Developments in home networks
Consumer User experience and service environment
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- Service convergence in the home
ConsumerUser experience and service environmentNext generation network architecture in the home allows consumers to access multiple services from multiple providers over a unified IP-based infrastructure. Emerging IP-based services such as health monitoring, security, home automation, entertainment and social networking accessible via home networks are reshaping the user experience. Demand for new innovative services can be expected to continue to increase as Australians recognise the benefits of such services—whether they be access to new content, ‘no wire’ home entertainment set-ups or the advantages of home-automated machine-to-machine (M2M) for managing appliances. Consumer access is also simplified by using a range of IP-based devices to access these emerging services. Content providers are tailoring services to provide greater interaction and are supplying niche content to larger, more accessible audiences due to the global reach of the internet. This interaction means that providers can collect data to analyse audience behaviour to assist in service and content planning and development. Consumers can interact in a multimedia environment that includes not only video, but live chats and commentary on content. Ustream is an example of a service that provides interactive chat, live stream recording, viewer statistics and more.2 Ustream is a free service providing a platform to enable anyone with a notebook, a webcam and an internet connection to broadcast live, real-time video from anywhere. Users are able to create and distribute their own content. The website also provides access to diverse live streaming and stored content for video on demand (VoD). 3 Smart grid technology in the home enables remote management of intelligent appliances to facilitate base-load energy reduction to improve energy efficiency. This technology will provide the consumer with more detailed information and controls using home network infrastructure to enable the consumer to make informed energy consumption choices.4 Smart metering will be a critical enabler of energy monitoring applications in which consumers can monitor their usage by accessing the data derived from the smart meter. Home networks can also be useful for some home health care situations. Bio-sensors provide point–of-care monitoring for a broad range of patient conditions. This may include measuring specific components such as heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature, or diagnosing or monitoring conditions such as sleep apnoea or epilepsy. By using the home network, patient medical data collected from bio-sensors can be passed onto medical facilities for analysis. Bio-monitoring offers improvements on patient management through the monitoring of at-risk patients, early detection of adverse conditions and the potential to influence patient behaviour to improve their health.5 Hunter Nursing, a NSW regional nursing agency, is in collaboration with Intel in a telemedicine trial to monitor 50 elderly patients over a fixed broadband connection or a 3G cellular alternative. The service requires patient involvement in their own care and provides back-to-base communications to medical staff via video conferencing.6 The consumer’s responsibility for home network infrastructure and device maintenance varies across the range of fragmented services. In some cases, one service provider carries out all aspects of service operation, maintenance and repairs. The transition to NGN architecture for service delivery is expected to alter the relative responsibilities of the service provider and the consumer. The consumer is becoming increasingly responsible for the home network infrastructure, with the service provider’s emphasis to cater for the end-to-end service requirements including some home network equipment. Service providers have a greater ability to remotely diagnose faults and resolve service issues. End-to-end service management can reduce delays in responding and resolving service difficulties as they arise. This transition will require better coordination between the end-user and the increasing number of entities involved in service support but also has the potential to enhance the overall end-user experience. The consumer will need to know what the service provider configuration and interconnection requirements are so that their home networks are capable of service delivery. Home-network firewall settings, speed and connectivity can all affect service delivery. Service providers will need to be more aware of the variations in consumer home-network configurations. Service convergence in the homeThere has been significant growth in the diversity, availability and adoption of consumer communications and media services. The convergence of content and services from previously discrete industries, such as broadcasting and telecommunications, has been made possible by the extension of unified IP architecture into the home resulting from the widespread deployment of DSL and hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) cable transport services.7 The home network can now support multiple services with managed QoS that are independent of the underlying transport infrastructure. Access network providers can exist as separate entities to the service providers of internet and telephony services for the consumer. Services can be managed end-to-end providing QoS for both access and home networks. For consumers, this common infrastructure gives access to a wider range of access networks that carry a range of competing services and features. Figure 5 illustrates the emerging IP-based services within the home and access networks environment.
Devices used in the home are typically migrating from analog to digital and are becoming IP-based. IP establishes a common platform and is expected to provide a growing base for customer equipment and services. Increasingly, content and services are being unbundled from legacy delivery networks to be offered as converged services with added features. A range of industry standards is in place or under development to promote device interoperability and portability, integration of services and the support of existing home infrastructure. Directory: media media -> Applications to Drill media -> Unicef voices of Youth Chat Theme: Children and aids nigeria and Zimbabwe 13 October 2006 Background media -> Tsunami Terror Alert: Voices of Youth media -> Biblical Eschatology Presentation by: D. Paul Beck May 4, 2016 Ground Rules media -> Guide to completing the collection using the Omnibus system media -> The milk carton kids media -> Events Date and Location media -> The Gilded Age: The First Generation of Historians by H. Wayne Morgan University of Oklahoma, April 18, 1997 media -> Analysis of Law in the United Kingdom pertaining to Cross-Border Disaster Relief Prepared by: For the 30 June 2010 Foreword media -> Cuba fieldcourse 2010 Download 171.08 Kb. Share with your friends:
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