Development of a virtual personal video recorder based on a set top box

Estágio realizado na Fraunhofer Portugal ResearchTese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores (Major Telecomunicações). Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 200

Strategic business model for digital home market

The project proposes a strategic business model for the digital home market in the United States that includes the automobile environment. It uses Sony, a leading entertainment company and producer of consumer electronics, as an example. The project includes analyses of the overall digital home industry, the automobile electronics market, and Sony\u27s digital home business model. The study also includes a market survey conducted with a sample of students from California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) and two interviews with professionals in the digital home industry

Collaboration des équipements du réseau domestique pour une meilleure efficacité énergétique globale

In recent years, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has totally changed the people daily life in the Digital Home. Meanwhile, not only the amount of CO2 emission of ICT, so called ''footprint'', is increasing without cease, but also the price of electricity is constantly rising. Thus, it is quite important to reduce energy consumption in the home network and home devices for the environmental and economic reasons. In order to cope with this context, the thesis concerns the design, the evaluation, and the implementation of a novel set of mechanisms with the purpose of responding to home network energy consumption problems. We proposed firstly an Overlay Energy Control Network which is formed by the overlay energy control nodes. Each node is connected to one device which forms an overlay control network to coordinate the power states of the device. Then, a testbed for HOme Power Efficiency system (HOPE) is implemented to demonstrate the technical solution for energy control in a real home network environment with several frequently used scenarios. After analyzing user's way of use of their home network equipment, we propose a power management which controls the devices based on the analysis of the collaborative services. These frequently used collaborative services require different functional blocks in different devices. This model provides the possibility to turn on the right requested functional blocks in the right device at the right moment. Finally, based on the former contribution, the collaborative overlay power management offers several possible tradeoffs between the power consumption and the waiting delay in the home network.Au cours des dernières années, la révolution numérique a continué sa progression. Les technologies de l'information et des communications (TIC) ont totalement changé la vie quotidienne des gens à leur domicile (concept de « maison numérique »). Pendant ce temps, non seulement le volume des émissions de CO2 produit par les TIC, ce qu'on appelle l'empreinte carbone, est sans cesse en croissance mais elle s'accompagne également d'une hausse du prix de l'électricité, augmentant fortement la part des équipements numériques dans la budget global des ménages. Ainsi, pour des raisons environnementale et économique, réduire la consommation d'énergie dans les nombreux équipements du réseau domestique est devenu un enjeu majeur. Dans ce contexte, la thèse porte sur la conception, l'évaluation et la mise en œuvre d'un ensemble de mécanismes dans le but de répondre aux problèmes de consommation d'énergie sur les réseaux locaux rassemblant les équipements numériques domestiques. Nous proposons un réseau de contrôle qui est formé par des noeuds de contrôle de l'énergie placés au-dessus du réseau traditionnel. Chaque nœud de contrôle est relié à un dispositif en vue de coordonner les états d'alimentation de l'équipement domestique associé.. Un démonstrateur pour un système Home Power Efficiency (HOPE) a également été mis en œuvre. Il démontre la faisabilité de la solution technique que nous proposons pour le contrôle de l'énergie dans un réseau domestique réel avec des scénarios réels qui sont souvent utilisées par utilisateur. Après avoir analysé le mode d'utilisation des équipements du réseau domestique, nous proposons un système de gestion d'énergie qui contrôle ces équipements minimisant ainsi que leur consommation. Le système est basé sur l'analyse des services collaboratifs, chaque service est découpé en blocs fonctionnels atomiques, distribués dans les différents équipements. Cela permet de gérer avec plus de précision les besoins énergétiques de chaque équipement de manière à n'alimenter que les composants nécessaires au service demandé. Pour conclure ces travaux, nous avons également cherché à minimiser les impacts de l'économie d'énergie sur la qualité d'expérience perçue par l'utilisateur (notamment le délai d'activation des services). Nous proposons un système de gestion d'énergie pour des services collaboratifs offrant plusieurs compromis possibles entre la consommation d'énergie et le délai d'activation des services dans un réseau domestique. Il est complété par un algorithme d'apprentissage du comportement des utilisateurs domestiques

