Abstract: A method for a software-engineered reproduction of the behavior of an actual domestic appliance in a model, which is connected to the domestic appliance via a bi-directional connecting device, by which current states of the relevant domestic appliance are transmitted to the model and actions are executed on the domestic appliance. The model is merely described declaratively by way of graph structures with regard to the appliance parameters which indicate the appliance behavior. Appliance states and transition conditions between appliance states of the relevant domestic appliance are retained in a status graph software and it is checked by means of a control graph software whether a specific action can be executed in the respective appliance state of the relevant domestic appliance or with specified parameter combinations. An appliance information software contains all the information on the available status variables and actions of the relevant domestic appliance.

Abstract: For computer-assisted generation of a graphical user interface for an equipment monitoring unit and/or equipment control unit of at least one appliance such as a household appliance, a base structure of the graphical user interface is determined from a base configuration file. Equipment-specific static detail data from an equipment-specific equipment configuration file and equipment-specific dynamic detail data, which are provided by the device to be controlled and which describe a state of the device to be monitored and/or to be controlled, are inserted into the base structure as defined by information stored in at least one configuration file on the sites in the graphical user interface at which what equipment-specific static or dynamic data are to be stored.

Abstract: A plate-shaped heating element, in particular for floor heating, consists of two plates of synthetic material defining a hollow space. Spacing elements are provided between the plates in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the plates, the spacing elements uniting the two plates. The spacing elements are arranged so as to form a first row along a first straight line, said first straight line being an extension of the axis of the joining element. All other spacing elements form further rows, said rows being provided along straight lines which again are provided parallel to the first straight line.

Abstract: A casing for a building having an absorbing and heat exchange layer, which on operation for heating the building, has the function of stopping the loss of heat from the inside to the outside and, on cooling operation, of stopping the transfer of heat from the outside to the inside. A glass-clear or opaque outer casing may be placed spaced from the absorbing and heat exchange layer.