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Home Connectivity:
How to Keep the Connection Simple
The home connectivity market is still in its infancy. With
the creation of digital content becoming easier than ever
before, consumers are looking for ways to share and distribute
this content throughout the home in a simple and consistent
manner. As digital media becomes the primary source of information,
education and entertainment, the home computer is no longer
relegated to word processing and emailing, but houses the
family photo album, music library, videos, games and is the
conduit to the extremely popular online social communities.
The home computer has become the heart of the digital home,
but integration with traditional media outlets like TVs and
stereos remains a challenge.
While the tech savvy consumer can find solutions to interconnect
their home electronics, the everyday user needs simple device
connectivity solutions that are reliable and secure. For home
connectivity to truly become ubiquitous, these connection
solutions need to “just work”.
A true digital home will require the ability to connect and
consolidate the content and applications available on the
PC(s) to various multimedia products throughout the home.
This white paper discusses how to take the user beyond the
desktop, and enable a home connectivity solution that is easy
to set up, and simple to use.
The Opportunity
The internet has opened up the world to new possibilities
for consumers. They now have access to a wealth of informational,
educational and entertainment based content, creating a knowledgeable
consumer with complicated demands. While many homes have more
than one computer, and various digital multimedia devices,
most homes still have one primary PC or home server that houses
most of the content and is the primary conduit for internet
access.
A major challenge for the connected home is finding a simple
way to distribute this content through the home. One of the
key issues in most homes is that there is only one central
computer, usually in the home office or den, yet there is
a desire to have access to all that content while the user
is in the family room, or in front of the TV. Solutions exist
today, but they require sophisticated users with a strong
understanding of computer networking that is beyond the scope
of most consumers. Many of today’s solutions focus on
moving some of the TV content over to the PC, but very few
actually focus on delivering true PC content to the TV. Leading
solutions available today deliver only selected media content,
pictures, music and sometimes video, but none deliver a true
PC experience with full online interactive browser capabilities,
and access to PC applications that have become a part of everyday
life for so many of us.
Providing true PC to TV connectivity, with a rich, full PC
experience anywhere in the home is the ideal goal. By enabling
access to all PC applications throughout the home, wherever
a TV is available, convenient computing applications become
an integral part of home life:
- Surf the internet on the TV in the family room.
- Check email, bank balance, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace
or other sites.
- Have Skype/VOIP video calls from the couch, instead of
in front of a tiny screen.
- Share and distribute your multimedia content more effectively
throughout the home, including pictures and music.
- Enable PC or Online gaming via the large screen in the
home theatre or family room, including educational games
for the kids, or MMPORG games for the teens.
The critical differentiator from existing media solutions
is the ability to maintain a full PC experience and user interface,
so that the learning curve is short, and users will have a
familiar experience out of the box.
The applications are endless and growing and all can be serviced
simply and easily using standard technology that is available
today.
The Solution
For a PC to TV solution to differentiate from existing media
extenders and provide a complete PC experience anywhere in
the home, it must offer interface connections the same as
those available when sitting in front of the PC, specifically,
video and USB.
With numerous digital video technologies capable of extending
high quality video from the desktop to a remote monitor or
television, the challenge in implementing true PC to TV solutions
is in enabling peripheral connectivity. With over two billion
devices in the marketplace, USB has become the peripheral
interface of choice for PC and connected electronics. Offering
plug and play functionality for all types of devices from
keyboards and mice to music players, digital cameras and hard
drives, USB is the ideal choice, but for limitations in connection
reach. USB standards restrict wired connections to 5 metres
in length.
With technologies such as ExtremeUSB from Icron Technologies,
USB connections can break through the 5 metre cable limitation
and can be deployed to provide peripheral connectivity in
many remote desktop applications.
Power line solution shown
Solutions are also available over CAT 5, fibre and wireless
These solutions, designed together with standard
video interfaces such as VGA, DVI or HDMI create a unique
solution that extends the power of a PC well beyond the traditional
desktop.
Combined video and USB connectivity solutions allow the primary
PC in the home to be connected to a variety of devices without
having to move the computer from where they are currently
situated. It allows the consolidation of content and applications
to be accessed throughout the home via a standard and well
understood means.
The Enabling Technology - ExtremeUSB
ExtremeUSB, developed and commercialized by Icron Technologies
Corporation, enables USB peripherals to be placed wherever
users need them. Agnostic to the physical connection medium,
ExtremeUSB provides true USB 2.0 over various wired and wireless
media, simplifying installation and enabling a variety of
solutions to suit user needs. ExtremeUSB is capable of providing
USB 2.0 up to 10 km (6.2 miles) away from a host computer
over fibre optics, or any distance over wireless technologies
such as 802.11g or .11n. With ExtremeUSB technology, peripheral
devices function as if they are within the 5 metre (16.4 foot)
limit specified by USB-IF. Bringing home entertainment to
a new level, ExtremeUSB enables remote connection of any USB
device, from iPods, hard drives, webcams, educational toys,
and mobile phones, to simple keyboards, mice and joysticks.
Key advantages of USB 2.0 connections enabled by ExtremeUSB:
- True plug-and-play connectivity. No new software
drivers required for operation. USB devices are
connected and operate as if they were plugged directly into
the PC.
- No restrictions on device types supported. Other
media extenders and USB connection protocols
restrict access to certain devices. ExtremeUSB supports
all USB devices, including hard drives, and
webcams.
- Common hardware support for multiple operating systems.
A true plug and play solution, ExtremeUSB needs no software
drivers and operates on Windows, MAC OSX and Linux PCs.
ExtremeUSB is the ideal solution for peripheral connectivity
in home networking applications. Agnostic to physical layer
transmission media and not requiring software drivers on the
host computer, PC to TV solutions that are simple to install
and “just work” become a reality. Extension solutions
using CAT 5 cabling, Ethernet, wireless, power Line, or coax,
are possible, leveraging connection infrastructure already
available in the home and making what once was available only
to the tech savvy user, available to anyone who can plug in
a mouse or keyboard.
As ExtremeUSB becomes more tightly integrated with these
complimentary technologies, we will see a proliferation of
solutions focused on delivering high quality, low cost content
throughout the home.
Conclusion
With an ever expanding list of acronyms and technologies promising
to be the next best thing in home networking only serving
to add to the confusion and complexity, Icron recognizes that
existing technologies that are well understood and accepted
can be used to provide simplified home connectivity solutions.
By utilizing USB combined with video running over existing
connection infrastructure, users can extend their PC experience
throughout the home, and enjoy the endless benefits of home
network connectivity today.
For more information on ExtremeUSB based solutions please
contact:
Icron Technologies Corporation
4664 Lougheed Hwy, Suite 221
Burnaby, BC
V5C 5T5
Ph: 604-638 3920
www.icron.com
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