What would the user interface you use to control the smart electrical meter/appliances in your house look like
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M$7 Answers
Did I answer your question or do you want real mockups for something you're going to run with?
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M$
Why alter perfection?
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M$
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
XML is certainly not my strong point, however I feel that a simple tagging system could consolidate a large number of different UI's for different tasks quite simply.
Imagine this mock up for the UI needs of a Washing Machine:
See : http://ckinniburgh.com/misc/uimockup.txt
In the example the data could be pulled into the UI in a number of ways, and displayed with different styles, however the data remains constant. There are only so many different types of inputs and outputs needed by the program. You can have for input:
* Buttons
* Dials/sliders/percentages (same thing)
* Numeric Input
* Character Input
For output:
* On/Off (LED in this example.)
* Numeric
* Character
* 2d graph.
There are a few more, but the number is finite.
Then you can combine them. In this example I use the both tag to combine On/Off output with an On/Off input. This is not the best name for a real world example but it illustrates the point.
As for the look, I would set up something stationary, the black box, and have that use this API to communicate with any number of devices. This would allow for competition in the creation of the hand held, or online, or whatnot device. Personally I would like a device which could be used on a secure wireless network, via a mobile phone.
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M$
http://i41.tinypic.com/2q0sl78.jpg
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M$You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
What would you do if the device was lost or the dog chewed it up. I like the idea as a what-cha-ma-jigger could be upgraded as new controls were needed while a in the wall device is a bit more permanent.
Good point about the dog chewing it up. My dog has ruined a few remotes. It would definitely need to be pretty tough/durable. Since dogs usually chew on the outside edges of things, rubber lined outer edges would be a good call. I think it would be large enough not to be lost most of the time, but you could have a cell phone activated locator(text it and it alerts you with a beeping noise/alarm).
UPS or Firewire to connect for upgrades is also an excellent call, as well as an online user interface for adding/removing household products, etc.
http://availabletechnologies.pnl.gov/images/61_1.jpg
sources:http://availabletechnologies.pnl.gov/technology.asp?id=61
http://www.automatedbuildings.com/news/jan06/articles/pnl/pnl.htm
Bluetooth glove controller for future
http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/wp-content/uploads/bt-control-glove.jpg
sources:http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20070227/bluetooth-glove-controller-of-the-future/
New IT appliance controller
http://www.securityinfowatch.com/article/photos/1213893664805_Brivo.jpg
sources:http://www.securityinfowatch.com/online/Access-Control-Products/Brivo-introduces-new-IT-appliance-controller/16176SIW401
Wow!The Future is Here. Find Out How You Can Remotely Turn Off Lights With A Telephone or Cell Phone
sources:http://www.prlog.org/10133911-wowthe-future-is-here-find-out-how-you-can-remotely-turn-off-lights-with-telephone-or-cell-phone.html
NTT DoCoMo Develops FOMA-Compatible Controller for Appliances
sources:http://www.nttdocomo.com/pr/2004/001161.html
future-concept-of-hitachi-remote-controller
http://image.aving.net//img/2007/10/04/450/20071004140121793.jpg
sources: http://www.tuvie.com/future-concept-of-hitachi-remote-controller
IT can resemble like this also
http://image.aving.net//img/2007/10/04/450/200710041401217931.jpg
http://image.aving.net//img/2007/10/04/450/200710041401217932.jpg
With the Pronto family of remote controls and extenders, all electronic appliances can be controlled at your fingertips (available for purchase)
smart home system was prices ranging from RM9,999.
http://biz.thestar.com.my/archives/2008/6/12/business/b_08pronto.jpg
sources:
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/6/12/business/21103788&sec=business
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
The solution of how to make all different types of things have a similar user interface would be to make a set of design standards. Kind of like the same way of how all Mac OS X applications look like they were designed for the operating system, and how all items in the System Preferences have similar controls. Not to sound like a fanboy, but I'm not using Windows and the Control Panel as an example because it's not nearly as unified in design as the Apple examples.
http://www.piccdrop.com/images/1229577680.png
http://www.piccdrop.com/images/1229577690.png
http://www.piccdrop.com/images/1229577697.png
Now look at how a third party (Adobe) was forced to make their System Preferences entry similar to the others: http://www.piccdrop.com/images/1229577926.png
As you can see, having a single theme and strict uniformity guidelines, it would be easy
I think it's a good start to an answer, I'm looking for how people would solve the usability problems associated with different vendors putting different devices on your home grid and how you would display control information about the device to the user. For example a machine which washes and dries laundry and your plug in electrical vehicle and the controls for your solar panels on the roof and your thermostat and the controls for each light would all be from different vendors with different specs. How would you consolidate all this information into an easy to use application?