[Project] IR emitter thingy (was Re: The project, habuy, sourcefordge, ukha)

[patrickl@xxxxxxx]

--- In ukha_d@y..., "Andy Powell" <Andy@b...> wrote:
> IREDS -  Infa Red Ethernet Distribution System (for want of a
better name)
>
> Brief ideas
> ========
>
> Receiver = Emitter unit
>
> Each receiver has an IP address which means that Zoneing would be
simply a matter of sending the ir data to a specific group of ip
adresses. Of course you would actually know what piece of kit had
what ir emmiter.. eg Sony CD Player, ip address 10.21.1.3  so you
could target the specific device rather that sending the same IR data
to all emitters.
>
> Each zone would only require 1 CAT5 connection to the main box
(either a PC or standalone unit) because you could just install a hub
or switch locally to increase ports
>
> PC interface in the main box to allow it to send commands to zones

Few thoughts for the pot...

It seems a great pity not to include an IR receiver on each node too.
Add local storage, and each node can then replay IR either captured
locally or downloaded from a fileserver.

The units could be configurable to do selective repeating - decode IR
commands, filter them and re-broadcast on ethernet based on rules
(for subsequent retransmission by other units). This would give fully
flexible zoned IR control, but with no central point of failure.

Plus, with local storage, there's then the option of macros (a la
pronto).

As Ant's mail suggested -- and I've banged on about this on the ukbuy
list -- for this to be maintainable you need a self mapping naming
service - whether it's JINI, DHCP based or something else. One option
would be assigned a multicast address to be shared by all IR units,
and then devising an embedded discovery and sub-addressing protocol.


Patrick




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