Networking home appliances with adapters and UPnP

Abstract

Home computers and mobile telecommunication have brought necessary smart home building blocks, such as Ethernet and WLAN networks and various terminals, to every modern home. The amount of entertainment equipment with UPnP capabilities is increasing but most appliances cannot be networked without adding a network adapter. We have built a smart home demonstrator that combines unmodified commercial products, products with modified software, legacy products with miniature embedded network adapters, and our own appliances into an integrated network, using UPnP as the common language. User interfaces are offered via browsers or dedicated interfaces on various terminals, such as TV, portable game consoles and mobile phones.