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TonyNo
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| Posted: December 28 2005 at 13:03 | IP Logged
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I just upgraded my mobile phone to a unit with Bluetooth and am starting to play around with presence detection using it and a USB Bluetooth dongle on my PH machine.
There is a shareware app out there called Bluetooth Lock that can execute an external program when a paired device comes into or goes out of range. Not bad for US$17!
The idea is to use PHCommand to let PH know when the phone (me!) is in or out of the house.
More later as this project progresses...
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onhiatus
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| Posted: December 28 2005 at 13:32 | IP Logged
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Thanks Tony!
This is actually something that I've been looking at as well.
Seems like there should be a smoother way to accomplish it, but when I looked before I couldn't find *any* way.
Let us know what else you find, Tony (the other one)
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onhiatus
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| Posted: December 28 2005 at 14:02 | IP Logged
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Your post got me thinking / looking again. Here is another interesting program:
Salling Clicker - http://www.salling.com/Clicker/windows/
Lets you remotely control music (and other things?) from your BT phone. I played with this several versions ago and found it lacking, the new version looks like it might merit some more exploration...
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TonyNo
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| Posted: December 28 2005 at 16:37 | IP Logged
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I looked at the site and did not really find any info on how it works. I think it needs a Java applet on the phone?
I run the BrowseAmp plugin in Winamp to serve WML pages so I can control it via my phone.
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krommetje
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| Posted: December 29 2005 at 06:05 | IP Logged
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The only big disadvantage is that bluetooth ranges 33 feet or below so if there is a wall between you and the bluetooth device on the HA-Server, both can't communicate and PH thinks you are away... even RFID is not suitable for this cause...
I know of a system sold here by a carcompany which enables you to automaticly close the locks on your car-doors when you are more then 60 ft. away from your car.... I have been thinking that if you connect this to a universal X10 transmitter which in turn sends a signal to PH, you can do just about anything you like in PH with a trigger and macros....
Peter
Edited by krommetje
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TonyNo
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| Posted: December 29 2005 at 09:49 | IP Logged
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Per the specs, the dongle I bought has a 20M range; there are 100M units available for not much more.
I still need to test the actual range limits of my home, but my system is in the basement and can still see my phone when I am on the first floor.
Edited by TonyNo
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TonyNo
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| Posted: December 31 2005 at 17:30 | IP Logged
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I just did my range testing...
With the BT dongle plugged into a front USB slot of my PH machine in the basement, about a foot off the floor, it covers my entire home interior (two story).
FYI, my home has aluminum siding and a steel front door.
Going outside, it falls out of range just about when I reach the end of my front walk (where my driveway begins, about 33' from my system). Depending on where I had the phone, it sometimes cut out as soon as I walked out the front door and closed it (about 30' away).
All in all, very promising for my purposes!
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TonyNo
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| Posted: December 31 2005 at 18:44 | IP Logged
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I forgot to mention that I am using an iogear GBU211 Bluetooth adapter.
Also, in Bluetooth Lock, I execute this command in a batch file to set a flag in a Global Variable (BTTony) when it detects my phone...
Code:
| phcommand.exe ph_setglobal_s( "BTTony", "1") |
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and this when it goes out of range...
Code:
| phcommand.exe ph_setglobal_s( "BTTony", "0") |
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I then have a trigger set up to run a macro when this variable changes. Right now, I'm just announcing the fact that it is in or out of range.
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dhoward
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| Posted: January 03 2006 at 15:17 | IP Logged
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Tony,
This is very interesting. Ive got a bluetooth phone as well but never thought of this aspect. What would be awesome is if I could somehow integrate this type of funcitonality into PowerHome. No promises, but I'll take a peek at it to see what is involved after the Insteon release.
Dave
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TonyNo
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| Posted: January 03 2006 at 21:20 | IP Logged
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Maybe this helps?
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onhiatus
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| Posted: February 07 2006 at 16:12 | IP Logged
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Sorry, I let this thread drop. I've been using Salling Clicker for a few weeks - just to control WMP. I have not played with the proximity scripts. However the application uses scripts that are very capable - you can pretty much do anything you want - including running any app you want - which means interfacing with PowerHome should be relatively easy.
