease based on the controller&#39;s fitness for controlling the home device, where higher fitness controllers take temporal precedence over lower fitness controllers. However, if the home controller device  100  is an optimal acquirer (e.g., a higher fitness controller) for any given home device of the downed controller ( 423 ), then the home device controller  100  can acquire the home device and establish the home device within the local control network of the home device controller  100  ( 430 ). In some aspects, the higher fitness home device controller can compute a shorter relative wait time to attempt acquisition as compared to the other lower fitness controllers, which can result in the controller acquiring one or more of the lease(s). In acquiring each lease, the home device controller  100  will add the home device to its local network and publish a lease acquisition message (e.g., as a new named value) to the message bus indicating the lease acquisition. Additionally or alternatively, the home device controller can map or remap gesture input interpretations on the touch screen and/or a control groove for the acquire home device such that touch gestures performed on the screen or control groove can control the acquired device. 
     Thereafter, the home device controller  100  can publish state changes and/or periodic state updates of the acquired home device to the message bus ( 430 ). As described herein, the lease may expire periodically to refresh the acquisition process to ensure that home device controllers with maximal relative “fitness” end up being the lease acquirers, and to ensure that load is spread evenly across the distributed system  200 . Thus, the home device controller  100  can determine whether the lease has expired or otherwise detect a lease expiration trigger ( 435 ). If the lease has expired ( 437 ), then the home device controller  100  can initiate or otherwise share in another round of arbitration with the other device controllers in the system  200  ( 415 ) to cause the lease of the home device to be acquired accordingly. Accordingly, the lease holding and acquisition of home devices of a downed home device controller within the distributed system can be dynamic and constantly changing. 
     At any given time, the home device controller  100  can detect a resolution signal from the downed home device controller indicating that the fault condition has been resolved ( 440 ). The resolution signal can comprise a resolution message published to the message bus, or a discovery process between the home device controller  100  and the resolved home device controller. In various examples, the detection of the resolved home device controller can trigger the system  200  enter into additional lease arbitration processes for relevant home devices to optimally spread load throughout the system  200  ( 445 ) (e.g., based on fitness metrics corresponding to each home device controller with respect to acquiring leases to home devices). 
     Hardware Diagram 
       FIG. 5  is a hardware diagram illustrating a computing device upon which example home device controllers described herein may be implemented. For example, the computing device  500  can comprise the logic and processing performed via user interaction with the home device controllers  100 ,  200  as shown and described with respect to  FIGS. 1A through 4 . In one implementation, the computing device  500 , or home controller  500  (used interchangeably) includes processing resources  510 , a main memory  520 , a read-only memory (ROM)  530 , a display  540 , and a communication interface  550 . The computing device  500  includes at least one processor  510  for processing information stored in the main memory  520 , such as provided by a random-access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device, for storing information and instructions which are executable by the processor  510 . As provided herein, the “microcontroller” or “microprocessor” described throughout can comprise the processor  510  or combination of the processor  510  and main memory  520  as shown and described with respect to  FIG. 5 . In various embodiments, the microprocessor may be a general-purpose microprocessor, a microcontroller, a combination of one or more microprocessors and/or microcontrollers acting in concert, and/or a touch sensor specific integrated circuit incorporating, or connected to, one or more of these processing configurations. The main memory  520  also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions to be executed by the processor  510 . The computing device  500  may also include the ROM  530  or other static storage device for storing static information and instructions for the processor  510 . 
     The communication interface  550  enables the computing device  500  to communicate over one or more control networks  580  (e.g., Bluetooth, Zigbee, Wi-Fi, etc.) through use of one or more wireless network links. Using the network links, the computing device  500  can communicate with one or more home devices, one or more servers or third-party intermediary communication module. The executable instructions in the memory  520  can include gesture interpretation instructions  522 , which the computing device  500  can execute to determine gestures performed by users on a particular control groove or on the display screen  540 , and generate control commands for the appropriate home device accordingly. For example, the processor  510  can execute the gesture interpretation instructions  522  to receive signals from the sensors  560  coupled to the control groove(s) and/or touch sensors of the display, and generate control commands based on the detected gestures. In certain implementations, the sensors  560  can include one or more audio sensors (e.g., a microphone), a keyboard, and/or a camera. 
     The executable instructions stored in memory  520  can also include control connectivity instructions  524 , which the computing device  500  can execute to selectively connect the communication interface  550  to various home devices to transmit the generated control commands by the processor  510  executing the gesture interpretation instructions  522 . As described herein the computing device  500  may be connected via a wired connection to one or more home devices  570  (e.g., light elements), or can implement wireless network protocols to connect with smart home devices via the control network  580  to transmit the control commands and/or the DHDC Network  585  to communicate with other home controller devices and/or publish state updates and changes via a message bus  589 . 
     In some embodiments, the home controller  500  may be coupled to AC controller  590 , for example by clips that provide for an electrical connection to be made between spring clips or pogo pins on one side (e.g., the home controller  500  or the AC controller  590 ) and electrically conductive pads on the corresponding side. AC controller  590  may include connections to wall wiring for line, load, neutral, and/or ground wires, and in some embodiments, may include L1 and L2 outputs for 3-way configurations. In some embodiments, AC controller  590  may include a microcontroller which receives instructions from home controller  500 , and which may control field effect transistors, triac(s), and/or other dimming mechanisms, for example as discussed above. In certain examples, the AC controller  590  can include a dimming FET  595  connecting the AC controller  590  to a line wire and load wire of existing wiring (e.g., of a light switch). In the example shown in  FIG. 5 , the load wire connects the AC controller  590  to the one or more wired home devices  570  (e.g., lights), and the line wire connects the AC controller  590  (a home device controller  500 ) to a power source  599 . 
     The processor  510  is configured with software and/or other logic to perform one or more processes, steps and other functions described with implementations, such as described with respect to  FIGS. 1A through 4  elsewhere in the present application. Examples described herein are related to the use of the computing device  500  for implementing the techniques described herein. According to one example, those techniques are performed by the computing device  500  in response to the processor  510  executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in the main memory  520 . Such instructions may be read into the main memory  520  from another machine-readable medium. Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in the main memory  520  causes the processor  510  to perform the process steps described herein. In alternative implementations, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions to implement examples described herein. Thus, the examples described are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software. 
     It is contemplated for examples described herein to extend to individual elements and concepts described herein, independently of other concepts, ideas or systems, as well as for examples to include combinations of elements recited anywhere in this application. Although examples are described in detail herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the concepts are not limited to those precise examples. As such, many modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in this art. Accordingly, it is intended that the scope of the concepts be defined by the following claims and their equivalents. Furthermore, it is contemplated that a particular feature described either individually or as part of an example can be combined with other individually described features, or parts of other examples, even if the other features and examples make no mention of the particular feature. Thus, the absence of describing combinations should not preclude claiming rights to such combinations.