Bridging Mesh Controller for Smart Home Scene Automation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing home control systems require manual interaction with devices or dedicated remotes to control multiple smart devices, limiting convenience and efficiency in creating and managing scenes across different areas of a dwelling.
Innovation Solution
A device controller that detects user gestures and communicates control commands wirelessly to establish a mesh bridge, allowing for the implementation of scenes across local networks of smart devices, enabling seamless control of lighting, audio, temperature, and other systems through touch inputs on a sensory panel.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If manual interaction with devices or dedicated remotes is used to control smart devices, then control functionality is achieved, but user convenience and operational efficiency deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The controller integrates multiple control functions into a single device, replacing dedicated remotes and manual device interactions. The controller can manage lighting, audio, temperature, and other smart home systems through a unified interface, eliminating the need for multiple separate control devices and improving user convenience while maintaining comprehensive control functionality
Solution Approach 2:
The controller acts as an intermediary device between the user and multiple smart devices. It receives user inputs and translates them into appropriate control commands for different device types, simplifying the control process by providing a single point of interaction rather than requiring direct interaction with each device or multiple dedicated remotes
2Adaptability or versatility
If scenes are controlled across different areas of a dwelling, then scene implementation capability is improved, but system complexity and communication requirements worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the dwelling into multiple local networks or zones, each managed by individual controllers. Scenes can be implemented across different areas by coordinating between these segmented networks, allowing flexible scene control while maintaining manageable communication structures within each zone
Solution Approach 2:
The system extends control capability across spatial dimensions by enabling communication between controllers in different areas of the dwelling. This allows scenes to be implemented across multiple rooms or floors, transforming the control system from area-specific to dwelling-wide while maintaining organized communication through the mesh network structure
3Ease of operation
If wireless mesh bridge communication is established, then control range and accessibility are improved, but communication reliability and latency worsen
Solution Approach 1:
Wireless intermediary devices act as mesh nodes that relay control commands between the controller and target devices. These intermediaries extend the control range and improve accessibility by allowing commands to be transmitted through multiple hops, reaching devices that are not in direct communication range while maintaining reliable command delivery through the mesh network
Data Source
AI summary
A device controller can communicate with a local network of devices and one or more intermediary devices for transmitting scene commands for implementation of a scene. The device controller may create a mesh bridge with the one or more intermediary devices to establish a communication link with a controlled device and generate and transmit a set of one or more scene commands via the mesh bridge to the controlled device to execute the scene.