USB Proximity Beacons for Localized Control
Bill Gates rigged his entire house so that guests with ID badges could have music, lighting, and even climate control customized to their location within the home. Imagine—as you walk the music follows you and the temperature adjusts to your preference. The Crestron PinPoint USB Proximity Beacons (Model PP-100) offer the same kind of experience by transmitting a users’ location (based on connectivity with mobile devices running the Crestron App) to enable a personalized experience for homeowners.
Crestron has always been in the forefront of customization with respect to smart home control. Though they’ve taken a long time to come around to ease-of-use expectations and modernizing their programming interface, the new PinPoint proximity detection beacon seems like a real win—and a logical evolution for the company. The PinPoint beacon technology uses a series of small PP-100 USB proximity beacons that connect into USB charging outlets. They communicate with nearby mobile devices and relay location back to a centralized control system.
Why would you want to do this? Take, for example, a system with multiple remote controls—even something as simple as having a universal remote control that can work in many different rooms. Instead of having to select your zone, a system based on the PinPoint USB proximity beacon technology would simply know where you were and select the appropriate room for you to control automatically. Or, like Bill gates’ home, the Proximity Beacon could allow you to have certain preferences follow you—such as lighting color temperature and climate control settings. Of course, it’s the perfect anti-solution for couples who prefer different temperatures, channels, and music…oops!
With PinPoint, Crestron’s App knows what room a person is in and automatically displays controls for that space on their iOS device. All of the available controls can be provided automatically with no interaction on the part of the user, provided the app is running. It’s one more step in a world of full automation where homeowners don’t need to navigate to different room menus on an app to control various functions.
“Imagine walking into the great room with your iPad and the lighting control, audio sources, and even volume control are at your fingertips for that room. Move to the kitchen, and as you do the lighting scenes for the kitchen appear. PinPoint identifies your location and makes your home system smarter.”
Sean Goldstein, VP of Marketing at Crestron
Take a Walk With Me…
PinPoint supports even more customization options for smart homes. Integrators can more precisely tailor Crestron system features to best serve individual family members according to the room they are in. For instance, when the Crestron app is launched and Internet radio is selected, a favorite station can automatically play on the audio distribution system. As that person walks throughout the house, the radio can automatically turn on in each room. The music can literally follow someone from room to room.
Installing the USB proximity beacons throughout your home is as simple as placing the beacons and then using the free PinPoint setup app. Basically, you install, set the range, and name the PinPoint beacons in each room. If a room is large, you can even increase your coverage by adding multiple USB proximity beacons. As far as expansion is concerned, up to 100 rooms can be monitored and configured. Once you pair homeowner or guest devices to the PinPoint app, it automatically communicates via Bluetooth with the USB proximity beacons placed throughout the home.
And, of course, while home theater and whole home audio and video are our focus, it’s also obvious that the commercial and retail applications for this technology are enormous. They’re already, in fact, being utilized in places like Japan.
Learn more about the PinPoint proximity detection beacon here.
