Carlos Manuel Rodrigues Machado Autonomic Ubiquitous Computing

Some situations, such as the firmware upgrade of the device, may require a completely
different communication protocol which is incompatible with the normal device communication. In
this situation, the network interface blocking allows a temporary usage of the communication
medium with different communication protocols. The interface blocking is necessary because of the
very small resources available in the devices which limit the size of the communication stack
protocols.
5.4 Teleswitch Device
In order to test the capabilities previously enumerated and validate the proposals of this
project, a prototype device has been created. The prototype device objectives are the
implementation of the capabilities of monitoring and acting in the environments, allowing users to
interact with it in a natural and effortless way. Taking into account the various existing technologies
in spaces inhabited by people, the electricity and its utilization in human environment (lighting
spaces) was selected as the basis for the interaction with humans.
230v ac
Lamp
Switch
230v ac
Lamp
Switch
a) b)
Device
Figure 8 – Electrical switch/lamp circuit. a) Conventional circuit; b) circuit with a controller device;
The conventional circuit to turn a light on/off consists in a simple switch in series with the
lamp and mains supply as presented in Figure 8 a). When the user wants to turn on the light, it
toggles the switch and the electrical current flow, producing light in the lamp. This interaction, so
common on people’s daily routine, is executed several times a day without thinking.
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