Conventional automation systems have been available in the marketplace for many years. For example, the internationally-known X10 standard was one of the first standards commercialized for automating systems within a home, office, school, or other structure. The X10 standard enables commands to be sent over the existing wiring in a structure, so that a controller can send messages to a controlled device. That is, one or more devices may communicate with one another over existing electrical wiring using the X10 standard. Existing X10 standard devices generally require a user to manually set an address on each switch and outlet of a system, wherein a switch with a given address supplies or terminates power to a corresponding outlet pre-set with the identical address.
Recent efforts to conserve energy have sparked additional interest in home automation. The existing and available solutions in the prior art, however, may require large expenditures of capital and/or expert domain knowledge to facilitate installation. Existing technologies are further limited by the fact that conventional outlets function in the same way regardless of the load (e.g., the particular electronic device) operably coupled to the outlet. In other words, a conventional outlet functions exactly the same regardless of whether a refrigerator, a clock radio, an incandescent light bulb, a vacuum cleaner, a life support device, or another electronic device is plugged into the outlet. Such inflexible and non-discriminatory outlet set-up is not cost efficient, and does not optimize energy conservation.
Automation systems may provide information on the use of energy and/or other resources, such as statistics about the relative energy consumption of different locations and devices. To facilitate capturing the statistics, the system must be aware of the physical and/or logical locations of the different components connected to the system, e.g., where the components are located with respect to one another. Existing methods of capturing location information include equipping all components with Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment or similar technology, which can add significant cost to each device. It is also possible to have a skilled technician meticulously program the location of each device into a database, which is time consuming and requires special training that likewise can increase the cost of the system.
Thus, there remains a need for improved and cost-effective methods and systems for mapping components of an automation system.