The Wired Home Today TV-based Home Control
From the very beginning, home networking was intended to make our lives easier, and today we find that it is becoming a primary source of entertainment and education as well. Never in the history of mankind has there been a research tool like the Web. And the "convergence" that there is so much talk of today seems destined to bring it all to us right there on the good old TV.
WebTV and computer control systems like X10 are just the tip of the iceberg. Soon people will be using their televisions and remote controls or remote keyboards in ways that are hard to imagine today. And why not? Our homes are already filled with computer chips, not just in PCs, but in many of the appliances and devices we use regularly, never even noticing that a computer is involved. There are already chips in many televisions, in all DVD and CD players, in microwave ovens and washing machines, and almost everywhere else we look. It’s not too hard to find many advantages that could be realized if all these computer processors could be "networked," integrated or "converged," to work together to make all sorts of things easier and more convenient for us all. And the marketing giants are starting to notice the potential.
When we see mainstream companies like Sears getting interested, it’s a good bet that home networking is going to be pretty commonplace in the not too distant future. So to help you keep abreast of the exciting new developments on the home networking front, we’re going to take a look at a number of the issues, standards, and approaches that are likely to become significant as this new technology matures.
X10 Control
X10 is one of the oldest home networking standards around. It is limited in its application to basic control functions (no audio or video is transferred through the network), but it still provides a huge potential for simplifying our lives. X10 uses the wiring in the home to transmit signals from an X10 controller to X10 slave units that you simply plug into any handy electrical outlet. Radio frequency control signals are sent through the house wiring, along with the normal AC, eliminating the need for additional wiring. X10 makes hook-up almost trivial.
What can you do with X10? Home theater control, audio equipment control, CCTV (closed circuit) control, fire and security monitoring, swimming pool monitoring and control, weather monitoring, telephone interface, lighting control, lawn and indoor irrigation, and more. There is a host of X10 controllers available, from simple remotes to full computer interfaces, and programming can be set up easily to allow various components to "interact" in helpful ways. For example, when the phone rings, you can have the X10 system automatically silence the audio from the home theater.
When you realize that all this can take place using just the wiring you already have in your home, the power of home networking becomes pretty clear. X10 today reaches beyond the wall outlets, with IR and RF controllers, and is the probably the most widely employed home networking protocol (language) around. So far. But just wait until you see what is possible with specially wired, or wireless, home networking.
HAVi
HAVi, and the Digital Harmony Alliance (see sidebar) are so new that their standards are still in flux. Both use high speed (high bandwidth) IEEE-1394 interfaces and cables, the same interfaces used in DV and Digital-8 camcorders, to transfer data at video rates and beyond. This type of home networking will allow our video and audio components to interact, talk to one another, and coordinate their operation, and to simplify the operation of even the most complex home entertainment systems. Video and audio can be passed around the home through such cables, along with control signals for any system (the washing machine for example) that is equipped with an IEEE-1394 interface and HAVi-compatible software.
HAVi is being promoted by eight industry giants, Grundig AG, Hitachi Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Panasonic), Royal Philips Electronics, Sharp Corporation, Sony Corporation, Thomson Multimedia, and Toshiba Corporation.
Powerline Networking
While high-speed home networks like HAVi offer obvious advantages in terms of bandwidth, they hold an equally obvious disadvantage in that you have add new wiring, IEEE-1394 wiring, to your home, if you want to use the network far beyond the home theater or entertainment system. It would be nice if we could send high quality video and audio right through the existing wires, the way X10 sends control signals through them. Companies like Cogency, a Fabless semiconductor company specializing in high performance residential networking, are planning home networking solutions that promise to provide the bandwidth of dedicated wiring, but without the hassles. Sears’ Now you might wonder what Sears could possibly have to do with all this high tech technology business. Well, Sears sees the "connected home" as being more than just a home with interconnected devices or a home that is connected to the Web. Sears has an integrated vision of the future. Bluetooth Wireless Networking One of the most important current developments in wireless networking is a standard called "Bluetooth." Supported by at least nine leading manufacturers, Bluetooth promises to become an industry standard. It can enable, among other things, the networking of various electronic devices with the TV set, and the sending of video postcards from camcorder to TV. The presentation "Say Hello to Bluetooth" on www.bluetooth.com itself is an informative and TV-friendly Flash animation. Try viewing on a WebTV Plus or PC/TV. Further Developments Other major players are jumping on the home networking bandwagon too. General Electric, for example, has already developed prototypes for Internet Connected appliances. One such is an Internet-connected refrigerator which uses a wireless Web Pad, can scan bar codes for shopping lists, and accesses the Internet to download recipes. All this wonderful technology is not some vision of the future, 20 years from now, but a view of what we can expect in the coming months and in the next few years. Television is the Key With all your video and audio gear, your appliances, and resources on the Internet singing together, you’re going to need some place from which to direct the chorus. And where do you suppose that will be? In your favorite chair, doing your favorite thing, of course. The television, combined with a home network interface, and a wireless Web Pad or Keyboard, is the obvious choice for a central point of control. Perhaps a set top box, or an interface built right into the TV, will provide the gateway to control everything in your home, from the Internet connection to the toaster. We are already able to check both our e-mail and our snail-mail from the comfort of the reclining arm chair. We’ll soon answer either the door or the phone; change the temperature, music and lighting; lock the car doors and unlock the house doors; check to see what’s in the fridge; and order a pizza; all with the TV remote control, responding to prompts displayed on the family television.
Imagine the advantages of having the Internet, your appliances, audio and video, and your entire home network, all connected right through the existing wiring in your home. This is what the Powerline Network concept promises, and the potential is enormous.
Connected Home Initiative
Bill Kenney, Vice President, Strategy, Sears, Roebuck and Company, has a vision of the Connected Home, where all systems and components will work together, through the Internet, to simplify all our lives. And that’s the goal of the Sears’ Connected Home Initiative. As Bill Kenney says, "Our view of the connected home is to simplify peoples lives." And apparently, when Bill Kenney speaks, people listen. Sears has partnered with companies like Sun Microsystems, Cisco, AOL, and others, to try to help forge the shape of the connected home of the near future. According to Kenney, the next refrigerator you buy from Sears may be fully capable of calling the repairman itself, when and if it needs service.
Keep your eye on future issues of Smart TV for updates on the latest home networking technologies.
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