Concepts for an intuitive user interface for DLNA using NFC technology

Consumption of digital media is dramatically increased by the development of conventional connectivity technologies and the advent of home entertainment appliances. The evolution of networking technology, hardware development and advanced services leads to an increased sophistication of device manipulation and long learning curves for average users. DLNA standardizes the interoperablity between media devices over a framework. With the help of personal handheld devices and smart phones, a ubiquitous media network is formed at home or on the road. NFC is a radio technology bridging physical and digital world, which is now widely deployed in a varied number of application scenarios to ease Human-Computer Interaction. This master thesis proposes a system architecture based on the confluence of DLNA architecture and NFC technology to facilitate simple, intuitive and impromptu interaction with media devices. This NFC-enabled DLNA Communication system architecture defines a communication model which delivers the vision of NFC as the enabler of DLNA control and communication, a network model, a set of diverse device functional components, a set of dedicated devices and baseline principles of system architecture. Based on the generic system architecture, a research is explored on A/V and image media sharing, UI retrieval, media uploading/downloading and print document application fields. Six use cases are proposed, they share the properties and principles defined in the system architecture and additionally they maintain their own use case specific features and their proprietary NFC data formats. Among them two use cases are explained in more detail. One use case, A/V Handover, delivers a consistent "tap and exchange" scenario. The other use case, Control Handover, grants users an instantaneous access to the control UI. A prototype implementation between smart devices or home appliances are presented showcasing an instantaneous, rapid and spontaneous media sharing and management application. Following the design paradigm presented in this thesis, more use cases in specific application fields are easily to be implemented

Remote service discovery and control for ubiquitous service environments in next-generation networks

Doktorgradsavhandling i informasjons- og kommunikasjonsteknologi, Universitetet i Agder, Grimstad, 201

Remote service discovery and control for ubiquitous service environments in next-generation networks

Doktorgradsavhandling i informasjons- og kommunikasjonsteknologi, Universitetet i Agder, Grimstad, 201

Experimental design for a next generation residential gateway

Puolella eurooppalaisista kotitalouksista on laajakaistaliittymä. Yleensä käyttäjä kytkeytyy ulkoiseen verkkoon kotireitittimen avulla (residential gateway). Internet-yhteyden ja IP-perustaisten palveluiden kuten VoIP- ja IPTV-palveluiden lisäksi kotireititin muodostaa kotiverkon ytimen kodin verkkolaitteiden liittyessä siihen. Kotiverkkojen lukumäärän ja koon kasvun seurauksena kotiverkoissa voidaan tunnistaa kolme ongelmaa. Ensinnäkin kotiverkkojen hallinta on haastavaa kotiverkossa tuettavien verkkotekniikoiden ja laitteiden määrän kasvaessa. Toiseksi sisällönhallinta. on monimutkaistunut käyttäjien luodessa ja kuluttaessa yhä enemmän sisältöä. Kolmanneksi uudet verkkoperustaiset tekniikat kuten sähköisen terveydenhuollon ratkaisut (e-health) integroituvat usein heikosti olemassa olevien kotiverkkolaitteiden kanssa. Tässä diplomityössä edellä mainittuihin ongelmiin pyritään löytämään yhtenäinen ratkaisu kotireititintä apuna käyttäen. Työssä analysoidaan uudentyyppisen kotireitittimen vaatimuksia käyttämällä hyväksi joukkoa käyttötapauksia. Vaativuusanalyysin perusteella luodaan malli, joka sisältää seuraavat pääkomponentit. (i) Virtuaalisointitekniikkaan pohjautuva kotireititinarkkitehtuuri. (ii) Kotireititinperustainen mekanismi yhteisöverkostoiden pystyttämiseen kotiverkkojen välillä. (iii) Hajautettu tiedostojärjestelmä yhteisöverkkojen pystyttämiseksi ja parannetun sisällönhallinnan ja sisällön jakamisen mahdollistamiseksi. (iv) Mekanismeja joiden avulla vierailevat käyttäjät voivat hyödyntää muiden käyttäjien kotireitittimien resursseja. Työssä. toteutetaan em. ydintoimintoja laaditun mallin perusteella ja toteutuksen toimivuus verifioidaan käyttötapauksiin perustuvalla testauksellaToday over half of the European homes have a broadband Internet connection. Typically, this connection is enabled through a residential gateway device at the users' premises. In addition to facilitating triple play services, this gateway also forms the core of users' home networks by connecting their network-enabled devices. While the number and the size of such home networks keep on increasing, three major problems can be identified in current systems. First, home network management is getting increasingly complex, and a growing number of networking technologies and connected devices must be supported and managed. Second, content management has become difficult. Users are generating an increasing amount of content and this content is stored (and sometimes shared) in an almost anarchical manner across different home network devices as well as online. Third, new network-enabled services, such as e-health systems, are emerging, but are typically poorly integrated into existing home networks. There is a clear need for home networking solutions that address these problems. In this thesis, we adopt a gateway-centric approach to address these problems in a unified manner. We concretise the requirements for a next generation residential gateway by analysing a set of future home networking use cases. These requirements serve as input to our gateway system design. In summary, our design includes the following main components. (i) A residential gateway architecture based on virtualization. This enables new features and new ways to implement the other components of our design. (ii) A gateway-based mechanism to set up community networks between different home networks. (iii) A distributed file system to establish community networks and to enable improved content management and sharing. (iv) Mechanisms for visiting gateway users to utilize other users' gateway resources. We implement these core functionalities and develop a proof-of concept prototype. We successfully validate our prototype through use case driven testbed experiments. Finally, we believe that the insights gained from this study and the prototype implementations are important overall contributions that can be used in the future research to further explore the limitations and opportunities of this gateway-centric approach

