Use Case Brain Storm

Please add new ideas to this page!

Brain Dump

• cell phone based control
  • as Chung was describing
  • universal remote
  • away from home (fire, burglar, etc.)
• interdevice control
  • TV can control devices like TVs, speakers, lights
  • phone ringing message displayed on TV and other devices
  • video camera sends video directly to TV or computer
  • new mail, etc. notifications to TV
• base station based control
  • provides cell phone and web based control
• use system to locate lost items
• big v. small house
  • a big house would need the interfaces to be able to scale (scrolling through 100+ devices would not be fun)
  • communication would also be harder in a big house - range of wireless, etc.
• form queries to "search" through available devices
  • devices can share metadata:
    • room
    • category (entertainment, security, etc.)
  • use metadata to sort through devices (can order devices in different ways - akin to the different ways songs can be sorted on your iPod)
• Architecture?
  • centralized (aka. one base station)
  • fault-tolerant centralized (aka. one base station, but backups available)
    • EA: I don't know how we would do this. Any way I would do it doesn't make sense.
  • distributed (aka. no central base station - all devices can communicate with all other devices)
• energy saving
  • turn out lights based on motion
  • set AC to powersave (turn up temperature in summer, down in winter) while everyone is away
• poll v. event (aka, push v. pull) based communication
  • both should probably be available
    • difference between time left on microwave and fire alarm
• game (there has to be some game that can take advantage of this system)

Important Non Functional Aspects

• security
• cost
• ease of setup
• zero maintanence

Devices

• TV, stereo, home entertainment system
• refigerator
• computer
• cell phone
• lights
• security cameras
• tub
  • schedule it to fill up the tub with X° water to Y height
• kitchen sink
  • we need to come up with a use case for this - it would be great to say "everything and the kitchen sink"

Communication Possibilities

• 802.11 (wireless)
• Ethernet
• USB
• Bluetooth
• IR
• electric outlets