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You can use your cell phone or any landline
to call up your home when everyone is away,
and leave instructions to switch off the oven
or switch on the air conditioner. Here’s how
you can program your PC and phone to
listen to you.
By: NITIN KOTHARI
—The author has taught electronics and is an
experienced graphics designer. At present he is
the director of Unique Computer Education, Ratlam.
How to Control Devices
at Home with a Phone
;
ou are tired after a long day at work
and just wish a warm cup of tea was
ready for you as soon as you reach
home, even though there is no one at
home to make that tea. Well, you needn’t
despair—a few instructions from your cell
phone can activate the tea-making machine at home and your cup of tea will be
ready by the time you open your front
door. And if you’ve forgotten to switch off
an electric gadget after embarking on a
weekend holiday, you can give instructions through your cell phone and your
work will be done. In fact, you can control
any electronic or electric device from anywhere in the world through a telephone
or a cell phone. Sounds wonderful, doesn’t
it? But it doesn’t work that easily. So let’s
take a look at how we can turn our home
into a sci-fi house, and use our telephone
as a remote control.
The process of turning your telephone
into a remote control involves the use of
an IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System). You would have come across such
systems while interacting with your bank,
credit card company, railway enquiry
ticket reservation services, and so on. An
IVRS consists of a PC with a modem connected to the telephone line and software
that can handle voice modems.
IVRS allows users to activate software
through telephone keys. The software
& INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Connecting telephone with a gadget
plays a wave file (.wav), which is recorded by the Windows Sound Recorder
and asks you what you want to do. By
pressing the telephone keys you can activate any function you want to. As an
example, if you press ‘1’ on
your mobile phone to switch
‘on’ or ‘off’ any electronic or
electric gadget, there is a function in the software, which will
be activated and set the bit to the
parallel port (Print Port or LPT1).
And there is a relay circuit connected
to it, which will be activated and
switch your electronic gadgets on or
off, depending on your program.
Here’s an in-depth step-by-step process to help you easily switch ‘on’ or
‘off’ any one electronic/electric gadget in your home. I am taking an
example of a tea-maker here. You
can carry out this project even if
you don’t have any programming skills. And in case you
can program, you could
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CMYK
customise this project according to your
needs and convert your home into a
digital home.
Just follow the steps given here–it’s a
complete recipe to cook up some great
digital fare for your home.
Setting up the environment
Your home PC should be running Windows 98 with a modem connected to a telephone line.
The telephone line
should be DTMF (Dual
Time Multi Frequency) tone
that is now a
standard
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all over the country, and your modem
should be a voice modem. Before we
begin, you must install an appropriate
driver for the modem and Visual Basic
6.0, because I am using it to develop the
software. Also, make sure that the sound
card is installed in your computer and
your PC has a speaker and microphone
connected to it.
Downloading the components
Before writing a program you will need a
component called ‘KDTele’. It’s an ActiveX
component, which you can download
from the website http://www.kaed.com/
kdtele3.zip
This is a 5.35 MB zip file and does not take
much time to download. It’s a 30-days
evaluation version and the version number is 3.5. This component allows the software to pick-up and answer incoming calls
automatically. KDtele tools consist of lots
of components, which are very useful for
different applications but here we will use
only two components called ‘KDPhone’ and
‘KDVoice’. The ‘KDPhone’ component allows the software to pick-up and answer
incoming calls, and KDVoice plays the audio (.wav file) on the phone.
Next, extract the KDtele3.zip file
after downloading by double clicking
on it. Then install KDtele tools on your
computer by clicking on the
‘KDtele3561.exe’ file.
The KDtele tools welcome screen will
appear on the screen. Press ‘Next’, read
the agreement carefully and then accept
the KDtele tools ‘Licence Agreement’ by
clicking ‘Yes’. Press the ‘Next’ button
twice to continue the installation process and then click on ‘Finish’ to finish
the installation process.
Downloading the (.DLL) file
In this project we are using a parallel
port to operate the relays. But in Visual
Basic we can’t access the hardware directly. All hardware requests must go
through Windows. To control the port
directly we have to use (.DLL) files. You
can get these as a free download by going to the following page—http://
webpages.charter.net/grumble/
ParallelPort/ParallelPort.html
Here, click on the link ‘cardio32.zip’ and
download the file. Then extract this zip
file and copy the cordio32.DLL file into
‘Windows\system’ directory. This file will
be in the Windows system directory.
1. Welcome! Please press ‘1’ to switch
the tea-maker on and press ‘2’ to
switch it off.
