REMOTE CONTROL SYSTEM
A remote control system for controlling electrical apparatus in customer premises (5 of Figure 1) comprises a home control interface (15) for connection by way of network termination equipment (12), e.g. a telephone socket, to a communications line (4) to a telephone exchange (3 of Figure 1). The home control interface (15) is responsive to signals received from a home control platform (8 of Figure 1) connected to the telephone network to control electrical apparatus by way of module interfaces (16). The home control interface is arranged on demand to transmit signals to the communications line (4) indicative of the current status of each piece of electrical apparatus connected to the system. The consumer may use a telephone (14) to pre-record a definition of the electrical apparatus attached to each connection on the module interface (16) which, when remote control requests are forwarded to the home control platform (8 of Figure 1) are used to define the respective switch and to announce its status to the caller. The home control platform (8 of Figure 1) has capability of storing substantial quantities of data defining changes required in switching at different times.