HomeRF Overview and Market Positioning
3 HomeRF Vision
SWAP is envisaged as one of a number
of connectivity options for the home in the future. In figure 3.1 the
relationship between SWAP and all the different connection options are
shown:
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As a prerequisite, the main Home PC is linked to an
Internet gateway that can have a cable modem, xDSL or ISDN connection.
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The HomeRF system begins with a control
point, which is usually connected to the main PC via USB. The
control point is not necessary for all devices but it can offer some
interesting power saving options for ultra portable devices.
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Isochronous clients such as cordless telephones,
wireless handsets, interactive toys are always bound to the control
point. The control point guarantees them bandwidth for bounded latency
communication.
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Asynchronous peers can also connect to the home PC
as with any other peer device. It should be noted that asynchronous
communication between two peers is performed directly between PC’s
without being routed through the control point. Three major
applications of HomeRF will now be examined.
Figure 3.1: HomeRF Vision
3.1 PC Enhanced Cordless
Telephony
The first example deals with PC
enhanced cordless telephony. At present there is no standard for
digital cordless telephones, which allows interoperability between
multiple vendors. HomeRF defines a new standard for interoperable digital
cordless telephones. The SWAP specification also includes a standard
method for connecting cordless telephones to the main Home PC. One
application takes caller ID information and sends it to the PC.
Information is then applied to look up the name of the caller. Voice
recognised calls could also be instigated. HomeRF can connect the user in
the cheapest manner, which can indeed involve IP telephony. Using voice
synthesis the cordless telephone could also be used to initiate changing a
central heating temperatures, adding items to an electronic shopping list
or switching on or off cooking equipment. It has to be acknowledged that
more powerful cordless handsets are needed to perform these features.
These more powerful cordless handsets would not be substantially more
complex or expensive than existing cordless handsets.
3.2 Mobile Internet
Viewing
Another application that could make
use of a HomeRF system is a mobile Internet viewing application
or indeed a PDA. A SWAP radio connection would be required by the mobile
application. HomeRF would allow communication between the PC and the
mobile application through the receiving and sending of IP packets.
3.3 PC Resource Sharing
One of the major uses of HomeRF is resource
sharing amongst multiple PCs. Sharing of printers, internet
connections and other computer peripherals is made possible using HomeRF.
Such an implementation also offers multi-player gaming possibilities in
the home. In an age where almost 56 million US homes have 2 or more PCs,
consumers are becoming ever more aware that the floppy disk is not an
effective way to link computers demanding file sharing. In essence the
HomeRF vision is for a ubiquitous technology that can be installed on PCs,
printers and other computer peripherals as a standard. HomeRF will in turn
enable a new generation of consumer products.
Introduction | Working
Group | Vision | Technical Specification | Software
Architecture |
Security | Implementations | Rival
Technologies | Future
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