Also, there are two ways to run it - one as a downloadable j2me (I think) app, two as a Bluetooth Accessory (not sure what this means). I use the second way and there is not software to install on the phone.
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TonyNo
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| Posted: February 07 2006 at 20:10 | IP Logged
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Ooh! Can you elaborate on this "second way". The web site does not really talk about two methods (AFAICT).
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onhiatus
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| Posted: February 08 2006 at 13:09 | IP Logged
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Hmm, I can't find any mention either. I'm at work right now, so I can't play with my install to see if I get any more information, but here's what I remember:
I've used with two phones:
1) Nokia 660 (Wife's phone): When I went to activate it with Salling Clicker it sends an application that is loaded onto the phone - advantage, I can initiate a connection from the phone, nicer graphics. Disadvantage - the app is installed on the phone.
2) Sony-Ericson T610 (My phone): When I went to activate it, it just paired with the phone, and I found the "controls" under "Connectivity > Accessories" on the phone. Advantage - when I'm not hooked up to SallingClicker there is nothing left on the phone. Disadvantage - I can't initiate a connection from the phone, don't get album art.
The phone 1 situation seems to be the prefered method, but I like not installing anything on the phone...
I posted a question on their forum about using the proximity event to automatically connect to my phone, (thus getting over the main disadvantage), but there have been no answers.
You can d/l and run Salling clicker for free (limited to 30 actions per connect - but enough to see). I recomend playing with it - I've been very impressed. Actually reminds me of PowerHome a little....
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guerrand
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| Posted: March 10 2006 at 18:57 | IP Logged
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Bluetooth lock looks great so far but I am in a differnt situation that some. I run powerhome on a seperate server from my primary pc that is bluetooth enabled and that I want to track from. I am trying to figure out an easy way to send a remote command like instruction from my main sys to the powerhome server. I've been looking up various remote command programs but havent' gotten one that works right yet. Any ideas?
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TonyNo
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| Posted: March 10 2006 at 19:03 | IP Logged
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Why yes! phcommand in the download section!
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dhoward
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| Posted: March 10 2006 at 21:26 | IP Logged
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Guerrand,
Tony's got you covered. Since you want to send a command from a remote machine, go to the download page and get PHSSCMD_SETUP.EXE.
This simple program is a command line driven interface and uses the socket server so you'll need to enable this option within PowerHome.
Dave.
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guerrand
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| Posted: March 11 2006 at 01:04 | IP Logged
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dhoward wrote:
Guerrand,
Tony's got you covered. Since you want to send a command from a remote machine, go to the download page and get PHSSCMD_SETUP.EXE.
This simple program is a command line driven interface and uses the socket server so you'll need to enable this option within PowerHome.
Dave.
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Thanks, I had such a 'Doh!' moment there. I can't believe I overlooked checking there. It's working like a charm now.
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scottmi1
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| Posted: August 29 2006 at 10:50 | IP Logged
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I'm very interested in investigating Bluetooth as a means of identifying who is "home", so I thought I'd resurrect this thread. From what I can see from the online documentation for Bluetooth Lock, it seems to only support one BT device. I'd like to be able to identify multiple devices e.g. my Blackberry, my wife's phone, etc. and set appropriate flags in PH. Anyone done anything futher in this area or have any ideas?
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onhiatus
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| Posted: August 30 2006 at 22:32 | IP Logged
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This is the same limitation I ran into when I was playing with Salling Clicker - it will only connect one phone at a time. 
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scottmi1
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| Posted: August 30 2006 at 23:45 | IP Logged
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Bummer! I wonder if it would be possible to get at the device registration info in Windows with a script? BT headsets are now cheap enough that I was thinking of placing one in each car and wiring it into the electrical system to allow me to sense which ones are home. I could have PH announce "Honey, I'm home!" when I pulled in the driveway! 
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Topic: Bluetooth Presence Detection