2. You have pressed the wrong key.
Please confirm the number.
3. You have switched on the tea-maker.
4. You have switched off the tea-maker.
Adding the components to
Visual Basic
Start Microsoft Visual Basic and add the
components that you have downloaded.
Click on the ‘Project’ menu and choose
Sound recorder
Sound selection
Components
‘Components’. The Components
dialogue box will appear on the
screen. Click on the check box
‘Kaed System-KD tele tools’ and
then click ‘OK’. All the KDtele
tools are now added to the VB
toolbox.
Recording the
messages
In this step we have to record
the messages that will be
played on the phone when a
call is made. These files are
(.wav) files and will be played
Toolbox by the KDVoice control.
KDVoice is compatible with the PCM
wave files. It is suggested that you always use 8000 Hz, 16-bit mono format
because it is compatible with all ordinary modems. To begin the message
recording process, start the ‘Sound Recorder’ program from ‘Entertainment’ in
‘Accessories’. Click on ‘Record’ and start
recording with your microphone.
You need to record four messages,
which are:
Save all these messages by clicking on
the ‘Save as’ option in the ‘File’ menu,
give the file name, and then click on
‘Change’. Choose PCM from the ‘Format’
drop-down list box and choose 8000 Hz,
16-bit mono from the ‘Attribute’ dropdown list box. Save all the files with the
following names because these names
are used in the program.
Welcome.wav
Wrong.wav
On.wav
Off.wav
Writing the entire program
(a) Start Microsoft Visual Basic. The new
project dialogue box will appear on the
screen.
Click ‘Standard.exe’ and then enter ‘Open’.
Your screen will look as shown in the
figure titled Project form 1 (given on the
next page).
Change the caption of ‘Form 1’ to ‘Telephone As a Remote’ by clicking ‘Caption’
in the Property window.
Place KDPhone and KDVoice control to
your form. By default, KDPhone and
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'
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first activate the telephone device. Therefore, we use ‘Line active’ method in the
form’s load event as described in the following code...
Project form 1
KDVoice control have the names
KDphone1 and KDvoice1. Leave these as
they are.
You can also attach a background music
file, which can be played during the call.
To do this, click on ‘KDvoice’ control and
set its ‘Background Enable’ properties to
‘True’. Then type in the path of your
background wave file in the ‘Background
files’ property in the Property window.
Place a ‘Text box’ and change its text
property to ‘0’ (zero). It will show you
the time in seconds on the timer.
Place two timer controls to your form. By
default their names will be Timer1 and
Timer2. Leave these as they are. We are
using Timer1 to display a counter and
Timer2 to cut off the tea-maker after a
specified time period.
Click on ‘Timer1’ control and change its
interval properties to ‘1000’. Here 1000
means one second. Set Timer2’s interval
properties to the time interval you want
your tea-maker to be cut off at. For
example, if you want to cut it off after 10
seconds give a time interval of ‘10000’.
Now click on the ‘Project’ menu and then
click on the ‘Add module’ option. Open a
new module and write the following code
in the ‘General’ declarations...
Option Explicit
Public Declare Function CardOutpb Lib
“cardio32.dll” (ByVal porta As Integer, ByVal
databyte As Integer) As Integer
In this code we have declared a public
function that is defined in (cardio32.DLL)
file to set bits to the parallel port.
In this entire process, it is important to
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Private Sub Form_Load()
Dim a As Long
a = KDPhone1.LineActive(0, True)
If a <> 0 Then
MsgBox “Error” & KDPhone1.GetErrorMsg(a)
End If
‘if an error has occured it shows a message with
an error.
End Sub
To ensure that the call is properly connected, we will use the KDphone1.answer
method. If the call is properly connected,
we have to play the welcome message
file over the call. KDPhone will fire
‘OnCallState’ event with a call state of
csConnected as the code below describes
in detail. Add the following code to the
‘OnCallState’ event of ‘KDPhone1’...
Private Sub DPhone1_OnCallState(ByVal
CallState As KDTele.TxCallState, ByVal Param1
As Long, ByVal Param2 As Long, ByVal
CallHandle As Long)
Dim c As Long
Dim b As Long
Select Case CallState
Case csRing ‘When incoming ring is detected
b = KDPhone1.Answer(0)
Print “phone is received”
Case csConnected: ‘When call is connected properly
c = KDVoice1.Play(KDPhone1.WavePlayID,
“c:\telephone.wav”, 0, -1)
If c <> 0 Then
KDPhone1.Hangup
MsgBox “error” & KDVoice1.GetErrorMsg(c)
End If
Case csError: ‘When any error occured during
the call
KDPhone1.Hangup
MsgBox “error” &
KDPhone1.GetErrorMsg(Param1)
End Select
End Sub
After the welcome message is played, the
user will be given a choice to press a key
on a mobile handset or a telephone instrument. If he presses ‘1’, the tea-maker
should be switched on and if he presses
‘2’ the tea-maker should be switched off.
