Re: xAP HomeSeer

[Kevin Hawkins <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

xAP makes use of 'schema' that describe the information and control
messages that a device understands.  A schema is abstracted to the
functionality that a device performs so instead of having a schema for
a  Slimp3, Squeezebox, ExStreamer, MVP etc you have one schema for
'audio/media control' say and each one is supported via that.  This
theoretically means you can just replace a working Exstreamer setup with
a Squeezebox and it still continues to work.    The CallerID or X10
schema I guess is similar in that the device actually implementing X10
or CID isn't important.   There is for example a generic display schema
that allows you to display onscreen messages generated by xAP . A
Squeezebox implements this as it has its own display but an Exstreamer
for example doesnt.

BSC is a very generalised schema (Basic Status and Control) designed to
be able to monitor and control a device that has 'basic' functionality,
it supports the three basic types of inputs or outputs, These are
digital inputs and outputs (STATE on/off) and also analogue ones (LEVEL)
of any range and granularity eg 0-10V or 0-255 or 0-65535 etc. Lastly
BSC also supports TEXT values which is anything really that can be
represented as a text value eg perhaps "BBC1" ,  
"Raining"   , "ACME Co
$1234 - $0.2" etc.  Text can be used to support general serial I/O
too.    An excellent example is the xAP Netiom which is a totally
standalone controller with 16 digital inputs, 16 digital outputs, 4
analog inputs, counters and a serial port, this is totally implemented
using the BSC schema.  Incidentally this type of modelling is the same
basic building block that is used by very high end systems like say
Crestron and AMX.

The intent of BSC was to allow very easy 'plug and play' type operation
for simple devices.  A controller only needs to implement the BSC schema
to be instantly able to discover, recognise the capabilities and
control/monitor these devices. This avoids the controller having to
understand other more complex or device specific schema.  It is possible
to model / shoehorn almost any real world device into BSC. For example
you could have an AV amplifier controlled totally using BSC with input
selection using binary I/O, volume using 'level' and say display
information using 'text' . This is very workable and would result in
instant recognition and control of all aspects of your AV amp is a BSC
capable controller but it has one drawback - you haven't abstracted the
AV amp to a generic schema so should you later change your Sony amp for
a Technics one it would stop working.  For that reason complex devices
should ideally have a richer 'functionality' schema and maybe provide a
more basic BSC schema too  .  Take for example lighting as an example.
It is very easy to model this using BSC as you have ONOFF and LEVEL
control - perfect,  but as you add scenes, groups and ramp rates it
becomes more lighting specific. So you would create a lighting schema
and a BSC schema as well.  My C-Bus xAP controller does exactly this.
The fact it is C-Bus is not important and it should work the same with
Dynalite, Lutron, DMX should you change later.

As far as controllers (eg HomeSeer) are concerned in order to fully
participate in complex xAP environments they need to have some
understanding of schema - so to support a CD player for example they
need to know the generalised commands like 'play' 'stop' 'pause' etc and
these schema are being developed all the time. So BSC being easy and
fixed allows a controller to offer xAP support quickly and easily.
HomeSeer supports the BSC schema fully but additionally can handle any
schema by allowing the messages key values to be placed into HS devices
and using scripts you can generate any xAP message.  HomeSeer also has
an inbuilt list of known schema that offers intelligent support of these
types of devices. So if a device is using BSC the easiest way of
integrating with HomeSeer is to add it using 'BSC'.    BSC support is
enabled by default within the HS plugin and is configured on a per
device basis from the 'devices' tab.  As you might have expected there
is both a HomeSeer specific schema and a BSC schema available for state
changes from the HS plugin.

A really nice bonus of BSC is that any device you already have within
HomeSeer (and HS supports many many devices including say HomeVision)
can be represented back on the xAP network using BSC - most can be
controlled this way too - so instantly the number of devices supported
by xAP is expanded by all the large library of HomeSeer devices/plugins.

Paul - for your situation specifically you wont be able to use BSC for
CallerID information as it uses a CallerID schema and not BSC. You will
have to recognise the device directly and introduce the line 1 and line
2 data individually to HomeSeer . Every telephone line (and Skype for
example) represents itself as a different sub address but with the same
informational packets. So the source identifies which line the
information is from and HomeSeer uses this to update the appropriate
value in a device in HomeSeer.  As this is a sub addressed device it
will move from 'New Devices' to 'Devices' once it is learned for the
first time (ie line1). In order to pick up a second device you should
'reDetect' it and ensure that the next information you receive is
appropriate to line 2 (ie ring it !)  - then you will have both lines
available in HS.    (TIP:  You can also go back in say Viewer and resend
a previous message with exactly the right schema/source to ensure the
next xAP message received by HomeSeer is the one you want to recognise
and introduce as a device).

Kevin



Paul Gale wrote:
> I still don't get BSC - despite Kevin explaining it a few times!!!
>
> In very basic terms - what is it, what does it allow you to do etc?
>
> It doesn't seem to be available in the xAP HS plugin - is there
something else I need to do to 'enable' it?
>
> Paul.
>
>
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: xap_automation@xxxxxxx
>> [mailto:xap_automation@xxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Paul Gale
>> Sent: 30 June 2006 12:00
>> To: xap_automation@xxxxxxx
>> Subject: RE: [xap_automation] xAP HomeSeer
>>
>> I had a quick play at making xSB data available to HS - I just
clicked
>> through and it works fine - but only for one of my two lines - how
do I
>> get the other line setup - or am I just being thick and missing
something?
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Paul.
>>
>>
>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: xap_automation@xxxxxxx
>>> [mailto:xap_automation@xxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of James
>>> Sent: 29 June 2006 23:16
>>> To: xap_automation@xxxxxxx
>>> Subject: Re:[xap_automation] xAP HomeSeer
>>>
>>> Paul Gale wrote:
>>>
>>>> Just installed xAP Homesser plugin ? wow, how good is
that!!! J
>>>>
>>>> Just need to read the docs now ? if there are any James!
;)
>>>>
>>>>
>>> The guides are here:
>>>
>>>
>> http://www.mi4.biz/modules.php?name=Content&pa=list_pages_categories&cid=5
>>
>>> but they are based on the v1 HomeSeer plugin.  However bar the
fact one
>>> is gui based and one is web based they work exactly the same.
>>>
>>> James
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Yahoo! Groups Links
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Yahoo! Groups Links
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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