Techniques for configuring a multimedia system

1. A method of configuring a home multimedia system, comprising:

accessing, by software executing on a controller of the home multimedia system, data structures that include:

component profiles describing attributes of components of the home multimedia system, wherein the components include at least one audio/video (A/V) device, telephony device, lighting device, heating ventilation and cooling (HVAC) device, automatic shade or blind device, or electronic door lock, and the attributes of a component include at least a set of commands that the component recognizes as well as one or more functions the component is capable of performing,

one or more zone configurations that indicate components that are present in one or more zones of a structure associated with the home multimedia system, and

one or more connection configurations that indicates how components that are present in the one or more zones are interconnected;

applying, by the software executing on the controller, a set of predefined service rules to the data structures to generate workflows for possible services, wherein each service rule defines one or more components and one or more interactions required for providing a corresponding service, and each workflow indicates how one or more of the components that are present in the one or more zones interact to provide a service;

generating executable forms of the workflows; and

executing the executable forms of the workflows to provide services to a user.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

removing a workflow for at least one possible service based upon the user profile of the user of the home multimedia system,

wherein the generating generates executable forms of remaining workflows.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the workflows are default workflows, and the method further comprises:

customizing, in response to user input in a configuration application, at least one of the default workflows to change how components that are present in the one or more zones of the structure interact to provide the service.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the customizing further comprises:

displaying a graphical representation of a default workflow to the user in the configuration application;

receiving an edit to the graphical representation from the user; and

automatically updating the executable form of the default workflow based on the edit to the graphical representation.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the graphical representation comprises a plurality of panels that each represent discrete actions that are to be executed consecutive by the one or more of the components that are present in the one or more zones to provide the service.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the workflows are default workflows, and the method further comprises:

customizing the default workflow of at least one possible service based upon a user profile of the user to change how components that are present in the one or more zones of the structure interact to provide the at least one possible service.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the accessing further comprises:

downloading over the Internet the component profiles from a repository.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the accessing further comprises:

receiving the one or more zone configurations and the one or connection configurations from a configuration application executing on the controller or another device of the home multimedia system.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein each service rule further defines one or more requests the corresponding service is capable of responding to, and the executing further comprises:

receiving a command indication from a remote control of the home multimedia system;

determining the command indication corresponds to a request of a particular service; and

executing the executable form of a workflow for the particular service to provide the particular service to the user in response to the command indication.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the executing further comprises:

issuing, by the controller, one or more of the commands that the one or more components recognize to execute the workflows.

11. A non-transitory electronic device-readable medium storing program instructions that when executed on one or more devices of a home multimedia system are operable to:

access data structures that include:

component profiles describing attributes of components of the home multimedia system, wherein the components include at least one audio/video (A/V) device, telephony device, lighting device, heating ventilation and cooling (HVAC) device, automatic shade or blind device, or electronic door lock, and the attributes of a component include at least a set of commands that the component recognizes as well as one or more functions the component is capable of performing, and

one or more zone configurations that indicate components that are present in one or more zones of a structure associated with the home multimedia system; and

apply a set of predefined service rules to the data structures to generate workflows for possible services, wherein each service rule defines one or more components and one or more interactions required for providing a corresponding service, and each workflow indicates how one or more of the components that are present in the one or more zones of the structure interact to provide a service;

customize the workflow of at least one possible service based upon a user profile of a user of the home multimedia system to change how components that are present in the one or more zones of the structure interact to provide the at least one possible service;

generate executable forms of the workflows; and

execute the executable forms of the workflows to provide services to the user.

12. The non-transitory electronic device-readable medium of claim 11 wherein the program instructions when executed are further operable to:

download the component profiles from a repository over the Internet.

13. The non-transitory electronic device-readable medium of claim 11 wherein the program instructions when executed are further operable to:

receive the zone configurations and connection configurations from a configuration application executing on the controller or another device of the home multimedia system.

14. The non-transitory electronic device-readable medium of claim 11 wherein each service rule further defines one or more requests the corresponding service is capable of responding to, and the program instructions when executed are further operable to:

receive a command indication;

determine the command indication corresponds to a request of a particular service; and

execute the executable form of a workflow for the particular service to provide the particular service to the user in response to the command indication.