In case the user presses a key other than
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‘1’ or ‘2’, the ‘Wrong.wav’ file should
be played.
As soon as the user presses any key the
‘OnDigit Detected’ event will be fired.
Here we are using a parallel port to attach the tea-maker, so by setting the bits
we will turn it ‘on/off’. Let’s first understand the parallel port and what it has.
The parallel port is made up of three
different sections. These are the data
lines, control lines and status lines. There
are eight data lines and these are the
primary means of getting information out
of the port. In simple projects like this,
we will concentrate on the data lines.
To deal with parallel port you must know
its address for data line port, which is
same as the port address.
decimal
888
Hex
378 h
You must also know the command and
number you want to set it to. In the
parallel port, data lines are from pin no.
2 to 9. So to switch on or off any one
device you can use any one of these. Here
I have used pin no. 2. When the bit is ‘0’
on pin no. 2 there will be no voltage at all
at this pin, and when the bit is set to ‘1’
there will be a voltage of 5 volt DC. This 5
volt DC can be used to drive a relay
circuit and the tea-maker will be connected to this relay circuit. ‘CardOutpb’ is
a function in cardio32.DLL, which can be
used to set a bit on or off. Syntax of
Cardoutpb is as follows...
CardOutpb Port address, value which is to be set
When the user presses ‘1’ the tea-maker
will be switched on by setting bit ‘1’ of
pin 2 of the parallel port and play a
(on.wav) file so that the user can understand that the switch is on. In the meanwhile, Timer1 and Timer2 will be enabled. After the specified time interval
the tea-maker will be switched off. The
user also can switch the tea-maker off by
pressing ‘2’ on the telephone. Go through
the following code, which will make
things clearer to you.
Add the following code to ‘OnDigit Detected’ event of ‘KDPhone1’ control.
Private Sub KDPhone1_OnDigitDetected(ByVal
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Digit As String, ByVal CallHandle As Long)
Dim x As Long
Select Case Digit
Case 1
CardOutpb 888, 1
Timer1.Enabled = True
Timer2.Enabled = True
x = KDVoice1.Play(KDPhone1.WavePlayID,
“c:\on.wav”, 0, -1)
Case 2
CardOutpb 888, 0
Timer1.Enabled = False
Timer2.Enabled = False
x = KDVoice1.Play(KDPhone1.WavePlayID,
“c:\off.wav”, 0, -1)
Text1.Text = 0
Case Else ‘Off.Wav
x = KDVoice1.Play(KDPhone1.WavePlayID,
“c:\wrong.wav”, 0, -1)
End Select
End Sub
Add the following code to the timer event
of Timer1 control...
Private Sub Timer1_Timer()
CardOutpb 888, 0
Timer1.Enabled = False
Timer2.Enabled= False
Text1.Text = 0
End Sub
Add the following code to the timer event
of Timer2 control...
Private Sub Timer2_Timer()
Text1.Text = Val(Text1.Text) + 1
End Sub
In this project I have attached only one
device in this way—you can attach many
devices by using all the eight data lines.
In that case, eight relay circuits will be
required. You can also customise this
project according to your needs.
Running and testing the
program
In the end, attach the gadgets with
a relay circuit to the parallel port at
pin no. 2, and for negative voltage
take out a black wire from the SMPS.
Relay circuits are very cheap and easily
available in project books and magazines,
or you can consult any electronic student. The relay circuit may vary according to the load you connect to it.
Save this project and run it by clicking
the F5 function key. If the project runs
successfully make an executable file for it
by clicking on ‘File’ menu and then click
on ‘Make Exe’. Copy this (.exe) file to the
start-up folder; otherwise if the power is
cut off when you are out of the house you
will not be able to control any device. To
control any device by a telephone or mobile, your PC and this application must
be running.
I do hope you have a great time constructing and working on this project,
and that it helps you relax at the end of a
long, hard day’s work.
Warning: You must take adequate care
while building the complete project.
The author and editor are not responsible in case of any damage to your computer while building and implementing
the project.
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