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A day in the life of a SMART HOME
FAMILY
"It's Friday morning."
Last night the bedside control was set to awake us at 6:00 a.m.
At 5:45 a.m., the temperature automatically adjusts for morning
comfort. Soft music plays at 5:55 and the table lamp turns on. At
6:00 the lamp brightens and we awaken to news on
the television. The security system automatically changes to activity
mode. As our feet touch the carpet, more lights come on. At 6:45
lights and music in the children's rooms have awakened them.
As the last one leaving, I set the security system
to "Away" mode. All unnecessary lights and potentially hazardous
appliances such as coffeepots and curling irons are turned off.
Thermostats adjust the environment to maximize energy conservation.
I leave knowing that our Home Management System will notify me if
anything wrong occurs.
During the day, the system adjusts the outdoor lighting
appropriately. At dawn all perimeter lights automatically turn off.
At night the outdoor lights glow at 75% brightness to conserve energy.
If the driveway is used or motion is detected at the main entrance,
our outdoor lights automatically brighten to 100% for five minutes
and the monitoring system identifies the guest. The swimming pool
pump will cycle on schedule and the lawn will be watered, unless
it rains.
Friday afternoon
A quick telephone call to the system tells me that at 3:38 p.m.
the kids scanned their smart key in the system. TV's are not operational
until 5:00 p.m. and the house is in activity mode, meaning the children
can play freely inside or study while the outside of the home remains
secure. They are home and safe.
Friday evening Upon my
arrival the driveway sensors illuminate the lights to full brightness.
As the garage door opens, entrance lights turn on. My intelligent
home anticipates each step as the entryway, hallway and stairway
lighting turn on as required and then turn off five minutes later.
If someone tries to enter the garage while I pull in, I can tap
the garage opener and panic buttons on my remote to open the garage
door and trigger an alarm to a monitoring service or directly to
the police. The lights will flash on and off and a siren will sound.
When we decide to watch a movie as a family, a tap on the theater
scene button activates the entire room: Blinds close, lights dim,
the screen drops from the ceiling. The movie begins. Since all three
children have dropped off to sleep, we pause the movie and carry
the kids to bed. While upstairs, we decide to watch the rest of
the movie from our bed. A click on the remote turns the TV downstairs
off and our bedroom TV comes on. As the movie ends, one button (sleep
mode) shuts the entire house down for the night and secures it appropriately.
Saturday morning
We are packed and ready for the two-hour drive to the
cottage. From the cellular keypad we activate the cottage controls.
The temperature adjusts and water heater turns on. All is ready
when we arrive.
Saturday afternoon Deciding
to go to the lake, we realize we did not tell our parents that we
went to the cottage for the weekend. So we call our telephone system
and leave a message to their personal voice mailbox on our system.
Now when my parents call our home, they will enter their personal
code to leave a message for us and retrieve the message we left
for them. If anyone leaves a message on our home phone it will automatically
be forwarded to our cottage system.
Saturday evening after
returing from the lake, we decide to create a Photo Album using
the video I took with my camcorder. I use the computing-internet
system to take snapshots of the best scenes on my video. The system
instantly creates the Photo Album and stores it to our internet
address. The kids are able to see and talk to their grandparents
through our videoconferencing system to share the excitement of
our weekend. Since we created an electronic Photo Album of the events,
we are able to view the pictures at the same time and videoconference
with my parents. Best of all, there are no long distance charges
since we use the broadband capabilities of the system
Now is the time to let your home
work for you!
NextGen Technologies
will custom design a Home Automation System which will allow for
the interactive lifestyle that you deserve.
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