COMP7970 PERVASIVE AND MOBILE COMPUTING
SMART SPACES PROJECT

Fall 2002

 

Overview

The goal of this project is to solve the well-known usability problems associated with home theater systems, component stereos, and video. Typically such systems consist of a number of components, interconnected by many cables, some carrying signal and some carrying control, each with a separate remote control. Also typically, such systems have a small piece of paper taped to the front of one component with scrawled directions for operating the system. The paper notwithstanding, in many households it is a running joke that only one member of the household, the one who assembled the system, is able to operate it.  Why? Because only the assembler of the system is knowledgeable about the interconnect information contained in the snarl of cabling behind the system, including such facts, for example, as ÒIf you want to play a DVD, set the amplifier to play from TAPE 2, and turn off the graphic equalizerÓ.

 

Our goal is to develop an open, standards-based system in which there is no hidden configuration information necessary to operate the system Ð to make the need for the little piece of paper go away. We will do this by replacing the snarl of analog cabling with a single connection to each component in the home entertainment system: a standard Ethernet cable. Both content and conrol information will pass over the Ethernet cable. In addition to eliminating the snarl of cable, we will present an interface to the system in an intuitive manner that is consistent with the way humans operate machinery. We will develop a number of remote controllers for the system, including web pad, PDA, and mobile phone, all of which will use a network connection to control the system rather than controlling individual components. The architecture is depicted in Figure 1.

 

                       

 

System Requirements

 

  1. System must have good audio/video performance
  2. Must be easy to choose and play or record content
  3. Must be easy to add/remove a device to/from the system
  4. System must be easily extended for new devices developed later

 

 

System Components

 

 

 

  1. API
  2. Component interface specification, network protocol
  3. User interface specification
  4. Devices
    1. Remote controller
    2. Content playback device (e.g. DVD, CD, VHS, MP3, tuner)
    3. Recording/capture device (e.g. DVD-R, TiVo)
    4. Controller/server (?)
    5. Presentation device (video monitor, amplifier)

 

 

                                                Figure 1. System architecture

 

 

Research Tasks

 

  1. Automatic discovery, registration, publishing of capabilities of a new device, cleanup of system registry on device removal automatically, no special case handling
  2. Low latency, high bandwidth presentation of content
  3. Interface design that makes connectivity obvious or inherent, with the configuration dynamically updated, clear help facilities, no special cases, clear error handling
  4. What else?