Abstract
The Information Furnace is a basement-installed PC-type device that integrates existing consumer home-control, infotainment, security and communication technologies to transparently provide accessible and value-added services. A modern home contains a large number of sophisticated devices and technologies. Access to these devices is currently provided through a wide variety of disparate interfaces. As a result, end users face a bewildering array of confusing user-interfaces, access modes and price structures. In addition, as most devices function in isolation, important opportunities to exploit synergies between their functionalities are lost. The information furnace distributes data, provides services, and controls an apartment's digital devices. Emphasis is placed on accessibility and on exploiting the synergies that inevitably come up when these technologies and services are housed under a single roof. The prototype implementation I outline integrates on a FreeBSD server the distribution of MP3-encoded music to DNARD/NetBSD thin clients, an answering machine, a burglar alarm, an Internet router, a fax server, a backup server, and intelligent control of a PBX.
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Received: 1 June 2002 / Accepted: 14 August 2002
Acknowledgements Compaq Research contributed (as a prize of the 2000 Usenix technical conference “win a pet Shark contest”) the Digital Network Appliance Reference Design – DNARD that I used as the system's first MP3 player. Jeffrey Mogul kindly handled the tricky logistics for distributing the contest's Sharks and saved the day by explaining to me how a keyboard could be essential for its operation. Eliza Fragkaki contributed the server's processing unit, literally provided a helping hand during the CD ripping operation, and patiently endured the prototype system's alpha and beta testing period. Lorenzo Vicisano came up with the idea of using the Shark as an MP3 player, while Isidoros Kouvelas and Vasilis Prevelakis offered encouragement, help, and interesting ideas during the prototype's implementation. Finally, Giorgos Gousios, Konstantina Vassilopoulou, and the anonymous referees provided valuable constructive comments and pertinent remarks on earlier drafts of this paper.
Software Availability The source code for the PCL-724 device driver and the Shark MP3 player script is available at < http://www.dmst.aueb.gr/dds/sw/ifurnace >.
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Spinellis, D. The information furnace: consolidated home control. Pers Ubiquit Comput 7, 53–69 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-002-0213-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-002-0213-8