Appliance control system providing out-of-context usage

A home automation system for controlling, from a single control unit, at least two electrical appliances having contextually similar operating states such as on/off, the control unit being associated with the first appliance and including means for generating a command signal which is executable by the first appliance in its first operating state but which is inappropriate in its second operating state, the control unit being effectively connected to the first and second electrical appliances via a common transmission media, but remotely located therefrom,

• the first electrical appliance including:
• means for determining whether it is in the first operating state or in the second operating state;
• means for executing the command signal when said first appliance is in its first operating state when the command signal is received;
• and
• means responsive to the command signal for forwarding same over the transmission media to the second appliance if the first appliance is in its second operating state when the command signal is received.

A telephone set for interconnection with a transmission media, the telephone set having an active state, an idle state, and including a plurality of manually operated keys for dialing a telephone number when the telephone set is in the active state

• characterized by:
• means responsive to the operation of the keys, when the telephone set is in the idle state for generating a control signal to be transmitted to an electrical appliance other than said telephone set which is connected to the transmission media, said control signal including information regarding the key pressed;
• and
• interface means coupling the control signal from the telephone set to the transmission media.

A method for controlling, from a single controller, at least first and second electrical appliances, each having first and second contextually similar operating states such as on/off, the controller being associated with the first appliance and including means for generating a command signal which is executable by the first appliance in its first operating state but which is inappropriate in its second operating state, the controller being effectively connected to the first and second electrical appliances via a common transmission media, the method including the steps of:

• transmitting the command signal over the transmission media to the first electrical appliance in response to actuations of switches located on the controller;
• determining the operating state of the first appliance;
• executing the command at the first appliance if it is determined that the first appliance is in its first operating state when the command signal is received;
• and
• transmitting the command signal over the transmission media to the second appliance if it is determined that the first appliance is in its second operating state when the command signal is received.