Evaluation of Home Appliance Translator for remote control of coventional home appliances

We developed a HAT (home appliance translator) and a HAT-CP (HAT control point) to enable conventional appliances without telecommunication capabilities to connect to home networks. The demand is rising for home appliances capable of connecting to networks so that they can be remotely controlled; however, purchasing appliances already with these capabilities, which we call information appliance, places financial strain on users due to their current high cost. If conventional appliances could connect to home networks, this problem would be solved. HATs and HAT-CPs can provide conventional appliances more advanced instructions and can infer more detailed states of appliances than other existing methods, such as a X-10 products etc. Users can program a VCR and adjust the temperature of a heater and can remotely determine whether those tasks were correctly performed by using HATs and HAT-CPs. These devices use existing power lines for automatic communication. Users can construct home networks easily, cheaply, and without the need for information appliances, new communication infrastructures, or complex settings. In addition, this system enables interoperation between information appliances and conventional appliances.