User Environment Area Networks (UEAN): A New Paradigm for Personal Communications

This work describes the functionality of the "user environment area network" (UEAN), considering the functional convergence (FC) of personal electronic devices; and explores some issues related to its implementation. An UEAN is a network that connects the electronic devices that belong to a person, in spite of their physical location. The FC allows the implementation of virtual personal electronic devices that are implemented by grouping sources, sinks, storage, processors or gateways that belong to the UEAN. The converging trends observed in telecommunications technology and markets; make us believe that it is important to model a network of personal devices in terms of an UEAN, instead of the traditional way