CHORUS Deliverable 3.3: Vision Document - Intermediate version

The goal of the CHORUS vision document is to create a high level vision on audio-visual search engines in order to give guidance to the future R&D work in this area (in line with the mandate of CHORUS as a Coordination Action). This current intermediate draft of the CHORUS vision document (D3.3) is based on the previous CHORUS vision documents D3.1 to D3.2 and on the results of the six CHORUS Think-Tank meetings held in March, September and November 2007 as well as in April, July and October 2008, and on the feedback from other CHORUS events. The outcome of the six Think-Thank meetings will not just be to the benefit of the participants which are stakeholders and experts from academia and industry – CHORUS, as a coordination action of the EC, will feed back the findings (see Summary) to the projects under its purview and, via its website, to the whole community working in the domain of AV content search. A few subjections of this deliverable are to be completed after the eights (and presumably last) Think-Tank meeting in spring 2009

Digital Rights Management and Consumer Acceptability: A Multi-Disciplinary Discussion of Consumer Concerns and Expectations

The INDICARE project – the Informed Dialogue about Consumer Acceptability of DRM Solutions in Europe – has been set up to raise awareness about consumer and user issues of Digital Rights Management (DRM) solutions. One of the main goals of the INDICARE project is to contribute to the consensus-building among multiple players with heterogeneous interests in the digital environment. To promote this process and to contribute to the creation of a common level of understanding is the aim of the present report. It provides an overview of consumer concerns and expectations regarding DRMs, and discusses the findings from a social, legal, technical and business perspective. A general overview of the existing EC initiatives shows that questions of consumer acceptability of DRM have only recently begun to draw wider attention. A review of the relevant statements, studies and reports confirms that awareness of consumer concerns is still at a low level. Five major categories of concerns have been distinguished so far: (1) fair conditions of use and access to digital content, (2) privacy, (3) interoperability, (4) transparency and (5) various aspects of consumer friendliness. From the legal point of view, many of the identified issues go beyond the scope of copyright law, i.e. the field of law where DRM was traditionally discussed. Often they are a matter of general or sector-specific consumer protection law. Furthermore, it is still unclear to what extent technology and an appropriate design of technical solutions can provide an answer to some of the concerns of consumers. One goal of the technical chapter was exactly to highlight some of these technical possibilities. Finally, it is shown that consumer acceptability of DRM is important for the economic success of different business models based on DRM. Fair and responsive DRM design can be a profitable strategy, however DRM-free alternatives do exist too.Digital Rights Management; consumers; Intellectual property; business models

A Review on Brain-Controlled Home Automation

A "smart home" employs ambient intelligence to keep tabs on things around the house so that the owner may get services tailored to their specific needs and control their home appliances from afar. Home automation for the elderly and handicapped focuses on enabling older persons and those with disabilities to live safely and comfortably at home. Additionally, the integration of this technology with a brain-computer interface (BCI) is perhaps of tremendous usefulness to those who are either old or disabled. These BCI-based brain-controlled home automation (BCHA) systems have emerged as a viable option for people with neuro disorders to remain in their homes rather than move to assisted living facilities. To summarize, BCI-based BCHA for the elderly and handicapped people is transforming people's lives every day. Most individuals prefer a simple approach to save time and effort. Automating the house is the simplest way for individuals to save time and effort. The brain-computer interface, often known as a BCI, is an innovative method of human-computer connection that does not rely on conventional output channels (muscle tissue and peripheral nerve). Over the course of the last three decades, it has attracted the attention of industry experts and developed into a thriving centre for research. Brain-controlled home automation (BCHA), as a typical BCI application, may provide physically challenged people with a new communication route with the outside world. However, the primary challenge that BCHA faces is to rapidly decipher multi-degree-of-freedom control instructions extracted from an electroencephalogram (EEG). The BCHA's research has made significant headway in a short amount of time during the last fifteen years. This study investigates the BCHA from several viewpoints, including the pattern of instructions for the control system, the type of signal acquisition, and the operational mechanism of the control system itself. This paper a concise description of the building blocks of smart homes and how they may be used to construct BCI-controlled home automation to assist disabled individuals. It is a compilation of information pertaining to communication protocols, multimedia devices, sensors, and systems that are often used in the process of putting smart homes into action. A comprehensive strategy for developing a functional and sustainable BCI-controlled home automation system is laid out in this paper as well, which could be useful to researchers in the future