What is smart home Do you really understand smart home?

In the past two years, due to the development of smart phones, smart homes have also received unprecedented attention. In 2014, it was called “the first year of smart home” by many people. There are more smart home items on the market that are easier to get started, and the smart home system is changing rapidly due to the emergence of smart phones. The media has more and more discussions about smart homes, and smart homes are getting more and more attention. Smart homes, like the previous smartphones, have become a necessity.

So many people think that "smart" should be a must-have feature of new homes. As a result, some owners began to look for smart home products, architects began to look for smart home solutions, interior designers want to add "smart" elements to the project, and furniture to do decorative building materials should also enter the smart home industry...

But, do you really know about smart homes?

Smart home is nothing new.

Many people think that smart homes have only appeared in recent years. Actually, no. In 1978, a Scottish company called PicoElectronics, the predecessor of the X10, released the first smart home products. At the time, the "Internet" has not yet become a standard. Therefore, the smart home is almost 40 years old, and is one year older than the word "Internet."

When Bill Gates began to build his "smart home" in 1997, Wi-Fi has not yet officially appeared.

The expression "Wi-Fi" was created in 1999 by brand consultancy Interbrand. At that time, the Wi-Fi Alliance asked Interbrand to name it more easily than "IEEE802.11bDirectSequence". Members of the Wi-Fi Alliance said that "Wi-Fi" is actually playing a word game with "Hi-Fi" and doesn't mean anything. After the name "Wi-Fi", the Wi-Fi Alliance used the slogan "TheStandard for WirelessFidelity" for a period of time, which led many people to think that "Wi-Fi" is "WirelessFidelity". abbreviation of.

When the Chinese company Hedong Intelligent (HDL) launched a commercial smart home system 10 years ago, Apple and Google's smartphones have not yet appeared.

Speaking of this, it is better to give us a simple definition of "smart home". Smart home refers to the ability to allow users to manage and control home devices through terminals such as smartphones, tablets, smart panels, etc., or through data sharing and linkage of devices and signal input of sensors as trigger conditions. Automatic control technology and systems.

As far as the current situation is concerned, smart home mainly includes two major categories of products: the whole house smart home system and smart home items. A full-home smart home system refers to a system that can be connected to traditional electrical equipment and cover the entire home; now some full-home systems can be connected to both regular and smart appliances. Smart home items are products or systems designed to achieve a specific function. These products are usually an "electrical appliance", such as a smart light.

The smart home system of the whole house coexists with the smart home items.

As mentioned earlier, when the smartphone is not yet popular, the company has launched a commercial smart home product. At that time, the "smart home" items controlled by mobile phones did not appear. Therefore, the smart home system is connected with traditional electrical equipment, covering the entire house. When there is no smart phone, the whole house smart home system mainly realizes the control of the home equipment through the smart panel mounted on the wall, the dedicated touch screen, and the remote controller, by sharing the data and sensor signals of the device. Automatic control of the system. Of course, the current full house system can be controlled by smartphones and tablets, and controls almost all electrical appliances in the home.

In recent years, after the popularity of smartphones, there have been a large number of smart home items that can be controlled by mobile phones. For example, NestLabs launched the Learning Intelligent Thermostat in 2011, Philips' Hue in 2012, and smart sockets that many manufacturers have. After nearly two years of market cultivation, the single item with smartphone as the entrance has been widely accepted.

Formed a situation in which the whole house smart home system and smart home items coexist in the market. As far as they are concerned, there is no inevitable sequence, they are two different categories of products. To some extent, the single item and the whole house system are two different routes of the manufacturer. Users can choose to purchase according to their actual situation.

Ok, when it comes to this, we have to talk about these two different "routes" in detail.

Full house smart home system

The whole house smart home system is a fairly mature technology, which is divided into two types: wired system and wireless system. The main applications that have been widely used are wired systems. In the global market, the main brands are: Crestron, ABB, Lutron, Control4, Hedong (HDL) and so on.

The smart home system of the whole house is not an "electric appliance" itself, but is connected to the conventional electrical appliances of the house through the system module to form an intelligent system. For example, by connecting the home air conditioner to the "HVAC module", the user can control the air conditioner through the system terminal equipment. The direct benefit of this solution is that users can experience all aspects of smart life without having to purchase a variety of "smart appliances" or "smart appliances." In the later maintenance, there is no need to worry about the "compatibility" problem of the electrical appliance. If the electric light is broken, it is enough to go to the store to buy a conventional electric light replacement as usual. And the system meets the actual needs of lighting control, shading control, temperature environment control, security control, etc. in daily life, bringing real convenience.

The wired full house system is also the system that needs wiring. It is usually the engineer involved in the installation when the house is being renovated. In the past two years, the wireless full house system can be replaced with a smart switch without replacing the original switch, and then the related gateway device can be installed to complete the intelligent upgrade, which is more suitable for the existing residential renovation project.

The whole house system is not "pseudo-intelligence"

The smart home system of the whole house realizes an "integrated solution". Note that it is not the "pseudo-intelligence" that some media have said. Instead, it is smarter than some of today's smart home items. The following is an example of the Buspro intelligent system of the domestic brand HDL.

HDL launched its own intelligent control system Buspro about 10 years ago. After years of development, its product line and system functions are perfect, and it is difficult to find a second one among its peers around the world. At present, its system can be connected with most common devices such as electric lights, TVs, electric curtains, air conditioners, music systems, home theater equipment, security cameras, alarm systems, smart door locks, etc., allowing users to use iOS/Android software, wall mounting. Various terminal interfaces such as panels, remote controls, and even WeChat manage and control the system.

An APP controls all devices. Before the popularity of smartphones, the software interface provided by HDL to users was installed on the touch screen Windows software TouchLife. After the popularity of smartphones, HDL launched the mobile version of the supporting software iLife and other versions of the software, enabling remote control "anytime, anywhere." The natural nature of the system determines that it requires only one piece of software to control and manage all devices connected to the system. The "Super APP" is a false proposition for the whole house system.

Editor in charge: Zhu Ling