15. The non-transitory electronic device-readable medium of claim 11 wherein the program instructions when executed are further operable to:

issue one or more of the commands to the components that the one or more components recognize based on the workflows.

16. A home multimedia system, comprising:

a plurality of components associated with one or more zones, wherein the components include at least one audio/video device, telephony device, lighting device, heating ventilation and cooling (HVAC) device, automatic shade or blind device or electronic door lock;

a controller configured to control and/or interoperate with the components, the controller including a processing subsystem; and

software executable at least in part on the processing sub-system of the controller, that when executed is operable to:

access data structures that include

component profiles describing attributes of the components, wherein the attributes of a component include at least a set of commands that the component recognizes as well as one or more functions the component is capable of performing, and

one or more zone configurations that indicate components that are present in each of the one or more zones;

apply a set of predefined service rules to the data structures to generate workflows for possible services, wherein each service rule defines one or more components and one or more interactions required for providing a corresponding service, and each workflow indicates how one or more of the components that are present in the one or more zones interact to provide a service;

receive a command indication from a device controlled by a user of the home multimedia system;

determine the command indication corresponds to a request of a particular service; and

issue one or more commands to the components that the one or more components recognize based on the workflow for the particular service to provide the particular service to the user.

17. The home multimedia system of claim 16 , wherein the software when executed is further operable to:

display a graphical representation of a workflow to the user;

receive an edit to the graphical representation of the workflow from the user; and

update the workflow in response to the edit to the graphical representation.

18. The home multimedia system of claim 17 , wherein the graphical representation comprises a plurality of panels that each represent discrete actions that are to be executed consecutive by the one or more of the components that are present in the one or more zones to provide the service.

19. The home multimedia system of claim 16 , wherein the workflows for services are default workflows, and the software when executed is further operable to:

customize a workflow of at least one possible service based upon a user profile of the user to change how components that are present in the one or more zones of the structure interact to provide the at least one possible service.

20. The home multimedia system of claim 16 , wherein the workflows are default workflows that are executed absent user-customization.

21. A method of configuring a home multimedia system, comprising:

accessing, by software executing on one or more devices of the home multimedia system, data structures that include:

component profiles describing attributes of components of the home multimedia system, wherein the components include at least one audio/video (A/V) device, telephony device, lighting device, heating ventilation and cooling (HVAC) device, automatic shade or blind device, or electronic door lock, and

one or more zone configurations that indicate the components are present in one or more zones of a structure associated with the home multimedia system;

generating, by the software executing on the one or more devices, workflows for possible services, wherein each workflow indicates how one or more of the components that are present in the one or more zones interact to provide a service; and

configuring, by the software executing on the one or more devices of the home multimedia system, the home multimedia system to issue one or more commands to one or more of the components based on the workflow for a particular service to provide the particular service.

22. The method of claim 21 , further comprising:

displaying a graphical representation of the workflow for the particular service;

receiving an edit to the graphical representation of the workflow; and

updating the workflow in response to the edit to the graphical representation.

23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the graphical representation comprises a plurality of panels that each represent discrete actions that are to be executed consecutive to provide the service, and the edit is to one or more of the plurality of panels.

24. The method of claim 21 , wherein the workflows for the possible services are default workflows, and the software when executed is further operable to:

customize a workflow of at least one service based upon a user profile of the user to change how one or more components interact to provide the at least one service.

25. The method of claim 21 , wherein the workflows are default workflows that are executed absent user-customization.

26. A non-transitory electronic device-readable medium storing program instructions that when executed on one or more devices are operable to:

access data structures that include:

component profiles describing attributes of components, wherein the components include at least one audio/video (A/V) device, telephony device, lighting device, heating ventilation and cooling (HVAC) device, automatic shade or blind device, or electronic door lock, and

one or more zone configurations that indicate the components are present in one or more zones of a structure;

applying a set of predefined service rules to the data structures to generate workflows for possible services, wherein each workflow indicates how one or more of the components that are present in the one or more zones interact to provide a service; and

configure a device to issue one or more commands to one or more of the components based on the workflow for a particular service to provide the particular service.

27. The non-transitory electronic device-readable medium of claim 21 , wherein the program instructions when executed are further operable to:

display a graphical representation of the workflow for the particular service;

receive an edit to the graphical representation of the workflow; and

update the workflow in response to the edit to the graphical representation.