What Is It?

Our product (CQC, the Charmed Quark Controller) is a software-based, control/automation and, media management system. That's a string of automation-speak, but it's actually conceptually a fairly simple product with a straightforward goal. In most homes there are various systems, such as lighting, multi-zone audio, HVAC, home theater, security, pool controller, sprinklers, and so forth. All of these systems are controllable in and of themselves. But they almost never are able to talk to each other. Therefore, they are 'islands of control', that can be controlled separately, but not coordinated and treated as a single system. CQC is a sort of 'super system', which sits above all these other systems, and acts as the glue to bring them together into a single organism that can act as a whole.

At the 10,000 foot level, CQC provides the following capabilities:

To control the devices in the home, i.e. to make them do what you want them to do and, for those devices that provide two-way communications, to ask them their status so that it can be displayed and reacted to.
To create automation logic to make those devices do what you want them to do and/or to react to changes in devices, and to invoke that logic from various types of user input devices, such as touch screens, standard PCs, remote controls, keypads, and so forth.
To create very attractive and intuitive graphical interfaces, the most common means by which users interact with the automation system.
To invoke automation logic at particular times or intervals, e.g. turn on the sprinklers every other day at 5pm for 10 minutes.
To invoke automation logic in response to changes in the devices under control, e.g. if the security system is armed to indicate that no one is at home, then make sure the stereo, home theater, and lights are all off.
To manage your DVD and CD collection, so that you can browse through them from any CQC enabled device (that has a screen), see information about possible selections, invoke playback of the selected media, and to control the player once that media is playing.
To speak any information about your system, e.g. to announce the weather and forecast the first time anyone enters the kitchen in the morning, or to give instructions about the location of a fire alarm.
To use the whole home network as a single super-system, so that any computer in the home (wired or wireless) can be used as a means for interacting with the automation system, or from the road when travelling.

As you might imagine, there are many smaller features and details involved, but at the most fundamental level, this is what CQC provides. These capabilities can be put together in an almost unlimited number of ways to create the solution you want. But it is important to understand that CQC is a professional level product, which is sold to do it yourselfers if they are interested in such a product. It is not a plug and play product, but a very powerful toolkit from which you build a solution you want. There are no non-trivial plug and play automation products really, because it inevitably involves controlling devices of all kinds and almost every user really wants to achieve something specific.