InterPlay: A Middleware for Seamless Device Integration and Task Orchestration in a Networked Home

Abstract

As consumer electronic devices become more powerful and networked, users are required to understand more and more 'complex' device functionalities just to carry out simplest tasks. Users are experiencing more and more inconvenience and frustration as the number and complexity of home devices rise and the amount of content/data stored in the home increases. To address these problems, we have developed middleware technologies to integrate heterogeneous CE devices and allow users to simply select what activities they want to perform in the home. Our middleware software allows users to use a simple pseudo-English interface to achieve home tasks without having to consider where a particular content is located and how to achieve that task.